Posted in: commodities-and-mining
RE: Frontera Fund Archive - Summaries and translations15 Nov 2020 15:10
Translation 36 – TV Kavkasia interview with ZM, 11m, 11/11
Pt.1
J1 - Why is the US Secretary of State coming to Georgia against the background of the political crisis? We will continue to talk about this with our next guest. Zaza Mamulaishvili, President of “Frontera”, is our next guest. Thank you, Mr. Zaza, for participating in the show, and the first question will be: What do you think is the reason and purpose of the visit?
ZM - Thank you so much for the invitation. The reason for this visit is probably a very large list of issues that have always been related to Georgia and especially to such a hot region as the Caucasus for centuries. One reason may be the ongoing processes in the region and, most importantly, the current elections in Georgia, the unrest, the street protests, the story of vote rigging. The Secretary of State comes to talk about all this.
J1 - However, Mr. Zaza, my previous guest, expert Gia Khukhashvili, said that, in fact, this visit is related to the changed environment in the region due to the Karabakh conflict and the increasing role of Georgia for the United States in this situation and the topic of elections may be less important in this case. Because he is dealing with the Georgian government. Less important here is what the opposition is saying, which cannot even prove that the election was rigged. What do you say about that?
ZM - These military actions and political instability related to Karabakh have been going on for several decades. This is not news, nor has the Secretary of State and the US government learned about it now, that Russia has been trying for a long time to restore the lost positions in the Caucasus, and it has succeeded even so.
J1 - Has Russia managed to do that? It has emerged in a new form in this region.
ZM - Exactly, you said it right. For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, today we have such reality that in all three republics of the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia) Russian troops have already entered with different mandates. And, now a contingent of 2,000 people is entering Nagorno-Karabakh, which is controlled by Azerbaijan and where Russian soldiers will also be present. This did not happen after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Well, this is not news for the US administration, and by the way, just a week or 10 days ago, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia were in Washington and they met with the secretary of state, and they have been talking about it for a long time. But I do not think that at such an important moment in American politics, when the fate of the elections is not yet resolved, he is coming to talk about these issues, is unlikely. The most important processes are taking place here, which are related to free, fair and democratic elections. If this process did not happen and fail, it would be a really great tragedy on a larger scale than anyone imagines in the future.