The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Georgia hasn't signed the ceasefire

    By acanuck on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 5:43pm |
    George Bush and others in the West are railing about how slow the Russians have been to implement the six-point ceasefire brokered by the French president.
    Seems like a reasonable demand.
    But then I notice this, buried near the bottom of an AP story on Condi Rice's trip to Tbilisi:

    In France, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued another urgent call on Russia to honor the cease-fire with Georgia as she was bringing the formal agreement to Tbilisi to have it signed Friday by the president of Georgia ... . French President Nicholas Sarkozy said the documents are "intended to consolidate the cease-fire."

    I seem to recall how it went down:
    Sarkozy went to Georgia, worked out a deal with Saakashvili, then took the signed offer to Moscow, where the Russians agreed after negotiating some changes to the text, specifically to include the renunciation of force by all sides. Sarkozy then headed back to Georgia, presumably to have the final version signed.
    Now it appears Saakashvili balked at renouncing the use of force. He wants to retain the option of retaking South Ossetia and Abkhazia militarily.
    Which is why Rice had to stop off in France to pick up the unsigned ceasefire. Let's hope she has better luck strong-arming Saakashvili into signing than Sarkozy did.

    Comments

    Gah! This whole thing is so muddled. I can't see how anyone can honestly support injecting ourselves into this when we can't even determine basic facts like, who signed what and when.

    Here's to a quick cessation of hostilities, WITHOUT our military involvement.


    by Customer0012 (not verified) on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 6:57pm

    Defense Secretary Gates today rather explicitly ruled out any U.S. military intervention in Georgia.
    McCain may still try to ratchet up the bellicosity a few decibels, but it just makes him look more like the unrepentant Cold Warrior he is.
    I doubt it will boost his voter appeal.


    by acanuck (not verified) on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 7:33pm

    We need to fire Gates!


    by theCleverBulldog (not verified) on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 7:46pm

    Now it appears Saakashvili balked at renouncing the use of force. He wants to retain the option of retaking South Ossetia and Abkhazia militarily. Which is why Rice had to stop off in France to pick up the unsigned ceasefire. Let's hope she has better luck strong-arming Saakashvili into signing than Sarkozy did.

    Perhaps. Or perhaps, Saakashvili is refusing to sign the revised ceasefire without some assurances from the U.S. - some assurances from someone in the Bush administration, that they will receive the kind of U.S. support that others have been unofficially promising them through other channels.

    Perhaps.


    by CarolBG (not verified) on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 7:59pm

    Here's a much more detailed and accurate report on the status of the ceasefire than I cobbled together above:
    http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/14/europe/diplo.php
    It appears both Georgia and Russia have verbally agreed to the six-point deal Sarkozy drafted, but NEITHER has actually signed.
    Sarkozy got the Russians to drop their initial demand that Saakashvili step down.
    But they rejected a guarantee of Georgia's "territorial integrity," substituting instead its "independence" and "sovereignty."
    Those Russians drive a hard bargain when they win.


    by acanuck (not verified) on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 8:02pm