Saakashvili Won, Something That Needed To Be Proved

SAAKASHVILI WON, SOMETHING THAT NEEDED TO BE PROVED

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.01.2008 GMT+04:00

The Georgian elections may lead Armenia to two conclusions: the
elections will be recognized by the OSCE and PACE, if the party that
the USA and Russia have staked on wins the elections, and that it is
quite possible that our elections will have one round

The elections of the Georgian President are finished, and as it was
supposed, Michael Saakashvili has been reelected for the second term,
though not with as stunning results as for the first time, when he got
almost the 90% of the votes. However, the results of these elections,
the 52%, were not poor either.

Everything would be just perfect, if not one condition. The reelection
of Saakashvili has simply been programmed by the USA and nothing else
on earth could change the Georgian history.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Democracy took a triumphant step in Georgia, said
the OSCE mission head, US congressman Alcee Hastings. By virtue
of hard competition during the election campaign, I think, these
elections were the choice of the Georgian Nation." The observers
from the OSCE and PACE are of the same opinion about the results of
the Georgian elections, which, according to them, have been "indeed
competing". "While the elections complied with most of the existing
international standards for democratic elections, serious problems,
which need immediate resolution, have occurred," mentions the OSCE
report.

The announcement is more than strange, taking into account the fact
that the opposition couldn’t manage to choose a strategy and had
to content itself with declarations about different violations. "If
the experts decide the results of the elections were not falsified,
there is no reason to insist that they were, besides it would not
be democratic at all," declared Matthew Bryza, the Deputy Assistant
Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs in his interview to
Reuters.

The expert of the American Heritage Fund Ariel Cohen spoke more openly
of the elections in Georgia.

"Leaders come and go, but the American, as well as the Russian
interests in the South Caucasus remain unchangeable. Nevertheless,
after these elections the opposition most probably won’t be able to
ever rely on Washington’s support," said Cohen.

However, unlike the OSCE mission head, US congressman Alcee Hastings,
the German observers gave a more differential assessment of the course
and the results of the elections. Dieter Boden, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR
Election Observation Mission, was in Georgia during the entire election
campaign and not on the day of voting only. He came to the conclusion
that, "These elections were not perfect. There were many mistakes."

According to Boden, in a number of cases the lists of the voters were
incomplete and the calculation of the votes was poorly organized. There
was police at some polls, which contradicts the international rules,
some of the polls were overcrowded, people were not properly explained
how to use the special inks which were used to avoid falsifications,
writes Deutsche welle.

On January 5 the Georgian citizens voted not only for the President
for their country but also for its integration into NATO. Even if
all the 100% of the electorate voted for the integration into the
Alliance, it would still change nothing. Integration into NATO is
not conditional upon the referendum, but the decision of the Member
States. And in case the Alliance decides to affiliate Georgia (or in
case it doesn’t) the votes of the electorate will have nothing to do in
this decision. This step is hard to explain for Michael Saakashvili,
but it is not impossible to do if we take into consideration the
Russian-Georgian relations. It will work like doing something out
of the desire to spite somebody, "To spite you (the Russians) we’ll
do this and that." But the most interesting thing is that the RF is
comfortable with Saakashvili, everyone already knows what one should
expect from him.

The Georgian elections may lead Armenia to two conclusions: the
elections will be recognized by the OSCE and PACE, if the party that
the USA and Russia have staked on wins the elections and that it is
quite possible that our elections will have one round only.

Georgia is an important transit country in the South Caucasus, but
Armenia’s role in the newly shaped geopolitical layout is not at
all insignificant. The USA has always preferred having an obedient
president, who carries on the same policy as its predecessors, rather
than buying a pig in a poke.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS