February 05, 2005

Rice Seeks Russian Democracy Commitment

Russia needs to show a commitment to a free press and other "basics of democracy," and cooperate with former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Ukraine where democracy is taking hold, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.

While she's been taking every capital of Old and New Europe on her first diplomatic tour with her charm, acumen and grace, Dr. Rice cannily tackles the subject of democracy in Russia (her special area of expertise).
This is particularly meaningful in the wake of President Bush's SOTU speech combined with his Inaugural Address which reiterated the foreign mission of the U.S. to keep Freedom on the march and doubly meaningful in the "swing" country of Turkey, which rides not only the geographic crossroads between EUrope and the Middle East, but also continues to traverse the political crossroads between being a secular democracy and an Islamic oligarchy.
I believe that Russia is at a crucial point, also, as apparently so does our newest and most attractive Secretary of State and this is due to the recent events of the election in Ukraine:

The election in Ukraine strained U.S.-Russian relations as a result of Washington's refusal to recognize the fraud-tainted victory of a Kremlin-backed candidate. The Bush administration threw its support behind a Western-leaning reformer, Viktor Yushchenko, who won in a second round of voting.

I believe that Yushchenko's rival, Putin's "man," was supposed to "win" and bring Ukraine back into the Russian fold of Soviet satellites in Putin's move to reconstitute the USSR and so it would go with every former "Soviet republic" in Eastern Europe.
By protesting the outcome of the Ukrainian elections in which Yushchenko supposedly "lost," the West (led by the U.S.) and the freedom-loving people of Ukraine made sure that the first shoe never dropped.
But there is still reason to worry about Georgia:

In Georgia, longtime leader Eduard Shevardnadze was forced from power by popular protests in late 2003, led in part by Zurab Zhvania, who became prime minister. After he was found dead Thursday following an apparent gas leak from a heater, the State Department said in a statement that he was "a catalyst for democratic change in Georgia, a dynamic leader and a friend."

This mysterious death of Zhvania is troubling and before Putin put up a puppet in Ukraine, he seems to have tried to stop Yushchenko by poisoning him, so stranger things (than Vlad's boys using bizarre assassination techiques) have happened already in that part of the world!
George Soros's pal, Mikhail Saakashvili, who participated in Georgia's Rose Revolution which included Mr. Zhvania, has stepped into the vacancy caused by Zhvania's untimely death.
Whether or not Putin will use this window of opportunity to bring Georgia more closely back into its sphere of influence remains to be seen.
If you're indifferent as to whether the Georgia government remains an independent democracy, remember that this is where the Pankisi Gorge is located--the HQ of Chechen terrorism, probable training grounds and sanctuary for Al Queda, and close to old Soviet stockpiles of WMDs, particularly nukes.