NATO can't agree on sanctions against Russia * Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO declared Tuesday that it cannot have normal relations with Russia while its troops occupy large parts of Georgia, but alliance foreign ministers failed to terminate any cooperative programs. The outcome of the emergency session called by the Bush administration indicated continuing divisions within the 26-nation even as Moscow has failed to withdraw its forces under a French-brokered ceasefire agreement. Russia's representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, made light of the western alliance's indecision. "The mountain gave birth to a mouse," he told reporters. -Skip- The foreign ministers affirmed NATO's opposition to any resolution to the conflict that would allow South Ossetia and another pro-Moscow rebel province, Abkhazia, to secede and join Russia, as the enclave leaders are demanding. "A peaceful and lasting solution . . . must be "based on full respect for the principles of Georgia's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity recognized by international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions," the statement said. The foreign ministers also agreed to create a NATO-Georgia commission to strengthen relations between Georgia and the alliance, which the former Soviet republic is seeking to join.
* Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO declared Tuesday that it cannot have normal relations with Russia while its troops occupy large parts of Georgia, but alliance foreign ministers failed to terminate any cooperative programs.
The outcome of the emergency session called by the Bush administration indicated continuing divisions within the 26-nation even as Moscow has failed to withdraw its forces under a French-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Russia's representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, made light of the western alliance's indecision. "The mountain gave birth to a mouse," he told reporters.
-Skip-
The foreign ministers affirmed NATO's opposition to any resolution to the conflict that would allow South Ossetia and another pro-Moscow rebel province, Abkhazia, to secede and join Russia, as the enclave leaders are demanding.
"A peaceful and lasting solution . . . must be "based on full respect for the principles of Georgia's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity recognized by international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions," the statement said.
The foreign ministers also agreed to create a NATO-Georgia commission to strengthen relations between Georgia and the alliance, which the former Soviet republic is seeking to join.
Georgians should take care cause this is what they promised to Serbia in UN resolution 1244 : http://www.nato.int/Kosovo/docu/u990610a.htm
Reaffirming the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the other States of the region, as set out in the Helsinki Final Act and annex 2, Reaffirming the call in previous resolutions for substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration for Kosovo,
Reaffirming the call in previous resolutions for substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration for Kosovo,
Do not believe them even (especially) when they bring gifts...
Neither region wanted to be in a Georgia which has gone out of its way to alienate the residents (bombing, shelling and using tanks against them never ingratiates, a lesson the US could also learn). Meanwhile the russians have always been there as a helping hand, saving their bacon when the Georgians attacked on previous occasions.
The UN and NATO threw away their veto when recognising Kosovo, and haven't really got a leg to stand on. It'd be an entirely different situation if the russians here annexing land against the will of the inhabitants, but it seems to me that there is a justice here, however rough and in breach of the "international rights of sovereign states to do what they like to their populations", and I cannot fault the breakaways in any of the three cases.
Yes, there are wider issues. As somebody wrote elsewhere, cannot remember where, imposed politically convenient borders often have a habit of interrupting social patterns of interactions established over centuries. The Caucasus, as the Balkans, are such and wherever you draw the line you'll have genuine problems. I still favour generous compensation for those displaced or feeling obliged to move. I do not, in any way, believe it is a good solution but borders are not eternal and must sometimes accomodate social reality.
The Georgian government could have been a friend to the S. Ossetian and Abkhazian people. It chose otherwise and is paying a price for that choice. But it was a choice they, not the Abkhazians and S Ossetians, made. keep to the Fen Causeway
Success!
Does anyone really believe that Bush gives a crap about what happens to the population in a couple of distant locations he's never heard of and can't spell?
That why florida gets loads of help after they got trashed by a hurricane, but NOLA got nada. It ain't personal, "it's the money, stupid". keep to the Fen Causeway
Does anyone believe any US politician gives a crap about what happens to any population that can't vote for them or provide a contribution to their election/personal slush fund ?
Unfortunately millions of voters believe exactly that. If you look at the motivational polling for both 2000 and 2004, Bush was liked because he was 'more moral' and 'leading on national security.'
And now McCain has had the inevitable Georgia bounce making Obama look 'inexperienced' compared to a senile old idiot from a privileged background with anger management issues.
Truly, teh stepud seems bottomless at times.
"fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here."
It was not all sweetness and light. In the process, the Georgian Orthodox Church lost its autocephalus status and Russia set up local organizations along the Russian line. If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.
