‘Geography is not a sentence, it is destiny’ – Andrey Areshev

Geography is not a sentence, geography is destiny, Russian analyst Andrey Areshev said during a discussion titled “The New World Order and Armenia’s Geopolitical Choice” at the Eurasia-Armenia expert platform.

“Let me begin, if I may, with a quote from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent speech at Valdai: ‘I will not deny it, there is currently no consensus on how the world should be organized, on what principles it should be based in the coming years and decades. We have entered a long period of searching, in many ways moving by feel. When a new stable system and its framework will finally take shape is unknown. We must be prepared that for a long time social, political, and economic development will be unpredictable, and at times quite tense.’

I believe we have indeed entered difficult times. A process of fundamental transformation has begun, including within the post-Soviet space. As you know, many political scientists, including in Armenia, speak of the end of the post-Soviet space as a geopolitical and civilizational construct. It is no coincidence that there is increasing talk of the South Caucasus—the former Soviet Transcaucasia—gravitating more toward the Middle East, with its social, political, and geopolitical processes and the characteristics unique to that region,” Areshev said.

He added that the intervention of Western powers and institutions in this ongoing transformation—whose outcome, timeline, or even conclusion remain uncertain—creates additional chaos and turbulence.