SERZH SARGSYAN'S HARD CHOICE
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/politics23372.html
Published: 15:45:17 - 16/09/2011
In late September, Serzh Sargsyan will attend the Eastern Partnership
Summit in Poland. In October, a visit of Nikolas Sarkozy to the South
Caucasus is expected. At the end of September or in October Serzh
Sargsyan may visit the United States. He has already been reported
likely to attend a reception in Los Angeles dedicated to the 20th
anniversary of Independence of Armenia. He may also show up at the UN
General Assembly where at the end of September discussions on global
nuclear security will be held. These visits have not been officially
declared yet but there is a message that in October, Serzh Sargsyan
will travel to Moscow for a state visit.
Apparently, Serzh Sargsyan will have to report to Moscow what happened
in Poland and the United States. Quite interesting things may happen.
The signing of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement may be boosted,
which suggests more substantive change of orientation of Yerevan
towards Europe. For its part, it brings up questions about raising
the level of economic and military sovereignty of Armenia, which is
now closely tied to Russia.
In the United States, he may meet with Barack Obama, and this meeting
may also have political consequences in the form of the U.S. economic
and political support to Armenia. It has already been stated that
in the first half of this year, the U.S. investments in Armenia have
grown dramatically. In absolute numbers, it is not much but the trend
itself is symptomatic. The United States had stopped investments in
Armenia a long time before, limiting grants and targeted loans. The
resumption of investments is an indicator of transformation of the
U.S. interest in Armenia.
Nearly the same process is underway in other former Soviet countries,
particularly Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus who are also beneficiaries of
the Eastern Partnership. It has already been stated that an association
agreement may be signed with Ukraine, which is perceived as a stab
with a knife in the back of Russia.
Apparently, in this context has Moscow decided to intensify the
centrifugal process of "strengthening" the CIS and CSTO. Leakages
follow each other that Russia is preparing to confer gendarmerie
powers to the CSTO Rapid Reaction Force, that the law enforcement
bodies of CSTO will jointly control social networks and, therefore,
protect the governments from revolutions.
It is noteworthy that the leaders of the CIS and CSTO do not express
in regard to these initiatives of Russia. Armenia has also refrained
from such statements, apparently realizing that if it approves the
proposed Russian concept of rendering the CSTO gendarmes, it will
have to give up the association with the EU and U.S. investments.
The choice is really hard. Russia offers long-term protection for
governments from revolutions but does not give money and does not
allow democracy to develop, leaving Armenia behind global trends. The
West offers modernization but it does not guarantee preservation of
power if it is not democratic.
Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
From: Mihran Keheyian
Subject: =?windows-1252?Q?Serzh_Sargsyan=92s_Hard_Choice?=
Serzh Sargsyan?s Hard Choice
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/politics23372.html
Published: 15:45:17 - 16/09/2011
In late September, Serzh Sargsyan will attend the Eastern Partnership
Summit in Poland. In October, a visit of Nikolas Sarkozy to the South
Caucasus is expected. At the end of September or in October Serzh
Sargsyan may visit the United States. He has already been reported
likely to attend a reception in Los Angeles dedicated to the 20th
anniversary of Independence of Armenia. He may also show up at the UN
General Assembly where at the end of September discussions on global
nuclear security will be held. These visits have not been officially
declared yet but there is a message that in October, Serzh Sargsyan
will travel to Moscow for a state visit.
Apparently, Serzh Sargsyan will have to report to Moscow what happened
in Poland and the United States. Quite interesting things may happen.
The signing of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement may be boosted,
which suggests more substantive change of orientation of Yerevan
towards Europe. For its part, it brings up questions about raising the
level of economic and military sovereignty of Armenia, which is now
closely tied to Russia.
In the United States, he may meet with Barack Obama, and this meeting
may also have political consequences in the form of the U.S. economic
and political support to Armenia. It has already been stated that in
the first half of this year, the U.S. investments in Armenia have
grown dramatically. In absolute numbers, it is not much but the trend
itself is symptomatic. The United States had stopped investments in
Armenia a long time before, limiting grants and targeted loans. The
resumption of investments is an indicator of transformation of the
U.S. interest in Armenia.
Nearly the same process is underway in other former Soviet countries,
particularly Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus who are also beneficiaries
of the Eastern Partnership. It has already been stated that an
association agreement may be signed with Ukraine, which is perceived
as a stab with a knife in the back of Russia.
Apparently, in this context has Moscow decided to intensify the
centrifugal process of ?strengthening? the CIS and CSTO. Leakages
follow each other that Russia is preparing to confer gendarmerie
powers to the CSTO Rapid Reaction Force, that the law enforcement
bodies of CSTO will jointly control social networks and, therefore,
protect the governments from revolutions.
It is noteworthy that the leaders of the CIS and CSTO do not express
in regard to these initiatives of Russia. Armenia has also refrained
from such statements, apparently realizing that if it approves the
proposed Russian concept of rendering the CSTO gendarmes, it will have
to give up the association with the EU and U.S. investments.
The choice is really hard. Russia offers long-term protection for
governments from revolutions but does not give money and does not
allow democracy to develop, leaving Armenia behind global trends. The
West offers modernization but it does not guarantee preservation of
power if it is not democratic.
