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"South Caucasus' future will depend on overall relationship between Moscow, Washington and NATO"

13 September 2010 [13:13] - TODAY.AZ
“Stability still remains a problem in the South Caucasus, including Georgian and Azerbaijani territories” told APA’s Washington DC correspondent Dale Herspring, a retired 23-year U.S. Foreign Service officer and 32-year veteran of the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Herspring, who currently serves as a University Distinguished Professor at Kansas State University and foreign policy analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC, believes that, it is hard to imagine the possibility of cooperation between Russia and US in the security sphere, while Nagorno-Karabakh and the other conflicts in the region are remaining unsolved.

“I think a bit more time needs to pass, and stability in Georgia becomes the norm. Any stability arrangement would have to include Azerbaijan as well as Armenia”, - he said in an interview with APA.

“On the other hand, seen from a long way away, it appears to me that the greatest danger is that Moscow has still not been able to ’pacify’ the Northern Caucasus”, the analyst added.

Asked what needs to happen in the region, so that they better integrate into Western structures, Mr. Herspring said “first of all, stability is very important”.

“I am not certain that there will be a move toward NATO membership. I think the U.S. Government has learned the hard way that it is one thing to have good relations with the small countries in the region. It is something very different to have them in NATO. Russia will not accept NATO membership, and the U.S. is not about to push it. Relations with Russia are too important to risk totally alienating Moscow”.

Speaking about the region’s future, he said will depend on the overall relationship between Moscow and Washington (AND NATO).

“If it remains positive, then I think we will see a region that is not only more stable politically, but economically as well”, -Mr. Herspring added.


/APA/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/73349.html

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