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Expert: Armenia's official policy is based on fear
by Emmanuil Lazarian
ARMINFO
Friday, March 28, 21:16
The policy of the Armenian authorities is based on fear, well-known
political scientist, Head of the Center for National and International
Studies Manvel Sargsyan said in an interview to ArmInfo, when asked to
comment on Armenia's pro-Russian position on Crimea and its decision
to vote against the UN GA's relevant resolution.
According to Sargsyan, Armenia is facing an unprecedented and very
dangerous situation, which comes from the serious changes that are
taking place in the international balance of forces. "We may lose a
lot if we fail to fit into the new logic of international relations,"
Sargsyan said. The expert believes that Armenia is implementing a very
short-sighted policy by binding itself tightly to Russia and leaving
itself no room for maneuver. "History has lots of examples that you
must not 'hang' on an agonizing country," Sargsyan said.
He explained that today Ukraine is going through a hard process of
building a political nation on the basis on a national idea but
without a national program. "This idea has huge energy manifested in
resolute unwillingness to obey to Russia. And the roots of this
powerful process are in Russia, where people's mentality is also
transforming. Today most of the Russian intellectuals believe that the
Russians are even more unfree than the Byelorussians or the
Ukrainians. Such civilizational shifts are taking place in many
Russian regions, and if galvanized by the Maidan, they may become a
kind of Perestroika- 2, the rebuilding of Russia from an empire into a
national state," Sargsyan said.
He believes that Putin's Bonapartism is based on oligarchy and
corruption and is aimed to prevent undesirable processes. No
coincidence that the Russian intelligentsia is voicing the need for
decolonizing Russia and eliminating its imperial spirit. "The parade
of sovereignties in Europe - something they in the Kremlin are
referring to as an excuse for the annexation of Crimea - may some day
reach Russia," Sargsyan said.
He shares the opinion of the experts saying that the events in Ukraine
may enhance the sovereignty of Russia's allies. The voting in the UN
GA has proved this. Kazakhstan and some other Central Asian nations
abstained from supporting Russia as they are well aware that they may
face huge geopolitical risks if they keep allowing their strategic
ally to use them. According to Sargsyan, the crisis in Ukraine has
revealed strong discrepancy between the self-determination and
territorial integrity principles. "Now this conflict has come up to
the level of great powers. This makes the OSCE's future quite vague as
the very principles that organization is based on are being disputed
by its key members," Sargsyan said.
by Emmanuil Lazarian
ARMINFO
Friday, March 28, 21:16
The policy of the Armenian authorities is based on fear, well-known
political scientist, Head of the Center for National and International
Studies Manvel Sargsyan said in an interview to ArmInfo, when asked to
comment on Armenia's pro-Russian position on Crimea and its decision
to vote against the UN GA's relevant resolution.
According to Sargsyan, Armenia is facing an unprecedented and very
dangerous situation, which comes from the serious changes that are
taking place in the international balance of forces. "We may lose a
lot if we fail to fit into the new logic of international relations,"
Sargsyan said. The expert believes that Armenia is implementing a very
short-sighted policy by binding itself tightly to Russia and leaving
itself no room for maneuver. "History has lots of examples that you
must not 'hang' on an agonizing country," Sargsyan said.
He explained that today Ukraine is going through a hard process of
building a political nation on the basis on a national idea but
without a national program. "This idea has huge energy manifested in
resolute unwillingness to obey to Russia. And the roots of this
powerful process are in Russia, where people's mentality is also
transforming. Today most of the Russian intellectuals believe that the
Russians are even more unfree than the Byelorussians or the
Ukrainians. Such civilizational shifts are taking place in many
Russian regions, and if galvanized by the Maidan, they may become a
kind of Perestroika- 2, the rebuilding of Russia from an empire into a
national state," Sargsyan said.
He believes that Putin's Bonapartism is based on oligarchy and
corruption and is aimed to prevent undesirable processes. No
coincidence that the Russian intelligentsia is voicing the need for
decolonizing Russia and eliminating its imperial spirit. "The parade
of sovereignties in Europe - something they in the Kremlin are
referring to as an excuse for the annexation of Crimea - may some day
reach Russia," Sargsyan said.
He shares the opinion of the experts saying that the events in Ukraine
may enhance the sovereignty of Russia's allies. The voting in the UN
GA has proved this. Kazakhstan and some other Central Asian nations
abstained from supporting Russia as they are well aware that they may
face huge geopolitical risks if they keep allowing their strategic
ally to use them. According to Sargsyan, the crisis in Ukraine has
revealed strong discrepancy between the self-determination and
territorial integrity principles. "Now this conflict has come up to
the level of great powers. This makes the OSCE's future quite vague as
the very principles that organization is based on are being disputed
by its key members," Sargsyan said.