NATO will ask Tbilisi to have patience
Any vote on Georgia's accession to NATO will not be decisive. Besides, with speeding up the accession process, West would have to make certain sacrifices.
Caucasus is an outpost of the fronts "open" for Russia. This is an energy front, since Georgia is the main transit for oil delivery to the Black Sea and then to western Europe. It's an ethnic front with strong Russian minorities. And, finally, it's a military front because Russia rates deployment of a NATO base nearby its border as inadmissible.
According to Le Temps, NATO's restraint is conditioned by the U.S. twofaced policy. The current administration, devoted to Ramsfeld's doctrine on deployment of military bases close to the seat of threat, considers Georgia's - Russia's immediate neighbor - as a possible stationing of U.S. troops. However, the American diplomats do know that Moscow's retaliation will be shattering in two directions: Kosovo, where over 15 thousand NATO military are deployed and the Iranian nuclear program.
"NATO is most likely to ask Tbilisi to have patience. The Alliance will hardly dare to add "Caucasian spice" to the agenda of the summit due in Bucharest in April. Saakashvili can make use of his good relations with NATO to strengthen his legitimacy. But there is a risk to see the President elect remarkable for his rudeness towards Abkhazians and Ossetians and as a leader in siege imposed by them their patron, Russia," the newspaper says.
Caucasus is an outpost of the fronts "open" for Russia. This is an energy front, since Georgia is the main transit for oil delivery to the Black Sea and then to western Europe. It's an ethnic front with strong Russian minorities. And, finally, it's a military front because Russia rates deployment of a NATO base nearby its border as inadmissible.
According to Le Temps, NATO's restraint is conditioned by the U.S. twofaced policy. The current administration, devoted to Ramsfeld's doctrine on deployment of military bases close to the seat of threat, considers Georgia's - Russia's immediate neighbor - as a possible stationing of U.S. troops. However, the American diplomats do know that Moscow's retaliation will be shattering in two directions: Kosovo, where over 15 thousand NATO military are deployed and the Iranian nuclear program.
"NATO is most likely to ask Tbilisi to have patience. The Alliance will hardly dare to add "Caucasian spice" to the agenda of the summit due in Bucharest in April. Saakashvili can make use of his good relations with NATO to strengthen his legitimacy. But there is a risk to see the President elect remarkable for his rudeness towards Abkhazians and Ossetians and as a leader in siege imposed by them their patron, Russia," the newspaper says.
