ABSTRACT
Before the outbreak of the Russia-Georgia conflict of August 2008, it had become increasingly obvious that the West's entire post-Cold War and largely post-modern schema of security had done nothing to avert, and perhaps much to abet, the revival of a classically modern, Realpolitik culture of security in Russia. At the August 19 ministerial session, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) placed meetings of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) 'on hold until Russia adhered to the ceasefire' negotiated with the French presidency of the European Council. The paradigms that defined debate about Russia before the war in Georgia are the ones that define it now. The war has shifted the occupants about, but left the paradigms intact. The global economic crisis is the latest development that should draw attention to the differences between Western perceptions of Russia and Russia's perception of itself. The Obama administration's resetting of relations might or might not prove to be a challenge for Russia.
