Jamestown's Eurasia Blog - The Jamestown Foundation

By David Iberi

The Georgian capital has seen several high-profile visits over the past weeks, and as reported by Georgian media more dignitaries are expected to arrive in the following days despite the unusual triple-digit temperatures and the summer vacation season. Shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrapped up her one-day visit to Tbilisi on July 5, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski arrived on July 13 and held talks with his Georgian counterpart Gregory Vashadze in Tbilisi as well as President Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia’s burgeoning Black Sea resort city of Batumi.

Jamestown's Eurasia Blog - The Jamestown Foundation

Mistral Saga: Igor Sechin Se Moque De Paris - The Jamestown Foundation

The French ambassador to Estonia, Frederic Billet, has asked the host country to look positively at the French sale of Mistral-class warships to Russia. The ambassador told Estonian media that the warship sale is meant to demonstrate the end of the Cold War with Russia; and the ships would be sold without armaments on board, practically as civilian vessels (Eesti Paevaleht cited by Interfax, July 15).

Portraying the Mistral sale (and other proposed arms sales to Russia) as political demonstrations of the Cold War’s end, is a standard talking point for French representatives abroad. Internally, however, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s administration seems to fall back on a late-nineteenth century view of European politics to justify a Franco-Russian special partnership, evolving towards an alliance. Le Figaro’s editorial page, often used by the Elysee Palace as a mouthpiece, propagates this view.

Mistral Saga: Igor Sechin Se Moque De Paris - The Jamestown Foundation

World Briefing - Europe - Russia - Government Criticizes Clinton - NYTimes.com

The Foreign Ministry criticized Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday for using the word “occupation” in referring to Russian forces in the breakaway Georgian enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia says its military was invited to deploy troops in the regions, which it considers sovereign countries. “Therefore, Secretary Clinton’s use of the term ‘occupation’ has no basis,” a ministry statement said. “There is not a single Russian serviceman on Georgian territory.” Mrs. Clinton made the remarks in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Monday, challenging Russia to abide by a French-brokered cease-fire agreement that would require it to withdraw its forces to prewar positions. Most countries — except Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Nauru — consider the regions part of Georgia.
World Briefing - Europe - Russia - Government Criticizes Clinton - NYTimes.com

georgiandaily.com - What Signal Does Washington’s Arms Embargo against Georgia Tell us About US Policy towards Ukraine?

By Taras Kuzio

An illuminating analysis in the reputable British magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly (June 29) alleges that while the US denies it has instituted an arms embargo on Georgia, the reality is that one is in place.

A Janes Defence Weekly (JDW) correspondent at the Eurosatory defence exhibition in Paris in mid-June wrote of the high level of frustration among Georgians seeking to buy defensive weaponry.

But, as JDW wrote, “representatives of US and Israeli companies stated that sales of defence equipment to Georgia remain obstructed by both US government policy and pressure from the Russian government.’ It remains unclear if the unofficial — and duplicitous – arms embargo was instituted by the previous George W. Bush administration or by its successor, the Obama administration.

The most unpleasant aspect of the unofficial embargo is that it is Georgia that is being punished, despite the fact that it was invaded by Russia and that two Georgian provinces came under Russian occupation
georgiandaily.com - What Signal Does Washington’s Arms Embargo against Georgia Tell us About US Policy towards Ukraine?

Georgian policeman wounded in shooting near Abkhazia [ WORLD BULLETIN- TURKEY NEWS, WORLD NEWS ]

A Georgian police officer was wounded on Thursday when a police checkpoint near the breakaway Abkhazia region came under fire, Georgian authorities said.

Georgia blamed Abkhazian separatist forces for the early morning attack in which they said weapons were fired at a checkpoint for about 15 minutes. Abkhazian authorities denied involvement.

Several police were shot dead along Georgia's de facto borders with Abkhazia and another Russian-backed separatist region, South Ossetia, after Georgia's 2008 war with Russia. But the areas have been relatively quiet for months.

Georgia's Interior Ministry said the policeman was lightly wounded in the leg and was hospitalised in the western town of Zugdidi.

Georgian policeman wounded in shooting near Abkhazia [ WORLD BULLETIN- TURKEY NEWS, WORLD NEWS ]

Epoch Times - Clinton Urges Russia to Withdraw From Georgia

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urged Russia on Monday to withdraw its military forces from two separatist regions within Georgia.
Clinton's call came as she visited Georgia on the last leg of her five-nation trip across Eastern Europe.
The United States has actively sought to reassure former Soviet Union states of its support, despite the recent reset and improvement in U.S.-Russia relations.
Washington remains “steadfast in its commitment to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Clinton said at a news conference in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, after meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Clinton has criticized Russia for what she referred to as its sphere of influence over post-Soviet countries.
A seven-day war broke out between Russia and Georgia in 2008 over Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia considers the regions to be Georgian territory, while Russia considers them independent.
Georgia launched an assault on South Ossetia meeting a harsh Russian counterstrike. An estimated 390 civilians were killed in the violence and around 200,000 people were displaced.
A ceasefire deal was reached between Russia and Georgia in August 2008.

Epoch Times - Clinton Urges Russia to Withdraw From Georgia

Clinton, Ahead of Caucasus visit, Decries Russian Occupation of Georgian Areas | Europe | English

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku at the start of a brief Caucasus visit that will also take her to Armenia and Georgia. Saturday in Poland she called for an end to what she termed the Russian occupation of breakaway Georgian regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Clinton has been defending the Obama administration's effort to rebuild ties with Russia on this five-nation tour of countries which had been part of, or allied with, the former Soviet Union.


Clinton, Ahead of Caucasus visit, Decries Russian Occupation of Georgian Areas | Europe | English

Russia and its neighbourhood: Russia's empty empire | The Economist

SO MUCH for Russia’s “zone of privileged interests” and the West’s worries about it. The phrase was coined by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, in the aftermath of the 2008 war with Georgia, when Russian rhetoric reached shrill levels. The events of the past two weeks in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan have provided a humble reality check and exposed the hollowness of Russia’s neo-imperialist ambitions among the states that once made up the Soviet Union.

Russia has long wished to keep the West away from its backyard. Now that America and the EU are tied up with their own problems, Russia has had its wish partly granted. Left to its own devices, however, it has shown little leadership, vision or sense of imperial responsibility in its vaunted “zone”.

Russia and its neighbourhood: Russia's empty empire | The Economist