Post-Soviet Eurasia - Essay Example

Professor Name Institution, course number Date Post Soviet Eurasia The collapse of the Soviet Union is one of the greatest events of the XX century. The lands of South Caucasus have always been a disputable territory, situated in between. They comprised different cultures and political systems, which existed peacefully for a long period of time. However, since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, South Caucasus attracted much attention from the Western territory. The disputes for the resources of the Caspian Sea resulted in the War of August, 2008. The aim of this work is to analyze the areas of the Post Soviet Eurasia and contradictions, appearing on this territory. Speaking about the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is important to note that the its main reason was killing of established regime by the crisis, caused by the internal contradictions of the Soviet system and the inability of the Communist Party to resolve them. The end of the Soviet Union led to the ethnic and other conflicts that resulted in thousands of victims and became the cause of instant impoverishment of millions of people as well as the development of the widespread criminality and massive loss of life guidelines. The question of the Post-Soviet reality is more complicated. All former Soviet republics managed to transform themselves into the independent states, which could be hardly imagined in 1991. Today the economic situation in these areas is different. Before the beginning of the global economic crisis, almost all countries of the former Soviet Union managed to overcome deep financial default, caused by the collapse and reconstruction of all-union economy. “Most of the armed conflicts that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union took place in the Caucasus. The independent countries of the south – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia – are beset by the economic problems, social unrest and territorial disputes” (King, Charles, 2008). The origins of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict lie in the events of the late 1980s, when the activation of the Georgian national movement for the independence from the Union center and the radical actions of its leaders led to a sharp deterioration of relations between Georgians and ethnic minorities (primarily, the Abkhazians and Ossetians, who had their own autonomous education and demanded to enhance their status). In 1992, South Ossetia was an independent state, with its own constitution (adopted in 1993), and state symbols. Georgian authorities continued to accept it as the Tskhinvali region, but they did not take active steps to establish control over it. In December 5, 2000 was introduced a visa regime between Russia and Georgia, which created difficulties for the citizens of Georgia, working in Russia. At the same time, there were no similar measures in relation to the residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which provoked protests in Georgia. The situation became worse when Mikhail Saakashvili, declared a policy of the restoration of territorial integrity of Georgia. In August 2004, it led to bloody contradictions, during which Georgian troops tried to establish control over the strategic heights around Tskhinvali, but instead lost a few dozen of people. In May 2006, the Georgian authorities announced Russian peacekeepers as "criminals", who arrived to South Ossetia in terms of carring out rotation, by reason of breaching of visa and border regime, which took place from the point of view of the Georgian authorities. South Ossetian authorities in response to the claims of Georgia threatened to introduce visas for Georgian citizens, including peacekeepers. In March 2006, was signed Russian-Georgian agreement on the withdrawal of Russian military bases from the territory of Georgia, until the end of 2008. The troops were withdrawn even earlier, in November 15, 2007. After the Georgian-Ossetian conflicts in 2004, it became clear that the Georgian army in its current state did not provide a clear advantage over the forces of even such a small region such as South Ossetia. The Georgian government began a massive military reform. As a result, Georgian armed forces were prepared in accordance with NATO standards. Their fighting capacity increased due to the large supply of arms, munitions and military equipment. The army was transferred to a professional basis. In early 2008, there was an increase of tension in the conflict zone, as well as in the relations between Russia and Georgia. Georgian drone reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia and South Ossetia achieved a regular basis. In March-May 2008, Georgia lost five drones. According to the opinion of Michael Saakashvili, the drones were shot down by the Russian Air Force. Georgia accused Russia of international aggression and bombardment of Georgian territory. In August , 8, 2008 Georgian troops stormed Tskhinvali with tanks and applied the other massive armour. Russia and South Ossetia on the one hand, and Georgia on the other hand, accused each other of crimes and ethnic cleansing. The basis of any ethnic conflict lies in the economic and political contradictions. However, the intensity and shape of the conflict depends not only on these factors. Ethnic conflict, as a rule, has a certain historical, social and psychological roots. Georgian-Ossetian conflict is, like any other ethnic conflict, accompanied by rigid ideological confrontation. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia faced many difficulties in the new geopolitical situation. It also concerned three Transcaucasian republics - Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. The countries faced not only the problems in the area of economics, policy and social services, which had arisen as a result of the collapse of the old political system, but also the problems of diplomacy in general. Having acquired the statehood, the countries of South Caucasus began to orientate their foreign policy towards certain states. Thus Azerbaijan has always expressed its sympathy for Turkey, it turned the attention to the East. Turkey, being not indifferent to the part of the territory of Russia, was pleased to intensify relations with Azerbaijan, thus increasing its geopolitical influence in the region. Georgia tried to establish diplomatic relations, primarily with the US and European countries. As for Armenia, it never hid its sympathy for Russia, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, this attitude changed. Armenia has always seen Russia as its main political partner. For Russia, the preservation of friendly relations with Armenia is also of great geopolitical importance. The countries, which had a particular interest to Russia, suddenly declared themselves sovereign, having no experience of self-management in policy and economics. Russia and the countries of the South Caucasus faced the task of finding new general ideas of cooperation, which were directly linked to the geopolitical interests. The integration of the former Soviet republics to the world policy has become one of the significant events in the area of international relations. Located at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, on the one hand, the South Caucasus has been an active participant in the transit trade between East and West since ancient times. On the other