NEWS: Georgia News Digest 04-03-08

A service of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies

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Archives and associated files at groups.google.com/group/genewsfiles (from February 2008) and groups.google.com/group/genews (before February 2008)

non-NATO news begins with item #80

1. NATO snubs Ukraine, Georgia in blow to Bush [excerpt]
2. NATO summit: George Bush abandoned over Ukraine and Georgia
3. Alliance invites in Croatia, Albania: Bush is rebuffed in bid for support of ex-Soviet states
4. NATO allies oppose Bush on Georgia and Ukraine
5. NATO allies turn down Bush request
6. NATO still divided over Georgia, Ukraine: Spain
7. 26-nation alliance urged to put Ukraine, Georgia on membership track
8. video: NATO rejects Ukraine and Georgia
9. Georgia, Ukraine's NATO hopes wilt with allies poles apart
10. video: Ukraine & Georgia: no way into NATO
11. The President of Georgia made a statement before his departure to Bucharest
12. Georgian president, RFE chief discuss NATO enlargement, media freedom
13. Georgia to continue its policy towards integration into NATO
14. Bakradze warns NATO against giving Russia "indirect right of veto"
15. Russia's threats aimed at making Georgia renounce NATO bid
16. Georgian envoy urges German support for NATO membership
17. Nino Nakashidze: Lavrov’s statement is incomprehensible reaction
18. Georgian Foreign Minister denounces Russian 'blackmail' on NATO bid
19. Press briefing by Bush, Ukraine President Yushchenko in Kyiv [excerpt]
20. Matthew Bryza: Russia can’t hamper Georgia’s membership in NATO
21. Press gaggle by Dana Perino
22. Senator Clinton Statement on NATO Summit In Bucharest [excerpt]
23. Congressional resolution: Georgia and Ukraine NATO membership
24. Senate resolution: NATO Summit [excerpt]
25. David Cameron: Crossroads for NATO
26. Scheffer: NATO door remains open for Georgia, Ukraine
27. NATO chief discusses enlargement, relations with Russia [excerpt]
28. Merkel: No MAP for Georgia for Now
29. Nato summit: George Bush backs Ukraine and Georgia for Nato
30. Bush, in Kiev, will back NATO expansion
31. Expert calls Bush's support for Ukraine, Georgia a political maneuver
32. Bush-Putin row grows as pact pushes east: US backs membership for Georgia and Ukraine
33. video: Bush hints at defence co-operation with Russia - at last
34. The president's last voyage
35. NATO: Still a sore point with Putin
36. Putin has "restrained speech" to explain his vision of RF-NATO ties
37. Russian Foreign Minister interviewed on international issues [excerpt]
38. Russian Communist MPs criticize foreign policy
39. Senior Russian MP calls for tough policy on NATO
40. Poll shows Russians see NATO membership for Ukraine, Georgia as threat
41. Lavrov: Russia respects principle of territorial integrity
42. Russia refutes Saakashvili ‘inaccurate’ remarks
43. Russian Foreign Ministry comments on Georgian president's interview
44. National and strategic interests dominate regional security debate [excerpt]
45. Secretary General takes action to defuse MAP flap
46. NATO opens a crisis summit in Bucharest
47. NATO diary: A chaotic start in Bucharest [excerpt]
48. NATO: What is a Membership Action Plan?
49. In rough neighborhood, hopefuls feel lure of 'soft power'
50. Azeri leader meets Georgian counterpart, Karabakh mediators in Bucharest
51. video: NATO’s Eastern extension: what is at stake? NATO’s Eastern extension: what is at stake?
52. We must not shut the door in Kiev’s and Tbilisi’s faces, but the process must be conducted with gradualness'
53. MAP is of little use to Macedonia [excerpt]
54. European allies should reject invective against McCain
55. The wrong MAP for Ukraine and Georgia
56. NATO marches eastward
57. Putin has a point: The Russian president opposes Bush's push to expand NATO eastward, and he's right.
58. The price Russia must pay for being hysterical
59. Russia should beware NATO contacts with CIS countries
60. video: Dmitry Peskov
61. video: Michael McFaul
62. Ever eastward?
63. The Bucharest Summit: Time to revitalize the NATO alliance [excerpt] Sally McNamara
64. Path to NATO expansion isn't that clear
65. The British Empire is up to its old evil tricks [excerpt]
66. Secret memos
67. Extraneous considerations block Georgian and Ukrainian maps at the NATO summit
68. In search of a mission
69. NATO's pointless expansion [excerpt]
70. No wonder Russia is paranoid: The West finds it hard to understand, but Nato's expansion is provocative
71. NATO, the CIS and Russia after Bucharest
72. North Atlantic blockade: They won't let Putin turn Bucharest into another Munich [excerpt]
73. Bush’s support for Georgia, Ukraine is no pose
74. Russia government to consider recognizing Georgia breakaway regions
75. NATO urged to consider Abkhazia opinion re Georgia NATO membership
76. Abkhaz separatist leader warns NATO against Georgia's accession
77. Russia denies promising Georgia's president not to recognize 2 separatist regions
78. Resolution of Georgia's conflicts through NATO "inadmissible" - Russian minister
79. Bagapsh warns against Georgia’s NATO membership


80. Georgian-Russian reconciliation proves short-lived
81. Moscow says Russia "ready to normalize relations with Georgia"
82. Russia offers Georgia to return products to Russian market in exchange for withdrawal from Upper Abkhazia
83. Russia, Georgia to reopen border checkpoint by late 2008
84. Tbilisi offers Sukhumi to create joint FEZ
85. Ministry to offer "considerations" re Duma statement on Abkhazia
86. Tbilisi should stop intimidating Abkhazia
87. Georgia accuses Russian peacekeepers of disseminating "biased" reports
88. Fiscal 2009 defense authorization: Nonproliferation programs [excerpt]
89. Imedi makes noisy comeback - Ownership dispute goes to court
90. Imedi TV resumption delayed
91. Imedi's return to air has been postponed for few more days
92. Financial problems delay Imedi resumption
93. News Corp. stung by post-Soviet politics
94. video: Rebel TV channel back on air
95. Patarkatsishvili family in row over assets
96. Patarkatsishvili’s family flatly refuses to recognize Joseph Kay’s power of attorney
97. President forms task force to tackle election concerns
98. Saakashvili forms special group to hold election "fairly, transparently"
99. New Rights undecided on election tactic
100. Political Party Imedi boycotts parliamentary elections
101. Labor Party releases black list of ruling party candidates
102. Countrywide Labor campaign could spell trouble for opposition
103. Nani Bregvadze to appear on the National Movement electoral list?
104. Georgia starts Eurobonds road-show
105. New player joins competition for wine market
106. Lithuania’s national airlines comes to Georgia
107. Willbrook Platinium Tbilisi Plaza to replace Tbilisi department store
108. Renewed internet-investment guidebook leads to acquaintance with
109. Greek Independence Day celebrated in Georgia
110. US Assistant Secretary of State to visit Radio Hereti
111. Pfaff-Silberblau provides "à la carte" acoustics in the "Tbilisi Center for Music and Culture" in Georgia' capital city
112. Lagodekhi residents threaten the administration with protests
113. Koba Subeliani met IDPs living in Lilo
114. Georgian language faces huge danger
115. United Telecom considers encroachment on communications infrastructure
116. Fugitive MP sends open letter to Public Defender

Jonathan Kulick, Ph.D., Director of Studies, Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, 3a Chitadze, Tbilisi 0108, Georgia (Republic), jonathan.kulick@gfsis.org, office: +995 32 47 35 55, mobile: +995 95 33 33 40, USA voicemail: 310.928.6814