Does the US-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership Challenge Russia?
18 Jan 2009, 7:44 pm The Charter on Strategic Partnership between Georgia and the United States, signed during the last days of the Bush Administration, has aroused various reactions, from enthusiastic to cautious optimism in the Georgian political establishment. In the situation, when Russia and Georgia actually found themselves in the “Cold War” conflict, there is no political force in Georgia, which doubts the political significance of the document. Only Georgia’s Labor Party, keeping a bit aloof from the others, has stated that the Charter is the first step to the U.S. military presence in Georgia, the issue which is allegedly being negotiated behind-the-scenes. But the Georgian authorities zealously deny that kind of supposition. Indeed, such kind of document could not include the direct indication for the deployment of the U.S. military bases in Georgia. However, the part of the Charter, which covers the issues of military cooperation between Georgia and U.S.A., contains the item
