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Hillary Clinton Has A Finger In Every Pie

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  • Hillary Clinton Has A Finger In Every Pie

    HILLARY CLINTON HAS A FINGER IN EVERY PIE

    The Voice of Russia
    May 31 2012

    On Thursday, the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton embarked on
    a 7-day tour of seven countries. The broad agenda is really impressive.

    During her voyage, Ms. Clinton will visit three countries of Northern
    Europe, namely Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and four countries on
    the south-eastern outskirts of Europe - three Transcaucasian states
    (Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan), and will wind up her trip in Turkey
    on June 7.

    Probably as diverse as the selection of countries is the list of
    topics for the discussion. They range from ecology (to be discussed
    in Scandinavia) to Iran in Syria (everywhere), secession (in
    Transcaucasia) and terrorism - on her final day of the trip, Ms.
    Clinton will co-chair a counterterrorism forum in Istanbul.

    What is probably more interesting is what topics of discussion have not
    been announced. It is more than obvious that after Britain's Supreme
    Court ruled in favor of Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden, Hillary
    Clinton will raise the issue in her talks with Swedish authorities
    and insist that Assange should be further extradited to the U.S. for
    demonstrative punishment. It is worth remembering that in Sweden he
    faces charges of harassment and attempted rape, which are very poorly
    based and unlikely to lead to a serious punishment, the U.S. charges
    him with terrorism which may result in life imprisonment or the death
    penalty (and who cares for the First Amendment!).

    But even the wide array of countries to be visited and topics to be
    discussed has something in common. And that is the attempt to establish
    and promote the U.S. omnipresence in key areas of global politics.

    The tour to Scandinavia signifies the start of the race for the vast
    mineral resources of the Arctic region. As due to the global warming
    and advances in technology, the deepwater oil and gas reserves become
    more and more accessible, all the littoral countries are claiming their
    share of this pie. The problem is further complicated by the fact that
    the maritime borders and exclusive economic zone boundaries were drawn
    arbitrarily in times when no one was really thinking they mattered
    much, and now this leads to sharp disputes between the sub-Arctic
    countries. The U.S., having just a small portion of the shoreline
    there, is obviously not satisfied with its present share and would
    love to broaden it at the expense of neighbors.

    The tour of all three Transcaucasian countries plays an important
    symbolic role. While Hillary Clinton is hardly likely to help solve
    the Nagorno-Karabakh stalemate, and definitely will not affect the
    independent status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, her proclamations
    on both issues will be purely aimed at bringing Georgia, Armenia and
    Azerbaijan closer to the mainstream of U.S. policy.

    With Georgia and its today's totally servile regime, the task is easy.

    But with Armenia and Azerbaijan (both having excellent relations with
    Russia), the task is more rewarding. By showing them a carrot, Ms.
    Clinton will aim at not simply extending the U.S. presence in the
    region, but also at diminishing the Russian influence.

    But the long range goal in Ms. Hillary's mind definitely lies outside
    the countries she is visiting. And this is an attempt to build a
    coalition and gain a foothold in the area adjacent to the region of
    the U.S. utmost strategic interest of the latest decades. While Syria
    and Iran remain the last islands of resistance to the mounting U.S.

    pressure on the "Great Middle East", it is worth trying to circumvent
    those countries and getting access to them from an unexpected
    direction.

    If (the "if" is rather big, though) Ms. Hillary succeeds in, say,
    forging a kind of anti-Iranian alliance with Armenia that would
    really be a big deal. But that means that the carrot she has to
    offer to Armenia must be really huge. And in light of the stalled
    Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, for which she does not seem to have a
    handy solution, this seems highly unlikely.

    Boris Volkhonsky, senior research fellow, Russian Institute for
    Strategic Studies

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