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http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2002/03/19/008.html [The author of the following also serves the same 'world power.'] The Moscow Times Tuesday, Mar. 19, 2002. Page 15 Changing Allegiances, Traditions Unchanged -Two years ago, Paata joined 29 other budding pilots from Georgia at a boot camp in Alabama as part of a military aid program sponsored by the United States. -Speculation is rife in Georgia about the real reason the United States is getting involved in the country. Some say the Americans want to establish a permanent base in the Caucasus, given its proximity both to Russia and the Middle East. -. So instead of pledging his loyalty to the Soviet Army, like his father and his grandfather, Paata and his fellow pilots could find themselves promising to serve a different world power altogether. By Chloe Arnold TBILISI, Georgia -- Like his grandfather, his father and both his uncles before him, Paata Vakhtangishvili is a pilot. But whereas the elder Vakhtangishvilis served in the Red Army and swore their allegiance to Moscow, Paata is part of independent Georgia's armed forces. "It makes me proud to be able to serve my own country," Paata shouts above the noise of a helicopter taking off behind us at the Alexeyevka air base just outside Tbilisi. "The trouble is our army isn't very good." All that is changing. Two years ago, Paata joined 29 other budding pilots from Georgia at a boot camp in Alabama as part of a military aid program sponsored by the United States. "We spent 10 months learning English and eight months learning how to fly American helicopters," he said. Last month the United States donated eight Iroquois helicopters to Georgia to supplement its aging Soviet stock. When Paata left school, his friends thought he was crazy to want to join the air force. Now, five years later, most of them are only just managing to scrape together a living, and Paata says they are sorry they didn't think of the air force themselves. Later this month, the United States will send as many as 200 military instructors to Tbilisi for a six-month stint. Their task is to train Georgian special forces to expel Muslim extremists with suspected links to the al-Qaida network who are thought to be hiding in the remote Pankisi Gorge in western Georgia. So far the Americans have been guarded about when exactly the trainers will arrive or even how many they are planning to dispatch. Some in Russia, meanwhile, are furious that the United States is sending its military to Georgia, considering it far too close for comfort. Speculation is rife in Georgia about the real reason the United States is getting involved in the country. Some say the Americans want to establish a permanent base in the Caucasus, given its proximity both to Russia and the Middle East. Others say they are keen to ensure the traditionally volatile country is stable before work begins on a multibillion-dollar pipeline that will transport oil from Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea to a Turkish Mediterranean port via Georgia. Paata says he is delighted that the Americans are coming to his country to step up the training program. "I only wish they would stay longer than six months and turn our army into something really special," he told me. Many here do not rule that out. So instead of pledging his loyalty to the Soviet Army, like his father and his grandfather, Paata and his fellow pilots could find themselves promising to serve a different world power altogether. Chloe Arnold is a freelance journalist based in Baku, Azerbaijan. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage http://sports.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