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/politics23372.html
Published: 15:45:17 - 16/09/2011
In late September, Serzh Sargsyan will attend the Eastern Partnership
Summit in Poland. In October, a visit of Nikolas Sarkozy to the South
Caucasus is expected. At the end of September or in October Serzh
Sargsyan may visit the United States. He has already been reported
likely to attend a reception in Los Angeles dedicated to the 20th
anniversary of Independence of Armenia. He may also show up at the UN
General Assembly where at the end of September discussions on global
nuclear security will be held. These visits have not been officially
declared yet but there is a message that in October, Serzh Sargsyan
will travel to Moscow for a state visit.
Apparently, Serzh Sargsyan will have to report to Moscow what happened
in Poland and the United States. Quite interesting things may happen.
The signing of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement may be boosted,
which suggests more substantive change of orientation of Yerevan
towards Europe. For its part, it brings up questions about raising
the level of economic and military sovereignty of Armenia, which is
now closely tied to Russia.
In the United States, he may meet with Barack Obama, and this meeting
may also have political consequences in the form of the U.S. economic
and political support to Armenia. It has already been stated that
in the first half of this year, the U.S. investments in Armenia have
grown dramatically. In absolute numbers, it is not much but the trend
itself is symptomatic. The United States had stopped investments in
Armenia a long time before, limiting grants and targeted loans. The
resumption of investments is an indicator of transformation of the
U.S. interest in Armenia.
Nearly the same process is underway in other former Soviet countries,
particularly Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus who are also beneficiaries of
the Eastern Partnership. It has already been stated that an association
agreement may be signed with Ukraine, which is perceived as a stab
with a knife in the back of Russia.
Apparently, in this context has Moscow decided to intensify the
centrifugal process of "strengthening" the CIS and CSTO. Leakages
follow each other that Russia is preparing to confer gendarmerie
powers to the CSTO Rapid Reaction Force, that the law enforcement
bodies of CSTO will jointly control social networks and, therefore,
protect the governments from revolutions.
It is noteworthy that the leaders of the CIS and CSTO do not express
in regard to these initiatives of Russia. Armenia has also refrained
from such statements, apparently realizing that if it approves the
proposed Russian concept of rendering the CSTO gendarmes, it will
have to give up the association with the EU and U.S. investments.
The choice is really hard. Russia offers long-term protection for
governments from revolutions but does not give money and does not
allow democracy to develop, leaving Armenia behind global trends. The
West offers modernization but it does not guarantee preservation of
power if it is not democratic.
Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
From: Mihran Keheyian
Subject: =?windows-1252?Q?Serzh_Sargsyan=92s_Hard_Choice?=
Serzh Sargsyan?s Hard Choice
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/politics23372.html
Published: 15:45:17 - 16/09/2011
In late September, Serzh Sargsyan will attend the Eastern Partnership
Summit in Poland. In October, a visit of Nikolas Sarkozy to the South
Caucasus is expected. At the end of September or in October Serzh
Sargsyan may visit the United States. He has already been reported
likely to attend a reception in Los Angeles dedicated to the 20th
anniversary of Independence of Armenia. He may also show up at the UN
General Assembly where at the end of September discussions on global
nuclear security will be held. These visits have not been officially
declared yet but there is a message that in October, Serzh Sargsyan
will travel to Moscow for a state visit.
Apparently, Serzh Sargsyan will have to report to Moscow what happened
in Poland and the United States. Quite interesting things may happen.
The signing of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement may be boosted,
which suggests more substantive change of orientation of Yerevan
towards Europe. For its part, it brings up questions about raising the
level of economic and military sovereignty of Armenia, which is now
closely tied to Russia.
In the United States, he may meet with Barack Obama, and this meeting
may also have political consequences in the form of the U.S. economic
and political support to Armenia. It has already been stated that in
the first half of this year, the U.S. investments in Armenia have
grown dramatically. In absolute numbers, it is not much but the trend
itself is symptomatic. The United States had stopped investments in
Armenia a long time before, limiting grants and targeted loans. The
resumption of investments is an indicator of transformation of the
U.S. interest in Armenia.
Nearly the same process is underway in other former Soviet countries,
particularly Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus who are also beneficiaries
of the Eastern Partnership. It has already been stated that an
association agreement may be signed with Ukraine, which is perceived
as a stab with a knife in the back of Russia.
Apparently, in this context has Moscow decided to intensify the
centrifugal process of ?strengthening? the CIS and CSTO. Leakages
follow each other that Russia is preparing to confer gendarmerie
powers to the CSTO Rapid Reaction Force, that the law enforcement
bodies of CSTO will jointly control social networks and, therefore,
protect the governments from revolutions.
It is noteworthy that the leaders of the CIS and CSTO do not express
in regard to these initiatives of Russia. Armenia has also refrained
from such statements, apparently realizing that if it approves the
proposed Russian concept of rendering the CSTO gendarmes, it will have
to give up the association with the EU and U.S. investments.
The choice is really hard. Russia offers long-term protection for
governments from revolutions but does not give money and does not
allow democracy to develop, leaving Armenia behind global trends. The
West offers modernization but it does not guarantee preservation of
power if it is not democratic.