Georgia to enter NATO?

Region:

TBILISI: Georgia is still welcome to join NATO, the alliance secretary general’s special representative to the Caucasus said on Thursday.

“Georgia remains one of the most desirable candidates for the alliance,” Robert Simmons said.

He arrived in Tbilisi to see how Georgia is meeting its obligations and to “study the situation on the ground.”

He is to meet Georgian state and government officials, opposition leaders and NGOs.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday that the findings of an international commission investigating the causes of the war with Russia over South Ossetia would not affect the prospects of Georgia joining NATO.

The report, compiled by the Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini along with 30 European military, legal and history specialists, blamed Tbilisi for starting the conflict, but says that subsequent Russian actions “went far beyond the reasonable limits of defense” and also were “in violation of international law.”

Georgia, alongside another former Soviet republic, Ukraine, has long sought NATO membership, but the alliance refused at its April summit to let Georgia and Ukraine into Membership Action Plan (MAP), a key step for membership in the 26-nation bloc.


Articles by: Global Research

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]