Russian Navy frigate pulls alongside US coastguard ‘Dallas’.
Georgia Mission Strictly Humanitarian, Coast Guard Captain Claims
By David Axe August 29, 2008 11:26:00 AM
Robert Wagner, captain of the Coast Guard cutter Dallas. [...]
Why use a 3,000-ton Coast Guard cutter to deliver only 40 tons of supplies? That’s just two C-17 loads. (USAF C-17s began ferrying relief supplies to Georgia within hours of the ceasefire with Russia two weeks ago.) It took Dallas and McFaul nearly a week of round-trip travel to deliver just a quarter of the U.S. relief supplies sent to Georgia so far — and despite the last-minute switch to a less contested port, they risked Russia’s ire to do so.
It’s clear that the U.S. naval presence off the Georgian coast is as much a “show of force” as it is a humanitarian mission. But good luck getting any Americans involved to admit that.
Near the end of the teleconference, Wagner casually mentioned that a Russian navy Krivak frigate had done a close pass alongside Dallas to “see what we had on our deck.” “They were very professional,” he said. But still, that was a close encounter with a Russian warship in waters where, just two weeks ago, the Russians and Georgians fought a battle with anti-ship missiles and guns.
Don’t tell me that, at the moment that Krivak pulled up alongside Dallas, global power politics weren’t foremost in people’s minds.
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Putin threatens to withdraw from cooperating with UN on Iran.
On Thursday Putin suggested his country’s cooperation with the West on the Iranian nuclear issue could be hurt by the Georgia tensions. Asked if Moscow might stop cooperation if it comes under increased pressure over Georgia, he told CNN that Russia is “working very consistently and diligently with its partners” on the Iran issue.
But “if nobody wants to talk with us on these issues and cooperation with Russia is not needed, then for God’s sake, do it yourselves,” he said in the interview. Russia, which has close ties to Tehran, has long been reluctant to impose harsh sanctions, though it backed the past three rounds of limited financial sanctions imposed by the six nations
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Russia gains two Black Sea ports.
Russia remains a Black Sea power
By M K Bhadrakumar for the Asia Times
The emergent geopolitical reality is that with Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Moscow has virtually checkmated the US strategy in the Black Sea region, defeating its plan to make the Black Sea an exclusive “NATO lake”. In turn, NATO’s expansion plans in the Caucasus have suffered a setback. [...]
Russia has now gained de facto control over two major Black Sea ports – Sukhumi and Poti. Even if the US-supported regime of Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine creates obstacles for the Russian fleet based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol – in all probability, Moscow will shrug off any Ukrainian pressure tactic – the fleet now has access to alternative ports on the Black Sea. Poti, in particular, has excellent facilities dating to the Soviet era.
The swiftness with which Russia took control of Poti must have made the US livid with anger. Washington’s fury stems from the realization that its game plan to eventually eliminate Russia’s historical role as a “Black Sea power” has been rendered a pipe dream. Of course, without a Black Sea fleet, Russia would have ceased to be a naval power in the Mediterranean. In turn, Russia’s profile in the Middle East would have suffered. The Americans indeed had an ambitious game plan towards Russia.
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France (which holds the presidency of the EU) says no to Russian sanctions.
Georgia More diplomatic wrangling over Georgia 29/08 13:21 CET
European Union leaders are due to meet on Monday to formulate a response. Some eastern European EU members have been pushing for sanctions against Russia, but France which holds the EU presidency says there are no such plans, for the moment. Any sanctions could lead Moscow to retaliate by cutting oil and gas supplies to Europe.
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