Foreign

Home page

Foreign

US analyst: â€œWashington is losing to Russia in the Caucasus policyâ€

13 October 2010 11:09 (UTC +04:00)

Washington. Isabel Levine â€“ APA. A prominent US analyst on Eurasia Stephen Blank believes that, Washington is losing to Russia in the Caucasus policy, APAâ€™s Washington DC correspondent reports.

In his latest report Mr. Blank, who has served as the Strategic Studies Instituteâ€™s expert on the Soviet bloc and the post-Soviet world since 1989, indicated that the US think the regional rivalries in Eurasia are the most contentious issue on the US-Russian agenda.

â€œBut burying our heads in the sand or misreading Russian policies, interests, and mentalities is not an answer. One needs only examine recent Russian foreign policies across the Caucasus and other countries in CIS, to realize that the idea that the US can abandon its responsibilities, interests, and partners to Russia will bring neither security, nor an end to geopolitical rivalryâ€, he pointed out.

Speaking about Azerbaijan, Mr. Blank accuses State Department officials that they â€œopenly say that the US has no interest in Azerbaijan other than overflights to Afghanistan, and that energy is Europeâ€™s issue, not ours, an incredible renunciation of fundamental longstanding principles of U.S. strategyâ€.

â€œThese policymakers apparently also believe that small Eurasian states are troublemakers that cause problems to the United States in its quest to resolve those big issues with Russia and that in any case these states are in Russiaâ€™s â€œbackyardâ€ and that Russia is the regionâ€™s hegemony. Thus our policy equates to the notion of big states solving big problems together and not letting â€œsmall problemsâ€ and â€œsmall statesâ€ clutter the agenda with their problems. Therefore the US may implicitly concede these small states and problems or a leading role in them to Russia, especially as Russia appears to be embarking on a new policy premised on cooperation with the US and Europeâ€.

According to the analyst, by refusing to see the visible linkage between the need to end the increasingly dangerous and explosive tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh, and the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, the Administration has incurred Azerbaijanâ€™s will because it clearly feels neglected â€“ while winning no support in Armenia.
In Blankâ€™s opinion, Russia sees itself as responsible for security in the region and has moved to assume primacy in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issues. â€œThus, beyond the deals cited above, Moscow has increased its pressure on Baku to formally desist from using force to recover Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia sweetened its offer by changing its position on the future disposition of the Lachin corridor to Azerbaijanâ€™s province of Nakhichevan. Reports have also circulated that Moscow wants a military base in Azerbaijan â€“ i.e. an expanded presence for a longer duration at the Qabala air defense base â€“ and also a stronger position in Azerbaijanâ€™s economy. Russia is particularly eager to integrate Azerbaijan into the Kremlinâ€™s Caspian energy frameworkâ€, - Mr. Blank mentioned in the end.