The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    acanuck's picture

    Georgia ceasefire? What ceasefire?

    Ten days ago, I posted a blog noting that the ceasefire deal everyone insisted Russia was slow in living up to had not yet been signed by Georgia.
    After Condi Rice's visit to Tbilisi, it appears that both Russia and Georgia finally signed a ceasefire document -- unfortunately, not the same one.
    The Georgian version leaves out the preamble Russia agreed to.
    On top of which, the Georgians are citing as authoritative an explanatory letter from Sarkozy that the Russians never agreed to.
    And the U.S. is pushing for that interpretation to be included in a UN resolution formalizing the ceasefire, virtually guaranteeing Russia will veto it.
    Here's a detailed timeline:
    http://www.moonofalabama.org/2008/08/the-mysterious.html#more
    It is legitimate to question and criticize current Russian military actions in Georgia outside the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
    The Russians are indeed taking a fairly broad view of the "additional security measures" they are allowed under the ceasefire.
    But they have absolutely no obligation to adhere to the ex-post-facto limitations supposedly created by Sarkozy's letter to the Georgians, to which they were neither a party nor a signatory.