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Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations
As the West wets its pants...
NEAR GORI, GEORGIA - AUGUST 13: Russian soldiers sit atop an armored vehicle in a long column of military hardware advancing past Gori August 13, 2008 near Gori, Georgia. A Russian military column, along with an assortment of paramilitary forces allied with them, penetrated further into Georgian territory August 13.
Russia's first foreign war since Soviet troops stormed into Afghanistan nearly three decades ago is showcasing a resurgent military that's trying to overcome years of decline after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia's oil wealth and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's ambition to return his country to its position as a world power have fueled the buildup. But analysts are quick to point out that Russia has picked on a weakling in its invasion of neighboring Georgia and is still a long way from developing a world-class military. Television images of Russian troops and tanks pressing into Georgia provoked reminders of Soviet military might and Cold War invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to the 5-day-old conflict Tuesday, although Georgian leaders said the Russian attacks continued. Although Russian military spending is a small fraction of that of the United States — roughly $30 billion a year compared with more than $500 billion — the country's nuclear-equipped military is vastly improved from the early and mid-1990s, when soldiers foraged for food in potato fields and officers often had to hold second jobs.
"The Russian military pretty much went into free-fall in the early 1990s," recalled Steven Pifer, who was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 1998 to 2000 and is now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, a center-left research center in Washington, D.C. After the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, Russia's military expenditures dropped to one-tenth of the Soviet Union's military budgets during the preceding decade, according to GlobalSecurity.org, an online military research site. Spending on weapons declined by 75 percent. After Putin became president in 2000, the former KGB spy embarked on a military buildup as oil production boosted Russia's economy by an average of 26 percent each year. The Defense Ministry launched an eight-year, $189 billion plan last year to build a new generation of intercontinental missiles, nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers and radars and make other upgrades. Russia also is improving the training, pay, benefits and treatment of soldiers, many of whom notoriously have been subjected to bullying and harassment by superiors. Thousands of Russian soldiers received combat experience through two conflicts in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Additionally, the Russian military leaders behind the Georgia attacks apparently studied the NATO air campaign over Kosovo and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Nathan Hodge, a land-warfare specialist for Jane's Defence Weekly, said Tuesday in an analysis of the Russian-Georgian conflict.
The Russian strikes into Georgia, which was once part of the Soviet Union, appeared designed to reverse Georgia's attempts to modernize and rearm, Hodge said. Georgia's $1 billion defense budget is much smaller than Russia's, but the smaller country nevertheless had developed a small, well-armed force with updated equipment, Hodge said. Retired Col. Christopher Langton, an analyst at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, called the Russian attack a "classic Soviet-style invasion" featuring tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers and aerial assaults. Other analysts said it was relatively easy for Russian troops to move across the border from their own country without the need for a long supply chain. "If we're talking about a theater-wide war in Europe, it would be a very different picture," said Stephen Blank, a professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. Russia also boasts one of the world's most respected air forces, with sophisticated multirole warplanes such as the MiG-29 and the Su-27. It's moving aggressively to develop unmanned aircraft similar to those the U.S. uses.
Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ilitary13.html
Tbilisi has desperately sought international support since Russian forces moved into Georgia after the Georgian army launched an offensive to bring separatist South Ossetia, which broke away in the early 1990s, back under government control. Mark Seddon, Al Jazeera's diplomatic correspondent, says Georgia's actions had clearly been anticipated by Moscow and that the Russian response may be an ominous portent of its future foreign policy. There should be an iron rule for all journalists, commentators and politicians when discussing the crisis in Georgia, especially when in the United States, where I am now. It is this, make it absolutely clear that you know which Georgia you are talking about. The looks of horror that have crossed peoples faces here when I have told them that Russia 'has invaded Georgia' is something to behold. This is not to trivialise the conflict that has erupted, but simply to remind ourselves of what was once said about Czechoslovakia as the Nazis prepared to invade the country after Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, had given his blessing. Namely, that it was 'a faraway country of which we know little'. Brutally, the same may be said about Georgia and, more so, of the two breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. For Zbigniew Brezinski, a former national security adviser to Jimmy Carter, the former United States president, and now a foreign policy adviser to presidential hopeful Barak Obama, has apparently compared Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler. Now Russia is, of course, in breach of international law, and having invaded a sovereign state, albeit one with sizeable pro-Russian enclaves, it is bound to expect a furious response from the West. But Brezinski, as a product of the Cold War, is unwise to make such sweeping claims, not least because Georgia is not Czechoslovakia and Russia is not the old Soviet Union.
