Video by Scott Denton “Crisis in Burma”
Posted by: irinaforden on: September 15, 2008
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CRISIS IN BURMA from Scott Denton on Vimeo.
Pakistan has a new president
Posted by: irinaforden on: September 9, 2008
Asif Ali Zardari – husband of an assassinated Benazir Bhutto was sworn into office as a Pakistan’s new President today – Tuesday, Oct. 9.
About warships in backyards and a six point plan
Posted by: irinaforden on: September 9, 2008
photo by Jeffery Stone
Sept.8, 2008
Earlier today – Sept.8, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy (currently a head of EU) together with EU Secretary-General (also a head of NATO) Javier Solana, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner visited Moscow and Tbilisi in hopes of finding a solution to a prolonged ongoing military conflict between Russia and Georgia and also hoping to finally completely secure all points of a ceasefire agreement (six point plan) with Russian side.
Since the conflict broke Russia continued to keep number of troops in a certain parts of Georgian territory way beyond borders with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Today, it seems, the deal finally has been reached, I hope it lasts.
© Communauté européenne, 2008 | Moscow
Dmitri Medvedev, Nicolas Sarkozy and José Manuel Barroso
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev confirmed at an earlier press conference today that the agreement will take effect immediately. Russia is also asking EU negotiators together with N. Sarkozy to assure that Georgian side to follow it’s share of obligations.
It was emphasized by Russian side that it is ready to pull out of Georgia it’s military contingent (peace keepers) from 5 military posts established few weeks ago along the line from Poti to Senaki (towns in Georgia) with a maximum deadline of 7 days, providing no aggression is taken during this time by the Georgian side against Abkhazia.
Complete pull out of Russian forces from areas neighboring South Ossetia and Abkhazia to the place where these forces were before the latest armed conflict began on Aug.7 will take effect within 10 days after the deployment of the ” international mechanisms in these zones, including at least 200 observers from EU”, will be established in a region no later than Oct. 1 of this year.
UN and OSCE international observers will be closely monitoring the situation within the region and, as Russia demands, there should be no corrections applied to an earlier signed ceasefire agreement and no change of a positioning of forces in a region.
Complete return of Georgian forces to their military bases should be finished by Oct. 1 of this year too.
Visit of EU team members to Tbilisi w/ M. Saakashvili
As it was admitted today by Russian officials, both – EU and Russia differ on the subject of recognition of independence of a South Ossetia and Abkhazia, official recognition of the two breakaway regions by Moscow was condemned by EU earlier in August.
Although European Union politicians were very pessimistic about the success of today’s visit and the positive outcome of negotiations it seems that the ground was finally broken. However N. Sarkozy’s attempt to persuade Russian government to reverse it’s recognition of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was met with immediate and abrupt straightaway denial.
The talks with Kremlin didn’t go quite smoothly – there are circulating rumors that at some point Sarkozy threatened to walk out of the heated talks with Russian officials.
As it was stated by the Russian side there is no way Russia will reverse the decision about recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia back and that is final.
N. Sarkozy did not continue “to press” the issue further.
Additional talks about the details of how to establish secure and peaceful environment in the region will be held in Geneva on Oct. 15. of this year, although preliminary discussions will be taking place starting already this month.
In a meantime Venezuela and Russia just announced that it will hold a joint military exercises in the Caribbean waters in mid-November, as it was called by one of the CNN reporters – “in the US backyard“.
Venezuela is said to be prepared to receive the Russian Navy’s ships and planes and also a nuclear powered missile cruiser “Pyotr Velikiy” (Peter The Great) for exercises in November.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Communications confirmed the news. Allegedly, 4 Russian warships, plus a missile cruiser “Pyotr Velikiy” and 1,000 marines from Russia’s Northern Fleet would take part in joint exercises with the Venezuelan Navy.
The decision to conduct Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises was adopted at the meeting between Russia and Venezuela in July, according to Russian sources.
In August Russia blamed NATO repeatedly for escalating the situation in the Black Sea region (Russia’s longtime backyard). NATO denied the accusations claiming it’s ships were in the region to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia.
