Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power

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In late spring of 2007, Estonia was the object of massive cyberattacks from unknown sources following the dismantling in its capital of a statue honoring the Soviet army. In 2009, Russia held a major military exercise on the western borders, called Zapad (“the West”), simulating a counterattack against a Western invader (otherwise unidentified), which culminated in a simulated nuclear attack on the capital of a Western neighbor (also unidentified). Despite the occasional Russo-Chinese flirtation and economic cooperation, Russia in 2010 conducted major military maneuvers in eastern Siberia, called Vostok (“the East”) simulating a major conflict with a likewise unnamed enemy threatening Russia’s far-eastern territorial integrity.