NATO SET TO BLAST GEORGIA INVASION AS ‘DISPROPROTIONATE’

Spiegel Online
Aug 19 2008
Germany

What to do about Russia? NATO is gathering in Brussels today to
come up with a unified response to Moscow’s heavy-handed treatment
of Georgia last week. Germany would like to see the European Union
deepen its relations in both the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Ossetian protesters gathered outside of NATO headquarters in Brussels
to demonstrate against Condoleezza Rice’s hard-line stance against
Russia.

After days of haggling over terminology, NATO’s partners have agreed
on a common term to describe Russia’s actions in invading Georgia:
"Disproportionate." Following Russia’s march into Georgia less than
two weeks ago, the 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Alliance is meeting
in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss its future relationship with Moscow.

Although it was refused status as an accession candidate at the
NATO summit in Bucharest this spring, Georgia is part of NATO’s
"Partnership for Peace" program, and the alliance is deeply divided
over the extent to which it should support the Caucasus nation.

Russia’s move to invade Georgia earlier this month has left NATO
divided in two camps reminiscent of the debate in Europe in the
run-up to the Iraq war in 2003. Led by the United States and
its ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker, the one camp is calling for
action and questioning whether there is a future for the NATO-Russia
Council. The US originally called for the current crisis meeting, but
it has also blocked efforts for a parallel meeting of the NATO-Russia
Council. The US is also reportedly considering eliminating the council
altogether in light of recent events. Under the council, the 26 NATO
member states have cooperated with Russia since its creation in 2002
as part of efforts to assuage Russian fears about NATO expansion,
which now includes countries directly on its border.

"We don’t want to destroy the NATO-Russia Council, but Russia’s actions
have called into question the premise of the NATO-Russia relationship,"
Volker said on Monday.

Russia had requested a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on
Tuesday, but it withdrew the request after waiting for a week without
response. Moscow’s ambassador to NATO, Dimitry Rogozin, said a meeting
had become pointless: "It’s like waiting for the emergency physician."

Widespread Distrust

Backed by the Baltic states as well as Poland and the Czech Republic,
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said she wanted to send a
"strong message" to Russia. The Eastern European countries have also
called on NATO to respond to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s
plea for aid by, for example, sending its NATO Response Force (NRF)
troops into Georgia. Because of their historical experiences with
the Soviet Union, distrust of Moscow is widespread (more…) in the
Baltic states as well as in Warsaw and Prague.

But Germany, France and other primarily Western European allies are
putting their emphasis on continued dialogue with Moscow. French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said NATO would send Russia a firm
message on Tuesday without threatening the country. The priority,
he said, should be reducing tensions in the region. "There can be no
peaceful solution without Russia, this huge European Union neighbor,"
Kouchner said in Paris on Monday.

For its part, the German government has called for the EU to intensify
its ties in the Caucasus and neighboring Central Asia. Speaking during
her trip to Tbilisi on Sunday, Merkel said Europe must establish
stronger ties with the Caucacus states like Georgia, Azerbaijan
and Armenia as well as former Soviet states in Central Asia like
Kazakhstan. A handful of those countries are already participants in
the European Neighborhood Policy, which promotes trade and economic
ties with nations in Europe’s backyard (more…). But Merkel’s
government expressly wants to expand the number of countries linked
to that EU program.

"She particularly mentioned countries that haven’t been directly
included in the neighborhood policy so far," German government
spokesman Thomas Steg said on Monday.

"Good Neighborly Cooperation"

Steg said any concrete proposals would be announced by France, which
currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU. But he
said working groups in Germany and France were currently discussing
the possibility of holding a conference under the working title
"Reconstruction and stability in Georgia and the Caucasus region." Steg
said, however, that there were currently no plans to hold an EU
crisis meeting on Georgia. Nor did he comment on the "consequences"
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is calling for if Russia doesn’t
withdraw its troops from Georgia swiftly. He did reiterate, however,
that German supports Georgia’s sovereignty.

Steg said that Germany would likely redefine its future relations
with Russia this autumn. He said there would be "good neighborly
cooperation" built on a basis of common values. "But the application of
military force and invading a sovereign state certainly aren’t a part
of these shared common values," he added. The EU foreign ministers
recently agreed to take a closer look at EU-Russian relations in the
fall, and Germany would do the same, he said.

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Steg also said that German Chancellor Merkel had not shifted positions
on Georgia since the last NATO summit in Bucharest. At the time,
Merkel and Sarkozy prevented NATO from starting the accession process
with Georgia through the Membership Action Plan — instead saying
Tbilisi could become a member at an unspecified point in the future.

At a press conference held with Saakashvili on Sunday, Merkel said
that as a free and independent country, Georgia can decide "with NATO,
when and how it will be integrated into NATO and in December we will
make a first assessment of the situation." She added, however, that
"we are on a clear path to NATO membership."

On Monday, Merkel spokesman Steg said Berlin feels that Georgia needs
more reforms and modernization before it can become a NATO member. At
the same time, he argued, it is clear that Georgia needs international
help and aid. The first step would be international observers and
later, possibly peacekeeping troops.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress