Presidents of CSTO member-states meeting in Yerevan for the non-official summit. [Photolure]
Posted on 10/16/2010 12:53:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Three months prior to the presidential elections in Belarus, the relations between Moscow and Minsk have deteriorated. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated that the leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko's election campaign is based on anti-Russia rhetoric mindless of the $4 billion worth preferential delivery of oil and gas every year.
He also stressed that Lukashenko broke his publicly made promise to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, demonstrating "dishonest" behavior. A strong emphasis was put on Moscow's intentions to communicate with all the political forces of Belarus.
...Turkic CSTO member-states -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan -- have always supported Azerbaijan's initiatives against Armenia, and by that violated the charter of the organization -- a fact openly recognized by Moscow. For example, in 2004, within the framework of the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan supported Azerbaijan's initiative of including on the agenda of discussions an issue on "The Situation in the Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan".
Consequently, Armenia has only Russia and Belarus to rely on as loyal strategic partners in this alliance... A subtle warning against cozy relations, had an impact not only Tsarukyan, but on his companions-in-arms as well, who hope that the Kremlin's support against the will of Armenian authorities could help Prosperous Armenia to secure sizeable mandates during the parliamentary elections, reports Irates De-Facto.
The Ambassador of Belarus in Armenia Stepan Sukharenko stated, on October 6, that Minsk is not for any of the parties in the Nagorno Karabakh issue and will support any solution that would satisfy both sides.
(Excerpt) Read more at armenianow.com ...
Presidents of CSTO member-states meeting in Yerevan for the non-official summit. [Photolure]
All for show. Russia can’t display its cards quite yet. Therefore, they need to keep some of their border states in play like this. However, the Belarussian military and security forces are literally controlled by Russia. And Lushenko is playing his role. He is still Putin’s little puppet and so is Medevedev. Medvedev got into an argument with Putin recently.
Not even two years ago, the Russians were trying to set up a pretext to invade the Ukraine. My belief is that a car bomb taking out Putie would go far in bringing about a more peaceful eastern Europe and Middle East. Even if it didn’t, at least Putie would be dead.
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