It was the dead of night. Police cordoned off the area and shooed away curious onlookers. When the townspeople awoke, the city square in Gori, Georgia—the birthplace of Joseph Stalin—was missing its most famous icon. Last night, Georgian authorities finally removed the 20-ft. bronze statue of the former Soviet dictator to the confines of a local museum. To most, the statue had been a painful daily reminder of darker days when the forces of communism gutted Georgian society and shrouded the region with tyranny. The statue had proven remarkably resilient …
The NATO military operation in Afghanistan is a “NATO operation” in name only. In quality and quantity, most of the forces there are from the English-speaking countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. Without a doubt, some NATO nations like Romania, Poland, and Denmark clearly understand how important this mission really is, especially regarding America’s future commitment to the transatlantic security alliance. In contrast, NATO heavy-weights like France and Germany are barely present and accounted for in Afghanistan. Although Paris and Berlin are happy to micromanage …
A new book has revealed sensational details about Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August 2008, claiming that French President Nicolas Sarkozy bullied Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili into signing a vague and unenforceable ceasefire agreement, which eventually saw Russia illegally annex large parts of Georgia’s territory. Sarkozy is quoted as saying: “Where is Bush? Where are the Americans? They are not coming to save you. No Europeans are coming, either. You are alone. If you don’t sign, the Russian tanks will be here soon.” This is just another insight into the …
There’s nothing like competition to get people to focus on a goal, whether that’s on the gridiron or in education. And on the eve of a match-up between one of college football’s biggest rivalries – the Georgia Bulldogs vs. the Florida Gators – Governor Jeb Bush decided to walk into rival territory and address a group of key legislators and business leaders in Atlanta, Georgia. The event, co-sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, the Foundation for Excellence in Education, and the Center for an Educated Georgia at the Georgia Family Council, …
MOSCOW – President Barak Obama’s decision to abandon ballistic missile defense in Central Europe will encourage Iranian truculence and will not generate Russian good will or support for the US on Iran sanctions. This is the main take-home lesson from my meetings with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and President Dmitry Medvedev over the last week. It looks like President Obama will abandon ballistic missile deployment against Iran in Poland the Czech Republic, and adopt a different, sea-based system, which has limited application against the Iranian threat. …
NATO chief, Anders Rasmussen, said yesterday that NATO should have closer ties with Russia and that Moscow has “legitimate security concerns.” Which country does not have security concerns? But what does Rasmussen mean by “legitimate?” Does he mean when Russia announces, as it did yesterday, that it would seize any Georgian ship it finds in the territorial waters of Abkhazia, the Moscow-backed rebel region of Georgia? Or maybe he means when Russia occupied South Ossetia, essentially annexing parts of Georgian territory illegally? No one except for such radicals as Venezuela, …
Although Congress continues to move rapidly to appropriate the final portion of its billion-dollar aid pledge to Georgia (made in the aftermath of its short, but brutal war with Russia last August), the commitment of the Obama Administration toward Tbilisi remains unclear. Georgia’s Minister for defense, Vasil Sikharulidze visits Washington this week following the conclusion of NATO exercises in the Republic. The military and peacekeeping exercises, conducted under NATO’s long-running Partnership for Peace program, are just part of Georgia’s growing relationship with the transatlantic security alliance. The NATO-Georgia Commission, constituted …
Leading Russian officials are loudly protesting the forthcoming NATO staff exercise in Georgia. The exercises do not involve any armed troops and are essentially a crisis management drill. Yet, as the Bard said, “the lady doth protest too much.” Since March 25, the Russian Federation has significantly increased its military presence in the occupied Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Moscow built up its forces, Georgia officials say, particularly in the areas adjacent to the troop separation lines in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region. In parallel with this buildup, there …
European Union ministers are pressuring Poland and Lithuania to endorse the EU’s business-as-usual approach toward Russia, despite the fact that Russia remains in violation of the EU-negotiated truce over the Russian-Georgian war. The EU apparently wants to have Poland and Lithuania on board for this scurrilous betrayal, so that it is seen to “speak with one voice” on foreign policy. Poland and Lithuania are right to stick to their guns on this one and put their principles above political expediency, not to mention their own security. Russia recently announced that …
MOSCOW — The Russian elite are clearly unenthusiastic about Barack Obama’s election to the presidency. Moscow believes Obama has adopted a stance similar to the incumbent administration’s on most of the thorny issues that are dividing the United States and Russia — missile defenses in Eastern Europe, NATO enlargement, Russia-Georgia conflict and Iran’s nuclear weapons program — and that, so far, he has no intention of making concessions to the Kremlin. Thus, the Moscow establishment is convinced it is too early to expect any progress in the U.S.-Russian relationship. In …
