ABSTRACT
The radical changes in the former Soviet Union should portend well for the peoples of the Russian littoral and the international community in general. The end of the Cold War and moves toward economic reforms hold out the possibility of enhanced personal and collective well-being. No less important is the opportunity for peoples to develop in sovereign states according to their own ways and traditions. At the same time, however, the restoration of independent republics in the Baltics and the Caucasus and the emergence for the first time of independent republics in Central Asia have been accompanied by serious economic dislocation, in some areas approaching total collapse, and by militant nationalism and interethnic bloodshed. These developments in the Russian littoral have broad implications for world security and tranquility. The ongoing warfare between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, the civil and ethnic strife in Georgia, and the scramble for primary influence in the Caucasus and Central Asia by Turkey, Iran, and Russia have all converged to make the first taste of independence unexpectedly violent and bitter.
