.Bush throws support behind Georgia
WASHINGTON (ASP) — US President George W. Bush Wednesday demanded Russian troops leave Georgia as he dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the country in a strong show of support for his pro-West ally.
"The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia, insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said in a brief White House statement.
Standing with Rice and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates at his side in the White House Rose Garden, he scolded Moscow for its attacks on Georgia and warned it had put Russia's post-Cold War embrace by the West "at risk."
"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," he demanded.
Bush said he had had reports of Russian actions "inconsistent" with Moscow's statements that it had halted military operations and agreed to a French-brokered provisional ceasefire in the Russian-Georgian conflict.
"We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces that entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country," he warned.
Rice said Russia faced international isolation if it refused to respect the truce.
Reported ceasefire violations would "only serve to deepen the isolation into which Russia is moving" and "the very strong, growing sense that Russia is not behaving like the kind of international partner that it has said that it wants to be," Rice told reporters in Washington.
Rice will hold talks Thursday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who personally brokered the six-point ceasefire agreement, and then travel to Tbilisi to meet with pro-West Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Bush, who spent the morning in the White House "situation room" -- his high-tech national security nerve center -- said he had already spoken to Sarkozy and Saakashvili amid the peace push by Paris, which holds the rotating European Union presidency.
As an international aid operation swung into place, an American C-17 military aircraft landed in Tbilisi bearing medical supplies, shelter, bedding and cots, and Bush promised more would be on the way.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, said it will be reviewing the needs of the Georgian military, battered in more than four days of all-out fighting with Russian forces over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
But the comments by Bush, who postponed his vacation plans for a day or so to track the crisis, drew an angry response from Moscow.
"The Georgian leadership is a special project for the United States," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, quoted by Interfax news agency.
"At some time it will be necessary to choose between supporting this virtual project and real partnership on questions which actually require collective action," he said, apparently referring to Moscow support for US-led diplomatic efforts to end nuclear drives by Iran and North Korea.
Rice told Lavrov that Washington stood firmly behind Georgia.
"As to choosing, the United States has made very clear that it is standing by the democratically elected government of Georgia," she said.
Rice also told Lavrov that Russia was not doing "a favor" to the United States by joining the diplomatic drive against Iran and North Korea as such efforts were intended to bring about a "stable" Middle East and Korean peninsula.
Despite the sharp exchange of words, the White House denied that US-Russia relations were on "adversarial" footing but spokeswoman Dana Perino admitted ties were "complex and complicated."
The Pentagon meanwhile denied comments by Saakashvili that the United States would take over control of Georgia's seaports and airports as part of the humanitarian efforts.
"We do not need nor do we intend to take over any air or seaports in order to deliver humanitarian assistance to those caught in this conflict," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.
"It is simply not a requirement of this mission and it is not something we are seeking to do," he said.
Saakashvili also had sharply criticized the initial US response to the crisis, saying early statements from top US officials on Moscow's push in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia were "too soft."
Washington has called an extraordinary meeting of NATO alliance foreign ministers next week and scrapped joint military exercises with Russia, in its first concrete responses to the armed conflict in Georgia.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the August 15-23 FRUKUS naval exercise in the Sea of Japan involving ships from France, Britain, Russia and the United States "has been cancelled."
"It just wasn't appropriate in the current situation."
MyWay
Not only that, but the Russians are stealing the spotlight on Chinas Olympics.
"The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia, insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said in a brief White House statement.
Standing with Rice and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates at his side in the White House Rose Garden, he scolded Moscow for its attacks on Georgia and warned it had put Russia's post-Cold War embrace by the West "at risk."
"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," he demanded.
Bush said he had had reports of Russian actions "inconsistent" with Moscow's statements that it had halted military operations and agreed to a French-brokered provisional ceasefire in the Russian-Georgian conflict.
"We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces that entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country," he warned.
Rice said Russia faced international isolation if it refused to respect the truce.
Reported ceasefire violations would "only serve to deepen the isolation into which Russia is moving" and "the very strong, growing sense that Russia is not behaving like the kind of international partner that it has said that it wants to be," Rice told reporters in Washington.
Rice will hold talks Thursday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who personally brokered the six-point ceasefire agreement, and then travel to Tbilisi to meet with pro-West Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Bush, who spent the morning in the White House "situation room" -- his high-tech national security nerve center -- said he had already spoken to Sarkozy and Saakashvili amid the peace push by Paris, which holds the rotating European Union presidency.
As an international aid operation swung into place, an American C-17 military aircraft landed in Tbilisi bearing medical supplies, shelter, bedding and cots, and Bush promised more would be on the way.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, said it will be reviewing the needs of the Georgian military, battered in more than four days of all-out fighting with Russian forces over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
But the comments by Bush, who postponed his vacation plans for a day or so to track the crisis, drew an angry response from Moscow.
"The Georgian leadership is a special project for the United States," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, quoted by Interfax news agency.
"At some time it will be necessary to choose between supporting this virtual project and real partnership on questions which actually require collective action," he said, apparently referring to Moscow support for US-led diplomatic efforts to end nuclear drives by Iran and North Korea.
Rice told Lavrov that Washington stood firmly behind Georgia.
"As to choosing, the United States has made very clear that it is standing by the democratically elected government of Georgia," she said.
Rice also told Lavrov that Russia was not doing "a favor" to the United States by joining the diplomatic drive against Iran and North Korea as such efforts were intended to bring about a "stable" Middle East and Korean peninsula.
Despite the sharp exchange of words, the White House denied that US-Russia relations were on "adversarial" footing but spokeswoman Dana Perino admitted ties were "complex and complicated."
The Pentagon meanwhile denied comments by Saakashvili that the United States would take over control of Georgia's seaports and airports as part of the humanitarian efforts.
"We do not need nor do we intend to take over any air or seaports in order to deliver humanitarian assistance to those caught in this conflict," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.
"It is simply not a requirement of this mission and it is not something we are seeking to do," he said.
Saakashvili also had sharply criticized the initial US response to the crisis, saying early statements from top US officials on Moscow's push in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia were "too soft."
Washington has called an extraordinary meeting of NATO alliance foreign ministers next week and scrapped joint military exercises with Russia, in its first concrete responses to the armed conflict in Georgia.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the August 15-23 FRUKUS naval exercise in the Sea of Japan involving ships from France, Britain, Russia and the United States "has been cancelled."
"It just wasn't appropriate in the current situation."
MyWay
Not only that, but the Russians are stealing the spotlight on Chinas Olympics.
posted by madtom at 7:23 PM
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