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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia | |
| How Georgia fell into its enemy's trap | |
| 2008-08-09 | |
The fighting should be a deafening wake-up call to the West. Our fatal mistake was made at the Nato summit in Bucharest in April, when Georgia's attempt to get a clear path to membership of the alliance was rebuffed. Mr Saakashvili warned us then that Russia would take advantage of any display of Western weakness or indecision. And it has. | |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #14 NATO wouldn't lift a finger to defend Georgia. As Robert said, they are not able to defend themselves. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-08-09 19:25 |
| #13 The believe Russians will settle for status quo ante and work toward deposing politically Saakashvili but the Georgians will bleed them with hit and run tactics. Jeeze that was poor grammar. What I get for waking and checking RB before coffee. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-09 18:57 |
| #12 What would they have gotten from joining NATO? A mechanism for us to protect them through, perhaps. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-08-09 18:44 |
| #11 It's all in the decanting Grom. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-08-09 18:38 |
| #10 What would they have gotten from joining NATO? None of the members of NATO have the will to defend themselves, let alone other countries. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2008-08-09 18:28 |
| #9 Well yeah and your an Israeli, likely worked for the IDF for awhile killing babies and such on your weekends. Cristian babies mostly---their blood tastes so much better. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-08-09 16:14 |
| #8 Well yeah and your an Israeli, likely worked for the IDF for awhile killing babies and such on your weekends. Ed sed: The believe Russians will settle for status quo ante and work toward deposing politically Saakashvili but the Georgians will bleed them with hit and run tactics. Bet that's the deal. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-08-09 15:35 |
| #7 How Georgia fell into its enemy's trap Let me see, ------- Saakashvili. graduated from the School of International Law of the Kiev State University (Ukraine) in 1992. He briefly worked as a human rights officer for the interim State Council of Georgia following the overthrow of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia before receiving a fellowship from the United States State Department (via the Edmund S. Muskie/FREEDOM Support Act (FSA) Graduate Fellowship Program). He received an LLM from Columbia Law School in 1994 and Doctor of Laws degree from The George Washington University Law School the following year. In 1995, he also received a diploma from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. ------ Putin In 1976 he completed the KGB retraining course in Okhta, Leningrad. The available information about his first years at the KGB is somewhat contradictory; according to some sources,[16] he completed the other retraining course at the Dzerzhinsky KGB Higher School in Moscow and then in 1985—the Red Banner Yuri Andropov KGB Institute in Moscow (now the Academy of Foreign Intelligence), whereupon (or earlier) he joined the KGB First Chief Directorate (Foreign intelligence branch). From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed Putin in Dresden, East Germany (as an illegal) |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-08-09 14:51 |
| #6 And these are the model people Obambi wants to follow? Well, he is just as elitist and limp wristed as the rest of 'em. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-08-09 12:01 |
| #5 OK, we followed the Euros in saying not to Georgia in order to "avoid angering the Russians". Worked out really well, didn't it. Someone again, remind me how the Europeans judgement is "superior" to ours? And these are the model people Obambi wants to follow? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-08-09 11:46 |
| #4 That's what we get for being a bunch of pussies. By "we", you must mean the Germans, Gomez Gliper4865. 'Twas the U.S. that proposed -- strongly -- Georgia's membership in NATO; Germany vetoed it out of concern for the Russian response. And their concern is now proved justified; given the constraints Germany put on their troops in Afghanistan, can you imagine what they'd do if required by treaty to actually fight for a fellow NATO country? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-09 11:39 |
| #3 I don't think Georgia is lost. On the other hand, Tskinvali is not defensible from bombardment unless the Russians invade Georgia proper and that opens a can of worms the Russians don't want. The believe Russians will settle for status quo ante and work toward deposing politically Saakashvili but the Georgians will bleed them with hit and run tactics. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-09 10:05 |
| #2 The one breach in that is the oil and gas pipeline that leads from energy-rich Azerbaijan to Turkey, across Georgia. If Georgia falls, Europe's hopes of energy independence from Russia fall too. It really is "all about oil" and the dependency |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-08-09 09:57 |
| #1 That's what we get for being a bunch of pussies. Now Georgia is certainly lost, sooner or later. Unless we step in, which I seriously doubt we will. |
| Posted by: Gomez Gliper4865 2008-08-09 09:11 |