NATO slams Russian military base pact with Georgian rebels

NATO on Wednesday denounced as "invalid" a Russian pact establishing a military base in the rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia, urging Moscow to revoke it. "NATO considers invalid agreements between Russia and the (Georgian) territories," which its 28 member nations do not recognise, alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said. The Russian-Abkhaz deal, signed in Moscow Wednesday during an elaborate "state visit" by rebel leader Sergei Bagapsh, builds on previous agreements allowing Russia to maintain thousands of troops and border guards in Abkhazia. The base pact allows Russian forces "to defend the sovereignty and safety of the republic jointly with the armed forces of Abkhazia," according to the text of the document, quoted by the RIA-Novosti state news agency. "NATO's position on this subject is unchanged," Romero said. "The North Atlantic Council has condemned the decision by the Russian Federation to recognise the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and calls on it to revoke this decision." NATO "continues to call on Russia to respect its engagements under the (2008) ceasefire accord concluded under EU mediation," Romero added. Russian troops fought a short war in Georgia in 2008 before Moscow recognised the independence of its rebel territories. So far only Nicaragua, Venezuela and the small Pacific island of Nauru have followed suit. Alliance nations call "in particular for the withdrawal of forces to the levels they were at before the conflict and access for observers to the whole Georgian territory," Romero stressed. According to Moscow, 1,700 Russian troops are currently deployed in Abkhazia, not including hundreds of border guards

Because it is our business. Giving Russia the ability to control the flow of oil from Azerbaijan would have a very negative impact on the economies of the west.

Georgia is the one route the Russians don’t control out of the Azerbaijan oil fields - other than Iran. Look for a Russian move on Poti. Either that or look for NATO to open a new Black Sea naval base in Poti.

This is going to get worse before it gets better. Of course with Obama in the White House your wish may come true.

Russia cited the Kosovo precedent when they invaded Georgia. If they stupidly insist that Kosovo sets a precedent to emulate, then so be it. NATO should send peacekeeping forces into Georgia just like those in Kosovo. Only NATO forces on the ground can prevent further revanchist neo-Soviet Russian aggression. Eventually the genocidal Russian war criminals will retreat from Georgia, like they retreated from Kosovo.

From SkyNews, August 10, 2008

"The crisis was sparked earlier this week when Georgia sent troops into the breakaway province of South Ossetia to quell a Russian-backed separatist uprising."
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Russia-On-Verge-Of-All-Out-War-As-Troops-Clash-In-Georgias-South-Ossetia/Article/200808215074261?lpos=World%2BNews_4&lid=ARTICLE_15074261_Russia%2BOn%2BVerge%2BOf%2BAll-Out%2BWar%2BAs%2BTroops%2BClash%2BIn%2BGeo
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From the New York Times, September 15, 2008
Georgia Offers Fresh Evidence on War’s Start

Russia has not disputed the veracity of the phone calls, which were apparently made by Ossetian border guards on a private Georgian cellphone network. “Listen, has the armor arrived or what?” a supervisor at the South Ossetian border guard headquarters asked a guard at the tunnel with the surname Gassiev, according to a call that Georgia and the cellphone provider said was intercepted at 3:52 a.m. on Aug. 7.

“The armor and people,” the guard replied. Asked if they had gone through, he said, “Yes, 20 minutes ago; when I called you, they had already arrived.”

Shota Utiashvili, the director of the intelligence analysis team at Georgia’s Interior Ministry, said the calls pointed to a Russian incursion. “This whole conflict has been overshadowed by the debate over who started this war,” he said. “These intercepted recordings show that Russia moved first and that we were defending ourselves.”

The recordings, however, do not explicitly describe the quantity of armor or indicate that Russian forces were engaged in fighting at that time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/world/europe/16georgia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century" -Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the collapse of the Soviet Union...
"World democratic opinion has yet to realize the alarming implications of President Vladimir Putin's State of the Union speech on April 25, 2005, in which he said that the collapse of the Soviet Union represented the 'greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.'
http://www.hooverdigest.org/053/beichman.html

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