Dailycaller: A closer look at Armenia and its neighbors
By Jason Katz
Founder, Tool Shed Group
With due respect to The Weekly Standard’s Philip Terzian in his recent article regarding the plight of Armenia, the issues and perspective he cites associated with the geopolitics of the South Caucasus, Eurasia and Turkey’s portion of the Middle East, are somewhat oversimplified and perhaps skewed.
Calling Armenia pro-Western and democratic is not only misleading, but it is also insulting to the many Armenians who are trying to play an active role to alter the unwise course their nation is charting toward an increasingly failed state, bereft of sovereignty and independence.
Armenia’s total dependency (political, economic and diplomatic) on Russia is not just “convenience,” but a deep misunderstanding of how to build an independent state. Armenia is nary a sovereign state and it gives away more of its independence with each successive capitulation to Russia.
Currently, the Russian military patrols Armenia’s airspace. Russia provides border protection for Armenia and most disturbingly, Armenia is the last of the former Soviet Republics to host Russian bases and troops on its soil — an agreement that was recently extended until 2044. Armenia also joined the Eurasian Customs Union, Moscow’s counter to the EU and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Russia’s resistance to NATO. Most telling, recently, Armenian president Serj Sarkissian, announced that “all [Armenian] foreign policy will be coordinated with Russia.”
