NATO Warns Russia Over Georgia Buildup

Diplomatic laziness increased the likelihood of conflict

(NEWSER) - With the conflict between Georgia and Russia cooling and a truce in progress, it’s time for the West to appreciate its role in the conflict, writes Ronald D. Asmus for the New Republic.

• From the early '90s, the West accepted the Russians as peacekeepers in the secession dispute. While Boris Yeltsin might have had a credible claim to neutrality, not so Putin, who blatantly favored the separatists.

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»

US encouraged Georgian bluster; provoked Russian paranoia

(NEWSER) - The Georgian war crystallizes the failure of the Bush administration's foreign policy, writes HDS Greenway in the Boston Globe. Besides the ready-made justification the Iraq war provides to any invading country, America has stoked Georgian boldness, "and now America's client is wiping blood from its nose," he writes. "The wreckage of Georgia's towns and countryside, however, is not as complete as the ruin of Bush's policies." 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»

Moscow seeks 'new world order,' warns Georgian president

(NEWSER) - As Russia maintains a troop presence in several Georgian cities, Mikheil Saakashvili writes in the Washington Post, "We cannot allow Georgia to become the first victim of a new world order as imagined by Moscow." The Georgian president says the international community must recognize that Russia intends to crush democracy and liberty, and must come to his country's aid with "a modern version of the Berlin Airlift." More»