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NATO Sucks-in Tajikistan
Rick Rozoff - 28.02.2002 01:02
The BBC story, posted below, refers to Tajikistan as the "last former Soviet Republic to join" NATO´s Orwellian-named Partnership for Peace (PfP) military bloc. Presumably the BBC means it is the fourteenth former Soviet Republic to do so, as Russia is not a member.
A revealing oversight, and one that indicates the true purpose of the Partnership: To entangle all the non-Russian former republics in a U.S.-NATO dominated military command structure, one which will dictate not only the foreign policies but internal political and economic affairs in all of the affected countries.
Though not mentioned in this report, the first effect of Tajikistan joining the PfP will be that it participates in the US and NATO´s war in Afghanistan and beyond. With nineteen current full members of NATO and thirty PfP candidate members, there are now almost fifty national units in the constantly expanding bloc, most nowhere near the Atlantic Ocean whose name was appropriated to disguise the real mission of NATO.
To understand how Russians and others must feel about this open-ended aggressive aggrandizement in a world where this isn´t even a pretense of a rival military alliance, imagine that in the 1980s every member of NATO in Norh America and Western Europe, except the United States, had joined the Warsaw Pact, participated in a Russian war against Guatemala and built military bases in every nation in the Western Hemisphere...except the United States.
--Rick Rozoff
***
BBC World Service - Wednesday, 20 February, 2002, 14:49 GMT
Tajikistan joins Nato peace
Tajikistan has become the last former Soviet republic to join Nato´s partnership for peace programme.
The Nato secretary-general, Lord Robertson, praised what he said had been Tajikistan´s prominent role in the recent war against terrorism - it was a key component in efforts to bring stability to the region, he said.
The Tajik ambassador to Brussels, Sharif Rahimov, who signed the partnership agreement for his country, said joining the programme - which gives members regular political contact with Nato and military co-operation - would help Tajikistan modernise its armed forces.
Correspondents say Tajikistan - which becomes the 30th member of Partnership for Peace - has blamed the delay on joining on the country´s five-year civil war.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1831000/1831939.stm
(C) BBC 2002 * Reprinted for Fair Use Only
--
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/rozoff/tajik.htm
 Website: http://www.dewaarheid.nu/wereldcrisis/washington_afghanistan.htm
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| supplements | | | Iemaad any urls over abgazie/georgie? | 28.02.2002 03:05
| | US Military Pushes into Ex-Soviet Georgia | noane [posted} - 28.02.2002 15:52
US Military Pushes into Ex-Soviet Georgia Under Guise of Fighting Terror
by Rick Rozoff
[Posted on Emperor´s Clothes 27 February 2002]
=======================================
The article, "The Pentagon is Not Rushing to the Transcaucasus, It´s Already There," (1) by Vasily Streltsov, reprinted from Nezavisimaya Gazeta, supports our analysis of the strategic reasons for the so-called war on terror (2).
Washington and its Saudi partners (3) deliberately created the Islamist terrorist "movement" in Afghanistan in the 1980s at a cost of over six billion dollars (4). Since the destruction of the Soviet Union, Washington has put this "movement" to two uses.
In the first stage, the US Establishment has used (and is still using) the terrorists to destabilize target societies, especially Yugoslavia and other Balkans states (5), but also various of the former Soviet Republics, as well as other countries, including Algeria and China, and in the Middle East as well, where Washington - breathtakingly - covertly supports both the most extreme Zionists and the Islamists.
In the second stage, while continuing to employ terrorists in this fashion, Washington has added a new use for its Islamist creation. Some of the terrorists have undergone a breathtakingly rapid media transformation from an image of rebellious-heroes-of-suppressed-minorities to an image of dangerous-minions-of-bin-Laden (himself almost surely tied to the CIA) (6)
Following this makeover the terrorists can be used to justify direct intervention in the target areas because "the US will never tolerate terrorism."
This is called "the protection racket" and also "street insurance" in Chicago and New York. The US provides the threat; then the US provides the protection. The media provides the PR, that is, the appropriate publicity.
In this fashion, the war on terror, lovingly endorsed by Russian President Putin, is used as a cover for the encirclement, penetration and reduction to protectorates of the states of the former Soviet Union including, as a long-term strategic goal, the breakup and destruction of Russia itself.
If this sounds extreme, take it up with reality. We only tell it like it is.
PS As we were about to post this piece, we read an Associated Press dispatch to the effect that a couple of hundred US Special Forces troops are apparently going to Georgia because:
"Russian and American officials say fighters aligned with Osama bin Laden´s al Qaeda gang are holed up in a mountain gorge in Georgia near the border with Russia´s breakaway Chechnya region." (AP, February 27, 2002)
The dispatch states that:
"U.S. Special Forces - who have launched assaults in Afghanistan and offered training and support to troops fighting insurgents in the Philippines - are not expected to have any combat role in Georgia, officials said."
