North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Paul Goble

Vienna, August 10 – The war that has broken out between the Republic of Georgia and the Russian Federation calls attention to two features of that region which Western governments have been loathe to recognize and which, having failed to acknowledge, have led those governments to make statements that help explain and are compounding a looming tragedy.

On the one hand, the conflict over South Ossetia shows that Russia is not the status quo power the United States and the Europeans have wanted to believe that it had somehow become and that it cannot be transformed into one simply by constantly suggesting that it is and including it in various institutions intended for countries who want to make the current system work.

Instead, Moscow in recent years thanks in large measure to the rise of Vladimir Putin has emerged as a revisionist power ready, willing and increasingly able to challenge the 1991 settlement, especially when any of the governments of the former Soviet republics such as Georgia has just done act in ways that open the door to Russian aggression.

And on the other hand, precisely because the U.S. and its allies take their wishes about Russia for facts, Washington and to a lesser extent the European capitals routinely have made statements to the non-Russian governments that suggest the West will back them up in any dust up with the Russians.

The Statements/actions Made by the Key State Persons/ Organizations on Recent Events of August 08.08-10.08.2008

The United States of America

President Bush on Sunday called French President and current EU head Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the conflict, the White House said;

White House Deputy National Security Adviser Jim Jeffrey said the United States was urgently looking into the report, saying that it would be a very serious escalation for Russia to move into Georgia beyond the Abkhazia region. "We have made it clear to the Russians that if the disproportionate and dangerous escalation on the Russian side continues, that this will have a significant long-term impact on U.S.-Russian relations," said Jeffrey, speaking to reporters in Beijing, China, on Sunday;

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia
PRESS RELEASE
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http://www.am.gov.lv

Declaration of Presidents of Parliaments of the Baltic States [2008-08-10 19:54:46]

With deep concern and anxiety, we are observing the events in Georgia which at this moment is under intensive attacks by the army of the Russian Federation.
We are calling on the international community to decisively condemn actions of Russia and to promptly take all necessary steps to stop the war and bring the parties to the negotiation table.
Justification of Russia's actions in Georgia by the need to protect its citizens is unacceptable. Alleged reasons for taking up a war against Georgia raise concerns about the future in every state with Russian citizens living on its territory.

We are concerned and disappointed with the actions and behaviour of Russia, as an important actor in the politics of the region and the whole world, which will inevitably have effect on further bilateral and multilateral relations with this country. Russia's military aggression against another sovereign state and actions contradicting the statements of its leaders raise serious doubts about the reliability and consistency of Russia as a partner.

Furthermore, we are convinced that the response of the international community to Russia's aggression against Georgia is at the same time a test for Euro-Atlantic security institutions of their reliability and solidarity. Therefore we are calling on our governments to discuss, in cooperation with NATO and EU partners, measures to prevent similar actions in future. NATO and the EU must assume responsibility for the security and stability of their partners to demonstrate Russia's leadership it cannot do whatever it wants with its neighbours that share the values and principles of the Euro-Atlantic community.

Russia's aggression against Georgia must be stopped, with the help of coordinated actions of the international community, immediately before all Georgian infrastructure and economy is destroyed which would bring about humanitarian catastrophe with long-term consequences in the entire region.

Ene Ergma, President of the Riigikogu of Estonia
Gundars Daudze, President of the Saeima of Latvia
Ceslovas Jursenas, President of the Seimas of Lithuania