Kansas Bear

The Russian-designed rifles give it away.

Everything else on at the headquarters of Georgia's Second Infantry Brigade makes it look as if the country has already joined Nato.

The Nato flag even flies next to the Georgian one above the parade ground.

The Kalashnikov assault rifles the soldiers carry betray the fact that Georgia was once part of the Soviet Union, and of the Warsaw Pact - the military alliance which was Nato's Cold War foe.

In driving rain, troops storm an abandoned building. This is only an exercise, but it is deadly serious. Georgia's army is leading its country's charge westwards - towards Nato, and perhaps eventually the European Union.

Its ties with Moscow are being discarded like the spent bullet cases which litter the rifle range.

Lt-Col Alexander Osepaishvili is the brigade's commanding officer.

"I call this long way, short time," he told me. "During two years, my brigade has changed. The Georgian military has changed - very big changes," he explains.


US role

The US Army has sent instructors to drive that change. At a military camp outside the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, they are training Georgian troops for checkpoint duty in Iraq.

Lt-Col Craig Jones says he is impressed by what he has seen.


Georgian troops storm a building during the training exercise
"Obviously the soldiers that we are working with initially trained and learned under Russian tactics and learned a Russian style of fighting," he says.

"Initially there was some question with that. But they want to learn the American way and the Nato way."

Georgia's path to Nato membership will not be easy.

It does not control all of its territory. The breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have in effect been independent since the early 1990s.

Two decades of political upheaval have led to widespread joblessness.

Diplomatic row


Georgia's Deputy Defence Minister, Levan Nikoleishvili, sees the country's bid for Nato membership as part of an ambitious solution to his country's ills.

"We look to Nato as a club and as an organisation, which will not only be a guarantee for security but will also be a guarantee for development for us," he explains.


The Russian president has cracked down on Georgian businesses
"After that we are looking to other steps to join other European institutions," he adds.

Then there is the question of Russia - already embroiled in a bitter diplomatic row with Georgia.

Matters came to a head in September when Georgia expelled four Russians it accused of spying.

Moscow responded by severing diplomatic ties and transport links. Hundreds of Georgians living in Russia were accused of breaking the immigration law and deported.


Moscow offers moral and material support to the separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. That angers Tbilisi.

Georgia is pressing ahead with its bid to join Nato. That angers the Kremlin.

Russia is keen to stop its influence declining across the former Soviet bloc.

"For the Baltic countries, for Poland and for those who want to join Nato, like Georgia, their main reason to join Nato is to have a guarantee against the Russians," says Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based military analyst.

"That makes Nato and Russia basically enemies. In a sense they are on a collision course. So a real partnership is hardly possible and any expansion of Nato is seen, in Russia, in Moscow, as a threat to our interests."

But Georgia is determined to press ahead with its bid to join Nato. The Russian media have already speculated that the war of words between Russia and Georgia could lead to armed conflict.

Further confrontation could have repercussions much further afield.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Georgia's Nato bid irks Russia

Kansas Bear

Georgia condemns Russian 'raid'

President Saakashvili accused Russia of trying to spread panic
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili has accused Russia of carrying out an air raid on Georgian territory, saying Moscow was trying to provoke panic.
Mr Saakashvili was speaking in a village where a missile from a Russian aircraft is said to have hit the ground close to a house on Monday.

Russia denies any part in the incident, saying its jets were not in the area.

Georgia says the missile, which did not explode, was from a Russian fighter plane that violated its airspace.

"All this provocation is aimed at stirring up panic to weaken the stability of Georgia and to change the country's policies," Mr Saakashvili said.

"We are waiting for an official explanation from Russia."

Relations between the two countries have been strained in recent years.

Moscow is angry about Georgia's plans to join Nato, while Tbilisi accuses Russia of trying to destabilise Georgia.

Relations worsened sharply last year when Georgia expelled four Russian army officers it accused of spying.

'Powerful missile'

Georgian officials say the missile landed outside the village of Tsitelubani, some 60km (37 miles) north-west of the capital Tbilisi, but did not explode.

They say two Russian "Su-type" jets launched the missile at 1930 (1530 GMT) on Monday.


Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Ustiashvili told the BBC the planes had flown some 70km (43 miles) over Georgia, firing the "modern and powerful" rocket, which weighed about a ton.

Mr Ustiashvili said the jets flew from a Russian base in the North Caucasus before firing the missile, which landed just metres from a house.

Georgian officials said they had gathered fragments of missile fins and other debris near a small crater where the rocket landed.

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told the BBC the missile firing was an "act of aggression".

He said foreign diplomats in Georgia were being asked for a "stronger and clear-cut response" to the incident from the international community.

South Ossetia theory

Earlier on Tuesday, Georgia's foreign ministry handed a note of protest to the Russian ambassador in Tbilisi, although Moscow continued to deny all accusations.

