December 2, 2008 7:47:34 PM CST
(Newser) – Dick Cheney tore into Russia while speaking in Tbilisi today, Reuters reports, slamming its attempt to redraw Georgia's borders as a move that "cast grave doubt" on the reliability of Russia as an international partner. Cheney vowed the US would stand by Georgia, and the White House pledged $1 billion in aid on the eve of his visit.
"After your nation won its freedom in the Rose Revolution, America came to the aid of this courageous young democracy," said Cheney, with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by his side. "We are doing so again as you work to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory and an illegitimate unilateral attempt to change your country's borders by force that has been universally condemned by the free world."
Source Reuters
10 hours, 34 minutes ago The US will urge NATO today to put Georgia and Ukraine on the road to membership, Reuters reports. France and Germany, worried about Russia’s response, blocked a similar move at an April summit. Though members agreed in principle that the two former Soviet republics could someday be members, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to push for further compromise. More »
Nov 25, 08 3:46 PM CST President Dmitry Medvedev is signaling that Russia and the US could have a less contentious relationship under Barack Obama, and Obama should heed the call, Pat Buchanan writes in the American Conservative. “Russia does not want the Cold War II that the departing neocons wish to leave on his plate,” Buchanan writes of Obama, and two recent acts by Medvedev bear this out. More »
Nov 24, 08 4:19 AM CST Shots were fired close to a motorcade ferrying Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili and Polish President Lech Kaczynski to a refugee camp in Georgia near the border with the breakaway region of South Ossetia, officials said. Saakashvili blamed Russian troops at a border checkpoint for the gunfire, reports Voice of America. No one was hurt. Russia denied any involvement. More »
Nov 20, 08 7:14 AM CST 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 »
Nov 13, 08 4:29 PM CST Vladimir Putin would’ve had the Russian army destroy the Georgian government and hang President Mikhail Saakashvili “by the balls” if Nicolas Sarkozy hadn’t intervened, the Times of London reports. In a transcript of August’s cease-fire negotiations leaked by the French president’s office, Putin says he intends to overthrow Georgia; Sarkozy responds that the world will not accept his actions. More »
Russia's actions have cast grave doubt on Russia's intentions and on its reliability as an international partner. - Dick Cheney
Russia • Georgia • Dick Cheney • Mikheil Saakashvili
