Former Georgian ambassador Erosi Kitsmarishvili to Moscow said Wednesday that Georgian officials believed the United States backed the idea of Georgian troops moving to reclaim Abkhazia and South Ossetia provinces. These had been de facto independent and patrolled by Russian peacekeepers since the early 1990s.Kitsmarishvili's allegations re-kindled the debate over what or who started the five-day war in August, which turned Georgia a basket case as a nation-state.
He said Georgian officials told him President George W. Bush gave his blessing for such a use of force when he met Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili in Washington in March. Kitsmarishvili told a news conference.
Saakashvili's entourage has tried to form an opinion that the U.S. administration would support the use of force. In reality, it was not like that.Thousands of civilians remain displaced and homeless at the start of winter. An estimated 35,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in collective centres run by the Georgian government. Food supplies are another critical issue, as many of the returnees are small farmers who are now unable to support their families.
This post is a third in a series. See Part I and Colin Powell.
In a technical sense, there's no doubt in my mind that Georgia "lost" Georgia.
ReplyDeleteSaakashvili lost his mind when he believed Bush and Cheney that they would back him up and that NATO forces would be there.
What Bush and Cheney conveniently forgot was that NATO (1) was NOT a US military brigade that could be moved around at (Bush's and Cheney's) whim, eg., Iraq. And worse, (2) Georgia was not a NATO member and couldn't be a part of that exclusive club going by the motto: "An attack on one is an attack on all."
Bush and Cheney committed a monumental blunder when they "promised" Kitsmarishvili the back up the latter needed for the planned invasion: (1) because of the debacle, Georgia's NATO inclusion NATO has been indefinitely compromised, i.e., NATO will not approve Georgia's inclusion anymore (2) and have put NATO in an awkward position too vis-a-vis Finland, i.e., what happens if Russia decides to do something about Finland?
Bush and Cheney handed Putin a victory on a silver platter.
I agree with Hillblogger and can't add a thing. Thanks Hillblogger.
ReplyDeleteHi Utah! Happy Thanksgiving Day!
ReplyDeleteIt's like we've been saying all along-the Georgians shelled an undefended college town, for hours. I don't care how much one hates Russia, there is simply no justification for what Georgia did. The Russians SAVED countless lives by putting the brakes on Stalin wannabe Saakashvili.
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