David Bakradze: Georgia won’t drag NATO into war with RussiaNovember 7, 2011 - 15:36 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgia’s second-most-powerful man vows that his country will not drag NATO into a war with Russia if accepted into the Western alliance, saying that the chance of another confrontation with Moscow is far lower than it was before their 2008 conflict. “We made a unilateral commitment to nonuse of force, so there is no way we will become a problem for NATO in terms of Article 5 or in terms of a possible military confrontation between Georgia and Russia,” David Bakradze, speaker of the Georgia Parliament, said in an interview with The Washington Times. Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty stipulates that an attack on one member state “shall be considered an attack against them all.” “We still have threatening rhetoric on the side of Russian officials,” Mr. Bakradze said, “but I think in the current international situation, it’s not very likely that Russia will dare to use large-scale military force against Georgia, so if one asks me, I would say that the probability of another invasion or large-scale conflict is low, and it’s much lower than it was in 2008.” Georgia and Russia have had no diplomatic relations since their 2008 conflict, and Mr. Bakradze blamed the situation squarely on Russia. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |