Georgia/Russia news: 5 SEP 2008
NOTE: This is an informational compilation. GMF does not endorse, either explicitly or implicitly, the content contained herein.
NEWS
US navy ship steams into port where Russian troops stationed The Times (UK), James Hider, 5 Sep 2008
Summary: “A US navy flagship has steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region. A previous trip by American warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand off could erupt in the Black Sea port of Poti.”
Cheney Vows Support for Georgia, Condemns Russian Military Moves
Washington Post (U.S.), Tara Bahrampour, 5 Sep 2008
Summary: “Vice President Cheney, visiting here Thursday, pledged continued U.S. support for Georgia and said the Kremlin’s military actions in the country last month had “cast grave doubt on Russia’s intentions and on its reliability as an international partner.”
Defiant Cheney vows Georgia will join Nato
The Guardian (UK), Julian Borger and Luke Harding, 5 Sep 2008
Summary: “The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, yesterday issued a direct challenge to Moscow’s sway over Georgia, pledging Washington’s support for its eventual membership of Nato, while denouncing Russia’s “illegitimate” invasion. “Georgia will be in our alliance,” Cheney said after talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili.”
Yushchenko stands firm on foreign policy
Financial Times (UK), Roman Olearchyk, 4 Sep 2008
Summary: “Ukraine will push ahead with efforts to join the European Union and Nato military alliance despite Wednesday’s collapse of Kiev’s pro-western coalition, President Viktor Yushchenko said on Thursday…Ukraine’s latest political crisis erupted on Wednesday after Ms Tymoshenko’s camp sided with the communists and the pro-Moscow bloc of ex-premier Victor Yanukovich in a move to curtail the president’s powers.”
Russia’s Oligarchs May Face a Georgian Chill
New York Times (U.S.), Landon Thomas Jr., 4 Sep 2008
Summary: “As Russia’s hot war with Georgia threatens to become a colder, drawn-out conflict with the West, the global ambitions of some of its politically connected, controversial billionaires could suffer a setback.”
Britain values unity in Nato over Georgia
The Times (UK), Francis Elliott, 5 Sep 2008
Summary: “Gordon Brown believes that Britain should remain an “honest broker” in negotiations over Georgia’s membership of Nato, despite increasing pressure from the US for the country to join the alliance. Mr Brown refuses to match American rhetoric over Tbilisi’s efforts to win Membership Action Plan (MAP) status — the first step towards membership. He believes that forcing a split within Nato would be counter-productive.”
Cheney Slams Russia Over War
The St. Petersburg Times (RUS), Steve Gutterman, 5 Sep 2008
Summary: Demonstrating Washington’s support for war-ravaged Georgia, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney condemned Russia for what he called an “illegitimate, unilateral attempt” to redraw this U.S. ally’s borders by force.
Moscow forced to shore up rouble
Financial Times (UK), Charles Clover and Peter Garnham, 4 Sep 2008
Summary: “Russia’s central bank intervened heavily to support the rouble on Thursday as analysts said $21bn of foreign capital might have been pulled out of the country as Moscow paid the price for its conflict with Georgia…The rouble sell off is a sign that in spite of the stabilisation of the conflict in Georgia, and the absence of tough sanctions on Russia, investors still perceive political risk.”
BP Concedes to Russian Partners
Washington Post (U.S.), Philip P. Pan, 5 Sep 2008
Summary: “The British energy giant BP and its billionaire partners in Russia’s third-largest oil company said Thursday that they had resolved an ugly, high-profile battle for corporate control that had become a test of Moscow’s openness to foreign investment. BP gave in to demands by its partners in Russia to replace the joint venture’s American chief executive, Robert Dudley, after refusing to do so for months.”
Recognition a Lonely Exercise for Moscow The Moscow Times (RUS), Nabi Abdullaev, 5 Sep 2008
Summary: Ten days after Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, the only other country to have followed suit as of Thursday was that Cold War battlefield of the 1980s: Nicaragua.
