STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [The government-censored press in Western capitalist countries and their colonies never fails to boast of its much-vaunted independence. In the following bit of gutter propaganda, a choice specimen to be sure, AFP's evenhandedness is only matched by its 'sophistication': Georgian puppets good; Russians, Armenians, Abkhazians, Ajarians bad. The reader is not supposed to notice any discrepancy between the assertion by the foreign minister of Eduard Shevardnadze's (whom I've recently seen referrred to as the Augusto Pinochet of the Caucasus) personal fiefdom, that "We do not want any foreign miitary presence on our soil," with what follows just a few paragraphs later - that Georgia eagerly aspires to become one big NATO military presence in the strategically vital Caspian region, and in fact has recently turned itself over to NATO as a launching pad for amphibious and other military assaults. The ethnic Armenians, Abkhazians and others are wise to fear the departure of Russian troops, who will immediately be replaced by NATO occupation forces. But if Augusto Shevardnadze cedes his country to NATO, he and his "pro-democratic" cronies can skim off a lot of money from the Ceyhan-Baku oil pipeline. Happy days for democracy in the Caucasus.] Sunday June 24, 6:31 PM Separatists, chieftains complicate Russia's exit from Georgia TBILISI, June 24 (AFP) - Russia is saying it will vacate its last remaining Soviet-era military bases in Georgia on time, as promised. If only it were so easy. The fate of the four bases -- the last of what, in the Cold War, were a staggering 2,000 military installations in Georgia -- is a thorn in the side of relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, 10 years after this pro-Western Caucasian republic declared independence. "Our position is clear: We do not want any foreign military presence on our soil," said Foreign Minister Irakli Menagarishvili, who held two days of inconclusive talks with Russian officials last Thursday and Friday. Coming out of the talks Friday, Russia's deputy prime minister Ilia Klebanov said Moscow would indeed exit two bases by July 1, in line with a 1999 agreement hammered out at a summit in Istanbul of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). "Everything is being carried out according to schedule," Klebanov said. On Saturday the foreign ministry in Moscow reasserted that "the Russian side has confirmed that it is ready to hand over to Georgia" the bases at Vaziani and Gudauta on July 1 -- that is, next Sunday. But there's more at stake than ending two centuries of Russian presence in Georgia -- the strategic Black Sea gateway to the southern Caucasus, corridor to oil and gas richs in the Caspian Sea, and aspiring NATO member country. Breakaway provinces, local chieftains and ethnic minorities -- they too come into play. Gudauta base, on the Black Sea, happens to be in the breakaway province of Abkhazia, scene of a 1992-94 war between Georgian troops and Russian-backed Abkhazian separatists. It is said to house 700 to 1,000 Russian troops, and is separate from a Russian-led and UN-observed peacekeeping force that oversees a ceasefire that is regularly broken. On June 6 local residents blocked a Russian convoy out of the base -- reportedly out of fear that a Russian pullout will lead to renewed conflict, though Georgian officials suspect the demonstration was orchestrated. Moscow has also suggested that the Gudauta base be turned into a "rehabilitation center" for the Abkhazia peacekeeping mission -- an idea that a Georgian official dismissed as "changing one label for another." Russia has another base on Georgia's Black Sea coast at Batumi, capital of Ajaria, a mainly Moslem and relatively prosperous autonomous region near the Turkish border that is the personal feifdom of its leader Aslan Abashidze. Abashidze is content to let the Russians stay as a symbol of his independence from Tbilisi. So to do many Ajarians who have been spared the civil strife that has plagued other parts of Georgia. NATO's first-ever amphibious exercises in Georgia, earlier this month, were initially supposed to take place in Ajaria, but such is Abashidze's clout that they were shifted up the coast. Though no firm date is set for Russia to leave Batumi, Moscow has argued that it requires 14 years to complete a withdrawal -- a period that Georgia finds suspiciously long. It says three years is quite enough. A pullout date also remains to be negotiated for the Russian base at Akhalkalaki, a predominantly ethnic Armenian town 45 kilometers (25 miles) up the highway from Armenia proper. It creates jobs for 2,000 ethnic Armenians in an impoverished region, and diplomats fear a backlash aimed at Tbilisi if it shuts down without programs in place to cushion the socio-economic blow. Of all four bases, the only one that has been vacated is an air base at Vaziani, just outside Tbilisi, which Russia will still be able to use for a limited number of flights each year. But diplomats who have visited Vaziani say it is largely run down -- and whatever buildings are still useful have been stripped clean of their fittings, down to the windows, pipework and lighting. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
