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| US yet to decide about boosting Georgian military |
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Friday, September 05, 2008
TBILISI, Georgia: As the White House rolls out a $1 billion economic aid package for war-ravaged Georgia, the Bush administration must decide whether to take the next step and rebuild the former Soviet nation’s shattered military and risk further provoking the Kremlin.
Vice President Dick Cheney plans to visit Tbilisi on Thursday in a show of support for Georgia and its pro-Western president, Mikhail Saakashvili, raising speculation that a military aid package might be announced soon.
But Georgian officials and a US senator suggest that rebuilding and rearming the poor, strategically located nation part of a corridor linking Caspian and Central Asian gas and oil fields with the West will only follow reconstruction of the country’s transportation and economic infrastructure.
US Senator Bob Corker, a member of the foreign relations committee, said during a weekend visit to Georgia that military aid would likely be a long-term or midterm matter, but that economic aid was Washington’s current focus.
During a news conference on Wednesday, Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili sidestepped a question about whether Georgia plans to rebuild its military, saying US and other Western aid would be used to shore up the economy and regain the confidence of foreign investors.
Military aid from the United States, with the help of some Western European countries, was key to transforming the Georgian army and navy from their ragged post-Soviet condition into a credible fighting force.
But angry Russian officials have repeatedly said that US military aid also was instrumental in emboldening Georgia to storm the separatist-controlled Georgian region of South Ossetia Aug 7.
During the five days of fighting that followed, Russian armour and air power routed the Georgian military from South Ossetia and drove deep into Georgia.
The Russians destroyed scores of Georgian tanks and other armoured vehicles, nearly wiped out the country’s tiny air force, ransacked military bases and sank at least eight naval and coast guard vessels.
Saakashvili told The New York Times two weeks ago that he would seek US help to restore Georgia’s armed forces, and a top US general has been quoted saying the US probably would honour such a request.
But new US military aid to Georgia would further aggravate relations between Washington and Moscow, which are already at a post-Cold War low.
Russia has condemned the US use of warships to deliver aid to Georgia as a form of gunboat diplomacy, and has repeatedly said humanitarian aid shipments carried by warships and military planes are cover for an effort to rebuild the Georgian forces.
Cheney has been one of the US administration’s most hawkish figures and a strong critic of Russia, but Georgian officials do not expect him to unveil a military aid package.
What we expect is an active US role in the economic reconstruction of this country, Georgian national security council head Alexander Lomaia told The Associated Press.
He said that Georgia expects the US to help getting Georgia closer into the European Union and Nato and ... (to send) a very clear signal to the Russian Federation that such behaviour, such an illegal military behaviour of the Russian Federation will not be tolerated anymore.
The $1 billion US economic aid package is about the same as the estimate given by Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze of how much damage Georgia’s economy suffered from the war. Georgia’s national budget last year was only about $3 billion.
Cheney is to arrive in Georgia after an overnight visit to neighbouring Azerbaijan, which is the starting point for a major oil pipeline that crosses Georgia and ends in Turkey. Because of the itinerary of the trip, we see this as a very clear sign that alternative energy routes and sources will be secured, Lomaia said.
The pipeline is the only direct route for Europe-bound Caspian oil that does not go through Russian territory. Caspian oil also goes to Georgian Black Sea ports by another pipeline and by rail for transshipment to the West. Cheney is expected to spend only about four hours on the ground in Georgia.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
