US GLOBAL STRATEGY IN GEORGIA
by Axin Arbili
OpEdNews
US-Global-Strategy-in-Geor-by-Axin-Arbili-080821-8 89.html
Aug 21 2008
PA
Russia attacked Georgia; Georgia is under Russian occupation; Georgia
is a democracy, Russia isn’t; Georgia is small and peaceful, Russia is
big, aggressive, guilty; Russia is the old Soviet Union threatening its
neighbours, violating international law, annexing countries; Russia
is imperialistic; Georgia is innocent and a victim, etc etc. That’s
basically what the US government and corporate-controlled media
are telling us and the whole world, that’s what they want us all
to believe. Russia is told to respect the "territorial integrity"
of Georgia and to stop its aggressions while Georgia is continuously
assured of Western assistance. Washington , London , Paris , Berlin
are competing with each other in condemning Russia and in showing their
solidarity with the Georgian president Saakashvili. Press conferences
are held in Tbilisi on a frequent basis with heads of Western states,
with French and German ministers, and soon also again with Secretary
of State, Dr. Rice, to repeat the message: Georgia is an innocent
democracy under attack and occupation that needs to be supported;
that Russia is the imperial aggressor.
Western support for Georgia and Western condemnation of Russia has now
become unconditional. Never mind the facts on the ground; never mind
the fact that it was Georgia that started the military aggression to
reconquer South Ossetia; never mind the thousands of civilians killed
by Georgian military, the bombardments of Ossetian villages and its
capital, Tskhinvali. Never mind the fact that Ossetians and Abkhasians
are distinct nations that do not want to be part of Georgia; just
ignore the fact that they seek independence and their own states,
as demonstrated in several referendums, that self-determination
has been their wish for decades if not centuries. Consequently,
during his news meeting on Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer made no reference to these essential questions, rather
he reaffirmed the West’s position by telling Russia what to do and
threatening actions if it didn’t. How strange that for a military
organisation the most important question is irrelevant and omitted:
Who started the aggression, who is the aggressor? Instead, NATO
membership-promise to Georgia is reiterated. When it comes to its
geostrategic interests, questions of right or wrong are meaningless
to the West. In this conflict, the US demonstrates once again the
unchanging characteristics of its foreign policy, namely hypocrisy,
double standards, distortions, and deceptions.
Facts are inconvenient for the West if they don’t support Western
interests, so they must be swept aside with lots of media and political
manipulations. But there are major Western interests in Georgia and
in the Caucasus that cannot be concealed easily. To understand and
predict US/Western foreign policy, just look where the oil and gas
reserves of the world are located and the routes of transport to the
West. Georgia is in the focus of Western attention and support due to
a major oil pipeline, the BTC pipeline (initials for the cities Baku ,
Tblisi, and Ceyhan), which runs through Georgia . It is carrying oil
from the Caspian Sea to Europe , and it is of vital importance for
the West in terms of energy supply and security.
The aim of US foreign policy is and has always been primarily to
control energy resources and routes by all means, at all costs. That
meant historically to go to war against any nation that challenged
US objectives, to conquer and occupy their countries; and to
set up puppet regimes in the regions that would follow US/western
instructions. Most of the Middle East consists of such client states,
which have been obedient for decades ( Saudi Arabia , Pakistan ,
Iraq , Egypt , Turkey , etc). None of these countries is democratic,
but that is of no concern to the USA/EU/NATO – as long as they stay
firmly on the path shown to them. If there is no such country in
the region to make use of, it is right and convenient for the US to
simply create one. For a recent example, see the Serbian territory
of Kosova . Despite the legal, historical, moral rights of Serbs on
their ancient land, there was no talk of the "territorial integrity"
of Serbia; rather it was decided to give Albanians a second state in
which US military and material interests in the Balkans could be firmly
founded; and the largest military base outside the USA could be built.
The other two transit countries of the BTC pipeline are Azerbaijan
and Turkey . The latter already has the American client-state-status,
and work is now fully underway to secure both Azerbaijan ‘s and Georgia
‘s inclusion into US-led Western control and exploitation system. Part
of Western "democracy promotion and strengthening" are US military
bases in these regions, training and equipping the local armies, and
other economic aid that will facilitate to establish a functioning
client state useful for US/Western geostrategic and energy interests.
