Saakashvili: West Must Stop Russia Brutality

New fury at Russia's formal recognition of breakaway states

(NEWSER) - The West is preparing to crank up diplomatic pressure on Russia after its challenging move formally recognizing breakaway Ossetia and Abkhazia in the wake of its invasion of Georgia. The US, Europe and NATO have condemned the action, but Russia remains defiant. "We are not afraid of anything, including a new cold war," said Russian President Dmitri Medvedev after formally recognizing Georgia's restive states. "If Europeans want a worsening in relations, they will get it of course." More»

History reveals Russia as the aggressor

(NEWSER) - Why blame Georgia for Russia's invasion when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is clearly at fault? Putin has been seething ever since pro-Western Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in Georgia 3 years ago, writes Matthew Continetti in The Weekly Standard. "Putin has been pressuring Georgia for years," writes Continetti, shelling Georgia with bureaucratic and economic attacks while bolstering troops in the region. More»

Government withdraws earlier claims of Moscow-backed coup

(NEWSER) - The Georgian government claims to have crushed an army mutiny at a base near the capital Tbilisi, but it backed away from earlier claims that Russia was backing a coup aimed at ousting or assassinating President Mikheil Saakashvili. The plot organizer has been arrested and several others remain at large. But after a day of hurling accusations, writes the Times of London, Georgia is getting hit with criticism from all sides. More»

Investment, not guns, is the way to face down Russia: Kristof

(NEWSER) - Nicholas Kristof travels to Tbilisi, where ambitious, America-loving Georgians live in fear of a resurgent Russia. The United States needs to support this capitalist enclave in the Caucasus, writes the New York Times columnist—but not by letting it join NATO. The reason? President Mikheil Saakashvili may be brilliant and charismatic, but he has also been "spectacularly reckless," and tying American and Georgian troops together under a NATO flag would make things much worse. More»

(AP) - A US Navy warship carrying humanitarian aid anchored at the Georgian port of Batumi today, sending a strong signal of support to an embattled ally as Russian forces built up around two separatist regions. But a top Russian general suggested that the presence of US and other NATO ships in the Black Sea would worsen tensions already at a post-Cold War low. More»