WHILE CONDI PLAYS WORD GAMES, RUSSIA LISTS CONFLICTS TO SOLVE
By Jason Cooper

Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review, Moldova –
May 31 2007

During a high level conference, US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice challenged her Russian counterpart to pronounce "Kennebunkport".

Sergei Lavrov passed with flying colors. Russia, however, was more
interested in solving conflicts around the world – not just Kosovo,
but many older flashpoints, too.

In Potsdam this week, Rice challenged her Russian colleague
to pronounce a difficult word. None of Kosovo’s problems got
solved.POTSDAM (Tiraspol Times) – During a news conference held in
Potsdam, Germany, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice engaged in
word play and challenged her Russian counterpart, Minister of Foreign
Affairs Sergei Lavrov, to pronounce a difficult English name.

She announced Wednesday that U.S. President George W. Bush will meet
with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kennebunkport, Maine, on July
1-2, and then teasingly challenged Lavrov to pronounce "Kennebunkport."

As The Washington Post reported, Lavrov – a fluent English speaker
and former Ambassador to the United Nations in New York – easily
passed the test.

Members of the press corps were taken aback by the U.S. cabinet
member’s frivolous game show attitude, with one journalist asking
out loud: "What’s next: A spelling bee for the Foreign Ministers of
the G8?"

Sergei Lavrov, fluent English but more interested in work than
in games.

Russian focus on work and issues The foreign ministers spent the day
meeting in the Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam, Germany.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for his part, used his
portion of the news conference to focus on some of the problems that
the world’s major powers will need to solve in the weeks and months
ahead. He highlighted the need for mutual agreement on conflict
resolution in Kosovo and other disputed territories.

During the meetings, Lavrov pointed to other separatist conflicts that
he said should be settled first, including Northern Cyprus, Western
Sahara, Transdniestria and South Ossetia, north of the Republic
of Georgia.

Transdniestria (officially: Pridnestrovie) is undergoing an uneasy
peace with Moldova after having been attacked by Moldovan troops in
1992; less than two years after its declaration of independence. A
ceasefire is being kept under the watchful eyes of a multilateral
team of peacekeepers, of which Russia forms part. Pridnestrovie,
Ukraine and Moldova also participate with troops and OSCE is part of
the arrangement with observers. Less than 1,500 troops make up the
peacekeeping contingent, with under 400 of those supplied by Russia.

For Kosovo, the peace is kept by NATO troops, many of which are sent
by the United States. There are more than ten times as many foreign
troops in Kosovo than in Pridnestrovie.

The United States is the world’s foremost supporter of a plan by
U.N. mediator Martti Ahtisaari that would give independence to the
Albanian majority of the Serbian province against the objections
of Serbia’s wishes and the Serbian minority in the region. Serbia
wants to grant Kosovo only broad autonomy, which is still more than
Moldova has ever offered to Transdniestria or to Moldova’s once-restive
Gagauz region.

Waiting for independence As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
pointed out, the world has a number of unresolved conflicts and
territorial disputes that predate Kosovo.

These older conflicts involve millions of people who are being denied
their right to self-determination and it would only be fair to deal
with them before Kosovo, a much newer situation.

A list of them includes:

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is a de facto
independent republic located in northern Cyprus. It declared
independence in 1983. It has existed under self-rule since 1975 as
the Turkish Cypriot Federated Republic.

Taiwan, the world’s 16th largest economy, is governed by the
largely-unrecognized Republic of China. A territorial claim by mainland
China prevents it from gaining U.N. membership. This conflict has
remained unresolved since 1949.

Abkhazia declared independence in 1992. In the Soviet Union it was a
union republic – just like Georgia – and it was not part of Georgia
until Stalin (an ethnic Georgian) demoted Abkhazia’s status and made
it part of Georgia against the will of the people. When the Soviet
Union fell, Abkhazia sought independence.

Nagorno Karabakh declared independence in 1992 but was attacked by
Azerbaijan which never recognized the right of the Armenian residents
to self-determination. It is designated a "frozen conflict" with a
tense ceasefire in place.

The State of Palestine declared independence in 1988. It has
representations in 81 different countries and observer status at
the United Nations. More than 100 states now recognize the State of
Palestine, and 20 more grant a more limited form of diplomatic status
to the Palestinian delegations, but despite the will of its people
Palestine is not yet a sovereign country.

The Republic of South Ossetia, located north of Georgia, declared
independence in 1991. Georgia never recognized this independence
and fought an unsuccessful war to gain control of the territory. The
population is in favor of independence.

Somaliland was independent before Somalia was established. It then
withdrew from the union and declared independence in 1991, but Somalia
and the international community has not yet recognized this divorce.

Western Sahara (officially the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, or
SADR) declared independence in 1976. The United Nations want to hold
a referendum on self-determination and sovereign statehood which has
been blocked by Morocco.

Not on the list is Chechnya which was ‘de facto’ independent from 1996
until 1999. Its government failed to achieve diplomatic recognition
and is no longer in control of the territory. With a more open policy
towards recognition, and a quicker way of integrating new states into
the international community, it is possibly that Chechnya would have
had sovereign statehood today.

As for the other states – those on the list – millions of people
are living in legal limbo in these states. They are under the ‘de
facto’ sovereign control of their own fate but without international
recognition. Their unrecognized governments do everything that
recognized governments do, but are unable to successfully interact
with the international community due to a lack of diplomatic ties
and diplomatic recognition.

All of these states are older than the 1999 Kosovo situation, which
is why Sergei Lavrov points out that they should be resolved first.

Pridnestrovie, or Transnistria as it is called in Romanian,
declared independence in 1990 – a full year before the Republic
of Moldova declared its own independence. A 17 year old unresolved
territorial claim by Moldova has prevented Pridnestrovie from obtaining
international recognition, despite meeting all the requirements for
sovereign statehood under international law. (With information from
The Washington Post)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress