The Russian federation and Eurasia's Islamic crescent

Abstract

it blocked Russian expansion to the south, protected the Russian state's hegemonic position in the north, and helped preserve the territorial integrity of frontline states such as Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and China. During the post-war period, fortified Soviet frontiers divided the Islamic crescent much as the 'iron curtain' split Europe. Although Gorbachev strove to reduce barriers between the Soviet Union and the outside world, he treated the European and Islamic walls differently. In November 1989 he permitted the German populist rebellion to breach the Berlin wall and accepted German reunification. In late December 1989 another populist rebellion began dismantling Soviet-Iranian border installations that divided the Azeri nation into two states: Soviet or northern Azerbaijan and Iranian or southern Azerbaijan. In January 1990 the Soviet state crushed the Azeri popular rebellion with military force and restored the border. 'Black January' was the bloodiest use of force by the Soviet state against its subjects of the entire Gorbachev era. In November 1992 the Russian Federation and its Central Asian allies intervened