In Georgia Clash, a Lesson on U.S. Need for Russia

WASHINGTON — The image of President Bush smiling and chatting with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia from the stands of the Beijing Olympics even as Russian aircraft were shelling Georgia outlines the reality of America’s Russia policy. While America considers Georgia its strongest ally in the bloc of former Soviet countries, Washington needs Russia too much on big issues like Iran to risk it all to defend Georgia.

And State Department officials made it clear on Saturday that there was no chance the United States would intervene militarily.

Mr. Bush did use tough language, demanding that Russia stop bombing. And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanded that Russia “respect Georgia’s territorial integrity.”

[…]

“There is no possibility of drawing NATO or the international community into this,” said a senior State Department official in a conference call with reporters.

The unfolding conflict in Georgia set off a flurry of diplomacy. Ms. Rice and other officials at the State Department and the Pentagon have been on the telephone with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and other Russian counterparts, as well as with officials in Georgia, urging both sides to return to peace talks.

The European Union — and Germany, in particular, with its strong ties to Russia — called on both sides to stand down and scheduled meetings to press their concerns. At the United Nations, members of the Security Council met informally to discuss a possible response, but one Security Council diplomat said it remained uncertain whether much could be done.

“Strategically, the Russians have been sending signals that they really wanted to flex their muscles, and they’re upset about Kosovo,” the diplomat said. He was alluding to Russia’s anger at the West for recognizing Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.

[…]

For the Bush administration, the choice now becomes whether backing Georgia — which, more than any other former Soviet republic has allied with the United States — on the South Ossetia issue is worth alienating Russia at a time when getting Russia’s help to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions is at the top of the United States’ foreign policy agenda.

One United Nations diplomat joked on Saturday that “if someone went to the Russians and said, ‘OK, Kosovo for Iran,’ we’d have a deal.”

That might be hyperbole, but there is a growing feeling among some officials in the Bush administration that perhaps the United States cannot have it all, and may have to choose its priorities, particularly when it comes to Russia.

The Bush administration’s strong support for Georgia — including the training of Georgia’s military and arms support — came, in part, as a reward for its support of the United States in Iraq. The United States has held Georgia up as a beacon of democracy in the former Soviet Union; it was supposed to be an example to other former Soviet republics of the benefits of tilting to the West.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/world/europe/10diplo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Government of Georgia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 11 • 09:00 Tbilisi, Georgia

The Occupation of Georgia by Invading Russian Forces Has Begun, As Dozens of Bombers Target Sites Throughout the Country

The occupation of Georgia by invading forces of the Russian Federation has begun.

Several dozen Russian bombers are in Georgian skies and have been attacking throughout the country over the past several hours.

They are intensively bombing Tbilisi, Poti, villages in Adjara, and elsewhere. Overnight, as many as 50 Russian bombers were reported operating simultaneously over Georgia, targeting civilian populations in cities and villages, as well as radio and telecommunications sites.

In Zugdidi, meanwhile, Russian peacekeepers today demanded that Georgian police surrender their arms.

The fierce aerial assault is taking place a full day after Georgia officially informed the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia’s unilateral ceasefire and of the withdrawal of Georgian troops from the conflict. The United Nations has confirmed this withdrawal.

The bombardment and occupation of Georgia is taking place while French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb, are in Tbilisi conducting high-level talks in an effort to end the Russian occupation. The Russian air assault is endangering their lives, as well as those of all residents of Georgia.

The Government of Georgia seeks the urgent and immediate intervention of the international community to stop Russia’s invasion and occupation of the democratic European nation of Georgia.

For further information, please contact:
Nato Chikovani, Press Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia: +995.77.507.726