The coming Russian-American face-off in Georgia

The New York Times reports that Russian troops are still in the key Georgian cities of Gori and Poti; reports about them handing over control of Gori to the Georgian police appear to have been premature. With US humanitarian aid also flowing into Georgia in US military transports, the likelihood of Georgia turning into a battle of wills between Russia and the West has increased.

The New York Times, whose coverage of the crisis has been superlative, quote a senior Pentagon official describing the strategic thinking behind the Pentagon-led humanitarian mission thus:

“to show to Russia that we can come to the aid of a European ally, and that we can do it at will, whenever and wherever we want.”

The State Department is also taking a tougher line, with Secretary Rice saying:

“This is not 1968, and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, where Russia can invade its neighbor, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it,” she said. “Things have changed.”

As we say in our editorial this week, if Georgia is prepared to respect South Ossetia and Abhazia’s right to determine their own destinies, then the same right should be accorded to Georgia. If Georgia wishes to become more Western-oriented and join Nato, then it should be allowed to. To back away from offering Georgia Nato membership now, would be to encourage further Russian aggression in its near abroad.

PS I think it is important to stress that Georgia is not the aggressor—even if it did walk into a trap as our editorial notes–and that Russian accusations about ‘genocide’ being carried out in South Ossetia appear to be distortions of the truth. The New York Times again:

“In South Ossetia, investigators began to look into accusations of atrocities. Human Rights Watch reported that researchers witnessed “terrifying scenes of destruction” in four ethnic Georgian villages, and said the villages had been looted and burned by South Ossetian militias.

Anna Neistat, one of the researchers, said by telephone from Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, that they had found no evidence to substantiate Russian assertions of widespread brutality by Georgian troops. Human Rights Watch has been able to confirm fewer than 100 deaths.”