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...much-trumpeted "reset" of relations between Russia and the U.S. was dealt a slap in the face last week as Moscow went on the offensive against Ukraine and Georgia. After Russian President Dmitri Medvedev waded into Ukrainian politics with barbed criticism of his Ukrainian counterpart's "anti-Russian" policies, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin embarked on a provocative trip to reaffirm support for Abkhazia, the Moscow-backed territory that enjoys de facto independence from Georgia...
...breakaway Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are proving more pliable. With Nicaragua the only country other than Russia to recognize their independence, they are reliant on support from Moscow, which has been happy to oblige. The day after Medvedev's letter was made public, Prime Minister Putin visited Abkhazia, pledging around $500 million in military aid. Georgia reacted angrily, calling the visit "a provocation carried out quite in the tradition of Soviet special services," a reference to Putin's KGB past. (See pictures of Vladimir Putin: Action Figure...
...British officials strongly deny any such arrangement with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has nevertheless thanked British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the release of Megrahi and claimed that Brown "encouraged" the Scottish Government to take this decision. Gaddadi has also defied criticism from both the U.S. and U.K. by appearing with Megrahi on Libyan TV, where they were seen talking and hugging. On Friday, Libya watchers and oil analysts said they believed that the decision to free the only person convicted in the 1988 Pan Am Airlines bombing was connected to British investment interests. "It [Megrahi's release...
...Relations with London have also warmed. In 2007, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks with Gaddafi in the Libyan leader's tent in Tripoli. Soon after, BP officials signed a $900-million exploration deal with Libya's state-run National Oil Company; BP believes the deal could ultimately earn it about $15 billion in oil revenues. But Blair has denied that there was ever a link between the deal and the release, telling CNN on Saturday that he didn't have the power to arrange Megrahi's release. "I wasn't in a position...
...June 30, as part of the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement. Furthermore, without naming names, some politicians said Iraq's neighbors are also to blame for allowing fighters to cross the border, if not having a direct hand in the violence - "The dark powers," in the words of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's political adviser Sadiq al-Rukabi. "They don't want a strong government in Iraq. And they try in one way or another to affect the progress of the Iraqi people...