Seven U.S. and other NATO warships, have entered the Black Sea region in a last few weeks and Russia suspects that some of the ships brought military cargoes to rebuild Georgia’s armed forces.
Few days ago Russia’s President D.Medvedev referred to this situation by saying – “I wonder how they would feel if we dispatched humanitarian aid to the tornado-hit Caribbean region using our navy.”
US was denying the allegations done by Russian government about bringing into the region via Black Sea military aid to restore fallen Georgian military infrastructure. Earlier in August Pentagon promised to restore Georgian military capabilities, claim which later was denied by both Pentagon and a White House.
On the same day – Sept.3, International Monetary Fund (IMF) also announced that it had reached an agreement to provide Georgia a financial support – $750 million loan package. IMF Executive Board will consider the proposed agreement in mid-September.
by Irina Forden
Important notice – all images and video acquired with permission and is a subject to copyrights
Previous post by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Posted by: irinaforden on: September 7, 2008
I’m posting that article here (below) by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty because I think it provides a very good analysis of a current political situation within Georgia.
I ran across this material while researching the topic.
If you want to post that info on your web site or blog you need to go to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty site and follow their instructions for reproducing it.
Please, respect the copyrights.
Irina Forden
Analysis of a political situation within Georgia by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Posted by: irinaforden on: September 7, 2008
The devastating Russian military retaliation occasioned by President Mikheil Saakashvili’s disastrous miscalculation in launching an offensive against South Ossetia during the night of August 7-8 initially impelled the entire nation to close ranks behind the beleaguered leadership. But some observers anticipate that the show of solidarity will be short-lived, and that some Georgians may seek to hold Saakashvili responsible for the economic damage and needless loss of life that resulted from his actions.
Most opposition parties aligned under the aegis of the National Council have pledged their support for Saakashvili. Speaking on August 18 at a joint press conference in Tbilisi, the leaders of the Republican Party and the New Rightists, Davit Usupashvili and Davit Gamkrelidze, affirmed that they plan for the moment to prolong the “moratorium” on confrontation with the authorities that they declared in the wake of the Russian incursion on to, and bombardment of, Georgian territory outside South Ossetia.
Other opposition figures, however, have made clear that their restraint will not last indefinitely. Levan Gachechiladze, who according to official returns placed second to Saakashvili in the January 2008 preterm presidential ballot, was quoted by ft.com on August 15 as saying the opposition will campaign for preterm elections (it is not clear whether he meant presidential, or parliamentary, or both) to be held “at the earliest opportunity,” possibly within two months. Kakha Kukava, leader of the Conservative Party that backed Gachechiladze’s failed presidential bid, similarly affirmed that once tensions abate, his party will call for mass demonstrations aimed at ousting the current leadership. He castigated Saakashvili for embarking on “a war we could not win.”
New Opposition Force?
The most serious potential challenger, however, is Nino Burjanadze, with Saakashvili and the late Zurab Zhvania one of the three figures behind the Rose Revolution of November 2003 that toppled then-President Eduard Shevardnadze and catapulted Saakashvili to power. Burjanadze stepped down unexpectedly in April from the post of parliament speaker, despite having been nominated to head the party list of Saakashvili’s United National Movement in the May 21 parliamentary elections.
In a statement explaining that decision and carried on civil.ge on April 21, Burjanadze alluded to disagreements over the composition of the party’s list of election candidates, from which some of her closest supporters were excluded, and also to unspecified “mistakes made by the authorities” and to tactical, but not strategic, differences with other members of the leadership. She said she believed “current political processes need to be amended,” and that “the election is the best way to renew a political team, to outline new policy for achieving those strategically correct goals that our country has.”
In the aftermath of the election, however, Burjanadze took a different, and more skeptical approach. Interviewed on June 21 by Georgian Public Television, she opined that “political processes have actually been significantly discredited,” both by the opposition and by the authorities, in the course of the elections. She argued that “the presence of a huge and powerful parliamentary majority and the weakness of the opposition” did not make the outgoing parliament a strong one, and that “the situation is in fact the same now, or even worse,” given that only a couple of dozen opposition deputies were elected to the 150-seat parliament, and that some of them refused their mandates to protest the alleged rigging of the vote.
