Posted on 08/26/2008 5:36:06 AM PDT by Schnucki
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has escalated tensions between his country and the West by formally recognising the independence of the Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Britain has said it "categorically rejects" the decision, which the French foreign ministry has denounced as "regrettable". Georgia's deputy foreign minister described the move as an "unconcealed annexation" of Georgian territory.
"I have signed decrees on the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of South Ossetia and the independence of Abkhazia," Mr Medvedev said on state television this morning after a vote in the Russian parliament.
Western countries have insisted that Georgia should retain sovereignty over the two enclaves, which have been effectively self ruled since a civil war in the early 1990s.
When Georgian forces entered South Ossetia over two weeks ago to attack armed separatists, the Russian army launched a full scale invasion. Russian forces now remain inside the main body of Georgia as well as in large garrisons inside the two enclaves.
With Russia's relations with the West sinking to their worst level since the end of the Cold War, Moscow's ambassador to Nato warned that Europe could be poised on the brink of a new conflict.
"This atmosphere reminds me of the situation in Europe in 1914," said Dmitry Rogozin.
As he spoke, an American naval destroyer was sailing for the Georgian port of Poti with humanitarian aid. A US embassy spokesman in Tibilisi said that the USS McFaull had left the southern port of Batumi to unload cargo at Poti, a handling point for commercial cargoes that Russian troops have occupied for more than a week.
Russia has reserved the right to inspect cargoes at the port, raising the prospect of its military challenging the US operation to transfer the supplies of water, food and nappies
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Given that the USA has injected itself into helping the enemy take Kosovo away for its rightful owners, then they should also recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Apparently the morons and dregs in our leaderless State Department failed to consider the unintended consequences of their unjustified interference. IMO, they were just mindlessly continuing a criminal policy by the Clinton administration to help Muslims kill Christians.
A bit like Turkey and Northern Cyprus. We’ll see if any other countries follow Russia’s lead (other than satellites like Belarus).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.