Armenia Elects New Prime Minister, Confirms Alliance With Russia

Authored via The Duran,

New Armenian leader confirms Armenia will retain its alliance with Russia...

Weeks of crisis in Armenia have ended with the Armenian parliament’s election of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan Prime Minister.

He was the only candidate after it became clear that the ruling Republican party’s attempts to install its own candidate in place of its retired leader Serzh Sargsyan – whose attempt to appoint himself Prime Minister triggered the crisis – was unacceptable to large sections of the Armenian public.

Almost the first steps Pashinyan has taken as Armenia’s new leader is pledge to continue Armenia’s military alliance with Russia – which he says (correctly) is essential for Armenia’s security – and say that Armenia will remain a member of the Russian led Eurasian Union.

Pashinyan has also said that he intends to attend the forthcoming Eurasian Union summit meeting, where he intends to meet Russian President Putin for the first time.

Pashinyan has expressed opposition in the past to Armenia’s membership of the Eurasian Union.  That will undoubtedly lead some to suspect that his recent pledges to continue Armenia’s alliance with Russia and to keep Armenia inside the Eurasian Union are cynical manoeuvres intended to buy him time whilst he builds up his power base so that he can chip away at the links to Russia later.

I take a different view.  I think it more likely that Pashinyan’s earlier criticisms were simply intended to distinguish him from Sargsyan and the Republicans, and now that he has achieved his purpose of becoming Armenia’s Prime Minister they will be quietly forgotten.

Even if that is wrong, the very fact that Pashinyan has felt obliged to make these pledges as soon as it became clear that he would become Prime Minister speaks for itself.

The simple fact is that Pashinyan would almost certainly not have become Armenia’s Prime Minister if he had not made these pledges.  Quite simply there is no critical mass in Armenia of opponents of the nation’s alliance with Russia sufficient to propel to power a politician who pledges to end that alliance.  Far too many Armenians realise that given Armenia’s difficult geopolitical environment the alliance with Russia is – as Pashinyan says – essential for Armenia’s security to make it possible for an Armenian politician who wishes to end that alliance to gain power.

That immediately limits what Pashinyan can do, even if he secretly does wish to break with Russia, which as it happens I strongly doubt.

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Comments

Teja BorraChoom Wed, 05/09/2018 - 05:37 Permalink

Interesting to watch Turkey's movements away from NATO towards Russia... buying Russian air defence equipment.... and Russia at the same time in a stauch alliance with Armenia and also supporting Syria. These days, the old "enemy of my enemy is my friend" is no longer true, it seems.

Armenia of course has no other options than swearing allegiance to Russia. Just look at the map. Turkey's maneuvering reminds me of Germany 1914 and before, maybe not so good an idea.

In reply to by BorraChoom

Yen Cross Wed, 05/09/2018 - 02:05 Permalink

 I'm definitely~  bottom fishing___?

  The euro is so oversold?

  How do I hedge this trade?

 

    The United States is very deep, in multiple situations.

  Debt

  Multi-front sovereign  skirmishes

 

   Big talk, short stick?.

Byte Me lazarusturtle Wed, 05/09/2018 - 04:21 Permalink

@YC

I can't see how you can successfully bottom fish the €.

..And I wouldn't want to "go with the flow" either..

If you're convinced there's a bottoming process going on (I'm not) then perhaps something wild like actually holding the scrip is in order.

A small trade that mimics that might be an alternative, but I don't like the stops implied.

IMHO it feels like the wheels are coming off more now than at any time in the last 10 years.

In reply to by lazarusturtle

SmittyinLA Wed, 05/09/2018 - 02:14 Permalink

These people are gone, you can't sell Socialism to the same generation twice, the EU needs new pigeons to fleece or they go bust, it's the nature of ponzis.

Who would have figured Russia and Putin would be the defenders of the free world and free markets and democracy a mere 30 years after the Soviet collapse? Not Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

HenryHall SmittyinLA Wed, 05/09/2018 - 03:39 Permalink

>> Who would have figured Russia and Putin would be the defenders of the free world and free markets and democracy a mere 30 years after the Soviet collapse? Not Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

Make no mistake, Russia defends Russia's interests, not any "free world".

Vlad Putin enjoys enormous popularity. The reason why is simple - the typical Russian working stiff has four or five times as much money in his pocket as he did when Putin came to power in December 1999. That is money after adjusting for price inflation in Russia - HUGE inflation but nonetheless Russians are relatively prosperous and no longer living in dire poverty.

Who wouldn't support a leader who did that for you, raised you, your workmates, and even your entire nation out of poverty?

In reply to by SmittyinLA

Yen Cross Wed, 05/09/2018 - 02:24 Permalink

  The protracted moves I'm seeing in F/X tell me "macro traders" are unwinding.

 I just let a large position go. Factored in re-patriation.

  I'm going flat, and the the dollar is officially not worth anything.

  Thirty one trillion dollars in debt> Get ready for some payback.

  BoJ shouldn't have done that !

  Now the yen crashes, and cheap yen is meaningless/

booboo Wed, 05/09/2018 - 02:48 Permalink

“New British Prime Minister elected, confirms alliance with U.S.”

what? This is newsworthy?

 Ouch My Balls reruns are on TBS

WTFUD Wed, 05/09/2018 - 03:30 Permalink

These Deep State/Soros Dark Ops take years of planning, embedding their/his Sects into Civil Society and all the while hoping to do it covertly. Nope, the Internet has definitely leveled the playing field with people like Orban able to nip jiggery pokery in the bud before it seeps like a cancer into his country.

Ukraine ain't no poster-child for regional citizens/sovereigns who're now very much aware of which way the wind's blowing.

Vichy DC's a poisoned chalice and so will be the EU unless they grow a pair and listen to their citizens.

currency Wed, 05/09/2018 - 09:26 Permalink

Armenia belongs in the West. many Armenians that escaped the Armenian Genocide settled in the West and the Western Armenians continue to share their values with Armenia but, the West still support and are tied to the Turks under Corrupt and Sickman Erdogan and the Corrupt and Autocratic leadership in Baku, led by the Thug Alyev and his Corrupt family.

 

Russia, since the Armenian Genocide has been a strong ally and has provided protection to Armenia and will continue as long as the West remains hesitant. Armenia is valuable to Russia.

It would be nice if The West moved in and set up bases and guarantees protection for Armenia. But I doubt it.