Burjanadze also announced during that interview her plans for establishing a Foundation for Democratic Development that would seek to promote in-depth political discourse. She described that undertaking as “a new form of participating in politics for me.” But in the wake of the South Ossetia debacle, Burjanadze hinted that she plans to return soon to mainstream politics, telling Reuters in an interview on August 18 that “I am more than sure that right now I have to play a very active role in the country.” She also said that once Russian troops withdraw, the leadership will face “tough questions” about the events that immediately preceded the Russian military intervention, questions to which “it will not be very easy” to provide a convincing answer.
Assuming that Burjanadze has made up her mind about a political comeback, the question arises: Will she join the embattled opposition coalition National Council or seek to create her own separate power base? And if she opts for the latter, might some senior government officials who now question Saakashvili’s judgment choose to align with her? One figure who has reason to be acutely aware of the damage Saakashvili’s precipitous actions have wreaked on Georgia’s international reputation is Irakli Alasania, formerly Saakashvili’s point man for negotiating with the Abkhaz leadership and since 2006 ambassador to the UN.
Alasania told RFE/RL’s Georgian Service on August 11 that “at least from now on, our policies, any step taken by us, must always be carefully thought through, with a cold mind. Only then will we be able to really achieve the goals that the Georgian government has.”
The statement adopted on August 19 at the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels that registered members’ collective displeasure that Georgia violated one of the basic ground rules for cooperation with the alliance by seeking to resolve the South Ossetia conflict by force is likely to reinforce a growing perception that Saakashvili does not always act rationally and in the best long-term interests of his country.
Copyright (c) 2008. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Humour interlude
Posted by: irinaforden on: September 4, 2008
Attention: this is not John Oliver !photo by me of my own "monster"
For anybody who can use a bit of a laugh, myself included :O), here are a couple of excerpts from John Oliver’s (member of a real “BEST POLITICAL TEAM” on American TV) biography
“John Oliver was born and raised in England, Great Britain, in the year of punk 1977. His passport lists his occupation as ‘comedian’ and as we all know, passports never lie.”
“In the course of his career, John has received no awards worth mentioning but did receive a letter of complaint from Buckingham Palace, which is clearly a lot better.”
I agree – what can possibly be better than a complaint from Buckingham Palace ?
I want one too !
Latest European Council meeting on Georgia
Posted by: irinaforden on: September 2, 2008
photo © Conseil de l’Union européenne
On Monday, Sept. 1 in Brussels The Council of the European Union held an urgent meeting on the situation in Georgia.
Following a meeting members of the European Council and a current Head of the Council – French President Nicolas Sarkozy held a press conference for the journalists.
Here is a short summary of the conclusions and recommendations of The Council of the European Union.
The European Council expressed very serious concerns over the recent conflict “which has broken out in Georgia, by the resulting violence and by the disproportionate reactions of Russia.” As it is mentioned in the published document – in result of this conflict both sides have suffered a significant damage. It is not clearly explained in that paragraph of the document who are the both sides, but I assume it is – Ossetian, Georgian and Russian sides.
The European Council condemned Russia’s decision to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and once again emphasized that the European Union wants to see Georgian territorial integrity preserved.
It was also mentioned that while European Council is pleased to see that eventually ceasefire agreement between Russia and Georgia has taken effect, it was not completely followed through by the Russian side – not all Russian troops were pulled back to the positions it were held at before Aug. 7 when the initial conflict began.
President N. Sarkozy is planning to visit Moscow on Sept. 8 together with President of the European Commission Manuel Barosso and EU High Representative Javier Solana to discuss these issues directly with the Russian government.
As confirmed by the European Union (EU) officials so far there were no any sanctions to be imposed on Russia as suggested by some countries – members of the EU (among them Britain, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) in order to force Russia to completely withdraw from Georgian territory and as a means of a “drawing the line”. However there were no unity among the EC members achieved on that subject as it is suggested that countries opposing the sanctions are heavily dependent on Russian energy resources – natural gas and oil (among those are Italy, Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Spain and some other countries).
