luctant_to_fully_support_America/
Sep. 05, 2008
Dick Cheney Mistakenly Staked on Caspian
// Ilham Aliyev is in no hurry to support the Nabucco project
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney finished his tour of the South
Caucasus, which was intended to strengthen Washington’s positions in
its struggle for Caspian energy resources. The visit he paid to
Tbilisi yesterday went smoothly as expected. However, the talks he
held in Baku Wednesday failed. According to the information of
Kommersant, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev gave his American
guest a cold welcome and sent a clear message that Baku won’t support
the idea to redirect the energy resources pipelines so that they would
omit Russia. He came to that conclusion watching the developments in
the neighboring Georgia.
Money instead of tanks
Yesterday at 11 a.m. Dick Cheney arrived from Baku in Tbilisi, where
Georgia’s Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze. Before the meeting of the
U.S. Vice President with Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili
Georgian Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaya revealed the
talks’ agenda to Kommersant. "First, Dick Cheney wants to demonstrate
the U.S. support to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine," he said.
"Second, during the negotiations the parties will discuss the security
of communication lines that allow shipping the Caspian energy
resources to the West omitting Russia."
After the talks in the new residence of Georgia’s head-of-state,
Mikheil Saakashvili stated at the joint press-conference, "Georgia
feels the U.S. support, which is strong as never before." The
journalists had a chance to assess the strength of that support
following Dick Cheney’s address. The U.S. Vice President said that
Washington allocates $1 billion to restore the Georgian economy. "We
stand in solidarity with the people of Georgia. After your nation won
its freedom in the Rose Revolution, America came to the aid of this
courageous young democracy. We are doing so again, as you work to
overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory – and an
illegitimate, unilateral attempt to change your country’s borders by
force that has been universally condemned by the free world," the Vice
President stated. "Russia’s actions have cast grave doubt on Russia’s
intentions and on its reliability as an international partner – not
just in Georgia but across this region and indeed throughout the
international system." Besides, Dick Cheney reiterated that Washington
fully supports Georgia’s NATO ambitions. "Georgia will be in our
alliance," he claimed.
Nevertheless, according to the sources of Kommersant in the Georgian
Chancellery, the talks of Mikheil Saakashvili and Dick Cheney didn’t
go as smoothly as their press-conference did. The discussion mainly
focused on the security of the existing pipelines, which were laid in
Georgia omitting Russia, and the project of the Trans-Caspian gas
pipeline Nabucco. Dick Cheney made no secret of the fact that the U.S.
is ready to provide the security of these pipelines using political
methods only. So, Georgia won’t get military assistance from the U.S.
now.
By the way, Wednesday, U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice made this
position public. "It is not yet time to look at the questions of
assistance on the military side," she stated in Washington. However,
Mikheil Saakashvili declared ready to further support American energy
projects in the region. According to the sources of Kommersant, he
promised to Dick Cheney that Tbilisi will support the Nabucco project
"whatever" in case the U.S. gets the approval of Georgia’s neighbors,
Baku, first of all.
The Baku emissary
Meanwhile, according to the information of Kommersant, Dick Cheney’s
visit to Azerbaijan he made on Wednesday turned out complete failure.
The guest of honor, who came in Baku for the first time, was met
neither by President Ilham Aliyev nor Prime Minister Artur Rasizade.
Instead, First Deputy Prime Minister Yagub Eyubov and Foreign Office
Chief Elmar Mammadyarov met Dick Cheney in the airport. As to Ilham
Aliyev, he was in no hurry to receive Mr Cheney. That’s why the U.S.
Vice President first went to a meeting with BP President in Azerbaijan
Bill Schrader and Chevron Azerbaijan top managers. Then he visited the
U.S. Embassy in Baku and held a meeting with Ambassador Anne E. Derse.
It was not earlier than in the evening that Dick Cheney went to the
residence of Azerbaijan’s President.
According to the sources of Kommersant with the Office of Azerbaijan’s
President, the talks turned out pretty tough, in spite of the fact
that Dick Cheney and Ilham Aliyev have had close ties since Mr cheney
worked with Halliburton and Mr Aliyev was SOCAR (Azerbaijan’s
state-run oil company) Vice President. They discussed the war in
Georgia and the prospects of constructing the Nabucco gas pipeline.
According to the information of Kommersant, Dick Cheney informed Ilham
Aliyev that the U.S. will support its allies in the region and intends
to promote the project of the gas pipeline omitting Russia.
Nonetheless, Ilham Aliyev sent a clear message that although he
appreciates the relations with Washington, he is not going to have a
row with Moscow. In fact it meant that under the present circumstances
Baku decided to bide its time without fostering the Nabucco project.
Kommersant interlocutors with the Presidential Office said that Dick
Cheney was irritated by the outcome of the discussion – he even
refused to attend a banquet in his honor.
Ilham Aliyev’s reluctance to support Washington quarreling with Russia
is easy to explain. Baku regrded Tbilisi’s definitively losing of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia as well as Russia’s tanks entering Georgia
as a signal to everyone in the region who is willing to join NATO.