These client states not only get military and economic aids in
return, but their national self-appraisal, interests or aspirations,
too, are accepted, promoted, and encouraged. It doesn’t matter if
these views are exaggerated, delusional, egomaniac, undemocratic,
intolerant, immoral, inhumane, undemocratic, militaristic, criminal
or just plain fascist as long as they don’t threaten the strategic
arrangements. Take Turkey for example. That state is based on a
nationalistic state ideology and racial philosophy originating from
20th century European racism. Contrary to propaganda, Turkey is
not a democracy but a military dictatorship where the generals have
control over the parliament, government, and judiciary. According to
the Turkish Weltanschauung, there are no other peoples than the Turks
in Turkey , and thus 40 million Kurds, ancient inhabitants of Media,
Anatolia and Kurdistan , simply do not exist officially. Greeks,
Assyrians, and Armenians were previously decimated, expelled, or
exterminated by the Turks, crimes which are still not recognized
by the Turkish state. There are no Kurdish rights as an ethnically
distinct population; there is no Kurdish language, no Kurdish schools,
universities, no Kurdish names for Kurdish-born children or for the
Kurdish villages, town, cities, and the Kurdish landscape. All of that
is prohibited by the fascist Turkish state. In fact, in Turkey there
are more animal rights than Kurdish rights. Any Kurdish resistance
against this injustice and crime has been declared terrorism and
punished mercilessly and systematically. In the last 25 years only,
more than 4,000 Kurdish villages have been eradicated, millions of
Kurds displaced, thousands of extra-judicial murders carried out with
no consequence for the perpetrators whatsoever. In February of this
year, the Turkish army invaded "northern Iraq " and since then, it is
flying raids against Kurds who do not accept the Turkish fascism and
occupation of Kurdistan . Where was the Western outcry and condemnation
of Turkey then? There was and is none. The genocide against the Kurds
by Turks has been and is being carried out in the eyes of the whole
world without any protest or action. In fact, Turkey is receiving
weapons and intelligence assistance from the USA as part of their
grand strategic deal. Turkey can carry out its terror and murderous
campaigns against the Kurds because it is part of the American
client/slave-system in the region, and because the Kurds aren’t.
Other examples of US-style democratisation efforts could be
given. Right now the business of democracy is focused in Georgia . As
usual, it starts off militarily. Up to a 1,000 US military advisers
were dispatched to instruct the Georgian army how to implement
tactics and handle German and US-made weapons. Now they are all
suddenly very surprised that the Georgians are making use of their
newly acquired knowledge. But they shouldn’t deceive themselves or try
to deceive others. Just a couple of days before the Georgian military
invaded South Ossetia, Secretary of State Rice on her visit to Tbilisi
reassured the Georgian president that the US would always support their
"friends". It is to be seen how far that support will go. But judging
from their actions and words, there is no change of US foreign policy
doctrines and objectives: Whatever is necessary to secure the energy
sources and expand control of remaining ones – it will be done. As
de facto global empire – claiming ownership to space even -, the
US acts without moral or legal principles. In fact, it sees it as
the exclusive right of the Western "civilisation" to decide what is
legal and what not, what is moral and what not. Furthermore, there
is no free choice in the US global empire as democracy and freedom
outside of US control is regarded as threat to its strategic master
plan, and every action or position unfavourable to US interests is
severely punished by Washington, with threats, sanctions, embargo,
proxy wars, bombing, invasion, occupation, etc.
The Balkans were the starting point of the First World War that aimed
at destroying Russia . WWII and the cold war had the same aim. Today
the conflict in the Caucasus may lead to a third global war as the
West, once again, targets Russia as the major threat to its world
dominion.
I’m Kurdish, and thus I don’t have a place to call my homeland. My
ancient country, Kurdistan, has been under occupation for centuries by
barbaric forces. They are against a free Kurdistan, against free Kurds,
against freedom and democracy. The West supports them and the brutal
status quo. They set up most of the local regimes as puppets, trained
and equipped their armies to maintain the status quo: Exploitation
and control of the energy resources. They don’t want a change of
this status quo of terror and injustice, they don’t want freedom,
democracy, justice for the region. I want to inform the public about
the injustices done to my people and my country with real and relevant
information, by serving truth – something the elite and corporate
controlled media of the West will never do.