06 July 2012 By Rick Rozoff America's and NATO's favorite autocrat, Georgia's
Mikheil Saakashvili, "reshuffled" his cabinet on U.S.
Independence Day and appointed Dimitri Shashkin his
new defense minister. Presenting Shashkin to his fiefdom's top military
officers, Saakashvili, magniloquent and melodramatic
as is his inevitable wont, waxed rhapsodic over his
new underling being "one of the best patriots" and a
"generator of ideas," as though the strongman-for-life
would recognize an idea if it strode straight up to
him and presented its calling card. Saakashvili emphasized, along with the above-cited
credentials, that Shashkin had been in charge of
Georgian operations for the U.S.'s International
Republican Institute before entering the government in
2009. The Georgian Ministry of Defense posted his resume
on its website, which includes an over decade-long
stint in service to his masters overseas: 2007-2009 International Republican Institute,
Resident Country Director 2001-2007 International Republican Institute,
Resident Program Officer 1998-2001 International Republican Institute,
Assistant Program Officer 1997-1998 American Bar Association, Program
Assistant The International Republican Institute is funded by
the U.S. Agency for International Development, the
State Department and the National Endowment for
Democracy. It is precisely the sort of
"non-governmental organization" employed to bring the
likes of Mikheil Saakashvili to power – it has
operated in 100 nations, for example in Egypt last
year – and keep them there once installed. Appointing a loyal vassal of Washington like
Shashkin defense minister – Saakaahsvili attended
Columbia University on a State Department scholarship
and understands full well who needs to be pleased if a
new "rose revolution" is not to cut short his now over
eight-year reign – is to be expected from a leader who
may not be learned or cultured, sapient or even
shrewd, but is instinctually alert to which side his
bread is buttered on and what his American sponsors
demand of him. Which may simply be a question of
acquiescence, as his choice might have been
"suggested" to him by the U.S. ambassador in Tbilisi
after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to
Georgia a month ago. In introducing the new defense minister, the
Georgian satrap also praised his predecessor, Bacho
Akhalaia, who is now the country's interior minister,
for managing "to fully clean" Georgia's armed forces
of "hesitant elements with an old-style of mindset,
who were ready to ally themselves with the enemy" in
reference to a mutiny staged by members of a tank
battalion stationed in Mukhrovani, thirty kilometers
from the capital, on May 5, 2009, a day before annual
NATO Cooperative Longbow/Cooperative Lancer exercises
were to begin in the country. The enemy, there's no
need to mention, was and remains Russia. Saakashvili's and Akhalaia's night of the long
knives resulted in 36 servicemen being arrested, one
shot dead and two wounded. Lastly, Washington's man in Tbilisi, Saakashvili,
who is always a privileged guest in the White House,
at NATO summits and in the op-ed pages of America's
major dailies, touted the fact that his new defense
minister's tenure with the International Republican
Institute would yet further solidify U.S.-Georgia
defense ties. The U.S., he assured, is planning to
launch an "important, historic" military assistance
program which will be of "decisive importance" to
Georgia. The reference is to a pledge made a month ago
in Georgia by Hillary Clinton to assist in upgrading
the nation's air and coastal surveillance capabilities
and air defenses as well as providing new military
training and modernizing its helicopter fleet. On July 1 Saakashvili spoke at a graduation
ceremony at the new Cadets Military Lyceum and
reiterated as he routinely does that the deployment of
Georgian troops to Afghanistan under NATO command is
primarily for the armed forces to gain combat
experience for future military conflicts with South
Ossetia, Abkhazia and Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry responded with a
statement that in part said: "It turns out that Georgia participates and
increases the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan
not at all for combating terrorism and for the purpose
of supporting international security, as envisaged by
the mandate of the International Security Assistance
Force. "Moreover, Saakashvili's words imply that the
longer ‘active combat' lasts in Afghanistan, the
better for Georgia, which will have a suitable
training range for its army to undergo combat
training." By way of summary, if Moscow's assessment appears
too harsh, and to indicate the quid pro quo that
Saakashvili receives from the U.S. and NATO for
deploying two battalions to Afghanistan as other troop
contributing nations are planning to withdraw their
forces, here is a representative sampling of reports
in recent years regarding the true purpose of the U.S.
