Originally posted by sciwriter:
[qb] Ryan, Georgia is strategically located near Turkey, Azerbaijan & Chechenya. USA with Georgia's help will stop Saudi Arabian & Iran's attempts to dominate Muslim Central Asia. These attempts are indendec to weaken Russia's grip on Caspian oil and USA's grip on Mideast oil. Saudi monarchy finances Chechen terrorism including Arab mercenaries. USA military couldn't be in Georgia without Russia's OK. Carl [/qb]
Noooooo.....
Despite Georgia's important location next to Chechnya, this only seems to be making things worse. Chechen terrorists have been able to use areas in Georgia to hide for YEARS, because Georgia has been unable to effectively police these areas, such as Pankisi Gorge. Russia knew this for years, but only very recently did Shevarnadze actually admit it. But he refuses to let the Russian, or even Georgian-stationed American militaries to deal with the situation.
Central Asia isn't exactly an area of vital interest to Georgia right now. Russia generally maintains a large presence there, militarily in Tadjikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and economically and culturally everywhere else, except perhaps the dictatorship Turkmenistan. The U.S. would like to get in there more, but Russia is resisting. Even the countries themselves are very reluctant to accept even more Americans. The local population I know for a fact is sick of the Americans already and want them to go home.
As for your last statement, that's just wrong completely. Russia is very much against the American military being in Georgia. However, there's nothing Russia can do. It could become a very dangerous situation on many different levels if the U.S. tried to pry the Americans out of Georgia.
