Intermediate total of the week: war with Iran postponed

PanARMENIAN.Net - And all this is happening against the background of deepening contradictions in the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process, which if not at a dead end, has at least frozen in anticipation of April 24. And if we also add to the on-going process the Armenian President’s statement issued in the desert of Deir ez-Zor, it becomes clear there is still a long way to go before ratification of the Protocols. But it seems so only at first glance, because the initiators of the Armenian-Turkish project will not wait too long and will urge Armenia and Turkey to ratify and start implementation of the Protocols before summer. This is what we have been repeatedly writing about.

In the current week, the US-Israeli relations utterly soured. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington failed to resolve the dispute with the U.S. administration, which is eager to force Israel to give up construction of new housing units in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank. By and large Netanyahu is right when he says “Jerusalem is not a settlement but a nation’s capital, and Israel has the right to build wherever it wants.” In our opinion, it is the result of stirring up of Arab lobbyists in the U.S. and Europe, who advocate establishment of a Palestinian state, but, in reality, do not need it. The Arab world needs at least to reduce the influence of the Israeli lobby in Washington, and under the current U.S. president they somewhat succeed. However, it’s not so easy to completely wipe off the Jewish influence on America and Europe. Even the Soviet Union that always supported the Arab world had to reckon with Israel. Let us also remember that the Arab-Israeli wars, occasionally flaring up in the Middle East, have so far gone down the drain: all is as it was in 1948.

This week Russia and the U.S. decided to sign a new arms control pact. The decision was made in Moscow during the visit of US Secretary of State, Clinton. Moscow also held summits of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers and CSTO. During the meeting between Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation was discussed in detail, based on the Madrid principles. It was noted that a peaceful solution of the Karabakh problem was the only alternative. At the summit of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in Moscow, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev suggested organizing another meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Astana. The proposal is likely to be supported by the OSCE. However, nothing should be expected from this meeting; neither the “old” nor the “updated” Madrid principles satisfy the conflicting parties.

As for our regional neighbors, Iran and Azerbaijan were occupied by the celebration of Novruz. The holiday was another chance for Ilham Aliyev to reiterate his willingness “to resolve the problem by force and liberate Karabakh”. The Azeri President so often speaks about that, that we are even reluctant to comment on it... But most surprising was the statement of Mikhail Saakashvili, who announced Nowruz a national holiday in the multi-religious Georgia. Neither Medvedev nor Obama made such a decision, although the Muslim population is clearly larger in Russia and the U.S. than in Georgia. But the President of Georgia has always been famous for his inadequate decisions. And talking about Georgia, let us also say that making curtseys to Azerbaijan, she at the same time continues the policy of discrimination against Armenian-populated Javakhk.

And, finally, Iran or rather its nuclear program that keeps Israel, and consequently the rest of the world, on the alert. Representatives of the six key powers - Russia, USA, China, Britain, France and Germany are to hold a new round of telephone conversations on the Iranian issue, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mark Lyall Grant told reporters. He noted that for the first time in the negotiations of the six powers “Beijing appeared to be ready for serious discussions on new sanctions against Iran.” Media outlets once again stated the time of a bomb attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, but, as always, nothing happened. Let us hope that the U.S. will not launch a war against Iran; the sad experience of Iraq and Afghanistan must sober up the excessively hot heads in the Pentagon, and in Jerusalem (especially in the latter).