‘RUSSIANS STILL PULL ALL ARMENIA’S STRINGS’: AMERICAN ANALYSTS ON RUSSIA, IRAN AND US VICE-PRESIDENT’S SPEECH

Tert
Oct 28 2009
Armenia

"The only country that could challenge Russia’s southern flank is
Turkey, and until now, the best Russian hedge against Turkish power
has been an independent (although certainly still a Russian client)
Armenia (Turkish-Armenian relations have been frozen in the post-Cold
War era over the contentious issue of the Armenian genocide)," said
analysts George Friedman and Peter Zeihan on the pages of American
publication Stratfor, evaluating the statements US Vice-President
Joe Biden made during his visit to Eastern Europe.

Their article, in part, reads:

"A few months ago, Russia offered the Turks the opportunity to improve
relations with Armenia. The Turks are emerging from 90 years of
near-comatose international relations, and they jumped at the chance
to strengthen their position in the Caucasus. But in the process,
Turkey’s relationship with its heretofore regional ally, Azerbaijan
(Armenia’s archfoe), has soured. Terrified that they are about to lose
their regional sponsor, the Azerbaijanis have turned to the Russians
to counterbalance Armenia, while the Russians still pull all Armenia’s
strings. The end result is that Turkey’s position in the Caucasus is
now far weaker than it was a few months ago, and Russia still retains
the ability to easily sabotage any Turkish-Armenian rapprochement.

"With Russia making great strides in Eurasia while simultaneously
sabotaging U.S. efforts in the Middle East, the Americans desperately
need to change the game. Despite its fiery tone, this desperation was
on full display in Biden’s speech. Flat-out challenging the Central
Europeans to help other FSU countries recreate the revolutions they
launched when they broke with the Soviet empire in 1989, specifically
calling for such efforts in Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Armenia, is as bald-faced a challenge as the Americans
are currently capable of delivering."

The authors conclude by stating that Washington wishes to compel Russia
to fix its attention on the near environment and forget about Iran.

"Better yet, Washington would like to force the Russians into a long
slog of defensive actions to protect their clients hard up on their
own border. The Russians did not repair the damage of the Orange
Revolution overnight, so imagine how much time Washington would have
if all of the former Soviet satellites started stirring up trouble
across Russia’s western and southern periphery," they write.

Stratfor is an American publisher of geopolitical intelligence. Their
global team of professionals provides insights into political,
economic, and military developments to reduce risks, to identify
opportunities, and to stay aware of happenings around the globe.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress