Armenia turns “Now You See Me” to real life

​Developments in Armenia resemble a famous movie featuring a team of superior illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances, playing cat and mouse with FBI agents. However as the movie goes on, it becomes clear that the FBI agent investigating the case is in fact the chief villain there.

Armenia’s Parliament is going to elect Nikol Pashinyan an interim Prime Minister on May 1. Afterwards they will start preparing for early parliamentary election to choose a new head of the government. This is the outcome of numerous protests held by Pashinyan’s supporters over the past weeks.

Of course, the Armenians have got a lot to grumble about and criticize the ruling Republican Party and Serzh Sargsyan who has already stepped down as Prime Minister. The republic’s economic development has stalled, personal income is falling. Yet there has been no indication that people feel ready to take to the streets to cast the government down. Making an unbiased appraisal of the situation in Armenia, it is clear that the protests have been perfectly organized, planned and financed. Conventional slogans proclaiming fight for democracy, freedom and against tyranny are only a cover-up. Leaders of the protests copy the scenario of colored revolutions, creating a déjà vu impression. E.g. unjustified arrest of the opposition leader, a throng demanding that he be released, Pashinyan’s heroic return from prison, as well as calls for the election of ‘people’s Prime Minister’ right there on the square.

All this is no more than a game, an illusion created for ordinary people to assure them of the opposition’s just cause aimed at bringing a commoner to power, who will make it possible for the Armenians to live prosperously and happily.

All these expectations are unfortunately a sad mistake. In fact, what is happening in Armenia now is that oligarchic clans are trying to get their piece of the political pie. 
Pashinyan is being promoted by the opposition party of the most influential billionaire in Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan, a key business partner of former Armenia’s Pesident Robert Kocharyan. Serzh Sargsyan served as Prime Minister when Kocharyan was President. In practice, Sargsyan and Pashinyan have been in harness for many years.

In other words, the gallery play of Sargsyan and Pashinyan during their 3-minute meeting, Pashinyan’s imprisonment and subsequent release has most likely been orchestrated by Sargsyan himself.

What does he need it for? The thing is that despite their formal pro-Russian rhetoric, Armenia’s oligarchs are greatly dependent on the United States, since most of their financial assets are kept there. They have given a clear signal to Sargsyan that it’d be inappropriate for him to stay in power any longer. Obviously, people in Washington have different plans for the political Olympus in Yerevan. That is the reason why Sargsyan failed to stay in power as Prime Minister after his presidential term ended. The only point of interest of the former head of state now is preserving his financial assets — which he keeps in the West — to live comfortably.

Sargsyan has decided against resisting the United States. Instead, he made an arrangement with Armenian oligarchs and Pashinyan — who was long ago made a puppet opposition leader by the ruling party — to stage a dramatic performance by imitating a colored revolution in Armenia. As a result, the new government will be dominated by the representatives of those financial circles which stand for integrating Armenia in the Caspian-Turkey project of the United States even though it entails territorial losses and renouncing Yerevan’s claims to Ankara and Baku. People in Armenia will unlikely see any improvement in living conditions. They will most probably suffer from sudden weakening of political institutions and intensifying the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

And what about Sargsyan? After exchanging Pashinyan’s assumption of power for his impunity, Sargsyan will watch further dismantling of Armenian nationhood from his cozy villa in a quiet and peaceful European country.