Georgia

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EU Holds Emergency Summit on Georgia

No sanctions or radical changes expected

(Newser) - European Union leaders gather in Brussels in an emergency session today to review their stance on Russia’s invasion of Georgia. It's the first emergency EU meeting since the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003. With conflicting positions from the UK, France and Germany, analysts say the summit will...

Georgia Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Moscow

Nation withdraws embassy staff from 'aggressor nation'

(Newser) - Georgia pulled its diplomats from Moscow today, charging that it cannot engage in diplomacy with an “aggressor country,” the AP reports. A spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the Georgians’ cutting of diplomatic ties would not benefit relations between the two countries. Russian troops remain in Georgia,...

Georgia School System Loses US Accreditation

Atlanta-area district becomes first in nearly 40 years stripped of recognition

(Newser) - A Georgia school system has become the country's first in almost 40 years to have its accreditation yanked, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Clayton County parents and students were devastated by the move, blamed on the district's "dysfunctional" school board. An exodus of students is expected to accelerate.

Russia Will Absorb South Ossetia 'in Several Years'

'Separatist regimes ... cut off from reality,' Georgian official fires back

(Newser) - Russia intends to absorb Georgia’s breakaway province of South Ossetia “in several years” or perhaps sooner, the speaker of the region’s parliament tells AP. In meetings this week in Moscow between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and South Ossetian leader, Eduard Kokoity, the intent was “firmly stated...

'Independent' South Ossetia Dreams Big

Locals want to make province into a tax haven, ski resort

(Newser) - When the Russian government recognized South Ossetia as an independent state last week, the international reaction was not only anger but incredulity. The breakaway Georgian province has only 70,000 citizens, and they have suffered both wretched poverty and years of fighting. But citizens insist that theirs is a viable...

Putin: US Sparked Georgia War
 Putin: US Sparked Georgia War

Putin: US Sparked Georgia War

Part of plot to win votes for McCain, he claims

(Newser) - Invoking the era of Cold War conspiracies, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the US of sparking conflict in Georgia to give John McCain a campaign boost. “They need a small victorious war,” the told CNN. He insisted the US encouraged Georgia to attack their two breakaway...

Firebrand Sets Russia's Tone at NATO

Moscow's Brussels rep, a Stalin admirer, revels in attack

(Newser) - If you needed proof of Russia's contempt for NATO, look no further than Dmitri Rogozin, Moscow's representative to the military alliance. A fiery ultranationalist who once had a poster of Stalin hanging in his office, Rogozin has seemed more showman than diplomat. But since the South Ossetian war, something's changed—...

EU Threatens Sanctions on Russia
EU Threatens Sanctions
on Russia

EU Threatens Sanctions on Russia

Asian alliance, including China, condemns aggression

(Newser) - The European Union is considering sanctions against the Great Bear over its incursion into Georgia, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said today, as EU leaders head to an emergency summit. And a Russian plea for support from the East was strongly rebuffed by members of an Asian alliance that includes...

Medvedev: Why I Recognized 2 Provinces
Medvedev: Why
I Recognized
2 Provinces
OPINION

Medvedev: Why I Recognized 2 Provinces

Georgia's 'madman' forced us to act, writes Russian president

(Newser) - Yesterday Russia recognized the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states—a move that Dmitry Medvedev calls "a heavy decision." Writing in the Financial Times, the Russian president says that independence for the two breakaway regions, which have suffered under Georgia's "vicious war on...

Second US Ship Docks in Georgia
 Second US Ship
 Docks in Georgia

Second US Ship Docks in Georgia

Russians say move is 'devilish'

(Newser) - A US military ship docked at the Georgian port of Batumi today on a humanitarian aid mission, the AP reports. Early reports had the ship headed to Poti, which was heavily damaged and is still occupied by Russian troops, but Batumi is well south of the combat zone. One top...

