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The Form and Substance of the OSCE
// The price of the question
The biggest question at the current meeting of the council of foreign minister if the OSCE is not what they will decide, but what they will not decide. The main question is whether or not the European organization will continue to exist at all, or in its current form.
While forcefully advancing the idea of radically reforming the organization, which was established in 1975, Russia is formally attempting to help the OSCE out of the extended systemic crisis that, Moscow thinks, it has long been stuck in. In reality, Russia is essentially issuing the OSCE an ultimatum: turn into what Russia wants it to be, or turn into something complete different from what it is now. And that would be without Russia and its CIS allies.
There is nothing surprising in Moscow's position. The OSCE in its current form opposes the Kremlin's course both domestically and internationally. So Russia has created a dilemma for it: either it changes or Russia leaves.
The key charge Russia is making against the OSCE is that it has come to concentrate on human rights, leaving two other areas, military-political and economic, on the sidelines. That is most clearly seen in the actions of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE body that observes elections, with which Moscow is especially displeased. It is understandable why, too. Moscow and the ODIHR have, as a rule, given diametrically opposed evaluations to elections in the former USSR. The CIS may consider elections transparent and democratic, while the ODIHR will talk about multiple gross irregularities and the absence of democracy.
Based on that, Moscow considers the OSCE an instrument of the West for influencing the former Soviet Union and interfering in the affairs of the CIS states and Russia. That is clearly impermissible to Russian sovereign democracy, which has been feeling its strength in the past few years. And Moscow has most likely forgotten that the establishment of the forerunner of the OSCE in 1975 was its third, humanitarian aspect, was essentially the USSR's first capitulation to the West.
The Russian attack started before this meeting, and before the drama of the arrival of the ODIHR mission to observe the Duma elections. A year ago, at the last congress of the OSCE, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave it a choice: either return to its true roots or “legalize the transformation of the OSCE into an organization for humanitarian problems.” In the latter case, he added, “our country will decide whether or not to join such an organization.”
Moscow seems determined to see its strategy for the OSCE through at any cost. Therefore, there are three possible scenarios. The first is fantastic – the OSCE will agree to the Russian-backed reforms. The second is realistic – the present meeting will be a failure. The third is very likely – it will be the last meeting of the OSCE in its current form.
Gennady Sysoev
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 30, 2007
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