More on Georgia

From the Russian News and Information Agency....

Abkhazia has announced that it is reinforcing its border with Georgia saying that the current situation resembles the run-up to Georgia's invasion into South Ossetia.

Russia-Georgia

BBC reports that about 10,000 Georgians came to a rally to protest against Pres. Saakashvili. The complaint--he used indiscriminate force when Georgia used military force in South Ossetia prior to Russia's invasion.

The more things change.....

.....the more they stay the same.

Two stories highlighting this principle.

First, Russian strategic bombers land in Venezuela. Apparently payback for the missile bases in Eastern Europe, Russia comes and plays in the U.S's backyard a la Cuban Missile Crisis.

Second, forget free trade and non-discrimination. The Pentagon has re-opened bidding on the lucrative refueling project which had been awarded to a Northrop Grumman/EADS (Airbus) consortium. The Pentagon has decided to reopen it to Boeing, a U.S. corp. EADS is the European competitor of Boeing in the most profitable export industry in the world. The back and forth in aviation industry trade disputes is legendary (including European claims that U.S. military contracts were disguised subsidies), and looks to continue despite all rhetoric.

Russian Power Play

Ali Ettefagh on Russian global strategies, and the divergence in U.S. and European responses in today's Wash Post:

America has been busy with old-fashioned territory grabs and the eastward crawl of NATO towards Ukraine and Georgia, aiming for relatively modest oil reserves in the Caspian region. However, Russia has been nursing a modern global strategy that leaps over borders. Russia has cut landmark deals with former and potential American clients: weapon sales to Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Venezuela are the first of their kind. Sales of gas via a new trans-Siberia gas pipeline to northern China and talks of a "gas OPEC" with Iran, Algeria and others is another that towers over the pseudo-democratic ideas of Georgia. Border demarcation of the North Pole (with purported reserves of more than 90 billion barrels of oil-- twelve times the amount in the Caspian region), nuclear power deals with India and Iran and direct under-sea gas pipelines to Germany, Turkey and south-eastern Europe (bypassing the Ukrainian chokehold on Russian gas lines to Europe) are other moves on the multi-dimensional chess board -- all as Russia is simply keeping cool and amusing itself with the much hyped, but failed mission of Tony Blair as the chief negotiator of the Middle East Quartet, of which Russia is a member. From the Russian perspective, all options are on the table!