Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili: Time for a Return to Yalta

Washington Post ^ | May 10, 2005 | President Mikheil Saakashvili

[RWR8189]

TBILISI, Georgia -- For 60 years the word "Yalta" has meant betrayal and abandonment. The diplomatic accord reached between Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States in that sleepy Black Sea resort relegated millions of people to a ruthless tyranny.

As President Bush said last week in Latvia: "The agreement at Yalta followed in the unjust tradition of Munich and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable."

Thankfully, the division of Europe created at Yalta, and the Iron Curtain that marked its boundary, are ghosts in our past. The generation of 1989 succeeded in the streets of Gdansk, Prague and Riga, and much of the territory Yalta allotted to a dictator is now part of the community of democratic nations.

Now it is our turn to contribute to the completion of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. After recent discussions with presidents Traian Basescu of Romania and Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine, I believe that it is time for a new Yalta Conference, a voluntary association of new European democracies with three central goals.

First, we must work together to support the consolidation of democracy in our own countries. Georgia regained its freedom in the Rose Revolution only 18 months ago. Though we have made great strides, much remains to be done in building a lasting democracy. Two significant portions of our territory -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- remain untouched by the freedom the rest of Georgia enjoys. We can and must peacefully resolve these disputes to better the lives of Georgians.

Ukraine's Orange Revolution succeeded only five months ago. My friend Viktor Yushchenko faces real challenges in rebuilding his country's economy and in ending the corruption and criminality that are the legacy of decades of

[el_texicano]

Those contries that were occupied get it. Yalta = betrayal and that by US and Britain.

Someone here online mentioned that Churchill had said as much. I for one would love to see that statement or statements.

[Soul Seeker]

Our message to the oppressors and their subjects is unequivocal: Free peoples cannot rest while tyranny thrives. Just as we benefit from the blessings of liberty, we have a duty to those who remain beyond its reach. In Zimbabwe, Cuba, Burma and elsewhere, millions live under cruel tyrants. Too many governments and international organizations appear willing to sacrifice freedom for what they mistakenly believe will be stability. We know that only the consent of the governed brings stability. And we know that if the world's democracies make liberty the priority of their policy, the days of the dictators are numbered.

It's peoples like those in Georgia or as far back as Japan that more than make up for the betrayals of the French and German after liberation. This statement just made me cheer. A now free people adopting the same responsibilities to bring Liberty to all and end tyranny across the Globe. It's breathtaking.

[Lion in Winter]

It does my heart good to see Georgia renounce their native son, Joe Stalin!!

I know an older lady who escaped from Georgia over 20 years ago. She is a convert to the Baptist Church and lives with relatives here in Florida. She told our Sunday school class that for many years in Georgia, as part of the USSR, most locals considered Stalin a hero. And, she said they hated Khruschev for re-nouncing him.