Here goes a counter-argument to Brian Whitmore’s Foreign Policy piece. While Whitmore sees the Russia reset policy as benefiting Georgia and other post-Soviet states, Ariel Cohen, writing in the Wall Street Journal today, warns that the reset means the US is turning a blind eye to Russia’s efforts to “strengthen its dominence in the region”.

While the Obama administration praises soft power, Russia still speaks the language of arms. In the past two years it has built five military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Later this month, during President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Yerevan, Moscow will provide military guarantees to Armenia, assuming a “joint” responsibility to protect the country’s borders against Azerbaijan and Turkey. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has prepared a draft protocol for President Medvedev’s signature that would commit Russia’s troops at its military base near the Armenian city of Gyumri to the country’s defense and sell advanced weapons to Yerevan. Baku and Ankara must be livid.