Enemy for Short While
Kommersant (RUS), 5 Sep 2008
Summary: Most of the Russians don’t believe that relations with the West will materially worsen in the wake of the operation on forcing Georgia to peace. At the same time, the common views are that Russia should closely cooperate with the nations that don’t share the standing of the West, signaled the recent polls held by All-Russia’s Center for Public Opinion Studies. The anti-West sentiment is especially strong in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Siberia.
The Soft Power Gets Scappier
Transitions Online, Balint Szlanko, 4 Sep 2008
Summary: “Western Europeans are no longer so skeptical when Easterners fret about Russia…the EU’s reaction, agreed at a special summit of its leaders, may amount to a bit more than we were led to expect. For one thing, there was a special summit. That happens very rarely; the last one was in 2003 on the eve of the Iraq war. That in itself shows that Europe, as a whole, takes the matter seriously, something that hadn’t always been clear.”
COMMENTARY
Moscow’s Last Resort
Russian Profile (RUS), Dmitry Babich, 4 Sep 2008
Summary: As international criticism of Russia’s actions in the Caucasus mounts, the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will play the role of the “last bulwark” for Moscow in terms of gaining at least some international support for its moves against the Georgian government.
Tyranny of the red lines
The Guardian (UK), Editorial, 5 Sep 2008
Summary: “Does power still come out of the barrel of a gun, or, for that matter, out of the nozzle of a petrol pump, in the 21st century? That is the question raised by Russia’s actions in Georgia and elsewhere in Europe in recent months. The short answer is yes, but the long answer is likely to be no. The end of Russia’s era of energy affluence is already in sight, and the limitations of its still ramshackle military forces are obvious. The leverage given to it by oil, gas, and such military strength as it possesses must inevitably diminish over the coming years.”
Caspian energy security
Today’s Zaman (Turkey), Beat, Maria, 4 Sep 2008
Summary: Polemics and heated debate in the aftermath of the war in Georgia set the Caspian oil and natural gas to become an issue of secondary importance however, the crisis is likely to deliver a crushing blow to the long-cherished US and EU plans to establish a secure southern oil and gas export corridor as an alternative to Russia’s energy deliveries from the Caspian region to the international markets. The ongoing confrontation greatly damages Georgia’s image as a safe transit channel for commodities and energy resources.
Turkey can’t turn its back on Russia
Turkish Daily News (Turkey), Birand, Mehmet Ali, 3 Sep 2008
Summary: Turkey cannot afford to renounce Georgia any more than it can afford to turn its back on Russia. Ankara is left with a confusing political dilemma
POLICY INSTITUTE ANALYSIS
Georgia’s Lessons for Taiwan
Brookings Institution (U.S.), Jeffrey A. Bader and Douglas Paal, Sep 2008
Summary: “The Russian attack on Georgia sent ripples of alarm through Europe and the United States. Irrespective of arguments over who started the conflict and who is responsible, the West got the message: Russia expects to dominate the states of the former Soviet Union, and we can expect years of jockeying for influence in those states, with attendant tensions.”
A Resolute Strategy on Georgia
Center for Strategic and International Studies (U.S.), Robert E. Hamilton, 4 Sep 2008
Summary: “As Russia’s occupation of Georgia drags on, it has become increasingly attractive to some analysts to blame Georgia for the conflict, to assert that continued U.S. security assistance to Georgia risks an irreparable fracture in the U.S.-Russia relationship that would threaten progress on issues of greater importance, and to maintain that in any case, the Russian attack has proven that Georgia is militarily indefensible. These analysts go on to conclude that continued U.S. and European military assistance to Georgia could easily be undone by Russia whenever it chooses and hence aid should be limited to humanitarian and economic reconstruction projects. However, such a strategy risks encouraging Russian leaders to continue their occupation of Georgia, undertake further military intimidation of its neighbors, and challenge the United States and its NATO allies more directly.”
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