THE GREETING ADDRESS OF DR. HAYK S. KOTANJIAN TO THE 7TH ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

THE 60^TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUSSIAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION: 1955 – 2015 THE 7^TH ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, 

NOVEMBER 19-21, 2015: MOSCOW

THE GREETING ADDRESS OF THE CHAIRMAN OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION OF ARMENIA DR. HAYK S. KOTANJIAN TO THE 7^TH ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ON BEHALF OF THE POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATIONS OF THE NEW INDEPENDENT STATES

Dear Madam Chair,

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of Political Science Association of Armenia and – as it was kindly offered to me – on behalf of sister Associations of the New Independent States I have the honor to extend brief greetings to the participants and guests of the 7^th All-Russian Congress of Political Science.

The reality in our field of Political Science viz. Strategic Security Studies is that in our research and applied-academic developments the number of new threats and their various configurations is growing. In this situation we have to academically understand the ways of promoting the dialogue and cooperation under the hardly predictable hybrid forms of armed struggle.

Responding to one of the main topics of the All-Russian Congress of Political Science, I am pleased to note that at the dawn of the US “reset policy” in 2010 I happened to be the academic consultant of the “US-RUSSIA Strategic Dialogue” at John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University involving the leading Russian and American Generals as well as strategic analysts that enables to professionally follow the current dynamics of this process. Since 2014 the subject of our special attention has been the alarming deterioration of relations between Russia and the West, which according to a number of leading international experts led to the threshold of a “new-generation Cold Peace-War”. We can admit that this situation adversely affects the promotion of security interests and development of all respected states and organizations represented in our Congress. Let me express confidence in our professional community’s clear understanding of the fact that the constructive systemic reset of international relations with the resumption of the dialogue between Russia and the West stems from the interests of security and sustainable development of all international entities.

The problem of filling the reset of these relations with a new meaningful content accompanied by the understanding of ways of comprehensive development of cooperation in the economic, political, military, communications and other fields becomes urgent due to the globalizing terrorist threat under a scenario with the clash-of-civilizations symptomatic features  – presented years ago by our distinguished colleague from Harvard, Professor Samuel P. Huntington. These catastrophic symptoms are evidenced by the crash of the Russian aircraft blown down to pieces over Sinai, terrorist attacks in Paris, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Afghanistan, and other countries all across the Globe.

The conflicting relationships between millions of migrants and local population of Europe – in connection with the problem of their cultural compatibility and conflicting divergence of their demographic dynamics – warn of value preferences and lifestyles lurking in the depths of this clash.

It should be particularly noted that recently emerging positive messages directed to the improvement of relations between Russia and the West in the context of convergence of positions in the fight against “Islamic State” allow us to hope that the dialogue’s resumption – based on the rethinking of the content and mechanisms of international cooperation and consolidation of leading actors’ efforts in confronting the challenges of terrorism threatening the outbreak of a global conflict among civilizations – could be the basis for preventing an impending crisis in the global security system and shaping a new more secure world order.

In this regard, let me run the errand of the Board of our Association and read an excerpt from its Address to His Excellency the President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin and His Excellency the US President, Mr. Barack Obama, adopted in October 2014: - CIT. – “The Political Science Association of Armenia has the honor to request that you take the steps necessary to return to the “reset” policy. Undoubtedly, the states you lead possess a huge professional resource to ensure and implement the policy of rapprochement, as well as historical experience of conflict resolution between the two nuclear powers. Modern trends in the rise of global confrontation make the interaction of your states within the UN Security Council – based on principles of trust and prevalence of global security interests ‒ necessary than ever. In addition, the Association urges you to make use of the acquired and reviewed mechanisms of interaction between your states within the OSCE – an organization drawing together the interests of the Russian Federation, the United States of America and the European Union, as well as a number of countries that share the universal values ​​of security and cooperation. In the context of the contemporary development of the confrontation potential in Europe, the intensification of the cooperation within the OSCE is first of all necessary from the point of view of the leading role of the powers headed by you as the guarantors of the Pan-European security” (Europe et Orient, jeudi 9 octobre 2014, “IT IS STILL NOT TOO LATE TO AVOID A GLOBAL CATASTROPHE”,

 http://europeetorient.blogspot.am/2014/10/it-is-still-not-too-late-to-avoid.html).

I am sure that our discussions within our Congress – synthesizing political-science knowledge and art of its application in political-diplomatic, economic, military, and communications practice – will help us to find appropriate solutions that can provide new impetus to the development of political science and increasing its critical “smart-power” influence on successful joint normalization of interstate relations’ climate in the system of global security – given the very dangerous explosiveness of this period of time. 

