A friend emails me to say:I just watched video of Saakashvili's press conference with Sarkozy. Still claiming outright that the Russians started it and that the Russians are the invaders. Speaking English, naturally. Russians are of course indignant about this claim....
I have to say that the latest news is not encouraging. Forced labor in South Ossetia? The Georgians claiming, among other accusations that Abkhazians have seized 13 villages and a hydroelectric...
A major newspaper (other than the Christian Science Monitor) in the United States has published a sensible and relatively evenhanded OP-ED on Russia-Georgia. Michael Dobbs:t didn't take long for the...
At the Danger Room blog, Nick Thompson claims Russia may be right in calling Georgian behavior "genocide."Over at Complex Terrain Lab, Mike Innes pokes some useful holes in Thompson's argument.I...
How should one account for President Bush's April 1, 2008 speech at the NATO summit? In my view, either those who drafted the speech went a bit too crazy with the Control-X and Control-V buttons, or they just don't care if he makes transparently inconsistent arguments.Bush on missile-defense deployments in Eastern Europe:"This week President Putin is planning to attend his first NATO summit and later this week I plan to travel to Sochi, Russia, for further talks on this and other matters. In our discussions, I will reiterate that the missile defense capabilities we are developing are not...
The BBC: Kosovo's parliament has unanimously endorsed a declaration of independence from Serbia, in an historic session.The declaration, read by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, said Kosovo would be a democratic country that respected the rights of all ethnic communities.The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognise Kosovo on Monday.Serbia's PM denounced the US for helping create a "false state". Serbia's ally, Russia, called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting.Correspondents say the potential for trouble between Kosovo's Serbs and ethnic Albanians is enormous.Serbia's...
The United States has decided to strongly back the Ukrainian and Georgian bids to begin the process of becoming NATO members.Despite fierce objections from Russia, the United States is pushing NATO to start membership negotiations with Ukraine and Georgia at an alliance summit meeting in Bucharest in April, diplomats said Wednesday.The U.S. pressure is likely to lead to divisions inside the 26-member alliance, with Germany and several West European countries opposed to offering Ukraine and Georgia the prospect of imminent membership. Washington and several East European countries say the...
Photo: ReutersWhile I've been fascinated by goings-on in southeast Asia, I've missed events going on in my intellectual backyard: political turmoil in the Republic of Georgia.Earlier this week, President Mikheil Saakashvili and his former defense minister, Irakli Okruashvili, had a very public falling out. First, Okruashvili launched his an opposition party, "For a United Georgia". Then he alleged that Saakashvili instructed him to kill several public figures, including businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, who owns the television station on which Okruashvili made these claims. He also accused...
Are you following the tale of mysterious missile that Georgian officials claim was launched by a Russian plane violating Georgian air space?The Russians are counter-claiming Georgian provocateuring, which seems patently silly. Both sides are offering a variety of reasons why they could not possibly have been the source of the missile. Now, Kommersant is claiming that the Georgians, after having examined the remains of the missile and declared it to be definitely, absolutely, Russian, have destroyed the wreckage. I haven't found any other corroborating reports, yet.
The now independent states that once made up the Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are often referred to in Russia as the "near-abroad". The meaning of near-abroad, depending on how broadly you want to interpret it, can range from "those areas that used to be part of Russia in our imperial past" to "those areas that really ought to be within our sphere of influence" to "those areas where we have the right to meddle at will". Relations between Russia and the near-abroad range from "let us celebrate our Slavic brotherhood" (Belarus, the gas price kerfuffle of late 2006...