I can only remind that all three Baltic states are very dependent on Russian energy resources too, however it didn’t prevent them from taking a tougher stance on the matter.
At the press conference Mr. Sarkozy, visibly upset at some point after remark that latest EU actions were so ineffective that it was compared to the “paper tiger”, mentioned that EU will continue negotiations of a ceasefire agreement (six point plan) until it completely followed through. It is not a first time EU and it’s Council were called a “paper tiger”.
It was also mentioned that the EU will “commit itself… to secure a peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict in Georgia”. EU is to supply additional, to the already provided, aid to Georgia, including regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, number is somewhere near 14 million Euro and US is already pledging about 20-25 million dollars.
EU is also planning to re-access it’s efforts to diversify “energy sources and supply routes”.
The complete statement by Council of the European Union is available at
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?lang=EN
and it is called EXTRAORDINARY EUROPEAN COUNCIL, BRUSSELS. 1 SEPTEMBER 2008. PRESIDENCY CONCLUSIONS
Important edit of the earlier info on amount of financial assistance provided by US government to Georgia –
“As of August 23, the USG has provided more than $20.7 million, including more than $3.9 million from USAID/OFDA, $2.8 million from the US Department of State, and nearly $14 million from the Department of Defense. The total value of USG emergency relief commodities, including shelter, emergency food assistance, hygiene kits, sleeping bags, and medical items, is nearly $4.7 million. Seven NGO partners, including Counterpart International, Samaritan’s Purse, CARE International, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), World Vision, Save the Children, and Mercy Corps, have been delivering USG emergency relief commodities to populations in need. “
as released by USAID (United States Agency for International Development) on their web site
http://www.usaid.gov/
P.S. – All quotations in this post (article) are taken out of the above mentioned documents and protected by copyrights.
Photo provided by www.ue2008.fr and used here with prior written permission.
If you understand French you can watch EC press conference on line here at PFUE-TV.EU
- http://pfue-tv.ue2008.fr/ue/fo/en/
by Irina Forden
The Caucasian Puzzle – Russian-Georgian conflict aftermath
Posted by: irinaforden on: August 24, 2008
Aug. 24, 2008
photo provided by Mitya Aleshkovsky
Just about a month ago three obscure former Soviet republics – Georgia, Ossetia and Abkhazia were little known to the outside world, but it all changed seemingly overnight.
Latest violent fight between Georgia and Russia for the two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia made headlines around the world.
The last and the most violent part of this never ending conflict lasted about 3 weeks and it’s not clear whether it is completely over, not yet. I doubt that on that fateful day Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili realized what his reckless military actions in and near South Ossetia would lead to.
Russian Military retaliation was fierce and incredibly fast.
By allowing himself to be sucked into an open bloody conflict, which turned out to be a complete disaster, Georgian president had made a series of major blunders no politician can afford to make.
As a result, South Ossetia and his own country are facing now a significant destruction, Georgian infrastructure sustained a major damage, many Georgian villages and small cities were bombed, burned and looted, many people killed.
Some people on Georgian territory died as a result of a Russian offensive,
but there is enough substantial evidence of a numerous Georgians killed (as a revenge for the past persecutions done by Georgians) by organized crime gangs from Ossetia, Chechnya and even Southern part of Russia – Cossacs.
This latest conflict involving Russia, Georgia, Ossetia and Abkhazia is nothing new. Entire Caucasus region – Northern and Southern regions are torn apart by too many ethnic conflicts.
In a past Georgians killed and persecuted numerous Ossetians and Abkhazians, who in turn tried to retaliate in many ways.
Here is a detailed description of the events that lead to this latest conflict between Russia and Georgia.
April, 2008
UN observers conclude that a Russian fighter-jet shot down a Georgian spy drone over Abkhazia.
Russia’s Defence Ministry denied the allegations.
Abkhazian Defence Minister insists that it was the Abkhazian Air Force who shot down the spy drone.
Some time ago Georgia and Abkhazia signed a ceasefire agreement which prohibited sending any kind of drones over the conflict zone.