hand, the countries of the South Caucasus have always had close political, military, economic and cultural relations with the European countries. Showing a complex knot of intractable socio-economic, national-territorial, religious, ethnic and cultural conflicts, South Caucasus has been a zone of intersection of confrontation of geopolitical interests of the various states, both its nearest neighbors, and the countries that are not in its close proximity. In conditions when there is no time for debates and the price of the possible errors of the political leadership of the countries of South Caucasus substantially increases, the process of developing the branches of current and future foreign policy, including the European arena becomes the question of paramount importance. The difficult situation was aggravated by the negative global trends: the costs of the globalization process, the impending ecological disaster and the world wave of terrorism. All these circumstances made the problems of foreign policy of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia significant, while their territory constitutes one of the most important geopolitical regions on the southern border of Russia. “For the West, ill-judged intervention can be dangerous for another reason: the South Caucasus – or Transcaucasus - was for long periods part of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union and remains a zone of intense Russian interest” (Thomas De Waal, 2010). The sub region of the South Caucasus occupies a special place in the modern world politics. It is the epicenter of the intersection of interests of different forces. However, this interest in not connected with the military and political expansion or territorial acquisitions, but with the objectives of maintaining its influence with the help of the economy, communication and technology. “The South Caucasus is in many ways a constructed region. Some will say that it exists only in the mind, in the memory of a Soviet-era generation and in the vision of policy analysts, who device concept such as the “Easter Partnership Project”. Actually, the cynics say, the South Caucasus region is just a tangle of roadblocks and closed borders that has no common identity beyond a shared past, that is being rapidly forgotten” (Thomas De Waal, 2010). The significance of the South Caucasus as one of the epicenters of foreign policy activity in the global dimension increases and is reinforced by the following circumstances: - Firstly, the growing competition for laying oil and gas, as well as transport corridors through the Caucasian countries and the control over them; - Secondly, the threat of instability in the region due to the deterioration of the situation and the uncertainty in the countries of Western Asia; The formation of the Post-Soviet Azerbaijan coincided with the beginning of radical changes in the geostrategic structure of the world. The incompetence of the first leaders of the country brought the significant damage to the process of gaining independence and to the sphere of foreign policy. One more important factor of defining the territory of the South Caucasus was a diversity of the dialects of the ethnic groups. “Mingrelians and Svans in Georgia speak their own languages, related to but distinct to Georgian. Karabakh Armenians speak a dialect that is almost incomprehensible in Yerevan. North and South Ossetians speak markedly different dialects of Ossetian and are divided by the mountains” (Thomas De Waal, 2010). It is important, to mention that the main geographic borders of the region were of great importance for the surrounding territories, including Russia. The borders of the South Caucasus are predetermined by their natural division. To the first border belongs the Greater Caucasus chain. This territory occupies both Russian and Georgian sides of the mountains, where the Ossetines live. The second and third boundaries occupy Black and Caspian seas, which are the main areas of the Asian and European trade. The fourth one is the river Aras, which flows to the Caspian Sea. It used to be a boundary between the Persian and Russian empires. The last border is situated on the south of the Black Sea. It is a territory between Turkey, Georgia and Armenia. The question of belonging of the South Caucasus to Europe and Asia remains undisputable and contain different versions. However all scientists came to the same opinion, that it is both European and Asian. The Caucasian nationalities share the same customs and traditions. The cultures of Azerbaijanis, Armenians and Georgians have the same origin, despite the political and economic peculiarities. In the field of regional foreign policy of Armenia, the main place takes the development of relations between the three "centers of power" - Russia, the United States and European countries. Armenia seeks to complement the policy of developing relations with the United States and European countries. Georgia orients its foreign policy to the United States. Today, one of the most prominent political trends is the desire of the United States to consolidate its influence on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Consequently, the United States shows the particular attention to the states of the Caspian region. The main reason for this interest is the prospect of exploitation of energy resources available on the territory of South Caucasus. Although Georgia does not have any significant reserves of oil and gas, it also falls within the scope of American interests, due to its strategic location in the South Caucasus. At the same time, the South Caucasus understands that now and in the nearest future, Russia will not have enough resources to support the its countries in their desire to build a modern democratic state with the new economy. Russia has already a lot of serious problems of economic, demographic, social and political nature. It definitely has long-preferences and advantages for the South Caucasus in comparison with other countries. Not only due to geography, but also to other factors such as culture, language, family relations, migration, and so forth. However Georgia, despite the resentment towards Russia still hopes to have it as a strong and rich neighbor, which is able to keep order in Eurasia. In conclusion, it is necessary to mention that, the process of establishment of statehood on the territory of the Post-Soviet Union, showed that ethnic nationalism greatly outweighs over the civilian elements, which are the foundation of the modern democratic nations. The formation of nations and states on the territory of the South Caucasus is interdependent, difficult and painful process. In this regard, we can not dwell on the problem of the so-called "frozen" conflicts, which became, unfortunately, almost a hallmark of the region. There are thousands of disputes in relation to the geographical borders, and political position of post-Soviet Eurasia. It is obvious that without the settlement of existing and "frozen conflicts" in the region of the South Caucasus, neither prosperity nor peace is possible. It also concerns the stability of the whole European continent, especially in terms of the spread of the uncontrolled aggression, terrorism and separatism. Works Cited King, Charles. The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2008. Thomas De Waal. The Caucasus: An introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2010. Read More