Georgia-The Unstable NATO Ally Seeing Red: As it blames Russia for 'mutiny' - by Fred Weir
It looked like a recipe for political crisis even before a Georgian tank battalion apparently mutinied on Tuesday: • Nearly a month of rolling street demonstrations have virtually shut down the central area of the capital, with thousands of protesters daily demanding the resignation of Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili. • Russian troops have been massing in the past week barely an hour's drive away in South Ossetia. • NATO-sponsored war games that Moscow furiously opposes are set to begin on Wednesday.Georgi Khutsishvili, chair of the International Center on Conflict and Negotiation in Tbilisi, says there are no "pro-Russian" forces, either among the opposition in Tbilisi's streets or within the Georgian army. "Our authorities are always seeing Moscow's hand in things," he says. "But I cannot imagine that any Georgian army battalion could revolt on Russian orders. I completely exclude this. Whatever happened, it must be explained by internal factors." Experts say the Kremlin appears increasingly concerned over the damage to Russia's fragile dialogue with NATO, begun with high hopes barely a month ago. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week called on the Western alliance to cancel the "shortsighted" war games, and ordered Russian officials not to attend a NATO council meeting slated for Thursday.
Note EU-Digest: It is high time the EU distance itself from this very precarious situation in Georgia, mainly created by the unstable leadership of Mikhail Saakashvili
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