Book description
Not for the first time in the last two centuries, Russia leaves the
world wondering about its destinies. Russia is, notwithstanding the
losses incurred when the Soviet Empire imploded, still an enormous
country of ten time-zones from Kaliningrad Oblast to Sakhalin, a land of
vast empty spaces full of promise, with more than 140 million population
- 15 million of them Muslim - looking at the crescent rising rather than
the cross and the stars, suspecting that St George might not be their
friend and protector. It is a power with vast military inventories,
among them ore than 10,000 nuclear weapons in various configurations, an
energy giant whose oil reserves will last, at present rates of
exploitation, for more than 30 years, and with natural gas for more than
180 years. Michael Stuermer is professor of history at the University
of Erlangen-Nurnberg. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard, the
Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton, the Sorbonne, the University
of Toronto and the Institute for Advanced International Studies at Johns
Hopkins University. He has written and edited books on various subjects,
including Europe and the Middle East.
