Bush throws support behind Georgia, Warn to Russia

[Keysersoze]

I appreciate the articles you've posted, but, what you fail to compute is that NATO troops in Afghanistan can utilize the principle of self-defence to cross into Pakistan in order to take on militants. This would bypass the need for a NATO member having suffered an attack in order for NATO to respond.

Quite simple, really.

Well here is a simpler idea.....If the cretins who you seem to support would cease hiding in Pakistan after attacking Nato troops then there would be no reason right? If the Pakistan army ceased "war on it's own people" as you like to say. Then they would be free to attack across the border (as they have been doing) And give NATO all the excuses they need!

So basically you are advocating letting people create their own foreign policy then hide within Pakistan.

I don't think NATO is the problem here. It is people who advocate daft ideas.

 

[Neo]

Mr Cheney goes to Georgia​

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi

United States Vice President Dick Cheney heads to Georgia next week, complementing the port visit of US warships delivering humanitarian assistance, most likely to pledge American military assistance to beleaguered Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who must now deal with Russia's recognition of the independence of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Concerning the latter, in an opinion column in Financial Times, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has justified Moscow's move, citing "international precedents" and claiming that Russia has "reconciled itself to the loss" of 14 former Soviet republics [1]. Judging by how Moscow has tried to keep those republics under its sway one way or another, for example forcing Georgia to join the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 1994, Medvedev's claim may be taken with a pinch of salt.

Given Tbilisi's adamant rejection of South Ossetia's and Abkhazia's desire for independence and Saakashvili's vow to regain his country's full territorial integrity, the Georgian crisis is bound to linger for months, if not years, without resolution, particularly if the US continues to push for Georgia's inclusion into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Theoretically, with Germany dropping its opposition to Georgia's bid to join NATO, as it did at the recent NATO summit in Bucharest, nothing stands in the way of NATO's expansion to the South Caucasus, or Ukraine for that matter, also on Cheney's travel itinerary. There is, though, the geopolitical reality of a stern Russian reaction that could further complicate the now-frozen NATO-Russia relations, given Moscow's decision this week to suspend all cooperation with NATO, including planned joint exercises.

Any aggressive push by NATO to induct Georgia at this critical hour would be nothing short of recklessness, since it would automatically throw NATO into direct conflict with Russia.

The US under the George W Bush administration has however not been averse to military recklessness, which would explain its decision to send naval vessels to the war zone.

The US-backed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline passes through Georgian territory and letting Russia dictate events in Georgia has a definite implication in terms of energy security, given the fierce pipeline geopolitics in the Eurasian landmass, Europe's heavy energy dependency on Russia and Moscow's willingness to rely on the energy card for security bargaining with Europe.

This alone may explain why the European Union, which has been divided over a response to the Georgian crisis, has largely consented to the US's muscular reaction. The issue has now turned into a defining moment of the post-Cold War era because of its broader implications.

From Russia's point of view, carving out Georgia into separate territories is the proper antidote to NATO's planned expansion, to offset the US's growing encroachment, and a clear warning to neighboring states, such as Azerbaijan and Ukraine, to refrain from cozying up to US or NATO.

Russia is now devoting more energy to building up both the CIS network and the implementation of its collective security principle, and equally important, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which had a summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, this week (attended by Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad as an observer).

Should the SCO, which comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, consent to Iran's quest for full membership, then Russia may reciprocate the US's unwanted encroachment into its backyard by gaining a foothold in the US's traditional turf, the oil-prized Persian Gulf, via Iran.

With the Russians building a power plant in Bushehr in Iran and Russian oil and gas companies energetically involved in Iran's energy sector, the door has already been opened for a future security dimension to such a Russian presence in the Persian Gulf.

In a worst-case scenario, should the US pile up the pressure on Moscow in the Caucasus (Ukraine has already expressed an interest in a US-installed anti-missile system), Moscow may resort to backing anti-NATO forces in the region, including the Taliban in Afghanistan.

As Cheney heads to Georgia to pledge firm American support for the combative Tbilisi government, he and other White House officials may want to think twice before taking steps that could have such dire consequences. These include Moscow possibly substantially increasing its naval presence in the Baltic Sea.

