THE GEORGIA CRISIS IN THE NEW COLD-WAR ATMOSPHERE
by Mehdi Yari

Keyhan website
Aug 27 2008
Tehran, Iran

Following the collapse of the [Former] Soviet Union and end of the
Cold War and the subsequent decline in power of the Eastern block,
the formation of the Republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the
immense energy resources of the Caspian Sea have attracted the
attention of regional and supra-regional powers and paved the way
for their rivalries in the region. America, perceiving its power to
be unchallenged, proceeded to extent its influence in the region,
relying on the idea of a world with a single superpower. The southern
Caucasus is of special concern to America and in reality to the oil
and gas cartels that wield the power in America, for being a route
for the transfer of Caspian energy resources. America’s policy in
this region has been to curb the traditional influence of Russia and
deprive it of a role in exploiting the region’s oil and gas resources.

It is trying, by all possible means, to take in hand the control and
transfer of the region’s immense oil and gas resources. The Baku-Ceyhan
oil transfer route that crosses Georgia, was built at great expense
and at America’s insistence, and currently transfers some of the oil
from the Caspian to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Russia has no role in
this project. From the time the republics of the southern Caucasus
won their independence, America has declared support for and the
strengthening of these republics to be an important foreign policy
principle. American foreign policy decision-makers try to act to curb
Russia’s power in the region and prevent any weakening of the newly
independent republics. Their measures include America’s presence in the
sensitive and strategic region of the southern Caucasus in the context
of NATO, and economic, political and military agreements signed.

But Russia has moved forward since the Putin presidency and refuses
to stop its strategy; it is thus opposed to the American presence in
its former spheres of influence, that is Central Asia, the Caucasus
and even Eastern Europe, and has reacted in these areas to issues
including the missile shield in Poland and construction of the radar
installation in the Czech Republic.

America and its main backer the Zionist regime have in turn trained and
equipped in recent years Georgian military and security forces and,
in encouraging that state to attack the autonomous South Ossetian
region, pursued several aims we may briefly list:

1 – Create a military and security cordon on Russia’s frontiers,
and curb its influence in the southern Caucasus region,

2 – Reduce Russia’s control over transfer routes for Caspian energy
resources in this region,

3 – Thwart Russia’s traditional strategy of winning access to warm
waters,

4 – Raise the security level and control over the oil transfer route
from Baku to Ceyhan,

5 – Provoke fear among other Caucasus former Soviet republics and
encourage them to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States,

6 – Justify the formation of the missile shield in Poland and radar
installation in the Czech Republic, and hasten their implementation,

7 – Distract world opinion from the failures in the Middle East and
Caucasus regions.

But Russia’s swift reaction and attack against Georgia, Georgia’s
defeat and America’s failure to back Georgia against Russia, have
overshadowed America’s goals. These can undermine the confidence of
other former Soviet republics and even Eastern European nations in
America and strengthen the perspective that America is no longer able
to shape world politics. America’s move in the Caucasus can also cause
a new turn in Russia’s conduct within international interactions. These
can include:

1 – Refusing to cooperate with America in world political affairs
given its right of veto in the UN Security Council,

2 – Change its positions on Iran’s nuclear dossier,

3 – Set up a missile base in Syria and provide that country with
equipment, in order to punish Israel for its significant role in
creating this conflict,

4 – Establish its political, economic and military presence in Latin
America including in Venezuela and Cuba,

5 – Change its policy of cooperation with NATO.

Generally one may say the recent crisis between Russia and Georgia,
in whose creation America and Israel played a pertinent role, has
created a new cold-war atmosphere that can in turn influence the
international system.