Word: georgias
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Both the U.S. and Georgian governments later denied that any negotiations were being held. But State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the U.S. had not ruled out rearming Georgia, whose military was crushed during its brief war with Russia last August. The possibility of such a deal, or even the discussion of it, puts the Obama Administration in a difficult position, forced to choose between a reset of relations with Russia or indulging Saakashvili's request. "It is a huge political mistake to support Saakashvili. By giving him weapons, the U.S. would be putting guns in the hands...
Biden's trip to Ukraine and Georgia was designed to balance Obama's Moscow visit. Washington wanted to reassure Russia's two neighbors that the U.S. has not forgotten them or their bids to join NATO without unduly annoying Moscow. (Read "Obama Treads Lightly on Democracy in Russia...
Biden expressed continued support for Georgia's push for NATO membership but was careful not to be pinned to any timetable. The Obama Administration wants to be able to say that it supports Georgia's goal, safe in the knowledge that the Europeans, who blocked it even when Bush pushed hard, will not allow it to happen. The Western European NATO countries see Saakashvili as unstable and impetuous, and blame him for presenting Moscow with a pretext for its military humbling of Georgia...
Biden also made plain that in terms of Georgia's breakaway regions, "there is no military option to reintegration ... Only a peaceful and prosperous Georgia has the prospect of restoring [its] territorial integrity by showing those in Abkhazia and South Ossetia a Georgia where they can be free and their communities can flourish." (See more on Georgia-Russia relations...
...Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said, but "it is important that this be done transparently, without under-the-carpet games and not at the expense of others' interests." United Russia's Markov said Russia does not want a sphere of influence, but that historically, Russia has a "privileged interest" in Georgia and Ukraine and that in order for U.S.-Russian relations to be reset, "the U.S. has to recognize Russia's legitimate interests - that Russia has the right to not be surrounded by enemies, enemies that are controlled by Washington, but to be surrounded by friends, as all other countries strive...