At stake: A country’s right to choose its alliances
Does anything short of military action against Russia amount to appeasement? Does Georgia deserve help since Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili triggered the conflict by moving troops into the province under dispute? In an oped in the International Herald Tribune, Salome Zourabichvili, a former Georgian minister of foreign affairs, answers these questions, posed in the wake of the Russian/Georgian military conflict that arose earlier this month. Read it here.
In the piece, Zourabichvili clearly says that Georgia needs the West’s help in holding off Russia, saying “A democratic Georgia is a guarantee to its neighbors that such adventures will not be repeated.”
The stakes are high, Zourabichvili writes. “At stake is a country’s right to chose its alliances, its economic system and its leaders.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Russia plans to keep 500 soldiers on the ground in and around South Ossetia. The Times also reports that Russia is pulling troops out of some areas but regrouping in other areas. The Wall Street Journal reports that Russia has blocked land access to Poti, a critical port town.
And, despite the harsh talk coming out of Washington D.C. about Russia’s aggression, Reuters is reporting that the United States warned Georgia as late as the day before the conflict began, not to try to retake South Ossetia with military force.
Jamie Riley is the P-D letters editor and gatekeeper of the letters blog. Before joining the editorial page in May 2005, she was a reporter and page designer. Jamie lives in University City with her husband, Charles, daughter, Elise, and the world's best Jack Russell terrier, Logan, better known as Stinky. 
We already have enough foreign entanglements. Let the Europeans handle this one,themselves. Heck, we can’t even defend Texas and Arizona from foreign invasion.
Is the leader of Georgia crazy or what. Why do I think not, but just corrupt like the rest of them. He should be booted out of office if he is indeed so stupid. This was beyond crazy if it is actually true that he thought that he could take on Russia by himself or just assumed the West would back him up militarily.
But, why do I feel that this man through some communication with the administration and the West and Israel thought that they would be backed by these ones militarily?
My soul believes that Georgia was used as a experiment to see how far Russia was willing to go, testing Russia’s temperment before Israel dertermined what if any actions that they would take against Iran.