Kosovo boomerang: everyone loses

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia did not achieve anything through the conflict either, especially what is called "democracy" in the West. However, you can hardly call democratic the steps, directed at encouraging the "restoration of territorial integrity of Georgia". All this is over now and each of the parties is presently trying to find the best way out of the situation, provoked by the unfortunate actions of the Georgian President. In this connection it should be noted that Saakashvili will have to forget about the "territorial integrity of Georgia". The recognition of Kosovo, whose inadmissibility was widely discussed by Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov, delivered a hard blow to the West. Moreover, the blow was struck from the side least expected.

Let us recall the process of conflict development. On the night of August 8 Georgia launched a military operation against South Ossetia, practically destroying the capital of the Republic, Tskhinvali and other populated areas, and killing, according to the official data by South Ossetia, more than 1,5 thousand peaceful residents. In reply, Russia brought her forces into South Ossetia to protect the Russian residents living there. Meanwhile, it drew its coastguard ships to the shores of Abkhazia to prevent aggression and killings of peaceful citizens, including the Russians that were on holiday in the Republic. On August 12 Russia announced about the completion of the operation under compulsion of Georgia to keep peace, and ten days later it declared about the complete withdrawal of its armed forces. Presently Russian peacekeepers are in the buffer zone of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Their disposal has been anticipated by earlier agreements on the regulation of the Georgian-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian conflicts and does not contradict the ''Medvedev-Sarkozy'' plan, signed by Russia.

The declarations of the US Administration and the EC countries were more likely calculated for the public, rather than for reflecting the actual state of affairs. The U.S.A. is far and Russia is near, and no one in Europe wants to find himself hungry in the energy pica before the coming winter. More than half of the EC energy supply goes through Russia and it is enough for the EC countries to simply limit themselves to declarations condemning Russia for disproportionate use of force. And no matter how hard the Russian Federation tries to convince that she will never make use of the energy factor for exerting pressure, practice proves the contrary. The Georgian-Ossetian conflict threw the uni-polar world and the US supremacy into collapse, for which America will hardly be grateful to Saakashvili. America is presently busy with the pre-election campaign and McCain, together with his admirers, was badly in need for the victory of the Georgian Army. However, it did not happen and Vice-President Cheney's visit to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine can hardly change the turn of events.

Still, the situation is not so bad. Western nations have decided to fight against the presence of Russia in Georgia's territory and their weapon is cash. The International Monetary Fund is set to reach a preliminary deal this week that will throw the former Soviet republic a $750 million credit line, according to officials close to the negotiations. Both the U.S. and Europe are also working on big assistance packages that Georgia hopes will provide $2 billion or more. The money aims to calm the nerves of foreign investors -- crucial to Georgia's economic stability -- and help Georgia finance the repair of war damage. More important, Western cash will help shore up the pro-Western government of President Mikhail Saakashvili, notes the Wall Street Journal.

As some experts consider, the U.S.A. might step up military assistance to Georgia by supplying more military trainers. More broadly, according to the representative of the US Administration, Washington is seeking "a long-term strategic framework" for the region. However, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov called on the USA and its allies to stop the support of the «Saakashvili regime». According to him, the USA makes a "historical mistake" by taking Saakashvili's side.

One thing is clear: for the world powers South Caucasus is only a territory on which world supremacy is raffled. According to the adviser of the Nagorno Karabakh Foreign Minister Arsen Melik-Shahnazarov "the latest events showed that like the Ossetians and Abkhazians, citizens of Nagorno Karabakh are not considered humans by the world "gamblers". Small nations are simply rubbish for the latter and hinder their egocentric plans on controlling the oil and gas flow. Accordingly, we have to make our own conclusions," he declared.