(no subject)

I was among those Americans who have been busy in recent years trying to help Georgia turn toward the West. Successful democratization there could have an important ripple effect across the region, and the country's proximity to Iran and the Arab world, as well as its strategic oil corridor, make its stability an international security imperative. As one of the architects of NATO enlargement in the 1990s, I was sought by the Georgian government to advise them on how best to prepare the country for eventual alliance membership. I led several study tours that took senior U.S. and Europeans officials to the country, including to the frozen conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, to see them up close and gain firsthand knowledge. I have spent many hours talking with and getting to know senior Georgian figures from Mikheil Saakashvili on down. I developed a good feel for what drives this country and its leadership. I know that this is a war that the Georgian government never wanted.

To be sure, the Georgian government and President Saakashvili himself is responsible for launching its military move on August 7--albeit in response to provocations and heavy shelling by South Ossetian separatists. That move gave Moscow the pretext to invade. Today, Western observers understandably ask why Tbilisi allowed itself to be goaded into what was clearly a Russian trap. President Saakashvili will have to answer that question himself. But I suspect I have a pretty good idea of what he will say. 

The New Republic

How the West Botched Georgia

http://www.tnr.com/toc/story.html?id=9da1fd2d-1701-470b-b734-3fc365571e0d

(no subject)

 Встретила  знакомую словачку.   Она явно испытывает  чувство глубокого удовлетворения, вызванное  членством Словакии и ее соседей в НАТО.