Azerbaijan’s budget incurs great losses: because of the explosion at
the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline on August 12 – Turkey put the
blame on the Kurdistan Workers Party – and the pauses of the work of
the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and Baku-Supsa oil pipeline,
energy carriers export from Azerbaijan in the western direction was
suspended. At the same time Baku has no claims to Russia. Moreover,
according to the information of Kommersant, Azerbaijan’s authorities
expressed their gratitude to the Russian Federation because during the
military operation and bombardments of the Georgian territory no
BTC-related facilities were destroyed.
Nevertheless, Baku can’t overhaul its stance towards the pipelines on
the territory of Georgia. Azerbaijan is said to have increased the
workload of the Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline. It concluded that in
the present situation it’s more secure to transport gas to Europe via
Russia, rather than Georgia and Turkey. Even more so in June Gazprom
offered to buy Azerbaijan’s gas at any volumes according to the
European pricing formula. During his visit to Baku in July Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev and Ilham Aliyev agreed to launch
negotiations concerning the matter. It seems the talks will be
accelerated, just like the pace of Baku and Moscow’s developing closer
relations.
The Russian leaders have already started work in this direction. In
the evening after the talks of Dick Cheney and Ilham Aliyev finished,
Dmitry Medvedev called Azerbaijan’s President. Sources in the Kremlin
explained to Kommersant the necessity of the telephone conversation
with Dmitry Medvedev’s desire to bring home to Ilham Aliyev, one of
the region’s most influential players, Russia’s position regarding
Georgia. Even more so Azerbaijan has a territorial dispute with
Armenia, which remains unresolved. "Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyanhas
recently visited Moscow and discussed the situation over South Ossetia
and Abkhazia during his talks with Dmitry Medvedev. The Russian
President thought it important to discuss those matters with the
Azerbaijani party as well because Baku belongs neither to SCO nor CSTO
– the organizations Russia has intensified contacts with," a source in
the Kremlin told Kommersant. In her turn, Press-Secretary of the
Russian President Natalya Timakova told Kommersant that during their
conversation the leader of Russia and Azerbaijan discussed a
possibility of a meeting in the near future.
&
Purge in Georgia’s army
A massive purge started in the Georgian army, with Mikheil Saakashvili
controlling the process personally. "After the hostilities it’s
natural that we should estimate the efficiency and effectiveness of
the military’s actions. After the assessment we’ll take all necessary
measures," said Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Batu Kutelia.
According to the information Kommersant got from Georgia’s Defense
Ministry yesterday, "Land forces artillery brigade commander Devi
Chankotadze was the one to have best distinguished himself during the
hostilities." Yesterday he was appointed Deputy Head of the Georgian
Army Staff. He succeeded Alexiy Osepaishvili, who was downgraded to
head of one of the Ministry’s minor directorates because of "a bad
organization the troops’ movement" during the war. Land brigade
commander Zurab Agladze also got promoted – he was appointed land
troops commander. His predecessor Mamuka Balakhadze was sent to
Germany for advanced training.
Besides, National Guard Commander David Aptsiauri, who was responsible
for the preparation and mobilization of reservists, was fired. In the
view of the Georgian authorities, the mobilization process was badly
organized during the war. For example, the leadership of the National
Guard was unable to provide ammunition and coordinate the activities
of the reservists, which led to numerous casualties among them.
Georgy Dvali, Tbilisi
Georgian government arrested Tsotne Gamsakhurdia
Wednesday night, son of Georgia’s first President Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Tsotne was detained by the Georgian Interior Ministry in Tbilisi
airport after he arrived from Moscow. He is accused of attempting to
stage a coup. Here the events of the autumn of 2007 are meant. At that
time the Georgian government and opposition confronted. On November 7,
2007 as the confrontation was at its peak, causing clashes between the
police and demonstrators, the Georgian Interior Ministry made public a
record of a telephone conversation between Tsotne Gamsakhurdia and his
elder brother. During the conversation Tsotne, who resided in Moscow,
reproached the leaders of the opposition that they didn’t prompt
people to take to the streets and storm governmental buildings on
November 2 during an unprecedented anti-government meeting in
Rustaveli Avenue. The authorities regarded it as an attempt to stage a
coup.
Interestingly, Tsotne Gamsakhurdia knew that a suit was brought
against him, but after the Russia-Georgian military conflict he
decided to return to his motherland. Perhaps he was encouraged by the
fact that such suits were brought against many opposition leaders, but
no one of them was arrested. For example, the Georgian Prosecutor
General’s Office instituted proceedings against Labor Party leader
Shalva Natelashvili, but didn’t arrest him. Apparently, the deciding
factor was that unlike Mr Natelashvili, Tsotne Gamsakhurdia had lived
in Moscow and returned to Tbilisi after the war. Tbilisi is sure that
the Russian government’s aim during the recent conflict was toppling
President Saakashvili.
Activists of the Svoboda (Freedom) opposition party told Kommersant,
"The Interior Ministry doesn’t let lawyers visit Tsotne Gamsakhurdia,
and that’s why we may apply to the international community."
Georgy Dvali, Tbilisi
Alexander Gabuev, Vladimir Solovyov; Rafael Mustafayev, Baku; Georgy
Dvali, Tbilisi