There have been two important political developments in the Middle East and the Caucasus that are ignored due to the tragic airplane crash that killed 113 people.

The first one is a Russian military base’s withdrawal from Javakhk (Jakakheti), an Armenian-populated region of the country of Georgia. The local Armenians are troubled and worried about the removal, since, as RadioFree Europe informs, the “base provides many ethnic Armenians with jobs and the community sees the presence of Russian troops as a guarantee of its security.”

The withdrawal started on 3 May 2006 accompanied by a group of Armenian demonstrators. Unfortunately, nobody doubts that the withdrawal is going to cause a lot of problems. Several months ago a local Turkish group threatened Armenians with genocide and “advised” them to leave their ancestral homes.

Speaking of Turkish threats, the officials of the Republic of Turkey are warning France not to adopt a law that would make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime, Voice of America reports. The Turks have threatened with “irreparable damage” if the law is adopted. Most likely, according to this blogger, France will make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime. Not because that they love Armenians or that are sorry for what happens to them, I think, but because they want to reduce Turkish immigration to France.

If France were being “fair,” it would denounce its destructive role in the ethnic cleansings of Cilician Armenians right after the Genocide of 1915.