In an age of rampant globalisation the study of geopolitics assumes a crucial, and urgent, significance. While geopolitical considerations have always ruled imperial structures in the past, the present state of international politics, where America postures on the world-stage as sole hegemon, demands a renewed attention to the historical, economic, cultural and spiritual bases of the major empires of the European mainland. After the last great war, the main counterpoise to the ambitious American international enterprise has been the Soviet Union and its successor, the Russian Federation....