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Resources for Abkhaz conflict res. has been included in US budget

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  • Resources for Abkhaz conflict res. has been included in US budget

    Rezonansi, Georgia
    Dec 26 2007


    Resources for Abkhaz conflict resolution has been included in US
    budget.

    Americans will finance elaboration of Transcaspian pipeline projects
    too

    by Nino Prangishvili

    Money for conflict resolution

    The US Senate has approved the country's 2008 budget. According to
    the budget, next year, the US Department of State will receive 402m
    dollars for the development of democratic processes in the
    post-Soviet area. The adopted document says that a large portion of
    this money should be used for the resolution of the Abkhaz and
    Nagornyy Karabakh conflicts.

    In addition, according to Assistant Secretary of State Daniel
    Sullivan's explanation, the money allocated by the Senate will also
    be spent on the elaboration of the Transcaspian oil and gas pipeline
    projects which will allow Europe to receive oil and gas from Central
    Asia via Azerbaijan and Georgia, bypassing Russia.

    Despite the fact that, formally, the project of assistance to the
    post-Soviet countries was devised by a Congress subcommittee,
    Kommersant newspaper says that its real author is Tom Lantos,
    chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Russia's old
    opponent.

    How will the events unfold should the projects created by the United
    States be put into operation and how effective will their
    implementation be for Georgia? Political analyst Soso Tsintsadze said
    that the US Senate allocates the money for this purpose every year.
    He also said that the allocated 402m dollars seems like a large
    amount to us but, according to Tsintsadze, this is very little for
    the global problems that the projects we are talking about.

    Links to Kosovo

    As for the Abkhazia and Nagornyy Karabakh issues, Tsintsadze is quite
    sceptical about the prospects of resolving them. According to the
    political analyst, the US Congress has been allocating this kind of
    assistance every year since 1946. The difference this time is that
    the separatist regions have been specified. The political analyst
    provides his own explanation regarding this issue.

    "In the past, this money was called assistance allocated for people
    struggling against the Soviet totalitarian system. It is for the
    first time, however, that the money has been allocated for concrete
    separatist regions. I think that this is related to the Kosovo
    problem because Washington is the main driving force on which their
    [Kosovo's] tactic is based. Washington is not really sure that
    Azerbaijan and Georgia will fully agree with its policy. Basically,
    the norms of precedent and international law are being violated here.

    "They know well that the Georgian public will not be especially
    delighted by the US proposal regarding Kosovo. This is why money has
    been allocated to settle the Abkhazia and Nagornyy Karabakh problems.
    It is a fact that this money has to be spent so that an agreement on
    the issues of protection of territorial integrity is reached. I do
    not think, however, that this will be effective.

    "Russia has firmly decided today that Europe should be completely
    dependent either on the Russian gas or on the gas delivered via
    Russia. A whole knot of contradictions has taken shape here. The fact
    that the Senate has allocated a certain amount of money to this end
    is a usual, annual event. The Abkhazia and Nagornyy Karabakh issues
    are the only new thing about it," Tsintsadze said.

    Transcaspian projects

    Economic expert Gia Khukhashvili said that the Untied States is
    trying to weaken Russia's influence in energy markets, including
    Europe, by means of alternative projects. He too, however, is
    sceptical about the effectiveness of this step.

    "Unfortunately, the situation is certainly not good today. For
    example, a short while ago, Putin and [Kazakh President Nursultan]
    Nazarbayev held a meeting and signed a project of construction of a
    pipeline along the Caspian coast for the transportation of the
    Turkmen gas, with the carrying capacity of 25m cu m of gas [as
    published]. Therefore, the projects elaborated by the US Senate will
    not be able to ensure good prospects to the implementation of
    Transcaspian projects bypassing Russia in the future.

    "Naturally, this amount is too small for the settlement of such
    issues since Russia has high stakes in them. For, example, it
    controls the energy carriers of Central Asia. I think that the
    situation is not good in this regard today," Khukhashvili noted.

    [translated]
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