Need 'closer look' at peace deal-Georgia president

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Thursday he would need to "take a closer look" at a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal with Russia before signing it.

Asked in an interview with CNN's "Larry King Live" whether he would sign a six-point French-negotiated proposal that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is bringing to Georgia, Saakashvili said, "We have to see what she has to bring."

Rice, on her way to Georgia, stopped in France for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday. Officials said she will ask Saakashvili on Friday to sign the agreement which contains some apparent concessions to Moscow but would lead to the withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia.

"We are still in the negotiating process. ... Russians are trying to justify their invasion and to legalize their presence in Georgia," Saakashvili said.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14470591.htm

Whenever important world powers need that delivery fast, send your cease fire offer by Condi Courier.

I'd say our soft-power in the world is now a sticky stain on the rug. Thank you, oh, WPOTUS in history.

:banghead:

He's a pretty big bluffer, for a guy who has no pairs, no straight, no flush, and a six as his high card. Especially when everyone knows his hand.

Yet still he tries to bluff.

and supporting troops placing him under arrest for crimes against humanity.

Grozny in Chechnya, in order to make sure that Chechnya did not break away from Russia?

If I were certain Russian politicians, generals and soldiers I would be careful about accompanying Saakashvili to the ICJ in the Hague. You never know whom the ICJ might decide to detain and try for crimes against humanity.

Isn't it generally a pre-requisite that charges have to be filed with the ICJ before detention and trial, or does it only require that someone accused can be detained?

Press Release
Unofficial

No. 2008/24

THE HAGUE, 14 August 2008. Today, the Republic of Georgia submitted a request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, for the indication of provisional measures with regard to the proceedings instituted by Georgia against the Russian Federation on 12 August 2008 (see Press Release 2008/23).

Georgia requests that the Court indicate provisional measures in order to preserve its "rights . . . under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ("CERD") to protect its citizens against violent discriminatory acts by Russian armed forces, acting in concert with separatist militia and foreign mercenaries".

In its request, Georgia reiterates its contention made in the Application that "beginning in the early 1990s and acting in concert with separatist forces and mercenaries in the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Russian Federation has engaged in a systematic policy of ethnic discrimination directed against the ethnic Georgian population and other groups in those regions".

more:http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7HJ3KM?OpenDocument

No, Mr. President, I believe the Russians have closed that window of opportunity.

TBILISI, Georgia - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that a proposed cease-fire she wants Georgia to sign with Russia protects Georgia's interests despite concessions to Moscow.


On her way to Tbilisi with the document, Rice said the immediate goal is to get Russian combat forces out of Georgia and more difficult questions about the status of the country's separatist regions and Russia's presence there can be addressed later.

"The United States would never ask Georgia to sign onto something where its interests were not protected," she told reporters aboard her plane as she flew to the Georgian capital from France where she met French President Nicolas Sarkozy who brokered the cease-fire.

"This is not an agreement about the future of Abkhazia and the future of South Ossetia," Rice said, referring to the two flashpoint areas. "This is about getting Russian troops out."

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080815/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_russia_georgia