In the late 1990s, as Russia's economy descended into a death spiraleventually culminating in the August 1998 crash of the ruble and the government's default on its international loan commitments-a series of books and articles appeared asking, "Who Lost Russia?" 1 Fingers pointed in many directions, but almost all to the West: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), NATO, President Bill Clinton, and then later in the next decade, President George W. Bush. Arguments came in many varieties, but divided into two polar opposite views: the West did too much, and the West did too little. The "too much" camp blamed the IMF, Treasury, shock therapists, and democracy promoters for pushing too hard and too fast for reform within Russia. The "too much" camp also blamed the West for exerting excessive external pressures on Russia-NATO expansion, the bombing of Serbia and the overthrow of its leader Slobodan Milosevic, the first so-called "color revolution" in post-communist Europe. Bush then piled on, cancelling the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, invading Iraq in 2003, expanding NATO for a second time in 2004, 2 and allegedly fomenting new color revolutions in Georgia in 2003 (the Rose Revolution) and Ukraine in 2004 (the Orange Revolution).

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The female combatant, a common icon of Cuban nationalism, is found in every historical period from independence through the post-Soviet period. Unlike most other nations, Cubans have eulogized women who have defended their nation with their own lives and with those of their husbands and children. Yet, for all the fanfare these heroines have received in the nationalist discourse, few scholarly treatments of their lives exist. Instead, their heroism has been used to exalt male leaders and to uphold a patriarchal state. Their martyrdom has served as a model of sacrifice unto death for all citizens to follow. This article examines the nature of Cuban combatant iconography that followed the Cuban wars of independence, the Early Republic, and the Cuban Revolution, and connects that iconography to the purposes of state building in each era.

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The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has long-term geostrategic interests in Afghanistan: stability, economic development, and curbing narcotics flowing into Central Asia and thence to Russia. Moscow is in the difficult position of not wanting American forces to stay in Afghanistan but also not wanting the drawdown of forces to leave behind chaos.