MILITARY BUILDUP WORRIES EUROPE, AND RIGHTLY SO

The Messenger, Georgia
Aug 5 2006

Georgia still has the flag of Europe flying from every public building,
but in reality the country’s relations with the EU have reached
something of a stumbling block. On August 28 EU External Relations
Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who is in charge of the European
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), castigated Caucasian countries over huge
increases in military spending.

Speaking at a Ljubljana conference on the implementation of the ENP
action plans with South Caucasus, Ferrero-Waldner had nothing but
extremely stern words for Georgian. Pointing first to the lack of
progress in conflict resolution, which she said was a responsibility
of "all parties", she went on to argue that the vast increase in the
military budgets of Georgia and Azerbaijan-which she described as going
"through the roof"-was not only unjustifiable given the deplorable
social conditions in those countries, but also hindered the peaceful
resolution of the conflicts.

Though in a subsequent interview with Radio Free Europe she admitted
that this criticism would not prevent the adoption of the ENP action
plans, she added the increase of "hate speech" she detected in all
three South Caucasus countries to her list of charges.

Ferrero-Waldner makes a good case: not only is it clear that in
a country as poor as Georgia, where most of the population live in
extreme poverty, unemployment is rife, access to healthcare is scarce
and teachers and doctors live on a pittance, spending the lions share
of the state budget new guns is unacceptable; an increase in military
spending coupled with an increase in military rhetoric makes peaceful
conflict resolution ever more difficult.

Georgia has repeatedly stated its commitment to solving its separatist
conflicts only by peaceful means, and has submitted peace plans to
that effect to both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These plans have
one international approval, and call first of all for confidence
building measures to be implemented between the conflicting sides. It
is difficult to see how these plans can proceed past stage one then,
when both sides are rattling their sabres ever louder "lowering the
threshold for war", and Georgia saw the biggest increase in military
spending of any country in the world this year. "Harsh rhetoric does
not create an atmosphere conducive to restoring mutual trust and
resolving these conflicts" she warns.

In Georgia’s defence, this military build up does start from an
incredibly low base, it was only 1998 when the whole of Senaki
military base (now rebuilt to those ‘European Standards’ we hear so
much about) mutinied over conditions and pay, and Georgia clearly
needs a strong military to stop it sliding back towards being a
failed state. Also, military build up is by and large supported
by the Georgian population, though increased employment and better
social conditions would be supported still more. However, it is also
true is that Georgia needs the EU, membership may be a dim prospect,
but if the peacekeeping forces and settlement mechanisms are to be
internationalised in the conflict zones, the EU will prove far more
acceptable to Russia than NATO; it is with this in mind that Georgia
should take Ferrero-Waldner’s words to heart.

Azerbaijan, fat on oil and gas revenues, without Russian military
might to worry about in its confrontation with Nagorno-Karabakh and
with an authoritarian regime which tightly controls the media, can
ignore the EU’s advice, but any escalation in that conflict would
only add to the suffering of its already impoverished population.

The EU is right to be worried, the last thing Europe needs is
instability on its crucial south-eastern flank, another Balkans would
be a disaster in terms of human trafficking, drugs and terrorism.

Anything they can say to try and push back the Caucasus from the
verge of armed hostilities is to be welcomes, and we can only hope
that regional leaders take Ferrero-Waldner’s advice: "Leaders have
a responsibility to prepare their populations for peace, not war."
From: Baghdasarian