Welcome to the first entry in our new blog, Eurasia Outlook, which will be offering analysis and insight on the Eurasia region from a wide array of Carnegie’s experts in Moscow, Washington, Almaty, and other locations, as well as from some of the most interesting commentators on the region.

As we start the blog, key questions come to mind: What is Eurasia? Is it merely a new name for the Russian Federation, which sits, physically, between Europe and Asia?

To those who maintain that Eurasianism is the very essence of Russianness, I would reply that they should not use euphemisms. Russia is Russia: it is European, though not of Europe; and in Asia (in significant part), but clearly not Asian. A blog devoted to Russia should call itself—proudly, in my view—a Russia blog.

To quite a few, Eurasia continues to stand for the former Soviet Union. But is that still a relevant definition almost a quarter-century after the breakup of the historical Russian empire? No way. The former USSR will not reemerge, for example in the form of a Eurasian Union—as some hope, and others fear.

So the only Eurasia that exists, in my view, is the grand physical continent itself, extending from Portugal to Chukotka in Russia’s far east and from Norway to Malaysia.

Of course, it does not make sense to discuss the whole of a place so big and diverse at any one time. Yet I believe that Eurasia as a frame of reference reflects the twenty-first-century notion of an interconnected continent.

China, its eastern center, exercises ever-greater influence, especially economic, across both Asia and Europe. The European Union is reaching out, again primarily economically, to China and the rest of Asia. The impulse produced by the Arab Awakening concerns everyone: Europeans, Chinese, and Russians. Having ceased to be the center of Eurasia, Russia remains an interesting piece of the puzzle, holding the continent’s balance, as some argue, in its hands.

This blog will not be Russia-centric, but Russia will get a fair amount of attention from contributors. Some of them are Russian themselves; others are students of Russia; still others are focused on various parts of Eurasia where Russia continues to play an important role or may play such a role in the future—Central and South Asia, the South Caucasus, Northeast Asia, and the Middle East.

I hope you enjoy reading our thoughts, and of course your involvement and comments as readers are very welcome.