Russia Tells USA To Choose Sides

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday says the United States should choose sides.

Russia to U.S.: Choose us or Georgia
cnn
Russia pressed the United States on Wednesday to choose between “a real partnership” with Moscow or an “illusory” relationship with U.S. ally Georgia.
Washington said it’s sticking with Georgia.

“As to choosing, the United States has made very clear that it is standing by the democratically elected government of Georgia,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.

She spelled out the Bush administration’s stance after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Georgia’s government “a special project for the United States.”

“And we are aware that the U.S. is uptight about this project,” Lavrov said in remarks broadcast on Russian television. “But a choice will have to be made someday between considerations of prestige related to an illusory project and a real partnership in matters which indeed require collective efforts.”
Rice, amid reports that Russian troops remained on the move Wednesday, pushed Russia to abide by a cease-fire signed Tuesday by the Russian and Georgian presidents.

Russian military action in Georgia “must stop and must stop now,” Rice said.

Rice said Moscow already faced “quite significant” diplomatic consequences over its conflict with Georgia before Tuesday’s cease-fire agreement, which calls for Russian and Georgian troops to return to pre-conflict positions.
Bush said reports he had received were contrary to Russian assurances that it had halted military operations. Bush said he was told the Russian military had blocked Georgia’s major east-west highway, and had soldiers at the main port at Poti. There were reports that some ships had been attacked, he said.
Russia has likely moved additional troops into the disputed Georgian provinces and into Georgia proper over the past several days, several administration officials told CNN on Wednesday.
The officials said the United States now believes Russia may have 15,000 or more troops in the region. That would be an increase from the 8,000-10,000 the U.S. government estimated when the fighting began. A Bush administration official stressed that the scope of Russia’s military effort remains unclear.
Any violations of the cease-fire would call into question Russia’s “suitability” as an international partner, Rice told reporters before leaving on a diplomatic trip to Europe.
Bush administration officials told CNN the United States and its European allies were considering kicking Russia out of the G-8, the group of the world’s largest industrial economies, and other international organizations as punishment for its actions in Georgia.
Rice discounted concerns that Moscow would no longer assist Washington on thorny diplomatic issues such as efforts to halt nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, saying it had its own interests at stake.

“Let’s be very clear whose interests are being served by the partnership that Russia and the United States have engaged in on Iran or North Korea,” she said. “Again, it’s not a favor to the United States.”

Russia’s move into Georgia came amid a struggle between the United States and Russia for influence within Eastern Europe. From Russia’s point of view, American support for Georgia is a direct threat to its influence.
By striking heavily in Georgia, Moscow is sending a signal to other former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine and Moldova, said Sarah Mendelson, the director of the Human Rights and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“If I were a neighbor of Russia and I saw what Russia had done in Georgia, I would be very nervous,” Mendelson said. “I think those countries that are leaning toward the West are very nervous today.”

Wild Thing’s comment……….
Hmmmmm Russia to U.S.: Choose us or Georgia…..ok …….answer is Georgia.
Next question please.
The choice is not Russia or Georgia, but Tyranny or Liberty. So they are giving us a choice; to live on our knees as a slave or fight like free men and women. Well, for at least the next 4 1/2 months I know what the answer will be.
For us democracy is a universal project. That’s exactly why it frightens the rulers in the Kremlin.