Russia's Syrian Gambit, some history

Russia’s latest Syria adventure brings history full circle

Russian designs on involvement in the Near East go back centuries, and most unfortunately led to war in the mid-nineteenth century.  The Crimean War was not a glorious page in the Russian history textbook.

The Russians re-entered the Near East with their support for Egypt in the 1950s and were a principle support of the Arab countries against Egypt through the early 1970s.

The Reuters article linked above highlights Moscow's somewhat-secret involvement in Syria in the 1980s, again in support of regimes against Israel.

"If Russians Hate the U.S. So Much, Why Do They Want to Move There?"

Carol Matlack, article posted by Bloomburg on 16 October. An overwhelming majority of Russian respond to polls saying that that they have a negative view of the U.S., yet "the number of Russians trying to emigrate to the U.S. has never been higher."

ASEEES Annual Convention Coming Soon

The Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), which used to be AAASS, will be holding the forty-seventh annual convention in Philadelphia this November. Information is available online. Myself, I haven't been to one of these conferences in probably thirty years or so.