Where is Obama on Georgia?

Sally McNamara / June 04, 2009

Although Congress continues to move rapidly to appropriate the final portion of its billion-dollar aid pledge to Georgia (made in the aftermath of its short, but brutal war with Russia last August), the commitment of the Obama Administration toward Tbilisi remains unclear. Georgia’s Minister for defense, Vasil Sikharulidze visits Washington this week following the conclusion of NATO exercises in the Republic. The military and peacekeeping exercises, conducted under NATO’s long-running Partnership for Peace program, are just part of Georgia’s growing relationship with the transatlantic security alliance.

The NATO-Georgia Commission, constituted in 2008, is effectively acting in place of the formal Membership Action Plan (MAP), which Georgia was denied at the Bucharest Summit under heavy Russian pressure. Although the Commission is working successfully toward (more…)