NATO officials are officially outraged at Russia again today, this time because the Russian Federation signed a treaty of economic and military cooperation with its tiny neighbor, the Republic of Abkhazia.
NATO is mad because it doesn’t recognize the right of Abkhazia to exist as an independent republic, and wants it eventually annexed into Georgia. They complained the treaty would not contribute to Abkhazia’s ceasing to exist.
Georgia complained the deal, which secured military backing for Abkhazia’s continued existence, amounted to a Russian annexation of “Georgian soil” and a violation of their sovereignty.
Abkhazia’s status has been disputed since the break-up of the Soviet Union, as the Abkhaz SSR was considered an “autonomous” republic, but one that was associated with the Georgian SSR.
When the Soviet Union broke up, Georgia sought to include Abkhazia, arguing Soviet-granted autonomy no longer applied. The Republic of Abkhazia reasserted itself at the end of the 1992-93 war, and the 2000 Russo-Georgia War further cemented its status as an independent republic that, because of NATO-Russia tensions, no one in NATO will ever recognize.
If NATO grabbed Kosovo from Serbia by force braking UN Security resolution 1244 and International Law , I don't see why Russia has not right to do the same with one of the former Soviet republics. Typical example of double standard!
If I understand this blogger's logic, if A murders B, then C has the right to murder D.
You could also have said if A gives a lollie to B , then C has a right to give a lollie to D.
Clearly you don't understand. The point is that the Kosovo secession established a precedent for a provinces right to secede.
US-NATO shut up.
I doubt if anybody in NATO is really upset about Abkhazia, which Russia has illegally occupied for years. The treaty simply shows how desperate Putin has become as the penny finally drops that he has no choice but to capitulate or start WWIII. He is clearly afraid of doing the latter and is running first this way and then that trying to find ways of thumbing his nose at the US anywhere but in Ukraine. In private, NATO leaders are probably laughing at him.
Baghdad Bob called. He wants his Grand But Completely Fantasized Story Generator back.
I guess the US belief that every country/region has the right to self-determination only applies if it doesn't affect friends (perceived or real) – or if Russia is involved. The Cold War is not over – it's just gone through a fashion makeover. Just another FAIL for the Reagan acolytes.
Outlaw pride of wealth — Guarantee humility of peace
Now why should not little governments have a right to overthrow nations and form new nations? Yes Empire builders slander such a progressive idea by calling it anarchy, but really, would it cause instability for anything but big government and big corporations and only when they try to force everyone to except a big project that in the end accomplishes nothing but another global warming disaster?
For a human needs but 2,000 calories during the day, a warm bed at night and anything more then that is a thing called wealth, a thing that only generates war-hawk pride.
While Kosovo was taken by force, Republics that claimed the independence on the basis of Soviet constitution were able to do it peacefully. However, as soon as those republics claimed their rights — they became instantly westernized. Thus Georgia "forgot" that it had an OBLIGATION to give independence to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Ukraine similarly "forgot" that besides Crimea, it swallowed a good chunk of Russia, that is 8 regions — at least. Ukraine, a Soviet creation, made up of former Austro-Hungarian possessions, and the Russian regions to the east and south, has not been able to consolidate. But after the revolution in Kiev — and the insistence of the Austro-Hungarian to define what does it mean to be "Ukrainian", it is take two. Galician hunta would love to own all the "Ukrainian" real estate, but they do not want the Russian people In spite of gross violations of voting rights, 8 regions voted against Kiev. Besides Donetsk and Lughansk, the following also would like to leave Kiev misrule: Kharkov, Zaporozye, Mykolaev, Dnyepropetrovsk, Odessa and Kherson. Time for the last remaining chunk of Soviet Union to break up.
War on Ferguson — A police state for each and every little slum
So, here we sit enthroned, the most wealthy and the most war-hawk plundering Empire the world has ever known, and yet the educated upper half of our society is so greedy that they hoard all the wealth from their wars of aggression and plunder, such that wealth trickles down only to the educated upper half and children of the slums suffer greater hunger and poverty then many of the under developed nations.
A state of war caused directly by the corporate rich who own all the hardware on the Internet, yet this WEB page gives it not one word of coverage. Exactly what is coming down here?
John, if you look you'll find plenty of that discussion on the site today and every day, and those subjects are regularly covered here. This particular column, though, is concerned with NATO's relationship with Russia and the US empire. If you step back a bit, you can even see the connection between them.
Way to go, Putin!