Nato encirclement
Whether or not Western leaders like it, the increasingly autocratic political leadership in Moscow is reacting to what it sees as a gradual encirclement by Nato. The military alliance is moving steadily eastwards, and a new generation of long- range missiles are being prepared for deployment in what were Warsaw Pact member states. Moscow is not of course going to send the tanks into Prague or Budapest again. But recent history in the Caucasus suggests that on the inner fringes of the old Soviet bloc, where there are substantial Russian minorities, Moscow is not going to surrender them, and may use them to weaken what it sees as pro-Western governments. To which should be added something else; in those disputed areas with Russian minorities, those who stand in the way may be forced to leave. The untold story of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia is how those breakaway provinces have been emptied of their pro-Georgian populations, and how Russia has distributed passports for those who remain.
Olympic blunder
In retrospect, the move by Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgain leader, to reign in South Ossetia when he thought that the rest of the world would be distracted by the opening of the Olympics in Beijing, was one of the least smart moves he could have made - particularly as it had clearly been anticipated by Moscow. A sensible policy of co-existence may not have assuaged nationalists in both Georgia and Russia, but it has to be a better way ahead than the vicious conflict that has now probably led to the informal, but permanent annexation of Georgian territory by Russia. This is not to excuse, but to try and understand. It may also be timely for Georgia, which, like Ukraine, wants membership of Nato. Had Georgia actually been a member, Nato members could have been called upon to come to the country's aid.
Worrying foretaste
A nightmare scenario of a Nato conflict with Russia over breakaway provinces in Georgia should at the very least make Nato planners think very carefully about further expansion. It may be one thing to occasionally poke the Russian bear when it is weak, quite another to get into its cage when it is beginning to feel stronger and more confident. Historians may look back at this period, and describe something that we may like to call the 'Kosovo Doctrine'. Moscow was opposed to the independence of Kosovo, despite the fact that most Kosovans wanted it, for Moscow was determined to stand by its old Slav ally Serbia, and wanted to send a warning to others in the former Soviet Union. The new Russia is not the plural democracy that many of its founders had hoped for. If Boris Yeltsin clumsily allowed the Perestroika and reform of Mikhail Gorbachev to disintegrate on his watch, as Gorbachev had himself allowed the Soviet Union to disintegrate without a proper plan for dealing with the fallout from that process, the new bosses in the Kremlin, appear to be saying 'so far and no further'. This is not a pleasant sight, and Russia's raw and ugly power displayed by its iron-fist policy in Georgia, may be a foretaste of much to come.
Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/eu...629447507.html
In related news:
Russia today said at least 74 army men were killed and 171 injured in five days of fierce fighting triggered by Georgia's attempt to regain control over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. At least 19 servicemen were also reported missing, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Col-Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn said and added that Russia has asked the Georgian military to exchange lists of POWs and persons missing in action. However, he was unable to give exact number of Georgian soldiers killed in action. Gen Nogovitsyn hinted that several black Americans and other foreigners were among the Georgian troops killed in the Russian operation. Russian army stopped active military operations in Georgia on August 12 but were told not to leave the positions where they received this order. "Some units are protecting transportation facilities, primarily the Zari road, through which humanitarian aid is being delivered and an independent medical battalion started working in Tskhinvali," he said. Meanwhile, the United States has cancelled upcoming joint military exercises with Russia, its first concrete response to the armed conflict in Georgia, as officials consider broader reprisals following Moscow aggression. A senior US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity yesterday said, the August 15-23 exercises involving Russian, French, British and US warships in the Sea of Japan "have been scrapped." The exercises were to involve an onshore component in the Russian port of Vladivostok.
Source: http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite...0?OpenDocument
As the West wets its pants...
