Divining the News (DTN)

If true it sounds like behind the scenes negotiating; Weapons to Syria, Oil pipelines, recognition, NATO and probably Shevardnadze again.

USA to evacuate disgraced Georgian president in case of national coup
26.08.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru

President Medvedev stated at a recent meeting with Russia’s ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, that it was NATO-members that were interested in their cooperation with Russia, but not vice versa.

“If they are willing to completely end their ties with us, nothing horrible will happen for Russia,” Medvedev said.

“We have been developing partnership ties with NATO for quite a long time, but we do not need illusions of partnership. We are ready to make any decision, including the one that will end the relationship in general,” he added.

NATO headquarters responded immediately and said that it would be a mistake for Russia to put an end to its contacts with NATO.

Prime Minister Putin stated at a recent session of his government that he did not see any pluses of Russia’s incorporation into the World Trade Organization.

“This does not mean that we must stop our strategic moves towards the WTO, but one has to clarify relations with partners,” Putin said.

The US administration is perfectly aware of the fact that the crisis in Georgia may trigger a civil war in the country. The Georgians may topple their president against the background of a significant price growth in the nation, which took place after the beginning of Georgia’s aggression in South Ossetia.

Russian newspapers say that the USA has been greatly disappointed in Mikhail Saakashvili. The Georgian president has not justified USA�s hopes and his career in politics will end very soon. The Georgian president is completely incapable of acting adequately and reasonably and may thus completely ruin USA’s plans in the region.

Senator Joseph Biden became personally certain of that during his meeting with Saakashvili in Tbilisi. The fate of the Georgian leader has been determined, a source close to the US Embassy in Georgia said.

A helicopter of the US Coast Guard cutter Dallas, which is drifting near the port of Batumi, will evacuate the disgraced Georgian president to the USA [in the event of a coup].

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Reuters:

TBILISI, 26 Aug 2008 20:23:22 GMT – U.S. warships have scrapped a plan to deliver relief supplies to Georgia’s flashpoint port of Poti on Wednesday, a source close to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said.

“The ships will not dock in Poti tomorrow,” the source told Reuters, referring to a planned mission by the USS McFaul and another vessel.

Their presence would have been sure to enrage Russia, which has troops patrolling the port following a brief war with Georgia.

“There was a possibility that the McFaul might go to Poti but no-one has given us a final decision. We’re not sure (if it’s coming),” a US navy source told Reuters.

Pentagon did not confirm or deny scrapping the Poti visit.

“We’re evaluating all ports for what makes the most sense for delivering relief supplies expeditiously,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Reuters. [...]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has earlier accused Washington of delivering weapons to Georgia by sea, but made clear Russian ships deployed near the Georgian coast will not obstruct the operation.

“What the Americans call humanitarian cargoes — of course, they are bringing in weapons,” he told the BBC in an interview, adding: “We’re not trying to prevent it.”

The White House spokesman later rejected Medvedev’s accusations of U.S. ships bringing in weapons as “ridiculous”.

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