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saakashvili

Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili speaks during a rally in Tbilisi August 12, 2008. At least 150,000 protesters cheered Saakashvili outside Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday, backing him in Georgia’s confrontation with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today ordered Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to “stop the operation to force Georgian authorities to peace.”

“The aim of the operation has been achieved,” Medvedev said in televised remarks. “…The aggressor has been punished and has suffered very considerable losses.”

Close U.S. ally Georgia entered conflict with Russia last week after launching an offensive to retake the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgian rule in 1992. Moscow responded with a huge counter-offensive.

Medvedev set two conditions for a full settlement of the conflict: Georgian troops had to return to their initial positions and be partly demilitarized, and a binding agreement had to be signed on the non-use of force.

It was not immediately clear whether Georgia would agree to these conditions.

It is clear the West underestimated Russian resolve to secure the oil and gas pipelines in the Caucuasus region and to exert its hegemony over its previous satellite states.

georgiamapweb

The United States should immediatey push for the following:

  • Expel Russia from the G-8
  • Oppose Russia membership in the World Trade Organization
  • Tighten Russia visa requirements for travel to the United States
  • Fast track Ukraine AND Georgia membership in NATO
  • Proceed in an expedited fashion the deployment of national missile defense components in the Czech Republic and Poland

Looks like a new Cold War with Russia, folks.

And, the United Nations - utterly useless.


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Dmitry Medvedev and Hu Jintao

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev (R) and Chinese President Hu Jintao inspect the honour guard during an official welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square May 23, 2008. Medvedev arrived in Beijing on Friday, offering energy deals and military cooperation by seeking pledges of solidarity with resurgent China at a time when ties with the West are strained.

In a shocker, China and Russia are upset with the United States over its National Missile Defense program.

China and Russia jointly condemned a U.S. plan for a global missile defense system on Friday at the start of a highly symbolic visit by new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

More specific than previous joint criticisms, the statement from Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao objected to the installation of missile defense components in “some regions,” an apparent reference to former Soviet bloc countries where the U.S. plans to deploy components of the system.

“The creation of global missile defense systems and their deployment in some regions of the world … does not help to maintain strategic balance and stability and hampers international efforts in arms control and nuclear nonproliferation,” Hu and Medvedev said.

Medvedev’s choice of China as the main destination of his first foreign trip reflected the two nations’ increasing closeness in recent years as part of their efforts to counterbalance what they have called Washington’s global dominance.

When his predecessor Vladimir Putin went abroad for the first time as president in 2000, he traveled to London — via Belarus — with a message Russia wanted closer ties to the West.

China and Russia also signed a $1 billion nuclear cooperation deal that strengthens Russia’s role as a supplier to China’s fast-growing nuclear power industry. It calls for Russia to build a $500 million nuclear fuel enrichment plant and supply semi-enriched uranium worth at least $500 million.

Russia is bitching about America placing interceptors in Eastern Europe and China needs Russia’s nuclear technology to build power plants. So, they are scratching each others backs.

missilefefense

Russia and China do not have the conventional military strength to intimidate/blackmail neighboring countries and must rely on their nuclear weapons to threaten. The United States Missile Defense program (in its various forms) can be used to neutralize their nuclear arsenals.

So, they bitch and moan.

Too bad. They lost the argument during the Reagan Administration over twenty years ago. The American missile defense shield is operational. Get over it.

Previous:

Shocker: Secret Launch Site for Iranian Long Range Missiles

Missile Defense Watch: Bush Wins NATO Endorsement of European Missile Defense Shield


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