training Georgian troops for combat experience in
South Asia: Saakashvili noted that participation of the
military in the operation of NATO in Afghanistan is
strengthening Georgia and its armed forces. Trend News Agency President Saakashvili said that Georgia's
contribution to NATO-led forces in Afghanistan "has
not been in vain" and resulted in moving U.S.-Georgia
military cooperation to "a new level" that would help
Georgia to increase its self-defense capabilities. Speaking after visiting a Georgian soldier wounded
in Afghanistan and now undergoing treatment in a
military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, Saakashvili
said: "We should understand the fact that a decision
has been made to move military cooperation [with the
U.S.] onto an absolutely new level in order to focus
actually on our self-defense is" a result of Georgia's
contribution to ISAF. "Of course it is Georgia which we should defend and
which we should care for and [Georgian troops] are in
Afghanistan first and foremost because of Georgia,"
Saakashvili said. Civil Georgia Georgia's military contribution to the Afghan
operation gives the Georgian army "invaluable combat
experience" and to the country the "solidarity and
support" of its allies, President Saakashvili said on
September 16. In a televised speech before Georgian soldiers at a
ceremony opening a new complex of the MoD's National
Defense Academy in the town of Gori, Saakashvili said:
"If we want to have a country, we should have an army;
if we want to have an army, we should be in
Afghanistan." "Georgian soldiers are in Afghanistan because it
makes the Georgian armed forces stronger, because this
is invaluable combat experience," Saakashvili said… "[D]oes Georgia face threats and a huge challenge?
Yes it does. Does Georgia need the army? Of course it
needs it; the country can't live otherwise. Should
this army have experience? Of course it does. Do we
need the support of our much stronger allies? Of
course we need it. Where does this experience and
solidarity from our allies come from? First and
foremost on the Afghan front," he said. Civil Georgia The NATO-led operation in Afghanistan, he said,
"is our struggle" too. "Of course someone may say: ‘we have so many
problems, our territories are occupied and there is no
time now for going somewhere else to fight'. But
because of these very same problems that we have we
need huge combat experience, my friends, and the
[Afghan mission] is a unique combat and war
school…Take a look at our situation, our challenges
and threats – can we say no to our armed forces and
can we say no to a war school? This is an opportunity
to become integrated with the world's best armies, to
see the most advanced [military] equipment and
achievements." Civil Georgia "Georgia has a direct interest in the success
of the Afghan operation and in putting a halt to
terrorism once and for all," Saakashvili said, adding
that Georgia's military could learn a lot from the
"school" of Afghan warfare. He said this experience could prove valuable in any
future conflicts, citing the 2008 war with Russia as
an example of "aggression" against the South Caucasus
state. Azeri Press Agency Saakashvili added that tough tours of duty in
Afghanistan will give Georgian troops "a real combat
baptism" that would come in handy in potential future
conflicts. Experts say combat duty in mountainous Afghanistan
would indeed provide valuable experience for Georgian
troops that could prove useful in the event of another
war with Russia. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Amid continued tensions with Moscow after last
year's war with Russia, the former Soviet republic is
keen to strengthen ties with Nato and is making one of
the largest contributions to the US-led surge in the
fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Tbilisi is hoping the move will not only boost its
links with the Western military alliance, but also
give its troops much-needed combat experience that
could be used in another conflict with Russia or with
Georgia's Russian-backed separatist regions. President Mikheil Saakashvili said that Georgia's
contribution in Afghanistan is directly linked with
the country's security in the face of threats from
Russia. "This is a unique chance for our soldiers to
receive a real combat baptism. We do not need the army
only for showing off at military parades," he said. The Daily Telegraph Comments 💬 التعليقات |