May 4, 2008
Abkhazian oficial says that 2 drone Georgian spy planes were shot down by Abkhazian anti-aircraft forces over the region of Abkhazia.
A Georgian Foreign Ministry dismisses these claims as a “completely absurd disinformation”.
At the same time the tension between Georgia and Russia continued to increase and Georgia accuses Moscow of shooting down another one of it’s unmanned (drone) spy planes.
Conflicting claims and accusations over drone spy planes attribute to a further increase of the tension between Russia and Georgia.
This is were things get really insanely confusing, both sides continue to accuse each other of all sorts of crimes, but at the same time everybody denies just about everything.
Like it or not I call it “The Caucasian Puzzle”. No matter how much I read I couldn’t understand what was true and what was a lie.
It appears that all the sides were and still are engaged into an endless cycle of accusations and hostilities, which in the end lead to this latest “mini” war between Russia and Georgia.
Through out June and July Georgians periodically shoot over Tskhinvali, Ossetians retaliate back with shootings too.
Both sides blame each other for provocations.
Jul 4, 2008
South Ossetia claims shootings in Tskhinvali and surrounding areas killed 2 people and wounded 11 and blames Georgia for trying to provoke a fighting.
A Georgian defense official denies that Georgian troops fired at Ossetians and says that the incident is a part of ongoing provocation by South Ossetian separatists.
In a meantime Russian state leaders say they will defend their citizens in South Ossetia, referring to the nearly 70,000 people who have Russian passports.
Jul. 10, 2008
Georgia recalls it’s ambassador from Russia after Moscow admits it’s fighter jets had entered Georgian airspace earlier in July.
Tbilisi accuses Moscow of committing a “very grave act of aggression”, Russians in turn say they sent a fighter jet over South Ossetia to “cool hot heads in Tbilisi”.
Jul 11, 2008
A Georgian official warns Russia that it will have to “collect the shattered fragments” of its planes if they intrude Georgian airspace again.
July 15, 2008
A joint Georgian – U.S. military exercise ” Immediate Response 2008″ has started near Tbilisi (Georgian capital).
Aug 2, 2008
South Ossetian officials reported that 6 people were killed and 13 wounded in the shelling of South Ossetia by Georgian forces,
according to Russia’s Interfax News agency.
The commander of Georgian peacekeeping operations – Mamuka Kurashvili, told reporters that “four people were wounded when
several Georgian villages were fired upon from South Ossetia, and Georgia had to return fire.”
Aug 6, 2008
Authorities in the South Ossetia say that the outer areas of the region’s capital
were coming under heavy fire from Georgian-controlled territory, it was reported by Russian news agencies.
Aug 7, 2008
Georgia and South Osetia negotiate ceasefire agreement, but later that day Georgian troops
launch an unexpected attack on Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia. Russia condemns the attack and threatens to retaliate.
Aug 8, 2008
Georgian troops launch a major military offensive to regain control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia and Georgian government says it is all done “to restore the constitutional order”.
Russian leaders say they will defend their citizens in South Ossetia, about 70,000 people in South Ossetia have Russian passports.
Although technically South Ossetia is not recognized by the world community as a separate country,
it has been a de facto independent entity since 1992.
Russian air force begins attacks on military targets in Georgia.
Georgian president M. Saakashvili declares a state of war between Russia and Georgia.
Russian state television says Russian troops are moving into South Ossetia.
Military convoy was expected to reach the provincial capital Tskhinvali by evening.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warns that the Georgian attack will draw retaliation.
Aug 9, 2008
City of Tskhinvali is taken by Russians. Russian air force bombs Poti, Gori, military base in Senaki, Honi, Vaziani and
other targets in Kodori region. News about civilian casualties start coming in, Russians say 2,000 civilians were killed in a fighting, few days later they estimate that number to be at 1,492 .
Georgia says 130 civilians were killed.
Aug. 10, 2008
Georgia offers to negotiate with Russia a ceasefire and peace talks after pulling troops back from South Ossetia’s capital.
Russia says the fighting is continuing and demands an unconditional Georgian withdrawal.
