Tuesday, August 26, 2008

OCD in politics.

When I was a little kid, my parents would talk about the 'paper ladle' that was the symptom of the misfortunes of the Armenian people. My grandmother, a survivor from Cilicia, would tell me about Khrimian Hayrik and his description of the Armenian political thought that amounted to no more than trying to scoop up a bowl of soup with a paper ladle while the rest of the nations were scooping it up with iron ladles.

Another vivid outcome of the Armenian political thought was the answer by the British when asked to help out the Armenians being slaughtered by the Turks: "Our ships cannot climb your Mount Ararat".

I hope we have learned something from these experiences. The early 90-s showed that we have when for the first time in centuries we had an iron ladle to fix some of our problems. This becomes even more important on the background of the Georgian experiences during the same time period. They have been the ones with a paper scoop compared to their enemies' iron scoops and it seems that it is the American ships that now cannot climb their mountains.

This is not to blame the victim (as the Georgians are clearly the victims now) but in real life you got to be a little bit more careful of what you do and what you say. The Georgians now need to bring a statesman to steer the country who is able to solve their problems diplomatically and see if they convince their minorities that it is indeed worth to be within a single Georgia and not in separate states.

The time for obsessive compulsive behavior is over.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Historic reflections are very timely now. Unfortunately politicians never do them, each one of them thinks he is better and smarter than predecessors were. But living aside Georgia's troubles, I think the world enters very dangerous waters now. Often reading about previous wars and crisises I always wondered how people let it happen. And curiously I am observing now what can be a start of a hot third world war and feel so powerless. If Ukraine keeps ups its hysterics, USA keeps delivering "humanitarian aid" on board of fully armed warships, and gives a green light to NATO admission, terrible things may happen.
I am now more prone to think that the conflict was provoked by American side in order to stir things up here at home before elections. Probably Iran scenario proved to be too expensive or dangerous and they thought that Georgia may do the trick. Cheney's upcoming visit shows they are not letting it go and will spin confrontation up, because so far Ossetian war did not help McCain much.

The Historian said...

This was an excellent reflection. Georgian leadership poked Russia in the eye one too many times, and gleefully so because they had "American backing". This shows what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket without reasonable expectations to back it up. You border Russia, not America, if that alone doesn't tell you who you should give at least some regard to (instead of outright hostility) then they've certainly learned now.
At the same time Armenians in Armenia need to balance their love for Russia as well, they don't seem to mind being screwed one bit.

I also see this like spm as (possibly) orchestrated by Cheney to help Repubs in the fall. For whatever reason Americans think the tougher we are on Russia the better. McCain wants to throw them out of the G8 and all sorts of other disasterous ways to totally cut ties with Russia and thus lose the last vestiges of leverage the west has. The American public just don't get the intricacies of foreign policy, esp.with Russia, and so as a result what seems good to seem alas probably isn't.

Haik said...

Khrimian hayrik wasnt even in the room where the pot of harissa was placed. He was in the corridor watching that how the other nations were coming out of the room with their harissa full plates. But they worked hard for that harissa.

On the other hand we worked hard for our iron spoon this time but Serj was not even close to the room where harrissa was being simmered. So this time we dont even have a person who could go and get the harrissa.

Actually I am wrong we have a person who can do that. We will hear him talking on September 5.

Ankakh_Hayastan said...

Վազգեն Սարգսյանն էր որ «միայնակ գայլի» հոգեբանությունն էր առաջ քաշում (միայն քո վրա հույս դիր) բայց թե իր գլուխը կերան:

Anonymous said...

« Մարտի 1-ին մենք վերադարձանք ու կանգնեցինք: Կանգնեցինք այնքան, ինչքան հարկավոր էր` ապացուցելու համար, որ կարող ենք կանգնել: Մարտի 1-ին հայ ժողովուրդը չփախավ, մարտի 1-ին հայ ժողովուրդը ապացուցելու բան ուներ: Ապացուցեց ու գնաց տուն: Կարող էր ավելին ապացուցել, բայց դիմացի կանգնածը չնայած օտար, սակայն թշնամի չէր, չնայած օտար, բայց եղբայր էր: Մարտի 1-ին դիմացի կանգնածը չէր օտար, այլ այն մտածողությունը, որ նրան ստիպում էր սպանել մեզ:

Մարտի 1-ի թշնամին անտեսանելի էր, այդ թշնամին մեր մեջ էր, եւ մենք հաղթեցինք էդ թշնամուն:»

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