Posted on 06/02/2006 2:22:00 PM PDT by lizol
Land Grab // Russia rejects Georgia's and Moldova's territorial integrity
The Russian Foreign Minister yesterday for the first time openly declared that the unrecognized republics in the former Soviet Union have a right to self-determination. That is Moscow's response to Western demands that Russia adhere to the 1999 Istanbul Commitments and remove its forces from the territories of Georgia and Moldova. It represents a radical shift in Russian policy and is a means of maintaining influence over pro-Western former Soviet states. Its timing in relation to the G8 summit in St. Petersburg indicates that Russia wants to send a message to the West about its exclusive rights in the former Soviet Union and the lengths it will go to to restore its superpower status.
Belgian Foreign Ministry Karel de Gucht, the current chairman of the OSCE, stated that that organization would pay €10 million in expenses for Russia to withdraw its troops after a visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol. He also stated the need for Russian peacekeepers in Transdniestria to be replaced by international forces. At the same time, Georgian authorities protested the “illegal increase in the number of Russian soldiers in South Ossetia,” claiming that extra forces were added in the last rotation of troops there. Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Committee on Defense and Security Givi Targamadze stated that Russia has placed 1000 troops there, instead of 500. “There was no rotation,” Targamadze said.
Russia and the unrecognized republics responded almost simultaneously. Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov announced a referendum on Transdniestria's independence from Moldova in the autumn. The Russian Foreign Ministry approved that move. “The expression of the will of the people is the highest instance for the determination of the fate of those who live in a specific territory,” Russian special ambassador Valery Nesterushkin said. Another Foreign Ministry official, Mikhail Kamynin, said of South Ossetia that “We respect the principle of territorial integrity, but that integrity as applied to Georgia is more a possible condition than a political and legal reality. The South Ossetian position is based on a principle no less acknowledged by the international community – that of self-determination.”
Moscow's support of the unrecognized republics has always been strong. As Georgia and Moldova have declared their intentions of integrating with Europe, Russia has imposed trade embargoes on them and declared gas wars. Then it began to conclude bilateral agreements on financial aid and economic cooperation on a government level with the unrecognized states and their presidents visited Moscow. Now its support for the breakaway republics in those countries is being openly stated. To defend its position in relation to Georgia, the Kremlin can threaten to break a number of agreements and impose further economic sanctions, as well as take advantage of its membership in the UN Security Council, which issues an annual statement on Abkhazia. It has also been issuing residents of Transdniestria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia Russian passports for several years. In the event of an armed conflict in any of those areas, Russia can send in forces and claim that it is protecting its citizens.
"Damn! So there is some hope for free Chechnya??!! (sarcasm)"
The hope for the entire free Islamist Jihadist North Caucasus (another sarcasm -:))) !
No responsible country will recognize if Putin Regime will try to tear apart Abkhazia and S. Ossetia from Georgia.
They behave like a child playing with matches on a haystack.
You forgot to mention The United States of America. Kosovo is a template for Aztlan. People living in AZ, CA already experience what Serbs in Kosovo experienced in 1970s and 1980s when Albaniand ilegally settled in droves.
Woodrow Wilson very vague Self-Determination principle proclaimed in 1919 during Paris Peace Conference was used by a number of unsavory characters.
Hitler evoked Self-Determination Principle to justify taking predominantly German Sudetz region from Czech Republic in 1938 and the same year gobbled up the entire Czechoslovakia.
Self-Determination rhethoric was also used by Nazis when Annexing Austria.
It can be used by a number of political actors to suit their purposes which may range from mere secession of geographically identifiable region to the establishing springboard for future expansion into a given country, region or the world.
Islamists can use self-determination concept to demand special rights to Muslim communities within non-Muslim countries and then expand their anclaves until they swallow up their host countries entirely which is exactly what's slowly but surely is happening in Europe.
Overall, the move by Putin regime is reckless and dangerous and it endangers not only the territorial integrity of Georgia but that of Russia too.
As we know, the bad example is contagious.
Russia rejects the soviet decision that these groups be included with other ethnic groups and into a single soviet state.
And they're the only one on the block not rvering Soviet decisions as the gospel.
Well, if Montenegrines could self-determine their future via referendum than Transdniestria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia can do it too.
Sure, so can Chechnya.
Sure you know that chechens got their independence twice (with Dudayev and Maskhadov) but showed themselves as bandits.
Chechnya is a headache for Russia, every russian is ready to get rid of Chechnya but first chechens must prove their ability to build normal peaceful state.
And now they have a "normal peaceful state"?
I truly believe, that it would be much better for Russia to get rid of Chechnya - like it was for France with Algeria.
But to let them go Russia needs a courageous stateman - like De Gaulle was.
=And now they have a "normal peaceful state"?=
Not state but region. The situation is better, it's obvious. Grozny is a city of builders now.
Though the combination of muslim ideology and bandit traditions is the biggest threat.
=I truly believe, that it would be much better for Russia to get rid of Chechnya - like it was for France with Algeria.=
Two problems:
1) Chechens are very militant nation.
2) Chechnya is not on another side of a sea but mostly surrounded by other regions of Russia.
=But to let them go Russia needs a courageous stateman - like De Gaulle was.=
The most important achievement of Putin and his command regarding Chechnya - he forced chechens to fight with their terrorists and bandits. De Gaulle sucks in comparison.
The "unrecognized republics" will merely become Russia's puppet republics if Putin's regime has its way; de facto, this is what they are right now-- since the Russian military controls these areas to a greater extent than the legitimate freer governments which Putin despises.
I think that even native Russians would be happier outside of Russia's sphere of influence; they would have far fewer economic and political restrictions to contend with.
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