Putin's Wars: The Rise of Russia's New Imperialism

Contents
Author Note and Acknowledgments
	Glossary and Abbreviations
	Introduction
		Russia: A Post-Imperium?
		Structure of the Book
Part I: Despotism and the Quest for Empire
	1. Despotism and the Quest for Empire
		Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Diderot: Early Critics of Russian Despotism
		How Lost Wars Led to Short-Lived Reforms
		The High Expectations of 1989
		The Four Roots of Russian Imperialism
		Russian Despotism and Russian Imperialism: Inseparable Twin Brothers?
	2. Comparing Western and Russian Legitimation Theories for Empire
		Imperialist Legitimation Theories: Christianity, a Superior Civilization, and the White Man’s Burden
		Social Darwinism: The Primacy of Naked Power
		Three Russian Legitimation Theories for Imperial Expansion: Orthodoxy, Pan Slavism, and Communism
		The Symbiosis of Church and State
		A New Legitimation Theory: Pan Slavism
		From Pan Slavism to Racism: Pogroms and Anti-Semitism
		How the Russian Revolution Forged a New Legitimation Theory for Imperialist Expansion
	3. Putin and the End of Russian “Empire Fatigue”
		Empire Fatigue: A Chance of Becoming a “Normal State”?
		Handling Post-Imperial Pain
		Two Reactions to the Loss of Empire: To Accept or Not to Accept
		Pitirim Sorokin and the Eternal Cycle of Ideologies in Revolutions
		The Use of Nationalist Propaganda by the Leadership
		In Search of a New Legitimation Theory for a Post-Soviet Empire
		A New Ideological Triad: Orthodoxy, the Power Vertical, Sovereign Democracy
	4. Putin’s Grand Design
		Back to the USSR? From Commonwealth to the Russia-Belarus Union State
		A Politically Inspired Customs Union
		The CSTO: A Mini-Warsaw Pact?
		The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: A Double-Edged Sword?
		BRIC, BIC, BRICS, or BRIICS?
	5. The Eurasian Union
		Precursors of the Eurasian Project: Igor Panarin and Aleksandr Dugin
		Fear of Loss of Sovereignty
		Eurasian Union versus European Union
		The Ultimate Goal: The Creation of a “Big Country”
		Expansionism Even Beyond Former Soviet Frontiers?
		The Eurasian Union as the Ultimate Integration Effort
		Bringing Ukraine Back into the Russian Orbit
Part II; The “Internal War”
	6. Russia as a “Pluralist” One-Party State
		A One-Party State with Four Parties?
		East German Communist “Pluralism”: A Model for Putin?
		The Use of Fake Political Parties
		Unequalled Election Fraud
		Mikhail Prokhorov’s Revolt against the Kremlin “Puppeteers”
		Another Pseudo-Pluralism: The Diarchy at the Top
	7. Preaching the Ultranationalist Gospel
		The Ultranationalism and Revisionism of the Communist Party
		“Unkulturaufstieg”: The Spread of Ultranationalist Ideas
		Putin’s “State of the Union”: Touting Patriotism
		Putin’s “Russian Idea”: State, State, and More State
		National Rebirth and Consensus Building
		United Russia’s Electoral Success: A CPSU Effect?
		The Bear Wants to Fly: How United Russia Got Different Party Wings
		United Russia’s New Ultranationalist Course
		Russia’s Frontiers “Are Not Eternal”
		Russia’s Rebirth
	8. The Nashi
		“Walking Together”: Skinheads to Defend the Kremlin’s Message
		Founding the Nashi: A Kremlin Initiative
		“Patriotic Training” in Nashi Summer Camps
		The Nashi Manifesto and “Megaproject Russia”
		Harassing Diplomats and Internal Foes
		Cyber Attacks
		Preparing for More Muscled Actions: The Nashi Battle Groups
		Orthodox Battle Groups?
		A Historical Precedent: Khrushchev’s Druzhiny
		The Nashi: Komsomol, Red Guards, or Hitlerjugend?
	9. Send in the Cossacks
		The Rehabilitation of the Cossacks
		Touting “Cossack Values”
		The Role of the Cossacks in Post-Soviet Local Wars
		Cossacks Patrolling the Streets
		A New Praetorian Guard?
		A Cossack Political Party
Part III: The Wheels of War
	10. Three Lost Wars
		The Cold War: Containment versus Expansionism
		The War in Afghanistan: Andropov’s War?
		The First Chechen War: Four Differences with Former Wars
		The First Chechen War: Yeltsin’s War
		Chechnya: Russia’s Whipping Boy
		A Genocide?
	11. The Mysterious Apartment Bombings
		The Detonator: A Secret War against the Russian Population?
		Panic in the Family
		A Real or Constructed Casus Belli? The Alleged Chechen Attack on Dagestan
		Storm in Moscow
		A Strange “Exercise” by the FSB
		Foresight or Leaked Information?
		The Duma Investigation Commission
		Yeltsin on the Apartment Bombings
	12. The Second Chechen War
		Bombardments: The Massive Slaughter
		Kontraktniki: The Criminal Volunteers
		Zachistki: The Purges
		Filtration Points: Hiding Torture
		Forced Disappearances and Blowing Up Dead Bodies
		The Process of Chechenization
		The War in Chechnya and the European Court of Human Rights
		A Genocide?
	13. The War with Georgia, Part I
		A Five-Day War?
		The Russian-Georgian Cold War: The Passport Offensive
		The Lukewarm War: Russian Provocations and Preparations for War
		The Hot War: August 7–12, 2008
	14. The War with Georgia, Part II
		A Slow-Motion Annexation?
		The Central Question: Did Russian Troops Enter South Ossetia Before the War?
	15. The War with Georgia, Part III
		Russia Accuses Georgia of Genocide
		Ethnic Cleansing and Cluster Bombs
		Does a Lie Told Often Enough Become a Truth? The Victim as Aggressor
		The Real Reasons for Moscow’s Land Grab
	16. Origins of the War in Ukraine
		The Kremlin’s Obsession with Ukraine
		Postmodern Europe: The Hubris of a Weak Continent
		Political Mistakes by Leading European Politicians
		Barack Obama’s Ill-Conceived Russia Policy
		Consequences of the Ukrainian Crisis for Poland and Other New NATO Member States
	17. Russia’s “Hybrid War” in Ukraine
		Putin’s Strategic Goals
		Putin’s “Hybrid War”
		What Will Happen Next? Five Scenarios
		Putin’s Strategy: A Matryoshka Model?
	18. 2022: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
		Why Putin Decided to Invade Ukraine
		The Failed Russian “Blitzkrieg”
		The Situation in Russia: Increased Repression and the Struggle of the Elites
		The Reaction of the West
		Sanctions: Did They Work?
		Military Support Provided by the West
		The Kremlin’s Nuclear Threats: Bluff or Real Risk?
		What Did the War Change? Assessing Its Global Impact
		How Will the War End? Putin’s New Strategy of a Long War
		The Ukrainian Counteroffensive
	Bibliography
	Index
	About the Author