PanARMENIAN.Net

The Economist: Looks Like Armenia Has Mastered
Levitation
23.11.2006 16:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Despite the war, the economic
collapse that went with it and a terrible earthquake
that preceded it, Armenia seems to have levitated out
of trouble. The Economist writes in an article titled
The Art of Levitation: the Caucasian Version, Armenia
benefits from an indulgence not afforded to
pro-Western Georgia. Per person, Armenia is one of the
biggest recipients of American aid (thanks to the
powerful Diaspora there, which remembers vividly the
massacres of 1915). Yet that American help does not
trouble Russia, which has a military base in Armenia.

Some in Russia want the Armenians to take sides
against the Georgians, perhaps by stirring up the
Armenian minority there. `We refuse to choose,’ says
Vartan Oskanian, the foreign minister. Indeed:
alienating Georgia would be suicidal.

But the Kremlin’s leverage is growing. Russian firms
already control the energy sector and want a greater
stake elsewhere. Mr Oskanian says `our needs today are
too dire’ to worry about future risks. Azerbaijan’s
hydrocarbons windfall makes it sound confident, even
bellicose, stoking Armenian reliance on Russia.

`American interest in the pipelines that link the
Caspian to the Mediterranean, doglegging round
Armenia, mean that renewed fighting would echo far
beyond the Caucasus. Internationally sponsored talks
about Karabakh limp on – Mr Oskanian met his Azerbaijani
counterpart this week – and Western diplomats try to
sound upbeat. But a deal, or even a fudge that would
at least allow normal trade relations, looks all but
impossible. Sporadic shooting continues at the
dividing line,’ the newspaper writes, reports InoSMI.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress