From Chinese Press

Russia the invisible presence in Clinton's 5-nation tour

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-06 10:14

BALANCING IN GEORGIA

The last leg of Clinton's voyage, Tbilisi, was the briefest but, likely, the most sweating, because the U.S. visitor had to keep a shaky balance after the U-turn Washington made in its relations with Georgia after Obama took office.

While Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili was believed to be the U.S. Republicans' pet politician, the Obama's team sustained much cooler relations with him, favoring the Russian-American "reset".

Aim of Clinton's trip to Tbilisi was, in fact, to persuade Georgian leaders that Washington had not betrayed its ally and the U.S. was not going to fuel the "reset" at the expense of its ties with Tbilisi.

Even before landing to Tbilisi, Clinton had repeated it several times that Washington would not agree with Moscow's stance on Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"We believe that it is possible to reach a certain cooperation program without freezing relations," she said during her stay in Yerevan.

This is why experts believe when behind the closed doors, Clinton was trying not to alienate Saakashvili while persuading him not to put grit in the bearings of U.S.-Russian relations, in particular, not to block the Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"Officially, Georgia has been categorically against Russia's entry to WTO without Moscow making some concessions to Tbilisi," said director of Georgian diplomatic academy Soso Tsintsadze as quoted by local media.

"It looks like Obama has already agreed everything with Medvedev and Clinton tried to bind Georgians to yield," he said.

Clinton also urged Tbilisi not to use force attempting to resolve the issues with Russia, because this will only lead to "further Russian military presence in the region." In exchange, she promised Georgia "the golden age of prosperity" - the prospect majority of Georgians hardly foresee now.

"I think it will be a mistake to stick to the events of the past," Clinton said. "Georgia must go ahead" and "to build democracy, develop economy while finding common ground with Russia", she told local female politicians.

"This was a meeting on behalf of Russia, not Georgia," political expert Pata Zakereishvili said.