Russia-Georgia is likely to be one of the main foreign policy issues “debated” at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. Dick Cheney is in Baku this evening and here is a statement from George Bush announcing a package of aid measures. It includes the assertion —
The people of Georgia withstood the assault from the Russian military
“Withstood”? Of course people were resilient. But does anyone doubt for a moment that if the Russians really wanted to take Tblisi, they could have? Anyway, in addition to a $1 billion package from the US which Congress will have to approve (and Barack Obama’s running mate Joe Biden will no doubt champion), Georgia is also expected to get a $750 million loan facility from the IMF, which if exercised would fairly quickly make it one of the Fund’s biggest borrowers.  One more thing about Cheney’s visit to Baku: President Aliyev never mentioned Georgia in the statements to the press. No doubt these things get more complicated the closer you are to them.
Quote:
” Georgia is also expected to get a $750 million loan facility from the IMF, which if exercised would fairly quickly make it one of the Fund’s biggest borrowers.”
It’s obvious that the botched Georgian invasion of Ossetia was war gamed and accounted for. The financial fall-out will be considerable.
Despite the fact that Saakashvili likes to put NATO and EU flags on any rostrum from which he speaks, he isn’t a bona fide member of either. So it’s obvious he had assurances that he would bailed out from any backlash.
Another typical story from Reuters about the impact on Georgia’s fledgling tourist industry:
http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSL311947020080903
As we know from Yeltsin’s Russia, IMF money never gets past a corrupt Government to ordinary people. It will be probably be diverted on arrival, if not before.
The twelve-star flag is also the flag of the Council of Europe, of which Georgia is a member. Haven’t ever seen a NATO flag with Saakashvili; cited examples would be helpful.
Cheney is in Azerbaijan to get him away from the Republican convention. They wanted to send him further, but the space station was already full.
There is some good betting that — like the late ’90s Balkans — the south Caucasus is on the verge of seeing an awful lot of aid money.
“They wanted to send him further, but the space station was already full”
very funny 🙂
“Georgia is also expected to get a $750 million loan facility from the IMF, which if exercised would fairly quickly make it one of the Fund’s biggest borrowers”
These days $750 million can make a country one of the IMFs biggest borrowers? This clearly doesn’t resemble the late nineties or early naughties anymore. Yet another illustration of the Fund’s diminished role in the world today.