Posted on 08/27/2008 6:16:20 AM PDT by Schnucki
David Miliband is expected to deploy his fiercest rhetoric yet in the West's showdown with Russia when he makes a keynote speech in Ukraine over the conflict in the Caucasus.
The Foreign Secretary will also use the occasion, and meetings with both President Yushchenko and Yulia Timoshenko, the Prime Minister, to give Nato aspirant Ukraine a strong message of solidarity.
The day after President Medvedev formally recognised the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Mr Miliband said that would use the visit to assemble the “widest possible coalition against Russian aggression in Georgia”.
Mr Medvedev was yesterday accused of “inflaming” the crisis by insisting that the two regions should be recognised as independent. He said: “We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War. But we don’t want it and in this situation everything depends on the position of our partners.”
The Russian President said that the West would have to “understand the reason behind” the decision to recognise the regions if it wanted to preserve good relations with Russia.
This morning a US coastguard ship arrived on Georgia's Black Sea coast carrying aid for victims of the country's brief conflict with Russia, but the United States backed down from a plan to send a warship into a Russian-controlled port.
The cutter Dallas had been due in Poti, where Russian troops are manning checkpoints since pushing into Georgia proper this month after a war over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Instead, it docked 80 km (50 miles) south in Batumi, well clear of the conflict zone.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Oh, we understand. But I sure hope that reason doesn't lead us to "good relations" with Russia. Such reasons should lead to appropriate response.
>>We are not afraid of anything>>
Even Bush wouldn’t come off so overconfident. Kill them, I am losing confidence and patience in our resolve...
I am still laughing so much that it is difficult to type.
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