The Second Cold War

Someone mentioned this in class yesterday, and I thought it was a nice phrase. Low and behold, today the Russians are saber rattling again. This time over a tiny province that until 1998 was largely unheard of outside of the Balkans. Check out a brief article on the situation here. Kosovo might be a fun state to follow this semester, seeing as they are expected to declare independence from Serbia and perhaps be invaded before May. This could be the EU's first official war if the Russians jump in. History unfolding before our eyes -- now we just have to figure out how to analyze it spatially!

Cheers,

Ian

Post-First Class Review

Great to meet you all today. I am enthused about this class. You seem like a lively bunch!

Again, if you have any suggestions or recommendations for material you would like to see added, please let me know and we will try to squeeze it in. We may even toss out some stuff.

Again, for the required readings, please buy:

T.R. Reid's "United States of Europe"
Slavenka Drakulic "How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed"
Ian Buruma "Murder in Amsterdam"

If you bought "Love Thy Neighbor" and can't return it or don't want the hassle, I will buy you a soda if you keep it. It will still come in handy. You can do one of your papers on it. It is a stellar book and we will be reading excerpts from it throughout the semester. Definitely worth adding to your collection!

I will see you all on Wednesday.

So caffeinated I can't stand still!!!

Welcome to the Post-Soviet blogosphere!

This is the site where I will post readings, provide links to random, tangential crazy news items from Europe, and provide study materials from time-to-time.

For networking and posting questions, please do not use this site. This site is my unilateral communication channel. Please post questions or comments or weird new items that you come across on the course Facebook page. You should receive an invitation to join the group within a week of classes beginning. If not, please email me and I will hook you up. Thanks! I look forward to getting to know you all soon.