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This reseat ch applies a neoclassical realist framework to explore the causes and consequences of Russia's recent "reorientation to Asia." Based on an analysis of publications and fieldwork conducted in Russia, the paper examines both the international systemic and the Russian domestic factors that have conti ibuted to this important change in Russia's foreign policy. At the system level, Russia's turn to Asia can be understood as a part of its longer campaign of balancing against American unipolar domination. At the unit level, economic demands to develop Russia's eastern territories, together with the complex socio-political processes of post-Soviet identity formation, generated a political environment that was conducive to Asia-oriented policies. Russia s reorientation to Asia implies not only comprehensive strategic cooperation with specific Asian powers, such as China, South Korea, or Japan, but also a "reinvention" of Russia as a Eurasian power. Given Russia s cross-continental spread and economic and military capabilities, its reorientation to Asia may have significant implications for the balance of power in the current world system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on ideological constructions of contemporary nationalism shaped by the influence of Dmitrii Galkovskii. At the dawn of the Russian Internet, Galkovskii's website, Samizdat, became the birthplace for intellectuals of contemporary Russian nationalism who emerged around Voprosy natsionalizma magazine and the online magazine Sputnik i Pogrom. Enemification strategies described in this article are understood as forms of self-representation of contemporary Russian nationalism. The goal of this article is to characterize one of the ideologies of contemporary Russian nationalism, which serves as a moral justification for some odious manifestations—xenophobia and racism. Three forces are characterized by contemporary Russian nationalists as the most dangerous challenges for the nation: the West, internal enemies, and migrants. Traditional and fundamental anti-Western rhetoric has turned into Anglophobia in the ideology of contemporary Russian nationalism. The most profound evidence might be found in Galkovskii's conception of the history of international relations. This idea is also used when defining the internal enemy. Caucasians have taken the place of Russian nationalism's previous main internal enemies, Jews, and are treated as representatives of the British colonial administration. The third enemy of modern Russian nationalism is migrants. They are seen as tools of the degradation policy toward Russians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of constructing the Transiranian Railway appeared for the first time in the end of the nineteenth century. Until the 1920s it was widely discussed by diplomats from different powerful countries (like Great Britain and Russia) who perceived it as an occasion to enlarge their countries’ sphere of influence. However, it was the Iranian government itself, led by the Iranian Shah, that managed to complete the project. The Transiranian Railway connected the Caspian Sea shore with the Persian Gulf and is considered one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 1930s. This paper presents the main aspects of the history of the Transiranian Railway – from the nineteenth century's debates around the concept of such a connection, through the process of the line's construction during Reza Shah's reign, until the post-war period of railway development in Iran. To the historical part comments are added on some aspects of the social, economic and political consequences of the construction of the railway. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]