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RUSSIA'S CAUCASUS WAR GAMES
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 18 2012
NY
September 18, 2012 - 3:10am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Every time Russia comes to play war in the Caucasus, a sense of alert
spreads in the neighborhood. And it does not help if the Russians are
running around with guns for two separate war games at the same time.
Azerbaijan is keeping a wary eye on its sworn enemy, Armenia,
as it hosts drills for the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(Moscow's response to NATO), while Georgia has its vision trained on
the Caucasus-2012 training to the north.
Tbilisi is particularly uneasy to see Moscow mobilize 8,000 troops,
200 military vehicles, artillery and military vessels in the Black and
Caspian Seas and Russia's southern Krasnodar region just as Georgia
is approaching a critical parliamentary election on October 1.
"We all remember the consequences of the 2008 drills, which were much
smaller in scale [than Caucasus 2012]," commented Georgian Foreign
Minister Grigol Vashadze. He claimed that the operations threaten the
sovereignty of the three Caucasus countries, and, at least in part,
are meant to affect their domestic politics.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen must have contracted
some of Georgia's uneasiness during a recent visit to Tbilisi when
he requested Russia to clarify the goals of the large-scale exercise.
Russian commanders said that both drills are not directed at any
country in particular, but, rather, are a routine event meant to
prepare against a theoretical enemy. Commenting on the ongoing
CSTO drills, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said training
in Armenia, which brought together troops from Russia, Kazakhstan,
Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, is designed to create a "regional
force to neutralize a potential threat," RFE/RL reported.
But everyone in the Caucasus knows who is whose "potential" enemy.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are now closer to renewed hostilities than ever
over Azerbaijan's highly controversial pardon of the axe-murderer
of an Armenian soldier. And Georgia and Russia, still smarting
from their 2008 encounter, see each other in the lifetime role of
neighborhood bully.
Given that most of the participants in these games have a recent
history of armed conflict, might there be a better way to "neutralize"
potential threats than doing dry runs for war?
From: Baghdasarian
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 18 2012
NY
September 18, 2012 - 3:10am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Every time Russia comes to play war in the Caucasus, a sense of alert
spreads in the neighborhood. And it does not help if the Russians are
running around with guns for two separate war games at the same time.
Azerbaijan is keeping a wary eye on its sworn enemy, Armenia,
as it hosts drills for the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(Moscow's response to NATO), while Georgia has its vision trained on
the Caucasus-2012 training to the north.
Tbilisi is particularly uneasy to see Moscow mobilize 8,000 troops,
200 military vehicles, artillery and military vessels in the Black and
Caspian Seas and Russia's southern Krasnodar region just as Georgia
is approaching a critical parliamentary election on October 1.
"We all remember the consequences of the 2008 drills, which were much
smaller in scale [than Caucasus 2012]," commented Georgian Foreign
Minister Grigol Vashadze. He claimed that the operations threaten the
sovereignty of the three Caucasus countries, and, at least in part,
are meant to affect their domestic politics.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen must have contracted
some of Georgia's uneasiness during a recent visit to Tbilisi when
he requested Russia to clarify the goals of the large-scale exercise.
Russian commanders said that both drills are not directed at any
country in particular, but, rather, are a routine event meant to
prepare against a theoretical enemy. Commenting on the ongoing
CSTO drills, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said training
in Armenia, which brought together troops from Russia, Kazakhstan,
Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, is designed to create a "regional
force to neutralize a potential threat," RFE/RL reported.
But everyone in the Caucasus knows who is whose "potential" enemy.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are now closer to renewed hostilities than ever
over Azerbaijan's highly controversial pardon of the axe-murderer
of an Armenian soldier. And Georgia and Russia, still smarting
from their 2008 encounter, see each other in the lifetime role of
neighborhood bully.
Given that most of the participants in these games have a recent
history of armed conflict, might there be a better way to "neutralize"
potential threats than doing dry runs for war?
From: Baghdasarian