The two papers grouped together here were delivered at the Strategic
Studies Institute's annual strategy conference for 2007. As the theme of
the conference was global security challenges to the United States and
proceeded on a region by region basis, these papers were delivered
during the session devoted to security challenges issuing from what is
now called Eurasia, i.e., to a large degree the former Soviet Union. The
authors illustrate the degree to which great power rivalry in Eurasia
has become a major security issue and source of growing Russo-American
tensions. Whereas Dr. R. Craig Nation lays out some of the fundamental
macro-strategic issues of this rivalry and U.S. goals in Eurasia, as
well as the consequences of Russian resistance to Western and American
pressures, Dr. Dmitri Trenin emphasizes the growing intensity of Russian
threat perceptions.