Posted on 08/15/2008 6:17:16 PM PDT by tobyhill
Sponsors of a UN Security Council resolution to formalize the ceasefire deal between Russia and Georgia pushed for a vote by week's end, but Moscow balked at inserting any reference to Georgia's territorial integrity.
"Yes ideally, we would like a vote this weekend," a Western diplomat close to the bargaining involving European, US and Russian diplomats told AFP Friday.
"But we'll take as long as it takes. We are not going to push for a vote if we know that the Russians will veto the text -- which does not mean we have to give in to all their demands... There has to be hard bargaining," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity."
Other diplomats said the 15-member Council was expected to hold new consultations Sunday on a new draft meant to formalize the French-brokered agreement reached by Moscow and Tbilisi to end fighting for control of the breakaway Georgian enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
(Excerpt) Read more at afp.google.com ...
Seems to me the whole point of going to the UN would be PRECISELY to force Russia to veto a truce resolution. The diplomats are forgetting that their purpose is not to make agreements, it’s to represent their various country’s interests.
I don’t think it’s in the interest of the free world to have any kind of UN-mandated Georgian surrender to Russia.
“We are not going to push for a vote if we know that the Russians will veto the text”
Ann Coulter’s ‘Treason’ explains one problem with the UN— founded by Soviet spy, Algar Hiss. Eric Waldheim, one of the leaders, was exposed as a Nazi and received a pension— a known nazi— after he left. Then there was ‘food-for-oil’ scandal Kofi Annon. UN officials once looted a cafeteria. Stranger than fiction.
The Russians hold all the cards militariily and it has only been, IMHO, the couragous actions of the Presidents of Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, and Lithuania, and the strong talk and actions of president Bush using the US military for humanitarian efforts that slowed and then stopped the Russian juggernaught.
Bush has learned too late to prevent this crisis from happening, but perhaps in time to quell it, what a fool Putin took him for.
Sadly, Clintons foolish actions in Kosovo, and then Bush's equally foolish recognition of Kosovo have probably paved the way for the detaching of both provinces from Georgia, leaving her teribly open to aggression by the Russians.
We have to first stop the current onslaught and then rearm Georgia, admit her (and the Ukraine) into NATO, and then provide NATO or US bases there as a trip against further Russian ambitions.
I believe we can do that and should do that. I hope and pray we will do that...the Georgians, their quest for freedom, and their loayalty to us deserve it.
I am so tired of wasting time and money on this useless organization of thieves and kleptocrats.
I am so tired of wasting time and money on this useless organization of thieves and kleptocrats.
Probably not. Then again, this is a story from Agence France-Presse.
Is AFP an AP article? I saw that Russia had siezed a large supply of US weapons in Georgia, but don’t know if I can post an “AFP” article.
Thank you
These people are a freaking embarrassment. With all our wealth and military power, this is the very best we can do?? Your not serious?
“If they aren’t going to do anything they know Russia will veto then Russia might as well demand world domination.”
That bears repeating about 100 times.
We aren’t going to do anything Russia doesn’t like. Well Hells Bells, who is running this world anyway?
Yours may be the silliest comment I've ever read. All the Russians have are huge numbers of tanks, jets, soldiers and warships. Europe has hundreds of diplomats, each with years of practical experience at expressing their strong disapproval and drafting increasingly firm warnings. I am confident that the UN will meet all of our expectations in this crisis; after all, this precise situation is why we created the UN in the first place.
Russia is flush with oil and oil money. Europe gets a large percent of their oil and gas from Russia and the mid-east (incl Iran). We here in the US import upwards of 70% of our oil.
We can't get into any major conflicts with the possibility of our oil supply being cut off. And Nancy Pelosi wants to release oil from our reserve to lower fuel costs.
If we don't get our own oil/energy supplies on-line, we may just get run over.
Both but the horrid thing is that there are plenty of Republicans in that group.
These diplomats are such hard bargainers that they don't even give their names in fear they'll be accused of being too tough on Russia.
Not to worry. That's why we have professionals in the UN. They may need a couple of years in a Swiss resort, but they'll eventually find wording acceptable to the Russians. Patience is a virtue. Or are you one of those pessimists who thinks the symbolic value of the reprimand won't matter after the Russians achieve their goals through force? [Who, me? Sarcastic?]
Why?!!
Why are we still tolerating and paying for the UN????
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