Baku in the news

[Doug Millison]

http://www.counterpunch.org/

May 29, 2002

"Train and Equip" for What?

Georgia and the War on Terrorism

by Gary Leupp


[...] "Train and Equip," or the Georgia chapter in the "war on terrorism,"
seems likely to augment the power of a corrupt dictator; prepare his forces
to launch campaigns not only in the Pankisi Gorge but in Abkhazia, South
Ossetia and elsewhere; enhance Georgia's ties with NATO and pave the way
for a long--term U.S. military presence; strengthen the hands of those
promoting the Baku--Ceyhan pipeline; irritate the Russian legislature and
military, if not President Putin; and complicate the security situation in
a highly unstable region. Even if, in the near future, it results in the
establishment of firm state authority in Pankisi, and the apprehension or
annihilation of a few Arabs or Chechens with some sort of link to
al--Qaeda, it is unlikely to reduce the level of terror in the world, which
for the most part emanates from other, more familiar, venues.[...]