IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENTS CAN BE ADDED TO RUSSIA’S CREDIT
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.09.2009 GMT+04:00
Russia wants the Armenian-Turkish border opened in order to turn
Georgia into a territory of no interest, thus forcing her to "throw
herself upon the mercy of Russia".
Russia’s behavior of past week in the Caucasus reminds of the infamous
memories of the Soviet times, when by means of arm-twisting and
blackmail Moscow gained her end. Moreover, the policy of "carrot" is
not even considered and the last example of it is the much-talked-of
"interview" of the President of Armenia to the newspaper "Moskovskiy
Komsomolets". One can only guess who ever needed to trip up the Head
of the seeming strategic partner and ally on their Independence Day.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia wants the Armenian-Turkish border opened in
order to turn Georgia into a territory of no interest, thus forcing
her to "throw herself upon the mercy of Russia". Indeed, if the USA
turned off the missile defense program in Europe, it is time for
Saakashvili to make a decision. All the fantasies of Georgian as
well as Azerbaijani politicians that missile shield will be located
in the South Caucasus, are unfounded and merely a figment.
However, we are more interested in the behavior of Russia in Armenia,
or rather its behavior towards the opening of Armenian-Turkish
border. All the current actions of Moscow are nothing but formation of
a background against which the main action is to develop on October
13-14. On the whole, nobody is interested in the date of signing the
agreement except for Armenian politicians, who immediately began to
draw parallels between this date and the date of signing the Kars
Treaty, claiming that not by chance do these dates coincide. They
might be right. But as far as we know, the calendar of the European
Championship matches is defined by FIFA and Turkey has nothing to
do with it. She could only "bribe" the participants of the draw
ceremony… But all this is so insignificant that it is even funny
to discuss.
Moscow and the rld understand that today Armenia is simply not able
to think of anything other than these Protocols. On the one hand
it is good, but on the other it can be so arranged that Armenians
themselves "mix up" the process, which, anyway, will go the way it
is beneficial first for Russia, then for the U.S. and finally for
the rest of the world.
One thing is almost a 90% guarantee: the border will be opened,
Russia will consolidate her presence in the Caucasus and will further
strengthen her political and economic ties with Turkey. Moreover,
the border security from the Armenian side will still be organized
by Russian frontier guards. In short, two important achievements
can be added to Russia’s diplomatic credit this month: the refusal
of Pentagon from missile defense and final obedience of Armenia,
no matter how sad it is for Yerevan. Although in the latter case, we
can also count the positives: nobody can guarantee that Azerbaijan
will take decisive steps towards the Karabakh conflict settlement,
enlisting Ankara’s support, which obviously offers assistance as
compensation. Everyone knows that the statements of Erdogan and
Davutoglu on "preconditions" are nothing but an attempt to save face.
In short: the talks will end in signing certain interim documents,
as a result of which the Armenian-Turkish, or, if you wish,
the Russian-Turkish border will be opened. Perhaps it will be
open only at certain hours, such as the Georgian checkpoint Vale –
from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. But in all this story there is one big "but":
the whole process is presented to the world community as if it was
Armenia that closed the border, unleashed the Karabakh conflict and
destroyed half a million Armenians. This is what our politicians and
analysts should voice instead of making a political PR….