KOSOVO BOOMERANG: EVERYONE LOSES
PanARMENIAN.Net
02.09.2008 GMT+04:00
The Georgian-Ossetian conflict threw the uni-polar world and the US
supremacy into collapse, for which America will hardly be grateful
to Saakashvili.
The outrageous 5-day war is now over. Everyone lost: Georgia, Russia,
the West, and the region. And you would be wrong to think that
either the West or Russia was able to achieve anything through the
war. Saakashvili’s expectations were all subject to failure too, as he
wished far too much and set hopes on the USA, which could hardly desire
to fight for Georgia, whose location on the world map was unknown to
an average American before the war broke out in South Ossetia.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia did not achieve anything through the conflict
either, especially what is called "democracy" in the West. However,
you can hardly call democratic the steps, directed at encouraging the
"restoration of territorial integrity of Georgia". All this is over
now and each of the parties is presently trying to find the best
way out of the situation, provoked by the unfortunate actions of
the Georgian President. In this connection it should be noted that
Saakashvili will have to forget about the "territorial integrity of
Georgia". The recognition of Kosovo, whose inadmissibility was widely
discussed by Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov, delivered a hard blow to
the West. Moreover, the blow was struck from the side least expected.
Let us recall the process of conflict development. On the night of
August 8 Georgia launched a military operation against South Ossetia,
practically destroying the capital of the Republic, Tskhinvali and
other populated areas, and killing, according to the official data
by South Ossetia, more than 1,5 thousand peaceful residents. In
reply, Russia brought her forces into South Ossetia to protect the
Russian residents living there. Meanwhile, it drew its coastguard
ships to the shores of Abkhazia to prevent aggression and killings
of peaceful citizens, including the Russians that were on holiday
in the Republic. On August 12 Russia announced about the completion
of the operation under compulsion of Georgia to keep peace, and ten
days later it declared about the complete withdrawal of its armed
forces. Presently Russian peacekeepers are in the buffer zone of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Their disposal has been anticipated
by earlier agreements on the regulation of the Georgian-Ossetian
and Georgian-Abkhazian conflicts and does not contradict the
"Medvedev-Sarkozy" plan, signed by Russia.
The declarations of the US Administration and the EC countries were
more likely calculated for the public, rather than for reflecting
the actual state of affairs. The U.S.A. is far and Russia is near,
and no one in Europe wants to find himself hungry in the energy pica
before the coming winter. More than half of the EC energy supply goes
through Russia and it is enough for the EC countries to simply limit
themselves to declarations condemning Russia for disproportionate
use of force. And no matter how hard the Russian Federation tries
to convince that she will never make use of the energy factor for
exerting pressure, practice proves the contrary. The Georgian-Ossetian
conflict threw the uni-polar world and the US supremacy into collapse,
for which America will hardly be grateful to Saakashvili. America is
presently busy with the pre-election campaign and McCain, together
with his admirers, was badly in need for the victory of the Georgian
Army. However, it did not happen and Vice-President Cheney’s visit to
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine can hardly change the turn of events.
Still, the situation is not so bad. Western nations have decided
to fight against the presence of Russia in Georgia’s territory and
their weapon is cash. The International Monetary Fund is set to
reach a preliminary deal this week that will throw the former Soviet
republic a $750 million credit line, according to officials close
to the negotiations. Both the U.S. and Europe are also working on
big assistance packages that Georgia hopes will provide $2 billion
or more. The money aims to calm the nerves of foreign investors —
crucial to Georgia’s economic stability — and help Georgia finance
the repair of war damage. More important, Western cash will help
shore up the pro-Western government of President Mikhail Saakashvili,
notes the Wall Street Journal.
As some experts consider, the U.S.A. might step up military assistance
to Georgia by supplying more military trainers. More broadly, according
to the representative of the US Administration, Washington is seeking
"a long-term strategic framework" for the region. However, Foreign
Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov called on the USA and its allies
to stop the support of the Â"Saakashvili regimeÂ". According to him,
the USA makes a "historical mistake" by taking Saakashvili’s side.
One thing is clear: for the world powers South Caucasus is only a
territory on which world supremacy is raffled. According to the adviser
of the Nagorno Karabakh Foreign Minister Arsen Melik-Shahnazarov
"the latest events showed that like the Ossetians and Abkhazians,
citizens of Nagorno Karabakh are not considered humans by the
world "gamblers". Small nations are simply rubbish for the latter
and hinder their egocentric plans on controlling the oil and gas
flow. Accordingly, we have to make our own conclusions," he declared.
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