Table of Contents
Note from the Editor-in-Chief, Nasimi Aghayev
The Russian Invasion of Georgia –its Impact on Israel and the Middle
East
by
Robert O. Freedman
The 1992-93 Georgia-Abkhazia War: A Forgotten Conflict
by
Alexandros Petersen
Inspired from Abroad: The External Sources of Separatism in Azerbaijan
by
Fareed Shafee
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railroad and its Geopolitical Implications for the
South Caucasus
by
Samuel Lussac
The EU’s Neighborhood Policy and the South Caucasus: Unfolding New
Patterns of Cooperation
by
Licínia
Simão and Maria Raquel Freire
Normative Suasion and Political Change in Central Asia
by
Alexander Warkotsch
“Georgia could become a NATO member, only if it accepted Russia's
takeover of Abkhazia and South Ossetia”
Interview with Cory Welt, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
“The Caucasus needs a rest after the war”
Interview
with
Alexander
Rahr,
German
Council on Foreign Relations, Berlin
Book Reviews
(“The
Ghost of Freedom - A History of the Caucasus” by Charles King)
by Jan Künzl
(“The Peasant Venture: Tradition Migration, and
Change among Georgian Peasants in Turkey” by Paul J. Magnarella)
by
Aaron
Elrich
Note
from the Editor-in-Chief, Nasimi Aghayev
It is with great pleasure
that I present the Autumn 2008 issue of the Caucasian Review of
International Affairs (CRIA). Since the publication of our Summer 2008
issue, the Caucasus has recaptured the consciousness of the
international community, most vividly through the Russian invasion of
Georgia in August and the subsequent illegal recognition of the
so-called independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia. As a
result, the United States and the European Union are reformulating their
policies in and commitment to the region, to say nothing of Russia’s new
regional policies. Additionally, there have been increased efforts to
improve the erstwhile difficult relations between Turkey and Armenia,
which could possibly have a lasting impact on the ongoing crisis in the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan…read
more
The Russian
Invasion of Georgia –its
Impact on Israel and the Middle East
by
Robert O. Freedman
The heavy-handed policy demonstrated by
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in his invasion of Georgia in
August 2008 should have come as no surprise to anyone following Putin's
foreign policy in the Middle East in the 2005-2008 period, which has
clearly displayed the aggressiveness and anti-Americanism so evident in
the invasion of Georgia. Putin's cultivation of the anti-American
terrorist organizations Hamas and Hizbollah, and his military and
diplomatic support for anti-American "Rogue States" like Syria and Iran,
indeed set the stage for the invasion of Georgia as Putin sought to
spread Russian influence throughout the South Caucasus as well as the
Middle East…read
more
The 1992-93
Georgia-Abkhazia War: A Forgotten Conflict
by
Alexandros
Petersen
The 1992-93 Georgia-Abkhazia
War, in which ethnic Abkhazians effectively extracted northwestern
Georgia from Tbilisi’s control, is a conflict largely forgotten in the
West, despite its high profile re-ignition in August 2008. Historical
arguments can be made both for Abkhazia’s unity and autonomy from
Georgia, but the conflict cannot be solely blamed on Soviet
‘ethno-federalism’. It must, however, be understood within the context
of Georgian independence. Ethnic tension between Abkhazians and
Georgians was a necessary but not sufficient cause for the conflict…read
more
Inspired from
Abroad: The External Sources of Separatism in Azerbaijan
by Fareed Shafee
This article examines the external sources
of separatism in Azerbaijan. The author claims that in the case of
Azerbaijan many separatist movements are fed by outside powers rather
than caused by inside sources. This article does not intend to review
the situation with regard to the political, economic and cultural rights
of ethnic minorities. Azerbaijan, like many other post-Soviet republics,
went through a transition period characterized by sharp economic
decline, dissolution of social institutions, change of values, etc.
