Yes, and speaking of pipelines, what about the ones going through Georgia to bypass that nasty Russian bear? The planned Odessa-Brody pipeline, comes to mind for one.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/122138.htmlOr the Baku/Ceyhan line:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13841176/wid/6448213/To make sure that and future pipeline stay in the pipeleine, so to speak, better help the Georgians with some arms sales. (And, of course, US military "advisors" to help them with their "anti-terrorism" efforts.)
AFP
"US President George W. Bush on Wednesday expressed his support for the former Soviet republic of Georgia's bid to join NATO at the alliance's upcoming early April summit.'I believe that NATO benefits with a Georgia membership, I believe that Georgia benefits from being a part of NATO,'" W. says.
"Russia's ambassador at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Dmitri Rogozine, warned that any step by Georgia in that direction would encourage the secession of Abkhazia and south Ossetia, which broke away from Georgia in conflicts in the early 1990s. Both have called for international recognition of their self-declared independence, citing Kosovo's move to break away from Serbia as a precedent, a move recognised by several European NATO nations and the United States. While independent, Abkhazia and south Ossetia receive strong Russian support."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080319/pl_afp/usgeorgianatodiplomacy_080319234645And, as if on que, Eurasianet reports:
"President Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration in Georgia is confronting a new crisis involving Russia, which on March 6 announced that it no longer feels bound by a 1996 CIS agreement that imposed trade restrictions on the separatist-minded territory of Abkhazia. . . According to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement, Moscow cited 'a change of circumstances' as justification for its decision to abandon the guidelines contained in the CIS pact, titled 'On Measures to Regulate the Conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia.' That agreement established trade and financial sanctions on the breakaway territory. Political observers in Tbilisi and in the West saw the Russian move as a response to the recent international recognition of Kosovo."
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav030608a.shtmlKosovo, there's that word again.
W. sure opened up a can of worms with that brilliant move.
And this is story in the WaPo about how this whole thing seems to have come about it very telling:
As per usual, W. hunkered down with his advisors, got all the best information he could, weighed the pros and cons and after months of intense study came up with the idea of Kosovo indepenence. Or was it the guy who almost stole his watch in Albania?
The WaPo:
"'At some point in time, sooner rather than later, you've got to say: Enough's enough -- Kosovo is independent,' Bush said. Responding to a reporter's question in Rome on Saturday, Bush had said a deadline should be set for a U.N. resolution on Kosovo's independence. 'In terms of the deadline, there needs to be one,' he said. 'This needs to come -- this needs to happen.'
Asked Sunday about when he would like that deadline set, Bush seemed flummoxed. 'I don't think I called for a deadline,' he said. Told that he had, Bush responded: 'I did? What exactly did I say? I said, 'Deadline'? Okay, yes, then I meant what I said."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061000203.html
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