64455 - Armenian Strategic Minds

N. Lygeros

Armenian strategic thinking does not have the luxury of being ineffective and Artsakh is the best proof of this. It is no longer a question of having a geopolitical vision that is only theoretical or totally dependent on the immediate environment because historical Armenia is not confined to a rigid framework. This is why the topostrategy, beyond the geostrategy, must lead to an Armenian chronostrategy which must be robust to external attacks and at the same time capable of producing results which constitute national advances. This implies an Armenian synergy which is not restricted to the framework of the State since the role of the Diaspora is fundamental and catalytic in the evolution of Armenity. It constitutes a coherent and diachronic whole which goes beyond the notion of border. It is in this sense that it naturally lives in the space of Great Strategy. Armenia is not only a State but also a component of this Armenity. It is therefore essential to see the interior and the exterior as a whole and not as a partition. Strategy cannot be dominated by a tactical vision of a system that seeks only an equilibrium without worrying about whether it is stable over time. An unstable structure, even if it is balanced, can hardly be an attractive pole for a network of coalitions, which is essential in the context of the Great Strategy. The search for a strategy must be able to produce a thought outside a restricted framework. For the process to be creative, it must be in a non-equilibrium zone because the latter allows the existence of new structures which have autonomy and the capacity to work in a network that is more robust by nature. Preparing for Armenia’s future requires knowledge of its history. Indeed, to produce effective development models, we must study the substrate to which they will be applied. The pieces of the chess set have tactical and strategic meaning only within the chessboard. A good knowledge of the field is therefore essential. Only we must also study the pieces. Anthropology explains how structures of civilization appear. Armenian strategic thinking creates the future but never forgetting the past because there is a human continuum. She knows how dangerous it is to forget it because she has also lived in this context devoid of history under the pretext of the omnipresence of ideology. It also means that purely ideological attempts are doomed. Even a very powerful system will eventually collapse if it does not manage its relationship with Time. Armenity shows how deeply it is anchored within it. And that is why the chronostrategy is necessary for the Armenian people. The latter suffered several barbarities and he is still there while they disappeared. It is important to realize it because it shows temporal resistance. It is even the quintessential example of the principle that Time is a place of resistance. Even genocide did not end Armenity. Armenity shouldn’t behave like a victim, but like a survivor capable of being there even after the worst. This point is fundamental in the vision of Armenity. Indeed, it is not a question of correcting the mistakes of the past which produced irreversible results but of managing, going beyond and transcending them. Retrograde analysis shows very well what took place in the past. We are not in a framework where the principle of the tabula rasa or even the Markov chain would work. We have to think of Armenity in Time because it has elements of civilization within it. It is not about denying the past or making everything dependent on the present. The strategic future must be the keystone of Armenian thought and this is the goal of Chronostrategy.