Another US-Russian Confrontation Brewing?


Reuters carries a story of trouble brewing in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia's newly elected (and US sponsored) leader, is preparing to forcibly enter the Black Sea region of Adzhara, which ships around 200,000 barrels of oil per day from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan via Azerbaijan. After two failed attempts, Saakashvili has put the Georgian military on alert and threatened an economic blockade of the province. Russia, Georgia's giant northern neighbor and patron of Adzhara's leaders, has warned him not to use force.

"It's all about an attempt at armed mutiny against Georgia," ...Georgia is under real threat of disintegration and collapse," says Saakashvili.

Adzharan leader Aslan Abashidze urged Russia "to stop the invasion forces which will bring new bloodshed and refugees."

Many analysts believe the USA's real reasons for invading Afghanistan and Iraq were to secure an oil route to the sea. The Bush administration has strongly supported the new Georgian leader and a showdown with newly re-elected Russian leader Vladimir Putin is beginning to look unavoidable.