West to Put Screws to Russia
 West to Put Screws to Russia

West to Put Screws to Russia

New fury at Russia's formal recognition of breakaway states

(Newser) - The West is preparing to crank up diplomatic pressure on Russia after its challenging move formally recognizing breakaway Ossetia and Abkhazia in the wake of its invasion of Georgia. The US, Europe and NATO have condemned the action, but Russia remains defiant. "We are not afraid of anything, including...

Facing Russia, Ex-Soviet States Need NATO
Facing Russia, Ex-Soviet States Need NATO
OPINION

Facing Russia, Ex-Soviet States Need NATO

Joining alliance key to security, Ukraine's president says

(Newser) - Russia's military actions in Georgia sent shudders throughout the region, Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko writes in the Guardian. Not only did the war reveal the Kremlin's willingness to commit "massacres" for political gain; it also exposed the weakness of the UN and European security organizations. The West needs to...

Russia Recognizes Georgia's Breakaway Regions

Thumbs nose at West's pleas

(Newser) - Thumbing its nose at the West, Russia has officially recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Dmitry Medvedev announced today, following votes in the Russian parliament. The move flies in the face of a plea from President Bush that Russia refrain from doing so, and the US State Department’...

Russian MPs Back Georgian Separatists

Medvedev calls possible split with NATO 'no great loss'

(Newser) - Russian lawmakers voted unanimously today to recognize the independence of two Georgian breakaway regions, leaving the final decision to President Dmitry Medvedev, the Independent reports. The move threatens to further strain Russian-Western relations as Russian troops remained in Georgia with orders to inspect all shipments arriving at a Black Sea...

Cheney Set to Visit Georgia
 Cheney Set
 to Visit
 Georgia

Cheney Set to Visit Georgia

VP to shore up ties with embattled nation, emphasize 'common security interests'

(Newser) - Dick Cheney will visit Georgia next week to strengthen ties with the battered US ally, the AP reports. The vice president will also visit Azerbaijan and Ukraine to emphasize the US commitment to the former Soviet republics, a White House spokesman said today in announcing the trip, which is to...

Germany Is Crux of Russia Talks
 Germany Is Crux of Russia Talks
Analysis

Germany Is Crux of Russia Talks

Merkel could be valuable go-between

(Newser) - A fretful Eastern Europe is hoping Germany can play a key diplomatic role in its stare-down with Russia, the New York Times reports. Until recently, relations between Moscow and Berlin were too cozy for the Caucasus’ tastes, but East German-born Angela Merkel has distanced herself from Russia just enough to...

US Aid Ship Arrives in Georgia
 US Aid Ship Arrives in Georgia

US Aid Ship Arrives in Georgia

(Newser) - A US Navy warship carrying humanitarian aid anchored at the Georgian port of Batumi today, sending a strong signal of support to an embattled ally as Russian forces built up around two separatist regions. But a top Russian general suggested that the presence of US and other NATO ships in...

Russia Keeps Troops in Poti
 Russia Keeps Troops in Poti  

Russia Keeps Troops in Poti

(Newser) - Russia says it will continue to patrol the key Black Sea port of Poti despite Western demands that it pull back to pre-conflict positions, Reuters reports. A Russian general said troops will continue "peacekeeping" operations there even though the city falls outside the perimeter agreed upon in the recent...

Russians Pull Back, But West Not Satisfied

'Peacekeeping' posts appear likely to remain on Georgian soil

(Newser) - Having withdrawn from the Georgian city of Gori, Russia said tonight it is in full compliance with a cease-fire agreement, the New York Times reports. Despite criticism from the US and France, nations that helped broker the deal, Moscow continues to occupy the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,...

Post-Soviet States No Longer Russian Puppets
Post-Soviet States No Longer Russian Puppets
analysis

Post-Soviet States No Longer Russian Puppets

Reactions to Georgia show self-interest

(Newser) - Former cold warriors can be expected to see the Georgian conflict as signalling a return to simpler East-vs-West geopolitics, writes Bridget Kendall for the BBC. But the reaction of the post-Soviet states shows something very different: Former Soviet client states whose loyalty was assured 20 years ago—including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan,...

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