Russian military gets stronger
NEAR GORI, GEORGIA - AUGUST 13: Russian soldiers sit atop an armored vehicle in a long column of military hardware advancing past Gori August 13, 2008 near Gori, Georgia. A Russian military column, along with an assortment of paramilitary forces allied with them, penetrated further into Georgian territory August 13.
Russia's first foreign war since Soviet troops stormed into Afghanistan nearly three decades ago is showcasing a resurgent military that's trying to overcome years of decline after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia's oil wealth and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's ambition to return his country to its position as a world power have fueled the buildup. But analysts are quick to point out that Russia has picked on a weakling in its invasion of neighboring Georgia and is still a long way from developing a world-class military. Television images of Russian troops and tanks pressing into Georgia provoked reminders of Soviet military might and Cold War invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to the 5-day-old conflict Tuesday, although Georgian leaders said the Russian attacks continued. Although Russian military spending is a small fraction of that of the United States — roughly $30 billion a year compared with more than $500 billion — the country's nuclear-equipped military is vastly improved from the early and mid-1990s, when soldiers foraged for food in potato fields and officers often had to hold second jobs.
"The Russian military pretty much went into free-fall in the early 1990s," recalled Steven Pifer, who was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 1998 to 2000 and is now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, a center-left research center in Washington, D.C. After the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, Russia's military expenditures dropped to one-tenth of the Soviet Union's military budgets during the preceding decade, according to GlobalSecurity.org, an online military research site. Spending on weapons declined by 75 percent. After Putin became president in 2000, the former KGB spy embarked on a military buildup as oil production boosted Russia's economy by an average of 26 percent each year. The Defense Ministry launched an eight-year, $189 billion plan last year to build a new generation of intercontinental missiles, nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers and radars and make other upgrades. Russia also is improving the training, pay, benefits and treatment of soldiers, many of whom notoriously have been subjected to bullying and harassment by superiors. Thousands of Russian soldiers received combat experience through two conflicts in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Additionally, the Russian military leaders behind the Georgia attacks apparently studied the NATO air campaign over Kosovo and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Nathan Hodge, a land-warfare specialist for Jane's Defence Weekly, said Tuesday in an analysis of the Russian-Georgian conflict.
The Russian strikes into Georgia, which was once part of the Soviet Union, appeared designed to reverse Georgia's attempts to modernize and rearm, Hodge said. Georgia's $1 billion defense budget is much smaller than Russia's, but the smaller country nevertheless had developed a small, well-armed force with updated equipment, Hodge said. Retired Col. Christopher Langton, an analyst at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, called the Russian attack a "classic Soviet-style invasion" featuring tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers and aerial assaults. Other analysts said it was relatively easy for Russian troops to move across the border from their own country without the need for a long supply chain. "If we're talking about a theater-wide war in Europe, it would be a very different picture," said Stephen Blank, a professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. Russia also boasts one of the world's most respected air forces, with sophisticated multirole warplanes such as the MiG-29 and the Su-27. It's moving aggressively to develop unmanned aircraft similar to those the U.S. uses.
Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ilitary13.html
The ugly side of resurgent Russia?
Tbilisi has desperately sought international support since Russian forces moved into Georgia after the Georgian army launched an offensive to bring separatist South Ossetia, which broke away in the early 1990s, back under government control. Mark Seddon, Al Jazeera's diplomatic correspondent, says Georgia's actions had clearly been anticipated by Moscow and that the Russian response may be an ominous portent of its future foreign policy. There should be an iron rule for all journalists, commentators and politicians when discussing the crisis in Georgia, especially when in the United States, where I am now. It is this, make it absolutely clear that you know which Georgia you are talking about. The looks of horror that have crossed peoples faces here when I have told them that Russia 'has invaded Georgia' is something to behold. This is not to trivialise the conflict that has erupted, but simply to remind ourselves of what was once said about Czechoslovakia as the Nazis prepared to invade the country after Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, had given his blessing. Namely, that it was 'a faraway country of which we know little'. Brutally, the same may be said about Georgia and, more so, of the two breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. For Zbigniew Brezinski, a former national security adviser to Jimmy Carter, the former United States president, and now a foreign policy adviser to presidential hopeful Barak Obama, has apparently compared Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler. Now Russia is, of course, in breach of international law, and having invaded a sovereign state, albeit one with sizeable pro-Russian enclaves, it is bound to expect a furious response from the West. But Brezinski, as a product of the Cold War, is unwise to make such sweeping claims, not least because Georgia is not Czechoslovakia and Russia is not the old Soviet Union.