How reassuring.
Note that these terrorists were just as much "aligned with bin Laden" when Washington and the pro-NATO Georgian government aided them in attacking Russia and its allies in the region. Indeed, it is because Georgia gave these terrorists shelter in the first place that they got to be "holed up in a mountain gorge in Georgia"!
It may sound nice that the Special Forces troops which the US is sending in are "not expected to have any combat role in Georgia," they are just going to "train" the Georgians. It sounds a little less nice when you consider that training pro-US armies and terrorists is the US Special Forces´ central task. After that the Special Forces troops "advise" their trainees - that is, only tell them what to do.
More on Georgia in a later post. Meanwhile, suffice it to say: the NATO noose tightens around the Russian neck.
-- Rick Rozoff
The Pentagon is Not Rushing to the Transcaucasus, It´s Already There
By Vasily Streltsov
Reprinted from Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 20 February 2002
For a third day high-placed Russian and Georgian politicians have been pronouncing loaded phrases, in the deparaging sense, which are not acceptable in diplomatic protocal. In reply to the suggestion of Igor Ivanov that bin Laden might be hiding in the Pankisi gorge, a more than insulting answer followed from President Eduard Shevardnadze, with the proposal to seek out the terrorist in Ivanov´s mother´s house. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Georgian Security Minister Valery Khaburdzania quickly jumped into the frey, while the barbs of the Georgian side continued to carry a very offensive tone.
People who understand international politics understand that Tbilisi has found a serious argument, which would allow an absolutely economically weakened country to speak with Moscow, if not from a position of strength, then from something similar to that. Sources are informing NG that such an argument has indeed been found. Yesterday American military personnel arrived in Georgia. It is a small group, possibly Army communications specialists or simply advisors who are preparing the introduction of fundamental allied forces into the Pankisi gorge. In any case, one can affirm with confidence that the Americans have got their feet onto Georgian soil, and it is forever.
International society has already had the opportunity to be convinced that the singular argument for speaking from a position of strength in modern geopolitics is an American military presence. This was demonstrated by the situation in Afghanistan, who was deserted by all of her allies, including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. And this is demonstrated by the case of Gerogia, where a small and weak republic allows itself to speak with Russia in an offending tone.
The US is once again playing a very complex combination play with many moves, in which the accent is clearly placed on the struggle with illegal terrorist organizations, and as a result of which Russia turns out to be in a losing situation. Russia faithfully supported the struggle with the Taliban and formally it has won from this. But Russia has lost in the strategic sense, as all of the southern tier has been blockaded by the USA. In order to completely dominate on the territory of the former Soviet Union, the Americans needed a military presence in the Caucasus. The best pretext for this was the struggle with illegal armed formations. Afterwards a spreading of influence to Azerbaijan and Armenia will follow.
It is very nice that preparations have already begun in Georgia for fall exercises within the framework of the NATO "Partnership for Peace" program, "Cooperative Partner-2002," in the course of which the actions of international forces will be worked out in the conducting of a complex anti-terrorist operation. Applications for participation came from 16 countries, including all of the states of the south Caucasus. And if for Baku the further drawing together with NATO is a continuation of the traditional policies of recent years, then for Yerevan this could mean a definite change in foreign policy priorities which, it seems, would be fully justified by the emerging competition.
Russia, hopelessly losing, is feverishly searching for a Nato save face. Events of recent days have demonstrated that Russia has been carrying on a search for a pretext to withdraw from Georgia legally in the context of diplomatic canons for a while now. In this context, the recent proposal voiced by General Staff head Anatoly Kvashnin to withdraw the Transcaucasus Group of the Russian military from Tbilisi "in a slapdash fashion" becomes understandable. If this operation had actually been carried out in a condensed period, then it could forever have been said that the Americans arrived in Georgia already after the Russians withdrew, not giving a toss about their presence.
(C) Nezavisimaya Gazeta 2002 * Reprinted for Fair Use Only
Website: http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/rozoff/pushes.htm
| | The Georgia We Have Lost... | noane [posted} - 28.02.2002 15:54
The Pentagon is Not Rushing to the Transcaucasus, It´s Already There
By Vasily Streltsov
Reprinted from Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 20 February 2002
For a third day high-placed Russian and Georgian politicians have been pronouncing loaded phrases, in the deparaging sense, which are not acceptable in diplomatic protocal. In reply to the suggestion of Igor Ivanov that bin Laden might be hiding in the Pankisi gorge, a more than insulting answer followed from President Eduard Shevardnadze, with the proposal to seek out the terrorist in Ivanov´s mother´s house. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Georgian Security Minister Valery Khaburdzania quickly jumped into the frey, while the barbs of the Georgian side continued to carry a very offensive tone.
