Firebrand Sets Russia's Tone at NATO

Moscow charges expulsion is ploy to sabotage relations

(NEWSER) - NATO has expelled two Russian diplomats from its Brussels headquarters for spying, officials announced. The expulsion of the diplomats, one of whom is the son of Russia's EU ambassador, provoked an angry response from Moscow, which accused NATO of deliberately sabotaging relations. The spy scandal is the most serious rift between NATO and Russia since the war in South Ossetia last summer, reports the Guardian. 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»

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»

(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»

But Russian military remains in Gori as NATO meets

(NEWSER) - Russia and Georgia exchanged prisoners of war today in a gesture that observers hope will reduce tensions and expedite a Russian withdrawal. Fifteen Georgians and five Russians were set free, the Georgian military says. Yet despite the exchange, there was still no movement of Russian troops out of Gori or other parts of Georgian territory, reports the Times of London. More»