US and European leaders warn Russia that failure to withdraw Russian troops from South Ossetia will damage international relations.
Aug 11, 2008
Russia accuses Georgia of breaking a ceasefire agreement and says Georgia is continuing to shell Tskhinvali.
Georgia’s attack on Tskhinvali was also confirmed by Reuters news agency.
About 9,000 Russian troops sent into Abkhazia and allegedly later sent into Georgia through a border with Abkhazia.
By opening a second front and moving deeper into Georgia’s territory Russia forced Georgia to withdraw it’s troops from Tskhinvali.
Russia demands full disarmament of Georgian troops in the area.
EU representatives visit Georgia, President Mikheil Saakashvili signs a ceasefire agreement.
Aug 12, 2008
Russian officials say they no longer want presence of Georgian peacemakers in the Ossetian and Abkhazian regions.
Nicolas Sarkozy meets with Russian leaders in Moscow to negotiate a ceasefire agreement.
Aug 18, 2008
The government of Abkhazia takes control over the Kodori Gorge region.
Aug 19, 2008
Russian troops continue to move further in to Georgia.
NATO holds meeting in Brussels. US and British government leaders insist on taking a tough approach,
Germany and France call for a more cautious actions.
Russia warns NATO that it’s relationship with Moscow would suffer if foreign ministers back Georgia.
Aug. 22, 2008
Russia finally started a withdrawal of it’s troops from parts of Georgia – Igoeti and Senaki.
Certain amount of troops left Gori and moved towards the South Ossetia.
Russia is demanding to leave a much larger number of a peace keepers around certain strategically important places in Georgia and South Osetia to establish a buffer zone.
Russian military personnel insists that they got an order to move only back to the border of South Ossetia.
Vitalyi Churkin, Russian UN representative refused to sign a newly edited by UN version of an earlier six point plan signed by Sarkozy and Medvedev.
The original version of a ceasefire agreement (otherwise called six point peace plan) contained a point in which there was an agreement to allow Russian side to establish a buffer zone on Georgian territory up to 10 km beyond South Osetia.
UN also insists on sending an international peacekeepers to Georgia.
The original six-point peace plan allegedly allows Russian forces to take the additional unspecified security measures and, as expressed by some western diplomats, is very vague.
Aug 23, 2008
Russians declare that the pullback of troops from Georgia is finished, but there is apparently still a significant number of the weapons
and military personnel left in a parts of Georgia.
This week Russia has been negotiating a six point plan (ceasefire agreement) with UN and only agrees to follow an earlier version of a six point plan (Medvedev-Sarkozy plan)
approved originally by Presidents of France, Georgia and Russia and backed by EU.
Allegedly, Sarkozy’s plan originally had just the first four points.
Russia added the fifth and sixth points. Georgia apparently asked for additional changes, but Russia rejected them and Sarkozy
convinced Georgia to agree to the unchanged plan.
Six point plan -
1. No recourse to the use of force.
2. Definitive cessation of hostilities.
3. Free access to humanitarian aid (addition rejected: and to allow the return of refugees).
4. Georgian military forces must withdraw to their normal bases of encampment.
5. Russian military forces must withdraw to the lines prior to the start of hostilities. While awaiting an international mechanism,
Russian peacekeeping forces will implement additional security measures (addition rejected: six months).
6. Opening of international discussions on the modalities of lasting security in Abkhazia and South Ossetia
(addition rejected: based on the decisions of the UN and the OSCE).
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that Russia would only follow six point plan and that there was no territorial integrity of Georgia
mentioned in that document.
New version of the agreement was significantly changed by diplomats from UN and after that Russian side refused to sign it.
Vitaly Churkin mentioned that the most unacceptable point in the agreement was “an immidiate withdrawal of Russian troops
from Georgia back to it’s original location in South Ossetia.”
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a following statement – “One can forget about any talk about Georgia’s territorial integrity
because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state”.
Statements done by the US, European and Russian officials are showing a huge difference in the way West and Russia interpret the ceasefire agreement.
Some of the major points of disagreement is that Russian forces can carry out unspecified “additional security measures” to resolve the conflict and
also a preservation of a territorial integrity of Georgia.