People who understand international politics understand that Tbilisi has found a serious argument, which would allow an absolutely economically weakened country to speak with Moscow, if not from a position of strength, then from something similar to that. Sources are informing NG that such an argument has indeed been found. Yesterday American military personnel arrived in Georgia. It is a small group, possibly Army communications specialists or simply advisors who are preparing the introduction of fundamental allied forces into the Pankisi gorge. In any case, one can affirm with confidence that the Americans have got their feet onto Georgian soil, and it is forever.
International society has already had the opportunity to be convinced that the singular argument for speaking from a position of strength in modern geopolitics is an American military presence. This was demonstrated by the situation in Afghanistan, who was deserted by all of her allies, including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. And this is demonstrated by the case of Gerogia, where a small and weak republic allows itself to speak with Russia in an offending tone.
The US is once again playing a very complex combination play with many moves, in which the accent is clearly placed on the struggle with illegal terrorist organizations, and as a result of which Russia turns out to be in a losing situation. Russia faithfully supported the struggle with the Taliban and formally it has won from this. But Russia has lost in the strategic sense, as all of the southern tier has been blockaded by the USA. In order to completely dominate on the territory of the former Soviet Union, the Americans needed a military presence in the Caucasus. The best pretext for this was the struggle with illegal armed formations. Afterwards a spreading of influence to Azerbaijan and Armenia will follow.
It is very nice that preparations have already begun in Georgia for fall exercises within the framework of the NATO "Partnership for Peace" program, "Cooperative Partner-2002," in the course of which the actions of international forces will be worked out in the conducting of a complex anti-terrorist operation. Applications for participation came from 16 countries, including all of the states of the south Caucasus. And if for Baku the further drawing together with NATO is a continuation of the traditional policies of recent years, then for Yerevan this could mean a definite change in foreign policy priorities which, it seems, would be fully justified by the emerging competition.
Russia, hopelessly losing, is feverishly searching for a Nato save face. Events of recent days have demonstrated that Russia has been carrying on a search for a pretext to withdraw from Georgia legally in the context of diplomatic canons for a while now. In this context, the recent proposal voiced by General Staff head Anatoly Kvashnin to withdraw the Transcaucasus Group of the Russian military from Tbilisi "in a slapdash fashion" becomes understandable. If this operation had actually been carried out in a condensed period, then it could forever have been said that the Americans arrived in Georgia already after the Russians withdrew, not giving a toss about their presence.
(C) Nezavisimaya Gazeta 2002 * Reprinted for Fair Use Only
Website: http://emperors-clothes.com/news/already.htm
| | NATO War In The Caucasus: Abkhazia A Target? | noane [posted} - 01.03.2002 15:07
``If U.S. experts have arrived in Georgia at the
invitation of the Georgian authorities and if the
Russian leadership was not informed of this in
advance, the Duma may very well raise the issue of
recognizing Abkhazia´s independence,´´ he said.
Thu, 28 Feb 2002, 4:01pm HKT
Georgia´s U.S. Ties Prompt Abkhazia to Seek Links With
Russia
By Paul Tighe
Moscow, Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Georgia´s breakaway
region of Abkhazia said it will seek ties with Russia
if the Georgian government moves closer to the U.S.,
Interfax news agency cited Abkhaz Prime Minister Anri
Dzhergenia as saying.
``Georgia is a sovereign state and has the full right
to a pro-American policy,´´ Dzhergenia said.
``Abkhazia, on the other hand, is also a sovereign
state and its people have the full right to establish
the closest possible relations with Russia.´´
The U.S. yesterday said it will send troops to help
Georgia fight Islamic extremists. It already has seven
military personnel in the former Soviet republic
assisting in the transfer of helicopters, General
Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs,
said in Washington.
Abkhazia, a 180-kilometer (112-mile) strip of land on
the Black Sea coast, and Georgia´s South Ossetia
region, are run by autonomous governments that aren´t
recognized by the international community. Abkhazia, a
mainly Muslim region, broke away from Georgia after a
war waged in 1992-93 with the aid of Russia.
The region is considering asking for ``associated
relations´´ with Russia, under which Russia will
recognize and guarantee Abkhazia´s sovereignty,
Dzhergenia told Interfax. They would also sign
agreements to cooperate over foreign and defense
policies and over their border, he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said yesterday
the U.S. deployment in Georgia ``could aggravate the
situation in the region.´´
Russia favors an anti-terrorism operation in Georgia,
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told Interfax last
week.
``It is, of course, sovereign Georgia´s business,´´ he
said. ``But (should we really) sit and wait and see
how the region is turning into a mini Chechnya or a
mini Afghanistan?´´
Abkhazia´s independence may be raised in the Russian
parliament, the Duma, Interfax cited Dmitri Rogozin,
chairman of parliament´s international affairs
committee as saying.
``If U.S. experts have arrived in Georgia at the
invitation of the Georgian authorities and if the
Russian leadership was not informed of this in
advance, the Duma may very well raise the issue of
recognizing Abkhazia´s independence,´´ he said.
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