What Biden's Presidency Will Offer Armenia: Political Scientist

Political scientist Suren Sargsyan writes: "Biden's presidency and Armenia PART 1
Today, Joseph Biden assumes the office of the 46th President of the United States. Naturally, we are interested in what Biden's presidency will offer Armenia.

Let me say it right away: The attitude towards Armenia may change, but the policy will not. Why? To put it briefly, the influence of American politics on Armenia has the following hierarchy, and there are three components here.

1. Global politics and its influence on Armenia, regional politics and its influence, as well as bilateral relations. First, I will address the first two.

2. It is natural that global politics, for example, US-Russia, US-Iran, and US-Turkey relations, will have an impact on us. Economic pressures on a strategic ally directly hit our economy, and sanctions against neighboring Iran also complicate our maneuvering capabilities further.

In the case of Turkey, I believe the new administration will also try to make efforts to establish relations with Armenia.

3. That is, global political processes affect us without our will. Overall, the policy towards Russia and Turkey will be 'the method of carrot and stick' flavored with pragmatic solutions. This means that weak points will always be hit, but not too hard. The new administration will cooperate with Russia and Iran in certain directions, but a complete normalization of relations should not be expected. The new administration will also remain a permanent competitor to Russia and an adversary to Iran. As for Turkey, it will be pressured in such a balanced and expert manner that it will neither forget its place nor embrace Russia too closely.

4. There will be adjustments to the policy towards the South Caucasus, considering the recent war and the realities formed after it, as well as the circumstances of being co-chair of the Minsk Group and being somewhat sidelined from processes. However, as I mentioned before, no global changes should be expected.

I will next address the Armenian-American bilateral agenda (or the absence thereof)."