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Russia Disturbed U.S. Caucasus Plans
Some Western political commentators have suggested that the sharp criticism from the U.S. for Russia’s recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is due to the fact that the move interferes with U.S. plans for the region. John Laughland, director of studies at the Paris-based Institute of Democracy and Cooperation, said on the Vremya news program on Russia’s Channel One that London and Washington planned “to fully surround Russia with the help of NATO in the Caucasus and Ukraine and turn the Black Sea into an American lake.”
Now, according to Laughland, that strategy is impossible. He predicts that diplomatic pressure on Russia will be fierce. “In the end, it seems to me, that will lead to a balanced international system in which, very obviously, it will be impossible not to take account of Russia or to humiliate her by gradually pushing her out of the sphere of European influence,” he said.
Michael Binyon, political reviewer for the British Times newspaper, who appeared on the same broadcast, said that there is no hope of reuniting Abkhazia and South Ossetia with Georgia. “In my view,” he said, “Russia simply acknowledged the real situation. Georgia did not control those territories and there was no hope for reunification.” Binyon does not see Georgia as a worthy candidate for NATO membership. He said supporters of Georgian NATO membership are in the uncomfortable position of favoring a regime that solves its problems through military action.
www.kommersant.com
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