World geog & global issues

for any location that was once part of the soviet union (and almost always part of czarist russia before it), be able to say whether it remains part of post-communist russia or is now politically independent of moscow in one of the fourteen new states formed from the soviet collapse in 1991. russians collectively call the combined areas – parts of eastern europe, transcaucasia, and central asia – the "near abroad." for nearly a quarter-century, this has been russia’s most important geographic concept with regard to its foreign relations. the territory is shown in the canvas reference map, "russia’s near abroad." (although textbook figure 5-6 is , it does not use the term "near abroad.") you need to know what the near abroad is and where it is located. without this knowledge it is impossible to understand the political context of some major recent territorial conflicts, including wars that broke out in georgia in 2008 and ukraine in 2014, and possible future conflicts as well.

3. what is a forward capital?