Georgian Leader Warns Against Nato Veto

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Financial Times
March 31, 2008
By Stephen Fidler in London and Stefan Wagstyl in Tallinn
Denying Georgia and Ukraine the right to move towards Nato membership this week would amount to appeasement of Russia, according to Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, who added that such a move would grant Moscow effective veto power over membership of the alliance.
The decision over whether to grant the two former Soviet republics membership action plans (MAPs) – the final step before becoming an alliance member – heads the agenda of the Nato summit in Bucharest that begins on Wednesday.
The question threatens to split Nato. The US and alliance members from the former Soviet bloc support an invitation, while other allies – mainly from western Europe – oppose such an offer, in part because of strong Russian opposition.
In a telephone interview with the Financial Times, in which Mr Saakashvili also promised to send a large contingent of troops for the Nato mission in Afghanistan, he said Nato would make “a dramatic mistake” by denying invitations to Ukraine and Georgia, saying it would reward hardliners in Moscow.
“Appeasement is seen there by them as a signal that they should act...even tougher, and they will be even more aggressive and provocative,” he said. “No matter what some Europeans might be thinking, it’s basically giving them direct veto rights, because that’s how they’ll perceive it.”
In a separate FT interview, Toomas Ilves, president of Estonia, strongly backed the bids from Georgia and Ukraine. “The main reason for saying no is a Russian veto and that’s the most dangerous thing about all of this,” he said.
Mr Saakashvili said Georgia would decrease its military presence in Iraq and “dramatically increase” its presence in Afghanistan, where Nato is seeking more combat troops. Georgia currently has 2,000 troops in Iraq, the third-largest contingent there, and only a nominal presence in Afghanistan.
He said some governments were arguing it was better for Russia to see Nato united rather than arguing over MAP for Georgia and Ukraine. “I think this is a very, very wrong argument. Nato united around what? Around appeasement? We’ve seen Europe united once like this in this last century and we saw where it led,” he said.
Mr Saakashvili disputed claims that granting MAP to the two countries would encourage Russia to make trouble, including in Georgia’s two disputed territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “If we get MAP, the aggressive elements will back off. If we don’t get it, that’s exactly when they are going to start all kinds of trouble,” he said.
His government announced on Friday what he described as a “radical” peace proposal for Abkhazia and timed it to come out ahead of the summit.
 
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