The Russia-Georgia conflict
Posted: Thursday, August 14, 2008 9:16 AM by Domenico Montanaro
So was Sarkozy's role in the so-called peace negotiations a disastrous failure? So reports the New York Times. "It soon became clear that the six-point deal not only failed to slow the Russian advance, but it also allowed Russia to claim that it could push deeper into Georgia as part of so-called additional security measures it was granted in the agreement. Mr. Sarkozy, according to a senior Georgian official who witnessed the negotiations, also failed to persuade the Russians to agree to any time limit on their military action.”
“By mid-morning, European officials were warning of the risks of appeasing Russian aggression, while Georgian officials lamented the West’s weak leverage. ‘I’m talking about the impotence and inability of both Europe and the United States to be unified and to exert leverage, and to comprehend the level of the threat,’ said the senior Georgian official, who had sat in on the talks between Mr. Sarkozy and Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili. The senior Georgian official later made a copy of the deal available to The New York Times with what he said were notes marking changes the Georgians had asked for but failed to attain."
The US is sending troops to Georgia to oversee the humanitarian efforts. "The decision to send the American military, even on a humanitarian mission, deepened the United States’ commitment to Georgia and America’s allies in the former Soviet sphere, just as Russia has been determined to reassert its control in the area. On a day the White House evoked emotional memories of the cold war, a senior Pentagon official said the relief effort was intended ‘to show to Russia that we can come to the aid of a European ally, and that we can do it at will, whenever and wherever we want.’ At a minimum, American forces in Georgia will test Russia’s pledge to allow relief supplies into the country; they could also deter further Russian attacks, though at the risk of a potential military confrontation."
Is this yet another war for oil? "When the main pipeline that carries oil through Georgia was completed in 2005, it was hailed as a major success in the United States policy to diversify its energy supply. Not only did the pipeline transport oil produced in Central Asia, helping move the West away from its dependence on the Middle East, but it also accomplished another American goal: it bypassed Russia.”
“American policy makers hoped that diverting oil around Russia would keep the country from reasserting control over Central Asia and its enormous oil and gas wealth and would provide a safer alternative to Moscow’s control over export routes that it had inherited from Soviet days. The tug-of-war with Moscow was the latest version of the Great Game, the 19th-century contest for dominance in the region."
Just what did the U.S. promise Georgia? The Washington Post: "The muscular rhetoric in the United States followed complaints from Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, that the administration was not doing enough to help the small country. Saakashvili's government contributed troops to Iraq and earned support from Bush for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a proposal Russia strongly opposes.”
“Saakashvili also caused an uproar when he said that Bush's pledge of humanitarian aid meant the U.S. military would take control of ‘Georgian ports and airports.’ The Pentagon swiftly contradicted his statement, and Saakashvili did not repeat it during a subsequent television appearance. But the administration appeared to be sending mixed signals with its aid shipments, pointedly using military planes and ships and warning Russia not to block sea, air or land transport routes, while insisting it had no plans to intervene militarily."
McCain writes a Wall Street Journal op-ed -- entitled “We Are All Georgians” -- in which he advocates sending some US troops to the region. "We should work toward the establishment of an independent, international peacekeeping force in the separatist regions, and stand ready to help our Georgian partners put their country back together. This will entail reviewing anew our relations with both Georgia and Russia. As the NATO secretary general has said, Georgia remains in line for alliance membership, and I hope NATO will move ahead with a membership track for both Georgia and Ukraine.”
“At the same time, we must make clear to Russia's leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability and peace of that world. The U.S. has cancelled a planned joint military exercise with Russia, an important step in this direction. The Georgian people have suffered before, and they suffer today. We must help them through this tragedy, and they should know that the thoughts, prayers and support of the American people are with them. This small democracy, far away from our shores, is an inspiration to all those who cherish our deepest ideals. As I told President Saakashvili on the day the cease-fire was declared, today we are all Georgians. We mustn't forget it."
McCain said in Michigan, per Reuters: "I think the events of the last few days show that there are many places in the world where we don't necessarily anticipate this kind of conflict breaking out… It does require a steady hand on the tiller and an experienced one," he said, “drawing the silent comparison between his years of foreign policy experience and the comparative youth of his 47-year-old Democratic challenger.”
