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April 16, 2009
No Reset With Russia

Obama sent Clinton to Russia to Geneva present a 'reset' to the Russian foreign minister button where the Russian text, not even in Cyrillic letters, did not says 'reset' but 'overcharge'.

It now seems to me that this was not a gaffe or a mistake, but the real message:

Russia demanded on Thursday that NATO call off planned military exercises in Georgia, saying they could undermine its efforts to rebuild ties with the Western alliance.

…
NATO says the exercises, from May 6 to June 1, will involve 1,300 troops from 19 countries. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the exercises would not help efforts to restore stability in the restive Caucasus region, Interfax news agency reported.

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Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman was dismissive of Russia's objections. "I don't think Russia's ever been particularly fond of NATO exercises," he said on Thursday.

This is stupid for several reasons.

  • Russia will not sit still and let NATO snub its nose a few miles from its borders. There will be a diplomatic price to pay for this and it will not be a small one. "You're sure your logistic lines to Afghanistan are safe?"
  • The pro-western opposition in Georgia today took to street for the eight day to oust the egomaniac and undemocratic Saakashvili. The EU is trying moderate a compromise solution. Holding the NATO exercise during this time will look like NATO is taking sides in the interior Georgian conflict, as future NATO membership is mainly a Saakashvili project.
  • This renews the false impression of backing from NATO for Georgia's and other small players adventures. A backing that as last year little war showed is in reality not there at all.

So who had this very great idea? If Clinton and Obama are serious about 'reset' it is now time to press the speed dial button to NATO and call this stupidity off.

Posted by b on April 16, 2009 at 17:35 UTC | Permalink
Comments

Who are we kidding anyway? Obama has for an adviser the greatest Russia hawk you could find (Zbigniew Brzezinski). This “overcharged” thing has Brzezinski written all over it.

Posted by: Anthony | Apr 16 2009 21:39 utc | 1

So how long till Russia confirms sale of the S-300 to Iran?

Posted by: yuri | Apr 16 2009 23:56 utc | 2

‘The firste vertu, sone, if thou wolt leere, Is to restreyne and kepe wel thy tonge;
Thus lerne childen whan that they been yonge.’
Before this GD2 is all over, you’ll see George Will speaking in tongues and Jim Cramer blow an aneurysm and George Carlin come back from the grave, laughing with “wickedly ironic” told-you-so’s, (if you have read your Russian police academy training manual.)
They know. They have three screens on their terminals, real time data stats, and hot little cells chattering like magpies on roadkill. We are just bleating mammon fodder. We know less than the poor mice in the field of the harrier hawks vectoring above us.

Posted by: Carlyle Youngman | Apr 17 2009 4:56 utc | 3

having trouble posting on a different thread
Your comment could not be posted. Error type: undefined No entry_xid in request
anyone else got the same mes.

Posted by: sabine | Apr 17 2009 8:19 utc | 4

sabine, when this happens copy text – go to main – go back to thread – paste text – then post. No one seems to know why this happens, but it does frequently. Clumsy remedy, but it works.

Posted by: anna missed | Apr 17 2009 8:26 utc | 5

Hmmm Russian Forces Deploying for Possible Action in Georgia

Posted by: b | Apr 17 2009 9:40 utc | 6

Georgia: Opposition Says May Resort to ‘Self-Defense’

Opposition warned it would resort to self-defense “with bare hands” to protect its activists and supporters from attacks.
Reports of isolated cases of attacks on opposition supporters and activists have been coming almost every day from the very first day of start of protest rallies on April 9.
All these cases seem to have mainly similar patterns with group of men, in some cases in masks, attacking participants of rallies, mainly during the night time, not immediately on the protest venues, but mainly on the nearby streets.
Public Defender, Sozar Subari, said in a statement on April 16, that his office had studied “dozens” of cases of attacks on opposition activists and supporters and “concluded that the Interior Ministry has been turning a blind eye” to those cases. He also claimed that in some instances attacks were witnessed by the municipal police officers, but they did not intervene.

Russian MFA Explains Military Build-Up in Abkhazia, S.Ossetia

Russia said it had reinforced its military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia as part of “preventive measures” in the face of ongoing political crisis in Georgia.
“We have numerously come across ‘vicious habits’ of Tbilisi to find the way out of its internal problems through external aggression,” Andrei Nesterenko, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said on April 16.
“Having exact information about high probability of provocative actions against Abkhazia and South Ossetia in this period, the Russian side has taken preventive measures to ensure security of these republics and our servicemen stationed there. They [measures] are not something extraordinary and are being implemented in frames of planned complex exercises, which are underway on the territory of [Russia’s] North Caucasian Military District, South Ossetia and Abkhazia and its adjacent territorial waters on the Black Sea.”
…
Nesterenko also said that Georgia was receiving “encouraging signals” from its western partners, which “push Tbilisi to carry out new provocative adventures in the region.”
In this context he mentioned NATO’s multinational military exercises in Georgia planned in May.

Posted by: b | Apr 17 2009 10:01 utc | 7

First the Russian ambassador to NATO warned.
The the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov warned.
Now the boss personally warns.
NATO is misjudging how sensible the Russians are on this:
Russia’s Medvedev warns NATO over Georgia war games

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO Friday that planned military exercises in Georgia were an attempt at muscle-flexing by the Western alliance that could hinder efforts to mend ties.
Russia fought a brief war with Georgia last year and is vexed by what it describes as NATO support for the ex-Soviet state, a crucial transit route for Caspian Sea oil and gas to Europe.
NATO says the exercises from May 6 to June 1 will involve 1,300 troops from 19 countries.
“This is the wrong decision, a dangerous decision,” Medvedev told a news conference at his state residence outside Moscow.
“Decisions of this kind are aimed at muscle-flexing,” he said. “Such decisions are disappointing and do not facilitate the resumption of full scale contacts between the Russian Federation and NATO.”
…
NATO says the exercises, to be held 20 km (12 miles) east of the capital Tbilisi, will be based on a fictitious U.N.-mandated, NATO-led crisis response operation and will not involve heavy weaponry.
“We will follow what happens there in the most thorough manner and make certain decisions if needs be, Medvedev told reporters.

Posted by: b | Apr 17 2009 15:03 utc | 8

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