Class Note 1974
Issue
November-December 2022
Hi, everyone.
I recently received a note from our Bob Bauman with three articles he wrote on Russian foreign policy vis-à-vis Ukraine and other eastern European and central Asian countries. The first article was written after Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014 and published in 2018. The subsequent articles were published in late 2019, both in the periodical Military Review.
Here’s Bob: “I read your notes in the latest alumni mag and could not help but be intrigued by the final paragraph looking for classmates to engage on Russia. This June marked 50 years since I went to Leningrad on the Dartmouth foreign study program along with Greg Pulis, Peter Faucher, Pernell Delly, and other ’74s.
“Since then I have spent almost all of my time working on or in the former Soviet Union, including a year of doctoral work at Moscow University and many subsequent research trips. After finishing my Ph.D. in Russian history at Yale, most of my time was spent as a civilian professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Kansas. I also taught at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University and taught briefly at the Bashkir State University in Ufa, Russia, and am currently in my third year of teaching at the Academy of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan. My Russian still gets lots of regular work here in Tashkent. In addition, I have a very good vantage point on the war in Ukraine from Uzbekistan, which like all of the former republics of the USSR takes great interest in what is currently happening. Anyway, as grist for the mill, I mention several of my articles, although none has been written since the war started. My diplomatic status here necessitates a degree of discretion on my public profile at the moment.”
The first article is titled “A Central Asian Perspective on Russian Soft Power”; the second is an essay review of Stephen Cohen’s book, War with Russia: From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate.
Bob goes on to “note the recent mystery concerning the assassination of Vladimir Dugin’s daughter. Dugin has been an advocate of Eurasianism and restoration of Russian empire. His daughter was a journalist known for her nationalist views. She is now treated as a martyr to inspire Russians to fight on against Ukrainian “extremism” and American hegemonic ambitions. The “investigation” into Dugina’s death instantly concluded Ukraine was behind it. Russia is a pretty Orwellian place right now. This is not intended to exempt the West from all criticism, just to note that reality does not intrude much into Russian ideology these days.” His third article is “Mobilizing History to Promote Patriotism and a New Past.”
Class president Matt Putnam “hopes that all are still gaining grace if not Gallup and beginning to plan for attending our 50th reunion and considering support for the College and our two projects our class has identified (health equity and the 1974 scholarship).”
—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com
I recently received a note from our Bob Bauman with three articles he wrote on Russian foreign policy vis-à-vis Ukraine and other eastern European and central Asian countries. The first article was written after Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014 and published in 2018. The subsequent articles were published in late 2019, both in the periodical Military Review.
Here’s Bob: “I read your notes in the latest alumni mag and could not help but be intrigued by the final paragraph looking for classmates to engage on Russia. This June marked 50 years since I went to Leningrad on the Dartmouth foreign study program along with Greg Pulis, Peter Faucher, Pernell Delly, and other ’74s.
“Since then I have spent almost all of my time working on or in the former Soviet Union, including a year of doctoral work at Moscow University and many subsequent research trips. After finishing my Ph.D. in Russian history at Yale, most of my time was spent as a civilian professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Kansas. I also taught at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University and taught briefly at the Bashkir State University in Ufa, Russia, and am currently in my third year of teaching at the Academy of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan. My Russian still gets lots of regular work here in Tashkent. In addition, I have a very good vantage point on the war in Ukraine from Uzbekistan, which like all of the former republics of the USSR takes great interest in what is currently happening. Anyway, as grist for the mill, I mention several of my articles, although none has been written since the war started. My diplomatic status here necessitates a degree of discretion on my public profile at the moment.”
The first article is titled “A Central Asian Perspective on Russian Soft Power”; the second is an essay review of Stephen Cohen’s book, War with Russia: From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate.
Bob goes on to “note the recent mystery concerning the assassination of Vladimir Dugin’s daughter. Dugin has been an advocate of Eurasianism and restoration of Russian empire. His daughter was a journalist known for her nationalist views. She is now treated as a martyr to inspire Russians to fight on against Ukrainian “extremism” and American hegemonic ambitions. The “investigation” into Dugina’s death instantly concluded Ukraine was behind it. Russia is a pretty Orwellian place right now. This is not intended to exempt the West from all criticism, just to note that reality does not intrude much into Russian ideology these days.” His third article is “Mobilizing History to Promote Patriotism and a New Past.”
Class president Matt Putnam “hopes that all are still gaining grace if not Gallup and beginning to plan for attending our 50th reunion and considering support for the College and our two projects our class has identified (health equity and the 1974 scholarship).”
—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com