tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19791491.post114722064647705687..comments2023-09-28T15:43:24.855+02:00Comments on Vilhelm Konnander's weblog: CIS: Halfling Joins While Giants Leave?Vilhelm Konnanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09167606906861836286noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19791491.post-1147343675501773762006-05-11T12:34:00.000+02:002006-05-11T12:34:00.000+02:00Dear Lyndon,Yes, I know that Uzbekistan has more o...Dear Lyndon,<BR/><BR/>Yes, I know that Uzbekistan has more or less pulled out of GUUAM. It is remarkable how predictable allegiances are in the end, and I cannot remember why Uzbekistan once joined.<BR/><BR/>It is, of course, no coincidence with the territorial disputes. As for Ukraine's Kerch Strait, it has historically been regarded a strategic location, and I recollect there was a famous sea battle there once during one of the Russian-Turkish wars.<BR/><BR/>Rogozin - good riddance... How he has been ousted is though quite interesting.<BR/><BR/>On Abkhazia, Thomas de Waal has a piece in yesterday's openDemocracy: http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-caucasus/abkhazia_3525.jsp<BR/><BR/>Yours,<BR/><BR/>VilhelmVilhelm Konnanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04506899921990227704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19791491.post-1147316451089521632006-05-11T05:00:00.000+02:002006-05-11T05:00:00.000+02:00Interesting post. Couple of brief comments:GUUAM ...Interesting post. Couple of brief comments:<BR/><BR/>GUUAM is now, I think, really more like GUAM - I don't think Uzbekistan is going to go along with this group anymore now that it's cozying back up to Russia.<BR/><BR/>It can't be a coincidence that all of the four remaining GUAM nations have territorial beefs with Russia - Moldova, Georgia, and Az. all have frozen conflicts, and Ukraine has that ridiculous peninsula or sand-bar or whatever in the Black Sea that has been the site of lots of grandstanding in years past by Russian pols like Rogozin (now parted from the main stage, but at the time he was the Kremlin's attack dog on those issues).Scraps of Moscowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09154874166149426406noreply@blogger.com