1. Orientation
   1. Ural Mountains
   2. Black Sea
   3. Caspian Sea
   4. Lake Baikal
   5. Siberia
   6. Exclave: Kaliningrad
2. Intro to Russian Domain: Communism and USSR
   1. What is Communism
      1. Centralized state controls the means of production
      2. Means of production: materials, resources, and facilities of goods
      3. Ideological found: Mr. Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)
         1. Das Kapital
            1. 1867
         2. Communist Manifesto
            1. 1848
            2. lol red flag
      4. Keep in mind, industrialization was in full swing and colonialism was in full swing
      5. Marx's Communism
         1. Human struggle is Class struggle
         2. Capitalism is inherently exploitative by divorcing labor from product of labor
            1. Private ownership, Profit
            2. Personal interests control means of production
         3. Labor is a commodity and the only thing the prole can sell is labor. Exploitaiton
         4. Concludes Labor loses the class struggle in capitalist system
      6. Rise and Fall of Soviet Union
         1. 1917
            1. Russian Empire deposed after WWI, mostly agrarian, peasant.
            2. Lenin and Red Army defeats White russian army
         2. 1922
            1. Soviet Union comes about
         3. 1924
            1. Lenin dies.
         4. 1924-1953
            1. Joe Steel
            2. WWII
            3. killing fascists
            4. Genocide
            5. Industrialization
            6. Post-WWII Cold War
         5. 1980s
            1. Full blown economic collapse
         6. 1991
            1. Soviet Union implodes
      7. Post Soviet Geopolitical Structure
         1. Eastern
            1. Belarus
            2. Moldova
            3. Ukraine
            4. Russia
         2. Transcaucases
            1. Armenia
            2. Azerbaijan
            3. Georgia
         3. Baltics
            1. Estonia
            2. Latvia
            3. Lithuania
            4. Under Europe
         4. Central Asia
            1. Kyrgyz
            2. Tajik
            3. Turkmen
            4. Uzbek
            5. Kazakh
            6. throw the jew down the well
            7. borat
            8. The -stans
   2. Political Consolidation
      1. 1991
         1. Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
            1. coordinate foreign and economic policies
            2. recognize each others borders
            3. Does not include the Baltics
3. Geopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus Region: Ossetians in Georgia
   1. Stateless people
      1. Ossetians
         1. ethnic group around Georgia/Russia border
   2. 1991
      1. South Ossetia declares independence
      2. Declares Republic of South Ossetia
   3. South Ossetian Republic
      1. Different Language
      2. Sigificant muslim minority
      3. 2008
         1. Georgia attacks South Ossetia
         2. Russia squashes Georgia
         3. Georgia does not acknowledge South Ossetia
4. Geopolitical Conflict int he caucasus Region: Circassians in Sochi, Russia
   1. 2014 Winter Olympics are going to bein Sochi
   2. Circassian People
      1. defeated by russia in 1864
      2. many deported to ottoman empire
      3. 2014 Olympic games is 150th anniversity of Circassian defeat
   3. Sochi
      1. site of the last battle of the circassians against the russians
      2. where they were sold off into slavery
      3. Sochi IS the homeland
      4. Sochi is a Circassian word for Shache, last capital of independent circassia
      5. Olympics will be centered on where the Russians peed on the Circassians
      6. American Indians
      7. Embrassaro Program
         1. 1868
            1. Ft. Laramie Treaty
            2. Gives Sioux black hills and new reservation
            3. black hills are religious
            4. Whoops, white man discovers gold in the black hills
            5. Invalidaded by gold rush