Let me wish us all a fruitful work.

Thank you.

Major General Hayk S. Kotanjian, Doctor of Political Science (RF), Professor, Counterterrorism Fellow (USA), Head of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, MOD, RA

IT IS STILL NOT TOO LATE TO AVOID A GLOBAL CATASTROPHE

The Board of the Political Science Association of Armenia at its meeting of October 7, 2014, expressing concern over the exacerbating confrontation between the Russian Federation and the United States, adopted an Address to the Presidents of the Russian Federation and the US, Their Excellencies Mr. Vladimir Putin and Mr. Barack Obama, urging to return to the “reset” policy in the relations between the Russian Federation and the US. The text of the Address is delivered also among all the international missions accredited to the Republic of Armenia. We publish below the full text of the Address presented by the Chairman of the Political Science Association of Armenia, Doctor of Political Science (RF), Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National Defense University (US), Visiting Research Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Elected Full Member of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation, Major General Hayk Kotanjian.

IT IS STILL NOT TOO LATE TO AVOID A GLOBAL CATASTROPHE

ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENTS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND THE US, THEIR EXCELLENCIES MR. VLADIMIR PUTIN AND MR. BARACK OBAMA

The Honorable President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin!  

The Honorable President of the US Mr. Barack Obama!

All of humanity is seriously concerned with and alarmed at the tensions increasingly deepening and threatening to escalate into a confrontation between the two nuclear powers ‒ the US and Russia. Due to the extremely important role, position, and influence on the modern world, the states headed by you possess, a concern looms over the peoples that, in case the confrontation between the two leading nations of the world persists and aggravates, the clear signs of which are already observed, it may leave beyond the conflict between the US and Russia. Experts have long warned that the nuclear arsenal of the two states is enough for several-time destruction of our common home – the planet Earth. We are confident that this speculative conclusion should not become a reality, especially as in this case there will be no witnesses to this event, as with the Globe all humanity inhabiting it will disappear. We have no slightest doubt that you are not for it too.

The Honorable Mr. Putin!

The Honorable Mr. Obama!

By fortune the states headed by you carry such a paramount mission as the responsibility to ensure safe existence, development and prosperity of our planet and all the people inhabiting it, and for their right to live in peace. Meanwhile, in terms of the political realities of the day, the challenges are intensifying, the sources of which are international terrorism and organized crime, drug and human trafficking, environmental problems on a global scale. The states you head, as the key actors in the world politics, are to lead efforts for consolidating the international community in the struggle against these threats.

It seems that in these circumstances the way out could be the return to the policy you have pursued recently, which has already gone down in history as “the reset policy of the Russian-American relations”. This is a proven policy based on negotiations, dialogue, compromise and mutual respect, which aroused hope for peaceful and sustainable development of peoples, led by you, and the humanity as a whole, and received great support from the international community. We agree with those scholars who believe that such a policy has not exhausted itself and can serve to mitigate and improve the US-Russian relations, and contribute to the task of normalizing the international relations.

The Political Science Association of Armenia has the honor to request that you take the steps necessary to return to the “reset” policy. Undoubtedly, the states you lead possess a huge professional resource to ensure and implement the policy of rapprochement, as well as historical experience of conflict resolution between the two nuclear powers. Modern trends in the rise of global confrontation make the interaction of your states within the UN Security Council – based on principles of trust and prevalence of global security interests ‒ necessary than ever. In addition, the Association urges you to make use of the acquired and reviewed mechanisms of interaction between your states within the OSCE – an organization drawing together the interests of the Russian Federation, the United States of America and the European Union, as well as a number of countries that share the universal values ​​of security and cooperation. In the context of the contemporary development of the confrontation potential in Europe, the intensification of the cooperation within the OSCE is first of all necessary from the point of view of the leading role of the powers headed by you as the guarantors of the Pan-European security.

On the basis of the professional duty uniting political experts of the world, the Political Science Association of Armenia, consolidating the academic potential of political experts, political sociologists and conflict analysts of Armenia, has the honor to address to the Russian Political Science Association and the American Political Science Association, with a proposal to apply their academic expertise to solve this key problem, so fateful for the mankind.

The Honorable President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin, the Honorable President of the US Mr. Barack Obama, people all across the Globe will be deeply grateful to you for this decision, which will provide you a place of honor in the world history!

Dr. Hayk Kotanjian

Chairman, Political Science Association of Armenia