During the same period a three week "Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield course [was] taught by three U.S. Marine instructors from Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center (NMITC)," which "was designed to help Georgian soldiers hone their intelligence gathering skills" as part of the NATO ISAF mission [27]
U.S Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow arrived in Georgia on October 19 for three days of talks with the country's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and the nation's defense and foreign ministers. At the time it was announced that "The formal purpose of Vershbow's visit, according to Georgia's foreign ministry, is 'to hold a working meeting within the framework of the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership.' [28]
Vershbow, former ambassador to NATO and to Russia, who in the second capacity was noted for his confrontational and abrasive manner, stated "Georgia's forward movement towards the NATO is very important for us and we are ready to develop a special program to achieve this goal." [29]
During the visit Georgian Foreign Minister Alexander Nalbandov was asked about U.S. plans to expand its missile shield system and responded, "If the USA applies to us with this request, we will discuss this issue." [30] It's hard to believe that Vershbow didn't at least broach the subject as on October 19 he said that the U.S. was considering including Ukraine in its missile shield grid.
While in Georgia he did pledge that Washington is committed to the "reform of the defense sphere [of Georgia] to bring it closer to NATO standards that will assist [Georgia's] NATO membership" [31] and added "We do have concerns about the lack of full compliance by Russia with some elements of the August 2008 cease-fire agreement." [32]
A Russian member of parliament responded to Vershbow's promise to modernize the Georgian army by saying "Georgia does not need defence at all, because they do not have to be defended from anyone. Nobody is going to attack Georgia and any preparation of a military character will be considered as campaign for attacks on Abkhazia and South Ossetia...." [33]
The upgrading of Georgia's armed forces, its command structure and its battlefield techniques is already underway. The pretext under which this American and NATO transformation is being conducted is to prepare a comparatively small contingent of troops for the war in Afghanistan, but the objective of the program is much larger.
A STRATFOR report of October 9 included the observations that "In Georgia, Vershbow will be overseeing coordination of an expansion of U.S. training to the country's troops. And unlike in the past, when such training was small-scale and mostly defensive in nature and mainly meant to train troops headed to Afghanistan and Iraq, this renewed focus will be greater in scope of personnel and resources and will likely include offensive training as well. In Ukraine, apart from the decision already announced of BMD [Ballistic Missile Defense] expansion into the country, it is rumored that the United States could encourage the resumption of weapons transfers into Georgia, a very sensitive issue given accusations by Moscow of such transfers during the August 2008 Russo-Georgian war."
Ahead of the NATO defense ministers meeting last week Vershbow "insisted there was no contradiction between developing expeditionary forces and the continued engagement to defend NATO borders in Europe" and asserted that "At the end of the day we will provide protection for all of NATO Europe." [34]
Far from NATO's war in Afghanistan, its first land war and its first war in Asia, detracting from the agenda of surrounding Russia with troops, bases, military hardware and missiles, the two campaigns are inextricably connected.
1) The Times (London), October 9, 2009
2) Afghan War: NATO Builds History's First Global Army
Stop NATO, August 9, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/afghan-war-nato-builds-historys-first-global-army
3) Civil Georgia, August 21, 2009
4) Xinhua News Agency, October 27, 2009
5) Xinhua News Agency, October 22, 2009
6) Washington Times, October 22, 2009
7) Boston Globe, October 22, 2009
8) Bloomberg News, October 19, 2009
9) Baltic Course, October 26, 2009
10) Ibid
11) Deutsche Presse-Agentur, October 24, 2009
13) Scandinavia And The Baltic Sea: NATO's War Plans For The High North
Stop NATO, June 14, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/scandinavia-and-the-baltic-sea-natos-war-plans-for-the-high-north
12) Baltic Business News, October 27, 2009
14) Russian Information Agency Novosti, October 25, 2009
15) Xinhua News Agency, October 26, 2009
16) Polish Radio, October 23, 2009
17) Azeri Press Agency, October 26, 2009
18) PanArmenian.net, October 25, 2009
19) PanArmenian.net, October 21, 2009
20) NATO War Games In Georgia: Threat Of New Caucasus War
Stop NATO, May 8, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/nato-war-games-in-georgia-threat-of-new-caucasus-war
21) Civil Georgia, October 24, 2009
22) The Messenger, October 26, 2009
23) Rustavi2, October 22, 2009
24) The Messenger, October 19, 2009
25) Politicizing Ethnicity: U.S. Plan To Repeat Yugoslav Scenario In
Caucasus Could Cause World War
Stop NATO, August 14, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/politicizing-ethnicity-u-s-plan-to-repeat-yugoslav-scenario-in-caucasus-could
26) Civil Georgia, October 22, 2009
27) United States European Command, October 21, 2009
28) Jamestown Foundation, October 20, 2009
29) Trend News Agency, October 20, 2009
30) Trend News Agency, October 19, 2009
31) The Messenger, October 21, 2009
32) Associated Press, October 20, 2009
33) Rustavi2, October 21, 2009
34) Xinhua News Agency, October 22, 2009
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