Russia Sets Stage For Cold War By Recognizing Breakaway Regions
By Matthew B. Zeidman
MOSCOW (RUSHPRNEWS) 8/28/08 – In Russia’s starkest anti-Western statement in its 17 years as a democratic nation, President Dmitry Medvedev recognized the sovereignty of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia Tuesday and declared his country undaunted by the possible return of the Cold War’s infamous Iron Curtain.
“Abkhazia and South Ossetia are a part of the internationally recognized borders of Georgia, and it’s going to remain so,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced in response to Medvedev’s statement, which included the Russian leader’s boast, “We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a cold war,” as well as the promise that Russia would shore up its military in response to U.S. missile defense systems recently installed in Europe.
Russia drew widespread international condemnation on Aug. 8, following the invasion of its former Soviet satellite in response to Georgia’s military action against South Ossetian rebels. After weeks of fighting and partial occupation, Russia finally agreed to largely remove its military presence from non-contested Georgian soil on Aug. 23, moving the bulk of its forces back into Abkhazia and South Ossetia over the several days that followed.
NEWS SOURCE Hollywood Today