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U.S. Army Command develops Caucasus-linked military scenarios
August 21, 2012 - 16:29 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - `The Caucasus, that historical causeway of conflict
between Europe and the Middle East, remains a complicated tangle of
security concerns. Ethnic tensions still affect long standing
territorial disputes, internally displaced indigenous people align
with or oppose powerful diasporas, and an increasing nouveau riche, an
oil-fueled minority upper class, is growing in an area once known only
for desperate poverty.
While the Minsk Group spearheads the OSCE's efforts to find a
political solution to the conflict in and around Nagorno Karabakh,
Armenia and Azerbaijan both remain frustrated with the lack of
political resolve... The recent Georgian experience with Russia has
left significant cross-border scars that will likely not heal anytime
soon, especially as Georgia desperately seeks NATO membership and
European acceptance,' the report reads.
According to the author, the spider-web relations between Iran and
Israel with many of those in this region confuses even the experts;
and the border between Turkey and many of her neighbors, especially
Armenia, are subject to political resolution of multi-generational
disputes between those two countries.
`All of these factors exist in a crucible surrounded on three sides by
Turkey, Iran, and Russia. The potential for conflict is considered so
plausible and the issues related to the interaction so confusing that
a few years ago the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command
developed scenarios linked to the Caucasus to help prepare Majors for
military contingencies. The U.S. Army's Command and General Staff
College at Fort Leavenworth uses the "GAAT"
(Georgia-Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkey) exercise as a thread of continuity
throughout the course. Understandably there is no right or wrong
answers to any of the questions posed to young field grade officers in
the course, but the underlying conflict scenarios meet the requirement
to analyze and exercise an extremely complex Joint, Interagency,
Intergovernmental and Multinational resolution.
European Command's strategy of Theater Security Cooperation - and
USAREUR's contribution as part of that strategy in training and
exercising with the militaries and engaging with military and
political leaders - is bearing significant results. The four nations
that make up "the GAAT" are integrating forces in NATO out of theater
and peacekeeping operations in places like Afghanistan and Kosovo, and
the potential for peaceful management of the region's substantial
security challenges is improving,' the report reads.
August 21, 2012 - 16:29 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - `The Caucasus, that historical causeway of conflict
between Europe and the Middle East, remains a complicated tangle of
security concerns. Ethnic tensions still affect long standing
territorial disputes, internally displaced indigenous people align
with or oppose powerful diasporas, and an increasing nouveau riche, an
oil-fueled minority upper class, is growing in an area once known only
for desperate poverty.
While the Minsk Group spearheads the OSCE's efforts to find a
political solution to the conflict in and around Nagorno Karabakh,
Armenia and Azerbaijan both remain frustrated with the lack of
political resolve... The recent Georgian experience with Russia has
left significant cross-border scars that will likely not heal anytime
soon, especially as Georgia desperately seeks NATO membership and
European acceptance,' the report reads.
According to the author, the spider-web relations between Iran and
Israel with many of those in this region confuses even the experts;
and the border between Turkey and many of her neighbors, especially
Armenia, are subject to political resolution of multi-generational
disputes between those two countries.
`All of these factors exist in a crucible surrounded on three sides by
Turkey, Iran, and Russia. The potential for conflict is considered so
plausible and the issues related to the interaction so confusing that
a few years ago the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command
developed scenarios linked to the Caucasus to help prepare Majors for
military contingencies. The U.S. Army's Command and General Staff
College at Fort Leavenworth uses the "GAAT"
(Georgia-Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkey) exercise as a thread of continuity
throughout the course. Understandably there is no right or wrong
answers to any of the questions posed to young field grade officers in
the course, but the underlying conflict scenarios meet the requirement
to analyze and exercise an extremely complex Joint, Interagency,
Intergovernmental and Multinational resolution.
European Command's strategy of Theater Security Cooperation - and
USAREUR's contribution as part of that strategy in training and
exercising with the militaries and engaging with military and
political leaders - is bearing significant results. The four nations
that make up "the GAAT" are integrating forces in NATO out of theater
and peacekeeping operations in places like Afghanistan and Kosovo, and
the potential for peaceful management of the region's substantial
security challenges is improving,' the report reads.