Both breakaway regions – South Ossetia and Abkhazia voted to separate from Georgian republic after a proclamation of a Georgian independence in 1991.
In the aftermath of a conflict Russian State is facing another problem – foreign capital started to flow out of the country at a significant rate and it is predicted that
investments and funds by Russian companies into the US are likely to face tougher scrutiny in Washington, as predicted by experts.
Russia’s stock markets were affected since the conflict began.
RGE Monitor reports about it on their website
http://www.rgemonitor.com/ -
“Conflict in Georgia: Economic and Financial Fallout ” -
“This conflict is having a significant effect on the economies and financial markets of Georgia and Russia, as well as on the region and energy supply.”
As a direct result of the conflict, tension and misunderstanding had significantly increased between US,
Western and some Eastern European countries and Russia -
Poland just signed an agreement with US to station parts of a U.S. missile defence shield on Polish soil, drawing an immediate negative response from Moscow.
One of Russia’s deputy chiefs of General Staff – Anatoly Nogovitsyn said that Poland’s agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base “exposes the Poland
to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons”.
Foreign Ministry of Ukraine issued a statement saying it was prepared to give Western countries access to its missile-warning systems.
Reports start to come in about Russia negotiating a deal about selling weapons and weapons systems to Syria.
This week Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad explored the possibility of the deployment of Russian missiles on his territory.
Russian media agencies release information about that Moscow is also interested in an establishing a naval base for the Russian Black Sea fleet at the Syrian port of Tartus.
New naval base can be very useful for Russia after the agreement with Ukraine expires in 2017.
Ukraine had threatened recently to refuse an entry to the Russian vessels back to the Sevastopol naval base. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet uses the Sevastopol base under
agreements signed in 1997. President of Ukraine Yushchenko announced earlier this year that Ukraine would not extend the lease of the base beyond 2017.
News about latest negotiations between Russia and Syria in turn caused a great concern among the top US and Israeli officials.
Syria and Russia were a close allies in a Soviet past.
Latest conflict and a further escalation of hostilities between so many countries is a direct result of a too much of a political meddling
in the region done by many different governments.
This subject in itself is so complex that it requires a further detailed assessment, which I will try to prepare in a future.
To summarize matters in short – too many power hungry world leaders and their governments were involved into this conflict and not just from Georgia or Russia.
A little bit of more “warmongers” from around the world and we are back to the Cold War – era (I hope it’s not too late) and
with a little bit of “help” matters could get even worse.
With a current destabilization in a Middle East, economic crisis in US, Russia’s latest attempts to restore an old influence in some parts of the world
and what it appears to be a return to the old competition between US and Russia for world domination – we are in for a long “fun ride”.
Analysing all the latest events in the world we need to ask ourselves – will US be better off with a reasonable, Democratic and less aggressive
towards Russia and other countries, future US President, or with the one who had already proved himself to be fairly hostile towards Russia
and is playing a big tough guy ?
It seems that in a last 8 years only the tough and autocratic type leaders were popular in US and Russia.
I think here in US we are in the urgent need to choose in the coming presidential elections a more reasonable and cautious candidate for the President of US.
This world can use a little bit of a real diplomacy, patience and understanding between all countries.
by Irina Forden
Still processing an info about Georgia and Russia
Posted by: irinaforden on: August 17, 2008
Sorry, I’m late with my articles – yes, now I know it will be a series of articles. The problem is that there is so much stuff happening in that conflict that I decided to do a very good research on a subject before I write anything stupid.
My first one will be about Mikheil Saakashvili, then I’ll move on to analysis of the situation and the consequences of the conflict.
Putin and Medvedev, along with many other major world’s political figures will be “profiled” by me here too.
It is taking a while for me to finish my detailed research because I never investigated Caucasus region thoroughly before. For a couple of years now I was concentrating on a Middle East, previously I wrote a lot in a print media about Eastern and Western Europe and USA.
I’m also still looking for photographs of a political figures I’m going to profile and it takes time to arrange for photos.
See you later, hopefully my first article will be posted here in about 3-5 days. :O)
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