{"id":340,"date":"2008-08-13T12:59:32","date_gmt":"2008-08-13T16:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=340"},"modified":"2008-08-13T13:41:55","modified_gmt":"2008-08-13T17:41:55","slug":"georgia-on-my-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=340","title":{"rendered":"Georgia On My Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Language\" content=\"en-us\" \/> <meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=windows-1252\" \/><title>If I were blogging these days&#8211;w<\/title>If I were blogging these days&#8211;which I am not&#8211;I would want to take up <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=207\">some old themes<\/a> about  the role of Georgia (along with Azerbaijan, <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=291\">Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=330\">Iran<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=284\">Turkey<\/a>) in US-led  efforts to circumvent Russia in the export of Caspian oil and natural gas to  Western Europe and to <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=214\"> Israel<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 (Note <a href=\"http:\/\/www.debka.com\/article.php?aid=1358\">recent  reports<\/a> that Israeli was involved in the initial Georgian military offensive  into South Ossetia on August 8.)<\/p>\n<p>After all, the US-Russian proxy war in Georgia is a perfect example of  <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=303\">Great Power Rivalry<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But I&#8217;m not blogging these days.<\/p>\n<p>But if I were, I might also note that the US has been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpost.com\/servlet\/Satellite?cid=1218446194213&#038;pagename=JPost\/JPArticle\/ShowFull\"> coordinating closely<\/a> with its <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=286\">man on the Seine<\/a>, <span class=\"lead\">Nicolas Sarkozy.\u00c2\u00a0 Formally, the French president is  being consulted as the key US interlocutor because France currently holds the  rotating presidency of the European Union.\u00c2\u00a0 And yet, I wonder whether there  isn&#8217;t something more to it.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, Sarkozy is the most pro-American French  leader since&#8230; well, since <a href=\"http:\/\/www.waymarking.com\/waymarks\/WM35VR\"> Gilbert de Lafayette<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 But the flip side of the pull toward Sarkozy is  the &#8220;problem&#8221; of Angela Merkel.\u00c2\u00a0 No, I am not talking about the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5dfrHT8o-0A\">back rub<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 I&#8217;m  talking about the <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=255\"> relatively cozy relationship between the Germans and the Russians<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"lead\">And where is Angela Merkel on the question of Georgia?\u00c2\u00a0  Ask Moscow.\u00c2\u00a0 Back in March, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.terradaily.com\/reports\/Merkel_against_NATO_membership_for_Georgia_Ukraine_999.html\"> AFP reported<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled on Monday that she opposes  \tgranting NATO membership to former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A country should become a NATO member not only when its temporary political  \tleadership is in favour but when a significant percentage of the population  \tsupports membership,&#8221; Merkel said in Berlin in reference to Ukraine and  \tGeorgia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Countries that are themselves entangled in regional conflicts, can in my  \topinion not become members,&#8221; she added after talks with NATO Secretary  \tGeneral Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.<\/p>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday during a visit by Merkel to  \tMoscow that NATO was aiming to replace the United Nations and warned this  \traised the potential for conflict.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The White House is already signaling a willingness <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/story\/0,2933,402982,00.html\">to engage Russia  militarily<\/a> in Georgia.\u00c2\u00a0 But it might prove quite awkward for Bush to  have to &#8220;save Europe&#8221; from a future of Russian energy blackmail if Germany seems  uninterested in being &#8220;saved.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If I were blogging these days&#8211;wIf I were blogging these days&#8211;which I am not&#8211;I would want to take up some old themes about the role of Georgia (along with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkey) in US-led efforts to circumvent Russia in the export of Caspian oil and natural gas to Western Europe and to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[33,35,27,25,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}