This fissure between Russia and the US throws into turmoil the future of Russia's cooperation with the West on such international issues as the nuclear program's of Iran and North Korea, as well as the future of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty agreement that expires in December 2009.

The US's triumphalism prevents Washington policy-makers from properly gauging the numerous instances in which Russia could counteract the US's encroachment by taking advantage of US vulnerabilities, such as military overstretch and multiple and diversified foes.

Cheney would also want to beware of not making over-commitments to Georgia that would tie the hands of next administration in the White House.

Note

1. Medvedev told the SCO summit, "I told them about the real events [in South Ossetia] not the ones told by the Western media, which indicated a different culprit for the fierce battle." He also mentioned that "SCO has broadened the possibilities of observer states [such as Iran]. From now on, they can take part in the organization's activities and we may invite certain countries to the solution of certain important problems." Russia's envoy to SCO, Vitaly Vorobyov, has expressed a great deal of optimism about SCO's potential.

Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and co-author of "Negotiating Iran's Nuclear Populism", Brown Journal of World Affairs, Volume XII, Issue 2, Summer 2005, with Mustafa Kibaroglu. He also wrote "Keeping Iran's nuclear potential latent", Harvard International Review, and is author of Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction. For his Wikipedia entry, click here.

 

[dr.umer]

If Bush is throwing support behind Georgia, then it's for a reason. We have to keep in mind that South Ossetia is no ordinary piece of land. This war is not a war for territory or ideology, it is about gaining the influence over Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, carrying Azeri oil from Caspian Sea fields to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. It is an energy corridor to the West.

Pipeline measures 1774 kms in length, world's second largest oil pipeline, capable of transporting 1.2 million barrels of crude per day, bypassing Russia. It stretches from Baku, Azerbaijan, through Georgia, passing close to the Georgian capital Tbilisi and then travelling on to the Turkish coastline from where the oil is shipped to western markets.

 

[Neo]

US sends 3rd ship to Georgia, plans $1B in aid​

By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI, Associated Press Writer

TBILISI, Georgia - A U.S. Navy ship loaded with humanitarian aid steamed through the Dardanelles on its way to Georgia on Wednesday, as the Bush administration prepared to roll out a $1 billion economic aid package for the ex-Soviet republic.

The multiyear proposal calls for spending about half of the total in the administration's remaining five months in office and recommending that the incoming president and his team continue funding the project when they take over in January, a senior official said.

The White House and State Department intend on Wednesday afternoon to jointly announce the aid package, which follows a fact-finding and assessment mission to Georgia by Reuben Jeffrey, a senior U.S. diplomat who returned from the country last week, the official told the AP.

Jeffrey has recommended that assistance be sped to Georgia to help it rebuild its economy and infrastructure that was destroyed by Russian tanks, troops and airstrikes, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

Vice President Dick Cheney is due to arrive in Georgia on Thursday from Azerbaijan as part of a swing through three former Soviet republics to emphasize U.S. interest and support.

The Russian consul in Georgia, meanwhile, said Russia closed its embassy there and halted consular operations after Georgia severed diplomatic ties following last month's war.

The diplomatic suspension means no new applications for Russian entry visas will be accepted, a blow to Georgians who have relatives in Russia or other ties there. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians live in Russia, many with Russian citizenship.

"A break-off of diplomatic ties is an action that has a price," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in Moscow. He said the ministry is considering other measures.

The diplomatic break follows a five-day war and Moscow's recognition of two separatist Georgia regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as independent nations. The conflict has brought tensions between Moscow and the West to their highest level since the end of the Soviet Union.

"Now I cannot get to Russia to see my wife," Vakhtang Tsereteli, a Georgian whose wife is a Russian citizen and lives in Moscow, said outside the consulate Wednesday. "I don't know what to do."

The United States has already sent two military ships bearing aid to Georgia, and the USS Mount Whitney steamed through the Dardanelles early Wednesday and was expected to pass through the Bosporus later in the day. The two Turkish-controlled straits link the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.

One of the other U.S. ships, the USS McFaul, sailed back through the straits toward the Mediterranean late Monday.

"We don't understand what American ships are doing on the Georgian shores, but this is a question of taste, it's a decision by our American colleagues," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday. "The second question is why the humanitarian aid is being delivered on naval vessels armed with the newest rocket systems."