Nato encirclement
Whether or not Western leaders like it, the increasingly autocratic political leadership in Moscow is reacting to what it sees as a gradual encirclement by Nato. The military alliance is moving steadily eastwards, and a new generation of long- range missiles are being prepared for deployment in what were Warsaw Pact member states. Moscow is not of course going to send the tanks into Prague or Budapest again. But recent history in the Caucasus suggests that on the inner fringes of the old Soviet bloc, where there are substantial Russian minorities, Moscow is not going to surrender them, and may use them to weaken what it sees as pro-Western governments. To which should be added something else; in those disputed areas with Russian minorities, those who stand in the way may be forced to leave. The untold story of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia is how those breakaway provinces have been emptied of their pro-Georgian populations, and how Russia has distributed passports for those who remain.
Olympic blunder
In retrospect, the move by Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgain leader, to reign in South Ossetia when he thought that the rest of the world would be distracted by the opening of the Olympics in Beijing, was one of the least smart moves he could have made - particularly as it had clearly been anticipated by Moscow. A sensible policy of co-existence may not have assuaged nationalists in both Georgia and Russia, but it has to be a better way ahead than the vicious conflict that has now probably led to the informal, but permanent annexation of Georgian territory by Russia. This is not to excuse, but to try and understand. It may also be timely for Georgia, which, like Ukraine, wants membership of Nato. Had Georgia actually been a member, Nato members could have been called upon to come to the country's aid.
Worrying foretaste
A nightmare scenario of a Nato conflict with Russia over breakaway provinces in Georgia should at the very least make Nato planners think very carefully about further expansion. It may be one thing to occasionally poke the Russian bear when it is weak, quite another to get into its cage when it is beginning to feel stronger and more confident. Historians may look back at this period, and describe something that we may like to call the 'Kosovo Doctrine'. Moscow was opposed to the independence of Kosovo, despite the fact that most Kosovans wanted it, for Moscow was determined to stand by its old Slav ally Serbia, and wanted to send a warning to others in the former Soviet Union. The new Russia is not the plural democracy that many of its founders had hoped for. If Boris Yeltsin clumsily allowed the Perestroika and reform of Mikhail Gorbachev to disintegrate on his watch, as Gorbachev had himself allowed the Soviet Union to disintegrate without a proper plan for dealing with the fallout from that process, the new bosses in the Kremlin, appear to be saying 'so far and no further'. This is not a pleasant sight, and Russia's raw and ugly power displayed by its iron-fist policy in Georgia, may be a foretaste of much to come.
Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/eu...629447507.html
In related news:
74 Russian army men killed in Georgia fighting
Russia today said at least 74 army men were killed and 171 injured in five days of fierce fighting triggered by Georgia's attempt to regain control over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. At least 19 servicemen were also reported missing, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Col-Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn said and added that Russia has asked the Georgian military to exchange lists of POWs and persons missing in action. However, he was unable to give exact number of Georgian soldiers killed in action. Gen Nogovitsyn hinted that several black Americans and other foreigners were among the Georgian troops killed in the Russian operation. Russian army stopped active military operations in Georgia on August 12 but were told not to leave the positions where they received this order. "Some units are protecting transportation facilities, primarily the Zari road, through which humanitarian aid is being delivered and an independent medical battalion started working in Tskhinvali," he said. Meanwhile, the United States has cancelled upcoming joint military exercises with Russia, its first concrete response to the armed conflict in Georgia, as officials consider broader reprisals following Moscow aggression. A senior US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity yesterday said, the August 15-23 exercises involving Russian, French, British and US warships in the Sea of Japan "have been scrapped." The exercises were to involve an onshore component in the Russian port of Vladivostok.
Source: http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite...0?OpenDocument
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