A high-level delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), led by President Joao Soares, is currently staying in the Caucasus, touring through Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Being close neighbors, the three aforementioned countries differ greatly in terms of politics. The long-lasting debate between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which from the point of view of ethnicity cannot be described either Armenian or Azeri, remains unresolved. A bloody conflict, which broke out in the region in the 1990s (though was stopped) continues to pose a threat even today. An end to the war was put jointly by the world leading nations, first of all by Russia and the OSCE member states. A special expert group on Karabakh was established then but over the past 17 years its members have not achieved any progress on the issue.
If we take Georgia, I mean the way it builds up relations with its neighbors, we may talk about state terrorism. And it results from not just a territorial dispute, this is the case of genocide against minor peoples inhabiting South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia's aggression against its two breakaway republics-and now sovereign states- in August of 2008 resulted from the conflict which also had broken out in the 1990s. It only seemed to have been resolved but things turned completely different when the Georgian troops attacked Tskhinval. Only Russia's interference helped to stop the bloodshed. Europe then did not bother to find out the root of the problem and blamed Russia for the tragedy.
And now the delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, obviously driven by good intentions, is visiting three most restive regions of the Caucasus. The OSCE was established during the Cold War era to settle the pressing issues the European nations would be facing. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the organization was deprived of its main function and is now viewed as a diplomatic forum which deals with critical situations and adopts humanitarian resolutions. However, for some time it was considered an alternative to the UN for this organization failed to solve conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda. Then the OSCE was loaded with tasks, including border security, international terrorism, people smuggling and corruption, it failed to handle successfully. The OSCE delegation visited Chechnya and Uzbekistan but did not succeed there either. OSCE missions can do nothing for they completely depend on the authorities of the countries they are working in. The only thing they can do is express their deep concern over this or that conflict or condemn the criminals.
Of course, Russia welcomes any form of international cooperation which may serve global interests, and is ready to collaborate with any organization, OSCE included, which can play a positive role on the international scene. But the system which was built in the 1970s to sustain stability in Europe, is outdated now. President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev has repeatedly spoken about the need to revise this system but no feedback has been provided so far.
If we want global politics to be dynamic, we all must demonstrate new approaches to the most pressing international issues.
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