Category Archives: Geopolitics

Post Post-Soviet Space

It is a commonplace today to speak of the “map of Europe being re-written” and point to the actions of Russia in Crimea and the Donbas. But the process of ‘re-writing’ the world political map is perpetual. A key question … Continue reading

Posted in August War, Donbas, Donbass, Geopolitics, George Kennan, Kennan Institute, Novorossiya, return of geopolitics, revisionist geopolitics, Wilson Center | Tagged | Leave a comment

Internal Legitimacy in De Facto States

The question of legitimacy is, of course, a central one in the study of de facto states. Unrecognized states don’t have it from the international community (or from only a few as in the case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia), … Continue reading

Posted in Abkhazia, Caucasus conflict, Current affairs, ethnic cleansing, Five Day War, genocide, Geography, Geopolitics, Georgia, legitimacy, Russia, Saakashvili, South Ossetia, World political map | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Joe Sacco and the Great War

I had the pleasure of meeting Joe Sacco last night at Politics and Prose where he presented his latest work, The Great War. July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme. An Illustrated Panorama. First conceived over 15 years … Continue reading

Posted in Bosnia, Bosnian war, Caucasus conflict, Chechnya, Current affairs, Geopolitics, Popular Geopolitics, Radovan Karadzic, Washington D.C. | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Inside South Ossetia article published

The article “Inside South Ossetia: a survey of attitudes in a de facto state” has just been published by Post-Soviet Affairs (now owned by Taylor & Francis). This article is based on a research field trip conducted in 2010 and … Continue reading

Posted in August War, Caucasus conflict, Current affairs, De Facto States, ethnic cleansing, Five Day War, forced displacement, Geography, Geopolitics, George Bush, Georgia, nationalism, Political Geography, Saakashvili, South Ossetia, World political map | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Endless Everywhere War? America’s War of Terror, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0….

Asked at a Senate hearing yesterday how long the war on terrorism will last, Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, answered: “At least 10 to 20 years…”  A spokeswoman later clarified that Sheehan … Continue reading

Posted in CIA, Current affairs, drones, Geography, Geopolitics, George Bush, war on terror, Washington D.C., Yemen | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Irish-Japanese Axis

At a session on De Facto state regimes at last month’s ASN, Tom de Waal wittily remarked on how there appears to be an Irish-Japanese axis of researchers studying these oddities of the world political map. Looking at the presenters … Continue reading

Posted in Abkhazia, August War, De Facto States, ethnic cleansing, Five Day War, Geopolitics, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nagorny Karabakh, nationalism, Political Geography, South Ossetia, World political map | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Bosnian War Twenty Years Ago

This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Bosnian War. Its a time for remembrance, of the circumstances that created it, the people who planned it, the perpetrators and the victims. Most of the focus will be on Sarajevo later … Continue reading

Posted in Bosnian war, ethnic cleansing, Geography, Geopolitics, Radovan Karadzic, war crimes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment