From Russia With Love – The Testing Continues
There’s a Reuters story that popped up this morning that’s rather alarming.
Georgia is appealing for help in discouraging Russia from what appears to be a military build-up in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
As I’ve opined before, the Russians are in a big hurry for their own reasons, and they long ago figured out that President Obama is a weak leader who can be rolled.
This is a “read the whole” thing situation, but one paragraph (given some of my continual musings about it) really did jump out:
Some Abkhaz officials have touted Ochamchire as a possible alternative to Ukraine’s Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s lease expires in 2017.
That would indeed be a Russian priority, as the Black Sea littoral is straight and shallow, with few good natural harbors.
They will keep pushing.
I was going to add something further about this apparent letter that President Obama sent to President Medvedev, but someone else (in the diaries) already did this and did a much better job than I could have done. So follow the link and digest that too.
And speaking of that letter:
President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that there would be no trade-off on Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. plans to set up a missile defense shield in Central Europe.
“No one sets conditions on these issues with trade-offs, especially on the Iranian problem,” Medvedev said at a news conference in Madrid, where he was on a state visit.
Troubling times….
