PROMETHEANISM REBORN:
POLAND’S APPROACHES TO THE EAST BEFORE AND AFTER WORLD WAR II

Paul Goble
Institute of World Politics (Washington)

http://www.kavkazoved.info/news/2013/11/28/politika-rossii-na-kavkaze-glazami-polskihekspertov.
html http://www.kavkazoved.info/news/2013/03/14/sovremennyj-kavkaz-v-obektivepolskogo-
prometeizma.html http://www.kavkazoved.info/news/2013/02/25/kavkaz-v-politikeprometeizma-
mezhvoennoy-polshi.html

Next Friday, will mark the sixth anniversary of an event that is likely to pass unnoticed
but that symbolizes one of the most important trends in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space
that has emerged since 1989. On November 22, 2007, Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his
Georgian counterpart Mikhail Saakashvili jointly dedicated in Tbilisi a statue of Prometheus, the
Greek who stole fire from the gods and was punished by them for giving it to man. That statue is
a vivid reminder not only of Poland’s approach to the Soviet borderlands in the 1920s and 1930s
but also of the important ways that this approach has been vindicated and revived since 1989, a
development that has made Poland the most important country in Eastern Europe for most of the
non-Russian post-Soviet countries.

Poland’s pre-war Promethean movement was anticipated by a memorandum that Jozef
Pilsudski wrote to the Japanese government in 1904 underscoring the need to cooperate ...

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De-Russianization Accelerating Across Central Asia 

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Non-Traditional Muslims and Jihadists Overlap but Don’t Correspond in the North Caucasus, Study Finds

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If Putin Really Wanted to Integrate Russia, He’d Build Decent Roads

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Attacks on Churches and Mosques in Russia on the Rise

By: Mairbek Vatchagaev

Against the backdrop of anti-Islamic hysteria launched by the Russian government’s propaganda machine, it is hard not to notice the negative trend in such a delicate matter as interfaith dialogue in the country. Deliberately or not, a negative image of Muslims has been firmly established in Russia. A man with a beard or a woman wearing the hijab are increasingly perceived in society as extremists

It was inevitable that this attitude would result in a backlash by Muslims in Russia; the question only was whether Muslims would aim their opposition at politicians or Christians. Muslims are in fact becoming aggressive toward Christians because they are associated with the authorities. The Russian Orthodox Church also contributes to the trend because it aspires to become a dominant force in the society (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/world/europe/russian-regions-hijab-ban-puts-squeeze-on-muslims.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0; www.globalpost.com/dispatch/russia/100209/russian-orthodox-church).

The church bases its aspirations on the fact that ethnic Russians are an absolute majority in the ...

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Up-to-date "Window on Eurasia” Publications (10^th of November):

Putin’s Russia a Descendent of Mongol Khans, Khakass Historian Argues

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Is Russia about to Return to Gigantist Development Projects of the Past?

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Ethnic Enclaves Forming in Russia’s Smaller Cities Faster than in Capitals

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Sochi Countdown – 17 Weeks to the Olympiad in the North Caucasus  

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‘Autocracy, Orthodoxy, and Profitability’ – A New Russian Trinity But Not for Long, Scholar Says

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For Putin Regime, A Traditional Muslim is a Soviet Muslim

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Putin’s Drive to Create ‘Neo-USSR’ Recreating All Soviet Problems -- Including Prospect of Collapse, Akhmedov Says 

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Chuvash Case Highlights Moscow’s Fears about Support for Idel-Ural State

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Biryulevo Violence Only Latest Pogrom in Putin’s Moscow

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Russian Police Tell LGBT Activists They’ll Be Beaten So They ‘Can’t Stand Up Before ...

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