Things have been rather hectic here, but not so much because of Russia, but internal politics are going completely crazy and irrational! I cannot exclude that some of these folks are financed by Russia.
Insofar this particular news is concerned, this has been going on here ever since they “pulled out”. Russia has officially announced it will station 14K people in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia and has been doing this ever since. The “fire exchange” along the border with South Ossetia is also a weekly must, so nothing new there as well, unfortunately.
General sense in the country is that Russians probably won't risk another international fiasco and invade Georgia openly - they have every means to do it under cover and all they are doing with this military buildup are showing their defiance to their own promises...
Also mindful that next month (entire May) there are two military exercises in Georgia to be planned by NATO; Russians are furious about those, but NATO surprisingly, at least so far, shows that they do not care.
I think there is general sense here as well that Western countries, and particularly Germany and France simply sold Georgia and exchanged it for gas supplies - of course, all of that came tumbling down this January when there was couple of freezing days in Europe, but those folks stubbornly do not want to learn. BTW, I have spoken with one person from Ukraine who actually knows that was going on; I was told that there are about 6 entry points for Russian gas into Ukraine and there are about 8 exit points, although the system is build in such a way that not all of them are interconnected; basically what was happening was that Russia was deliberately operating only those entry points that made it almost impossible for Ukraine to deliver gas into those exit points that Russians were requesting without disconnecting gas supply for the entire country, which was not obviously something Ukraine wanted to do.
Basically, Russian government is a scum and I sincerely hope that your administration does not believe the word they are saying... I simply do not see why Russians would want to help US in dealing with Iran when it is Russia that supplies them with all technology, etc...
I hope your assessment of the Russian intentions are accurate. With oil prices staying low let's hope the Bear will be more cautious. My freinds in Ukraine are telling me that Russia has been a little bit better in their relations with them. I don't know why except to think their economy is so weak and the Big Shots in Russia are telling Putin to stop causing trouble until things get better.
I am mainly interested in what is going to happen to your President. Do you think he will survive?
As far as our President is concerned, I think you should be worried because the man is an amateur and thinks his personal charm will make nations act differently from their own self interest. A sad and dangerous delusion.
For now he is enjoying high positive poll numbers. but when his policies to fix the economy fail and the economy gets worse, as I think it will, I believe he will start to get desperate. And that will be a dangerous time for us and the world. A weak leader for America is an invitation for the enemies of freedom to start trouble.
Good luck to you and your young family. I pray for your country and all people who live on the edge of danger.
In today's Kiev Post:
The positive trends in the development of the Russian-Ukrainian trade and economic relations should be supported, said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
“The goal is to support all these positive trends, and in that respect our commission can and must play a positive role,” Putin said before starting talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Hopefully, not only “energy issues” will be discussed today, he said.
“For all the problems in global economy, our trade still rose significantly in the last quarter of 2008 and at the beginning of this one 2009, reaching the bar of $40 billion,” Putin said.
Cooperation strengthened between “quite sensitive and crucial sectors” of our economies and certain Russian and Ukrainian companies, he said.
“If we do not join our efforts, we will be faced with difficulties on foreign markets,” Putin said. Aviation, space and mechanical engineering are among the areas of such cooperation, Putin said.
“If we do not keep it (cooperation), the situation will only get more difficult for our economic players amid increasing competition,” Putin said.