Senior Republican Lawmaker Urges US, NATO To Consider Rearming Georgia

[Purveyor]

By: DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press
12/22/09 12:13 PM EST

WASHINGTON — A senior Republican senator is urging the Obama administration and European allies to consider rearming Georgia, an action that would inevitably upset Russia.

The recommendation comes from Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, a lawmaker who has long cultivated cooperation with Russia. Lugar has been a key ally for President Barack Obama on his pursuit of an arms control deal with Russia that has been the centerpiece of the administration's efforts to improve relations with the Kremlin. He also is leading efforts to win essential Republican votes to ratify the treaty once it has been completed.

During the brief August 2008 war, Russia destroyed much of Georgia's military infrastructure and occupied two breakaway territories. Russia has since recognized both Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries and established military bases close to their borders with Georgia proper.

A report by Lugar's staff, to be released Tuesday, warns that Georgia's military vulnerability could lead to further instability in the Caucasus amid continuing tensions between Georgia and Russia. It urges the administration to coordinate a strategy within NATO that strikes a balance between Georgia's security needs and NATO's relationship with Russia.

"The Alliance must come to grips with the reality that Georgia will require coordinated security support from America and European nations for some years to come," Lugar writes in a letter accompanying the report.

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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/ap/republican-lawmaker-urges-us-nato-to-consider-rearming-georgia-79905457.html

[Turbineguy]

1. Persistency Capital LLC

isn't going to be happy about this.

[T Wolf]

2. Those crackers already have enough guns. Oh, you mean that other Georgia. nt

[provis99]

3. but Georgia is run by right wing assholes.

Why do we run around the world supporting every right wing asshole in power? Georgia is so rotten I actually supported Russia in the war...