I fail to see why a Russian plane would bomb territory close to South Ossetia

Alexander Golts
Russian defence analyst
"Russia's air force neither on Monday nor Tuesday flew flights over Georgia," said Col Alexander Drobyshevsky, an aide to the commander of Russia's air force.

"Russia has not violated the borders of sovereign Georgia."

Tsitelubani is not far from Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, which receives political support from Moscow, says the BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow.

South Ossetia's leader Eduard Kokoiti said Georgian planes fired the missile to discredit Russia. "This is a well-planned provocation," said Mr Kokoiti, who holds Russian citizenship.

But a Russian defence analyst, Alexander Golts, said that without objective, hard information on the incident, it was impossible to lay the blame on either Russian or Georgian aircraft.

"While no one can say for sure whether it was a fuel tank or a rocket or a bomb which fell, I fail to see why a Russian plane would bomb territory close to South Ossetia," he told the BBC News website.

Strained relations

The conflicting accounts of the incident reflect ongoing tensions between Georgia and Russia, our correspondent says.

The deportation last year of four Russian army officers amid accusations of spying triggered a furious diplomatic row, with Moscow imposing economic sanctions against its neighbour and deporting a number of Georgians.

Georgian officials have frequently claimed that Russian military aircraft have violated its airspace - accusations always denied by Russia.

The worst problems have usually been related to regional conflicts - the frozen conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Many Georgians accuse Russia of imperialism, while Russia criticises Georgia for nationalism and pursuing an anti-Russian foreign policy.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Georgia condemns Russian 'raid'

Kansas Bear

Georgia condemns Russian 'terror'

Mikhail Saakashvili accuses Russia of meddling in Georgia
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili has accused Russia of leading "terror" missions on his country's territory.
In a speech to the United Nations, he said a man killed by Georgian forces in the breakaway Abkhazia region last week had turned out to be a Russian colonel.

Russia's UN ambassador retorted that the man and another killed at the same time were "anti-terrorist" instructors.

Georgia accuses Russia of trying to destabilise it and of backing Abkhazia's bid for independence.

Mr Saakashvili said on Wednesday:

"One has to wonder - what was a lieutenant-colonel of the Russian military doing in the Georgian forests, organising and leading a group of armed insurgents on a mission of terror?

"I want to ask our Russian friends - is there not enough territory in Russia? Are there not enough forests in Russia for Russian officers not to die in Georgian territory, in Georgian forests?"

Tense relationship

Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters immediately after the speech to the UN General Assembly that the men were instructors at an "anti-terrorist training centre", and were killed at close quarters with knives and gunshots to the head.


Georgian and Russian forces are deployed in South Ossetia

"This to us is another manifestation of the course of action which regrettably the Georgian authorities have taken lately... They have been doing everything to aggravate tensions," he said.

Georgia's relationship with Russia has grown increasingly fraught after mass street protests brought Mr Saakashvili to power in 2003.

The American-educated president favours strengthening Georgia's ties with the West and Nato - a policy that has irked Moscow.

Georgia meanwhile accuses Russia of backing the separatist ambitions of its breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Assassination claim

Heavy firing was reported on Wednesday night near the main city in South Ossetia, Tskhinvali.

Georgian forces say they were responding to an attack by South Ossetian separatists. However, a South Ossetian spokeswoman said Georgian troops opened fire first.

Two people are said to have been hurt.

Separately, a former Georgian defence minister said on Wednesday that President Saakashvili had instructed him to kill a leading businessman.

Irakli Okruashvili, a former ally of the president's, said he had been told to kill Badri Patarkatsishvili but the plan never materialised.

An associate of Mr Saakashvili said the accusation was "baseless and untrue".


BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Georgia condemns Russian 'terror'

Ironduke

I fully support Georgia's NATO bid. From a geostrategic standpoint, they are located right in an area we want to be. You certainly can't blame them either, Russia's support of ethnic separatism within Georgia is shoving them right into our welcoming arms.

__________________
The Buck Stops Here

Ray

“Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;
Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island;
Who rules the World-Island commands the World."

Sir Halford Mackinder, 1919

No wonder the tussle!

__________________


"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Ucar

As a follow up, Turkey has been providing Georgian Security and Police Forces with training and equipment since 1997. The equipment is primarily made of small-arms and mechanized eqipment spares, and the training is riot policing and irregular warfare focused.

smilingassassin

I agree. If say France was openly supporting Quebec seperatism Canada would be right pissed too, same situation.

__________________
Facts to a liberal is like Kryptonite to Superman.

-- Larry Elder

Ironduke

Not only France supporting Quebec separatism, but also occupying Quebec with French troops.

Ironduke

I've read that... Mackinder was one of the first to establish the study of geopolitics. Anyhow, I don't believe control of eastern Europe matters one way or another in controlling the "world island".

If anything, he who commands the former desert backwater of the Sick Man of Europe commands the heartland.

beka

So we are going to ally with a country whose President ire Dictator, is a true admirer of Stalin?