Georgia

Last week, Eli Lake reported on a very specific allegation by a senior Georgian official that the Russian GRU was behind a series of bombings in that country, including the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi. The charge was so detailed that it even included the name of the Russian officer who had coordinated the attack, and his last known whereabouts in the Russian occupied Georgian province of Abkhazia.

Eli Lake has a pretty big scoop today on Russian espionage in Georgia: A bomb targeting the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi has been linked, by Georgian intelligence, to a series of bombings around the country over the last 12 months that all lead back to Russia's GRU.

Bob Kagan remembers Ron Asmus, a freedom fighter, at the Washington Post:

"Georgia faces a stark choice between two mutually exclusive futures." That's how the Center for American Progress (CAP) kicked off a 70-plus page report on the divided former Soviet Union.

Eli Lake reports in today's Washington Times: 

Russia waged a covert war against Georgia that included missile attacks, arms shipments to anti-government rebels and car bombings since 2004, a newly disclosed U.S. Embassy cable says.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Georgia Republicans head to the polls today to vote for their party's nominee for the governorship. Former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel, one of Sarah Palin's "Mama Grizzlies," currently leads her primary opponent, former congressman Nathan Deal, 47 percent to 42 percent, according to Politics Daily.

Tomorrow's GOP primary in Georgia could produce another victory for Republican kingmaker (or queenmaker) Sarah Palin.

Tomorrow's GOP primary in Georgia could produce another victory for Republican kingmaker (or queenmaker) Sarah Palin.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is fresh off a goodwill tour to the Republic of Georgia, part of a larger effort to reassure a nervous eastern Europe that the administration's "reset" policy toward Russia won't come at the expense of Russia's democratic neighbors. 

During a July 5 joint press availability with Georgian president Saakashvili in Tbilisi, Secretary Clinton hit all the right notes: 

As if President Obama's foreign policy hasn't come under enough fire for its warm embrace of the world's misfits and shabby treatment of allies, Jackson Diehl reports:  

Forty-seven world leaders are Barack Obama’s guests in Washington Tuesday at the nuclear security summit. Obama is holding bilateral meetings with just 12 of them. That’s led to some awkward exclusions -- and some unfortunate appearances, as well.

Russian president Dmitri Medvedev's state visit to France on March 1-3 was built up to be an historic event. It was supposed to be a moment for Nicolas Sarkozy to cement his position as the man who has good relations both with Moscow and Washington. Which, in turn, would position himself in a place to persuade Moscow to agree to tougher sanctions against Iran.