Quite rightfully, some claims of leaders of ethnic minorities about
discrimination might be reasonable and justifiable. In the circumstances
of post-Soviet transition, no country escaped from injustices, disorders
and social turbulences. However, in many cases separatist movements were
used by regional powers and countries concerned, particularly so-called
kin-states to advance their political agenda…read
more
The
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railroad and Its Geopolitical Implications for the South Caucasus
by Samuel Lussac
This article aims at
evaluating the geopolitical impact of the construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railroad in the South Caucasus. Indeed, after
the implementation of the East-West energy corridor, it will contribute
to further regional cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
On this matter, it reflects the very specificity of this regionalization
that is essentially based on economic issues and develops despite
opportunistic interests. Furthermore, the BTK railroad will constitute a
new stage in the further marginalization of Armenia within the South
Caucasus. Not only it will bypass this country but it will also
undermine its ethno-political leverages, notably in Georgia. Finally, in
spite of the recent political events in the South Caucasus, the BTK
railroad could be a new step in the incoming showdown between, on the
one hand Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and, on the other hand, Armenia,
Iran and Russia…read
more
The EU’s
Neighborhood Policy and the South
Caucasus: Unfolding New Patterns of Cooperation
by Licínia
Simão and Maria Raquel Freire
This paper looks at the European Union (EU)
process of engagement in the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia) in the context of its Neighborhood Policy. It looks at how
divergent perceptions of the region, both inwards and outwards-driven,
impact on regional policy choices, with an emphasis on regional
cooperation. Though these states remark on the outlived usefulness of
artificial framings, and regional cooperation among the three is
virtually non-existent, when engaged in larger and wide-ranging formats,
cooperation might not only be possible, but fruitful. It is therefore
argued that regional cooperation should overcome the artificially
constructed “South Caucasus” regional label and unfold along different
patterns and variable compositions. The paper advances the proposal for
a Eurasian/Black Sea security complex…read
more
Normative
Suasion and Political Change in Central Asia
by Alexander Warkotsch
This article examines the
adequacy of the EU’s tool-kit and overall strategy for socializing
Central Asia into human rights and democracy. First, the analysis will
show that several interrelated conditions, above all cultural
idiosyncrasies, properties of interaction between socializees and
socializing agents, as well as the nature of the political system, are
not sufficiently allowed for by the EU’s policy approach. This renders
the prospects for moving the region towards a democratic trajectory
bleak. Second, building on identified problems in the EU’s socialization
efforts, the paper presents policy recommendations, above all a
concentration on certain aspects of human rights and government
accountability that should help to improve the EU’s democratizing impact…read
more
“Georgia
could become a NATO member, only if it accepted Russia's takeover of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia”
Interview with
Cory Welt, Georgetown University, Washington DC
Question:
Will Russia ever be able to
live next door to a Saakashvili-run government in Georgia or one that is
equally western-oriented?
Welt:
Well, the way things have been going, it looks like it will have to. The
question is whether Georgia is fated to be Russia's Cuba, and
unfortunately the signs point in that direction. Prior to the war, it
looked like there might be a chance to put their relations on a new
footing, but that has again been spoiled…read
more
“The
Caucasus needs a rest after the war”
Interview with
Alexander Rahr,
German Council
on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Berlin
Question:
Six weeks ago, the war between Russia and Georgia over the secessionist
Georgian provinces Abkhazia and South Ossetia ended. What is the current
situation, especially concerning the withdrawal of the Russian troops
from Georgian territory?
Rahr:
The current situation is quite different from the status quo which
existed in the region between 1992 and 2008. The Russian troops will be
withdrawn from the Georgian mainland, but they will stay in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia. These secessionist regions have been recognized as
independent states by Russia. I think that Abkhazia and South Ossetia
will join the collective security pact of the CIS countries in the next
months…read
more
Book Reviews
(“The Ghost of
Freedom - A History of the Caucasus” by Charles King)
by Jan Kuenzl
The Caucasus, an impressive
mountain range of about 1100km length, stuck between the Black - and
Caspian Seas, has always been home to an astonishing variety of
different ethnic, religious and linguistic groups. At all times, the
interests of the neighbouring great powers clashed in the Caucasus. For
a long time the Russian, Ottoman and Persian Empires struggled for
influence and hegemony in the region. Now, at the beginning of the 21st
century, a clash of interests between a resurrecting Russia and NATO
seems to emerge…read
more
(“The
Peasant Venture: Tradition Migration, and Change among Georgian Peasants
in Turkey” by Paul J. Magnarella)
by
Aaron Elrich
Often researchers and reviewers, in the
search for new materials and books, neglect older works that are vitally
important to our understanding the present. One of these books is Paul
Magnarella’s The Peasant Venture: Tradition, Migration and Change among
Georgian Peasants in Turkey, published in 1979 by Schenkman Publishing.
Magnarella, an anthropologist by training, lived in the Georgian village
of Hayriye in Turkey at a pivotal historical moment – a moment where the
more salient signifiers of ethnic Georgianness in a village far away
from its ethnic-kin state were being lost…read
more |
