Recent visitors to the Republic of Georgia say they saw roads packed with trucks transporting Iranian oil. When they asked multiple Georgians about the traffic, they were told that the Iranians are transshipping sanctioned oil through the Caucasus and then loading it onto ships in the Black Sea in order to conceal its identity. The Georgian government, for its part, appears perfectly happy to collect transit fees for the oil.
Georgia is an American ally. While it has the misfortune to border Russia, its president Mikheil Saakashvili has worked hard to reorient the country into the West. Georgia has stamped out once rampant corruption. Saakashvili has ordered all road signs to be bilingual, in Georgian and English, a symbolic move in a country where most citizens also speak Russian and one designed to wrest Georgia from the Soviet orbit.
Alas, true to the Obama doctrine of turning a cold shoulder to allies while genuflecting toward adversaries, Obama has had little time for Georgia, even referring to the tiny country as “Russia” in a meeting with Saakashvili. From his days as a senator campaigning for president, Obama has appeared to be embarrassed by if not disdainful of Georgia’s unabashed pro-Americanism.
Perhaps nothing symbolizes the failure of Obama’s foreign policy more than the Georgian smuggling of Iranian crude. Spurned dates will only stand waiting for the knock at the door for so long before they find another dance partner. Hopefully Governor Romney understands what Obama does not: First, friendship is not one way; allies must stand together. Second, the United States needs all the allies it can get in an increasingly hostile world and cannot afford to spurn them. Third, slapping sanctions on Iran and then giving a speech about a tough Iran policy is not enough.
No U.S. ally—let alone any U.S. adversary—believes the White House is serious on Iran. Until Obama demonstrates seriousness of purpose, even the closest U.S. allies will cash in on short-term interests rather than stand firm.
Of course Obama is not serious about Iran. He continues to lie about Iran. He knows that Iran in fact has no nuclear weapons program, yet he imposes additional barbaric sanctions on that country. These are not the actions of a serious man.
Georgia is either going to do business with Russia or Iran. Geographically it is not going to be able to conduct a two front economic war. If you don't want to see Georgia working with Iran, suggest that they normalize relations with Russia.
Georgia is going to do business with BOTH Russia and Iran. It's not an either-or. Bulletin: Russia is not anti-Iran. That would be the position of the US, for the moment.
If Georgia is helping Iran skirt the sanctions the US needs to address this.
Michael, i drove all over Georgia 7 weeks ago, and i did not see any significant oil truck traffic. It would be very difficult to truck any significant volumes this way, as neither country has enough appropriate trucks. We saw trains with oil but that wasnt substantial volumes either. There is also a matter of Azerbaijan being in between that has a very cold relationship with Iran. Saakashvili has allowed Iranians to visit Georgia without visas however, and you are a 100% correct about being a spurned date. Economically Georgia cant survive a Russian boycott when the US doesnt care about them any more. They are in the same club as Poland, Israel and others… Traded for Turkey, Muslim Brotherhood, reset with Russia, etc.
Saakashvili's English road signs are a slap in the face of every Russian-speaking Georgian, which is the vast majority of the country. No wonder Saakashvili lost the election, and by a much wider margin than his government vote-count is fraudulently reporting. n nAs for Michael Rubin's retrogressive appelation for Russia as SOVIET Russia, accurately describing the Pentagon's mindset-in-cement, Georgia is not "in the orbit" of Russia, Georgia IS VERY RUSSIAN. His propaganda is as if describing Alabama "in the orbit" of the Bible Belt, iow misleading the readers to make Georgians look "captured" ratther than enthusiastic about what they are a part of, the geopolitics of their geography and culture.