Category: Georgia: Abkhaz

Opposition: NATO Expansion

Russian Leader Warns Against NATO Expansion. (Boston Globe)…Associated Press, June 6, 2008

Russia’s president showed muscle yesterday in his first major foreign policy speech since taking office a month ago, warning that a further NATO expansion eastward would ruin Russia’s relations with the West.

Speaking to a group of German policy makers and business leaders, Dmitry Medvedev’s warning continued the course of his predecessor Vladimir Putin – who fiercely opposed the alliance’s plans to incorporate Russia’s former Soviet neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia. Yet Medvedev also sounded more conciliatory, making offers to step back from confrontation and work out a new European security pact.

U.S. Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia …

U.N. Says Russia Downed Drone, Washington Post
May 27, 2008 , Pg. 8, …Peter Finn

U.N. investigators concluded in a report released Monday that a Russian fighter jet almost certainly shot down a Georgian reconnaissance drone over the separatist region of Abkhazia last month. The finding supports Georgian assertions that Russia is providing military backing to rebels in the Black Sea enclave.

See previous postings for context.

Cost of War … two sides of the issue

EDITORIAL: The Price Of War? Obscuring the debate with fuzzy math.
(Washington Times)…Chris Duquette, May 9, 2008, pg. 21

Editorial provided a counter argument to economist Joseph Stiglitz, author of the book: “The Three-Trillion Dollar War”, that the war is the cause of our recession, contributed to the increase in the cost of war, and added to our national debt.

Editorial provides more facts on the debate: Rise in oil prices can be attributed to global demand and the weakening dollar. We are not in a recession as defined as two straight quarters of negative economic growth , and regarding debt, relative to an annual U.S. GDP of $14 trillion, the war is not unaffordable.

U.S. vs. Russia – Georgian Province

ARTICLE: A Warning Shot From Moscow? By Anne Applebaum, Washington Post, May 6, 2008 , Pg. 19

In the Georgian Province of Abkhazia, a Possible Flashpoint for a New War

A few key points from the article:

Russian news agency ITAR-TASS declared that the government of Georgia was about to invade Abkhazia,

Abkhazia is a province of Georgia that declared its independence in 1992. A small war followed, Georgia and Abkhazia maintain an uneasy stalemate,

Russia, is Abkhazia’s closest military, economic and political ally and has a long-term interest in the destabilization of pro-American, pro-Western, pro-NATO Georgia.

Thus, when the Russian news agency announces that Georgia is about to invade Abkhazia, it may mean that Georgia really is about to invade Abkhazia. But it might also mean, as everyone in the region understands, that Russia is about to invade Georgia — as a “preemptive strike,” of course.

The timing couldn’t be worse. . Between now and January, the current president is a lame duck: Could he make any credible response to a Russian invasion of Abkhazia, should such a thing happen?

Of course, from another perspective, the timing couldn’t be better: If you wanted to attack an American ally, or if you just wanted to destabilize and unnerve an American ally, wouldn’t this be the perfect moment? Perhaps if the Russians don’t take the opportunity, someone else will.

U.S. Response to Russian Troop Movements

ARTICLE: Georgia: U.S. Criticizes Russian Troop Movements
(New York Times)…Reuters , May 7, 2008

The Bush administration accused Russia of acting provocatively against Georgia by moving troops to the breakaway region of Abkhazia and shooting down a remotely piloted aerial vehicle, increasing the risk of armed confrontation. A White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, urged Russia to restate its support for Georgia’s sovereignty, and Georgia to show restraint.