Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Lithuania’s Support Can Galvanize Georgian Diplomacy



By Giorgi Kvelashvili

On June 1, the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, passed a resolution towards Georgia that can be seen as a precedent for other countries and an opportunity for Tbilisi to reinvigorate its diplomatic efforts. Lithuania has long been one of Georgia’s strongest supporters in NATO, the European Union and other international organizations, but Vilnius’s most recent move heralds a new trend in how the international community is treating Georgia’s outstanding security problems and Moscow’s actions vis-à-vis its smaller neighbor.

Until now the emphasis has been on non-recognition of Abkhazia and “South Ossetia” – Georgia’s two regions that Russia unilaterally declared as independent. But the Lithuanian parliamentarians took it a step further and openly qualified Russia’s past and current actions against Georgia as acts of aggression such as “armed attack and invasion,” “bombardment, occupation and annexation,” “illegal mass conferral of citizenship and establishment of pseudo-state puppet entities in the occupied territory,” and gross and systematic violations of human rights, including ethnic cleansing, other crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

The resolution also stated that Moscow continues to be in gross violation of the August 2008 ceasefire agreement between Russia and Georgia – mediated and signed by French President Nocolas Sarkozy then-rotating president of the European Union – and assessed “continuing presence of the Russian armed forces in the territory of Georgia and the activities of puppet entities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia as the illegal occupation of the respective parts of the territory of Georgia.”

The Lithuanian parliament’s resolution enumerated the “key principles” Russia has to follow to help restore “peace and security in the Russian-Georgian conflict zone. Among them are “withdrawal of the Russian armed forces from the occupied parts of the Georgian territory”... “return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes in secure conditions... and “restoration of Georgia’s jurisdiction over Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”

Tbilisi immediately hailed the resolution, and Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze’s office issued a statement expressing Georgia’s gratitude to Lithuania “for such an active support of Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity and open recognition of the occupation of Georgia.” Vashadze visited Vilnius shortly before the Lithuanian resolution was adopted. Chairman of Georgian Parliament David Bakradze, for his part, called Lithuania’s decision “a significant step” that can be followed by other countries in the future.

Prior to the Lithuanian move, on May 20, the European Parliament adopted a resolution “on the need for an E.U. strategy for the South Caucasus” in which it reiterated “its unconditional support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the internationally recognised borders of Georgia, and call[ed] on Russia to respect them.” Although the European parliamentarians deplored “the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as contrary to the international law”, and called on Russia to honor “its commitment to withdraw its troops to the positions held before the outbreak of the August 2008 war”, they once again stopped short of calling Russia’s illegal presence in Georgian territories an act of occupation.



Lithuania is a member of NATO and the European Union and the resolution of its parliament has the potential to set a precedent for other countries in Europe and beyond, along with advancing Georgia’s interests within those organizations. But given the sensitivities characterizing the West’s relations with Russia, political analysts in Tbilisi believe that before any international organization openly call Russia’s illegal presence on Georgian soil occupation, it might be a better strategy for Tbilisi to encourage as many countries as possible to follow Lithuania’s suit by using bilateral diplomatic channels and public relations tools.

18 comments:

  1. This is a nice post shared here. Great job done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our system of education is also responsible for the problem of unemployment in our country. Vocational subjects are not compulsorily taught in

      Delete
  2. A word of appreciation for you. The art of doing of writing things is excellent. Keep posting articles like this....

    ReplyDelete
  3. You got numerous positive points there. I made a search on the issue and found nearly all peoples will agree with your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I liked the posts and cool layout you have here! I would like to thank you for sharing your experience and the time it took to post!! Two Thumbs up!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your idea really captivates me, I seldom find thoughtful blog post like yours.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about information and love learning more on this.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very well written, I am glad that I found your site. Thanks for the info!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for posting this information on your blog! Great Work.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing websites that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. It?s the old what goes around comes around routine. Did you acquired lots of links and I see lots of trackbacks?? sacramento house cleaning services

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great blog post – I found you on Google. I will be sure to recommend this to my co-workers. Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have been coming to your site for a long time. You have done such a great job with it. Keep up the good work.

    Auto responder setup

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice post. This post is different from what I read on most blog. And it have so many valuable things to learn. Thank you for your sharing!

    ammo cans

    ReplyDelete
  13. It’s excellent without a doubt. It is really nice to see this blog and I found that it’s well-informed.

    obama loan modification california

    ReplyDelete
  14. A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.

    ReplyDelete
  15. In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Really I appreciate the trouble you created to share the data. The subject here I found was very effective to the subject that I used to be researching for a protracted time

    Visit : Accredited High School Diploma

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.