Russia's reaction to NATO ships "will be calm, without any sort of hysteria. But of course, there will be an answer," Interfax quoted Putin as saying during a visit to Uzbekistan.

The conflict erupted Aug. 7 after Georgia launched an assault on the Russian-backed South Ossetia province in a bid to bring it under central government control.

Russian forces swiftly repelled the offensive and drove deep into Georgia, whose staunchly pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili has angered Moscow by seeking NATO membership for the Caucasus nation.

Georgia straddles a major westward route for oil and gas from Central Asia and the Caspian Sea and has become the focus of a struggle for regional clout between Russia and the West.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament appealed to Russia to "honor all its commitments" to withdraw its troops under a cease-fire agreement with Georgia.

The EU parliament also condemned alleged looting carried out by Russian forces and linked militia groups in Georgia, and it criticized the use of cluster bombs by both Russian and Georgian military officials.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is scheduled to visit Georgia Sept. 15-16, said a spokeswoman for Saakashvili's office, Nato Partskhvaladze.

NATO declined to offer Georgia a road map for membership at an April summit, in part because of concerns about angering Russia, but the alliance assured Georgia it will eventually join.

 

[batmannow]

Medvedev says Russia 'nation to be reckoned with'

By YURAS KARMANAU
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 6, 2008; 5:45 AM

MOSCOW -- President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday the war with Georgia has shown the world that "Russia is a nation to be reckoned with" _ his most aggressive comments to date on the conflict with Russia's southern neighbor.

Medvedev said the fighting in August was forced upon Russia and insisted that Russia had to act to save lives. He spoke at the opening of State Council, a high-level government body made up of governors and others.

"Russia will never allow anyone to infringe upon the lives and dignity of its citizens. Russia is a nation to be reckoned with from now on," Medvedev said.

"We have reached a moment of truth. It became a different world after Aug. 8. Let's call things as they should be called _ because of this aggression, a real war took place, which took the lives of Russians, Ossetians and Georgians," he said.
The conflict over South Ossetia showcased Russia's resurgent military and economic clout and has presented the strongest challenge to the West since the end of the Cold War.

Russia considered many people in South Ossetia its citizens because it gave them passports even though the separatist territory was in Georgia.

Medvedev also criticized the United States and other Western nations, though not by name, for challenging Russia's intervention in Georgia, which started after Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia's main city on Aug. 7.

"Millions of people supported us, but we've heard no words of support and understanding from those who in the same circumstances pontificate about free elections and national dignity and the need to use force to punish an aggressor," Medvedev said.

The United States has moved to counter Russia, both lambasting Moscow for what it called a disproportionate military response and providing humanitarian and economic aid to Georgia.

Much of the U.S. aid has been brought into Georgia on warships, prompting Russian officials to question whether the aid is truly humanitarian or just a cover for arms shipments, a charge U.S. officials have dismissed. Prior to the war, the United States had helped Georgia improve its military. "Unfortunately, the situation is like this ... the rearming of the Georgian regime, including under the flag of humanitarian aid, is continuing," Medvedev said.
"It's interesting how they would feel if we were now to send humanitarian aid using our navy to the countries of the Caribbean Sea, which recently suffered from a destructive hurricane," he added.

Georgia, a South Caucasus nation long dominated by Russia, sits astride a strategic corridor for Caspian Sea and Central Asian oil and gas. Georgia's desire to join NATO and have closer dealings with the West has deeply angered Russia.
"They are continuing to try to put political pressure on us," Medvedev said. "They will be able to do nothing of the sort.

"But I will clearly state this: confrontation is not our choice. We have again confirmed our readiness for equal, mutually beneficial relations, cordial relations which are formed on the basis of real principles of international law," he said.
Russia has recognized Georgia's two separatist provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as independent nations despite protests from the European Union, the United States and Georgia.

In the French city of Avignon, the European Union's 27 foreign ministers were holding talks Saturday to see how they could convince Moscow to fully implement the EU-brokered cease-fire that ended the fighting.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet with Medvedev on Monday to press Russia to withdraw all troops from Georgia, which it has not yet done.