"Lavrov said that you have to bear in mind the following sequence: President [Mikhail] Saakashvili went to Washington; NATO agreed to take a new step forward in discussing membership with Georgia; and the next thing you know, Russian military officers are arrested. He said, “Trip to Washington, NATO decision, taking of hostages,” meaning Washington is encouraging Georgia to act against Russian interests."
There is an interesting interview on the web site of the Council of Foreign Relations. Stephen Sestanovich, former Ambassador-at-Large for the Newly Independent States under Clinton, talks about the crisis between Russia and Georgia, about the touted reasons and about real reasons. It gives a good briefing about what is going on and why Russia is so obnoxious, and why the West should care what is going on. (I talked to my sister-in-law yesterday and she had no idea that there was something going on. I gather it's the same for most of the US population.)
As an aside, all the Armenians I've talked to sided with Russia. They really don't like the Georgians and they are firmly pro-Russia. I find that amazing, and it forces me to be really diplomatic in talking about this crisis. (That means, I keep my mouth shut. I know, it sounds incredulous, but I can do that.)
Putin and the Old Russia is really strating to show its true colors. I've always worried about this...but I think that that time is now at hand.
Matters are looking bad especially with the postal contacts being shut down.
Actually, I didn't know that that could be done.
Hummmmm....difficult times ahead for Russia's neighbors.
Best Wishes, Traveller
Posted by: Traveller | October 06, 2006 at 06:14 AM
PS Look what happen in Ukraine and the Orange Revolution...it didn't take Russia that long to turn that around.
Best Wishes, Traveller
Posted by: Traveller | October 06, 2006 at 06:17 AM
Then, there's also Moldova: its most important export is wine to Russia. However, this year, the government of Russia announced that the Moldovan wines contain many toxic substances, so they banned all wine imports from Moldova (they did the same thing for Georgian wines and mineral waters).
Of course, the claim is ridiculous, as their wines are exported in many other places, such as the EU and they reported no problems.
The real issue was that Moldovan government tried to be more friendly to the EU, US and Romania. Basically, it's economic blackmail...
Posted by: Bogdan | October 06, 2006 at 10:41 AM
It's a very good thing that Romania gets accession into the EU on January 1, 2007.
I've been holding my breath on this, but now we can all say thank God.
Good for Romania.
Best Wishes,
Traveller
Posted by: Traveller | October 06, 2006 at 12:05 PM
"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul."
Posted by: Carlos | October 06, 2006 at 04:29 PM
Carlos wrote: "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul."
You made me laugh hard enough to snort water out of my nose. Unfortunately, it really wasn't a happy laugh.
Posted by: Natalie | October 06, 2006 at 06:47 PM
Natalie, after the current unpleasantness is over, I think I might go down to Crawford and sell a few bridges.
Posted by: Carlos | October 07, 2006 at 02:35 AM
Hasn't he proven that he is an amazing judge of character? Not.
Posted by: Natalie | October 08, 2006 at 03:35 AM