How will Saakashvili pay for Georgia’s accession to NATO?

 January 31, 2012 - 12:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama reportedly confirmed Georgia’s possible accession to NATO, thus making Georgian President’s desire to join the Alliance more feasible.

Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili, in turn, thanked his American counterpart for support and intention to develop both economic and defense cooperation.

How can this be explained?

Prior to Saakashvili’s visit to the U.S., many experts noted the talks to focus on Georgia’s participation in possible military operation against Iran, expressing confidence for the Georgian President to provide the country’s territory is case of escalation of conflict with Tehran.

The experts seem to have proved right. Saakashvili’s consent to provide Georgia’s territory in face of war with Iran in exchange for U.S. support looks true to fact. However, it is noteworthy than conflict settlement is a key demand for accession to the NATO at the time when Georgia still has unresolved conflict with Russia.

Others are confident that Georgia is unable to extend military assistance to the U.S. is the latter launches offensive against Iran. Certainly, America stands ready to bomb Iran’s north from the South Caucasus territory; while, Armenia and Azerbaijan are unlikely to give their consent due to Russia’s influence in the region.

Hence, Saakashvili paid quite a small price for his aspirations: “though we support you, we can hardly help.”