[R-G] White House Unveils $1 Billion Georgia Aid Plan

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/world/europe/04cheney.html>
September 4, 2008
White House Unveils $1 Billion Georgia Aid Plan
By STEVEN LEE MYERS

BAKU, Azerbaijan — President Bush proposed $1 billion in humanitarian
and economic assistance on Wednesday to help rebuild Georgia after its
short, disastrous war with Russia last month, but he stopped short of
committing the United States to re-equipping its battered military.

Mr. Bush announced the infusion of aid as Vice President Dick Cheney
arrived here in what he described as a demonstration that the United
States had "a deep and abiding interest" in keeping Georgia and other
neighboring states free from a new era of Russian domination.

The aid — along with Mr. Cheney's high-profile visit to a region the
Russians call "the near abroad" — is sure to inflame tensions further.
Russia's leaders have openly accused the United States of having
provoked the conflict by providing Georgia weapons and training for
its armed forces, while encouraging its aspirations to join the NATO
alliance.

The new package of aid, which requires additional approval from
Congress, significantly expands assistance to a country that has
become ardently pro-American in recent years, though at the cost of
the worst relations between the United States and Russia since the end
of the cold war.

The aid would dwarf the $63 million the United States provided to
Georgia last year, roughly a third of it for training its soldiers,
police officers and border guards. Excluding Iraq, the infusion would
make Georgia one of the largest recipients of American foreign aid
after Israel and Egypt. The United States has provided about $1.8
billion over all in the 17 years since Georgia gained independence
from the collapsing Soviet Union.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, appearing in Washington, said
that $570 million of the aid would be made available this year, while
the rest would depend on approval by a new administration and a new
Congress. It does not include any military aid, she and other
administration officials said.

The initial money, Mr. Bush said in a statement, would be used to feed
and shelter tens of thousands of Georgians displaced during the
fighting that began on the night of Aug. 7 when Georgia tried to
establish control over a breakaway region, South Ossetia, only to be
driven back by Russian forces. Mr. Bush also pledged to support its
transition to a democratic market economy.

"Georgia has a strong economic foundation and leaders with an
impressive record of reform," Mr. Bush said in his statement. "Our
additional economic assistance will help the people of Georgia recover
from the assault on their country and continue to build a prosperous
and competitive economy."

President Dmitri A. Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin have
already complained that humanitarian supplies delivered by the
American Navy and Air Force were a disguise for delivering new
weapons, accusations that administration officials have dismissed as
baseless.

The American military has so far delivered $30 million in emergency
aid, including 1,200 tons of food and relief supplies like tents,
delivered by 61 Air Force jets and two Navy ships plying the Black
Sea. Mr. Bush also ordered federal agencies to expand trading
opportunities between the United States and Georgia and to provide
maritime insurance for ships docking in Georgia.

"The free world cannot allow the destiny of a small independent
country to be determined by the aggression of a larger neighbor," Ms.
Rice said in Washington.

She also took the occasion to deride the Russian recognition of South
Ossetia and the other breakaway Georgia region, Abkhazia, noting that
few countries had followed the Russian example. "It isn't really an
impressive list to have Abkhazia and South Ossetia recognize each
other," she said.

The new announcement followed a pledge by the European Union this week
to contribute funds to Georgia's reconstruction, and an agreement by
the International Monetary Fund to provide Georgia with $750 million
in financing.

All of those steps have demonstrated broad international support for
Georgia's government and its president, Mikheil Saakashvili, whom Mr.
Medvedev called "a political corpse" this week. Still, there seemed to
be little pressure the United States and European countries could
exert to persuade Russia to back down in its confrontation with Mr.
Saakashvili's government. Many administration officials worry that
overthrowing Mr. Saakashvili's government is Russia's unwavering
intention.

While the administration has made its political, diplomatic and
economic support for Georgia abundantly clear, however, it has yet to
settle on what steps, if any, it will take to punish Russia. It has
failed to do so even as American and European officials vehemently
protest that Russia continues to violate a French-brokered agreement
to end the fighting and withdraw Russian troops from Georgian
territory.

The administration is expected to announce soon that it will withdraw
its support for an agreement with Russia on civil nuclear cooperation,
a linchpin of Mr. Bush's nonproliferation policies, officials said,
though one cautioned that a final decision had not been made.

That agreement already faced skepticism in Congress, though it would
still be a significant step to scuttle an international agreement that
Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin hailed as an important achievement. Georgia has
also pressed the administration to move quickly to rebuild its armed
forces. While officials have acknowledged considering that, they have
also indicated that they have reservations about adding fuel to a
conflict that is far from resolved.

An expanded package of humanitarian and economic assistance is not
likely to face significant opposition in Congress. Senator Joseph R.
Biden Jr., the chairman of the Foreign Relations committee and now the
Democratic vice presidential candidate, has already expressed support
for a sizable aid package.

Mr. Cheney directly challenged Russia's dismissal of Georgia's elected
leader here in Azerbaijan on Wednesday, the first of three stops to
bolster the resolve of countries in the face of a newly assertive and
much larger neighbor. Mr. Cheney is the highest-ranking American to
visit Azerbaijan since its independence in 1991. He is scheduled to
visit Georgia on Thursday, followed by Ukraine.

"We met this evening in the shadow of the recent Russian invasion of
Georgia, an act that has been clearly condemned by the international
community," Mr. Cheney told Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, in a
meeting at the presidential residence in Zagulba Baglari on the
Caspian coast.

"President Bush has sent me here with a clear and simple message to
the people of Azerbaijan and the entire region: The United States has
deep and abiding interests in your well-being and security."

Azerbaijan, like Georgia, is a former Soviet republic that has sought
closer ties to the West and the United States, and it is a vital
crossroads for oil and gas from the Caspian Sea and beyond that from
Central Asia.

Underscoring the point, Mr. Cheney's first meetings here in Baku were
with representatives of two international oil companies: William
Schrader of BP Azerbaijan and Robert Dastmalchi of Chevron, according
to a spokeswoman, Megan M. Mitchell. Those meetings came a day after
Mr. Putin announced plans for a new natural gas pipeline from Central
Asia to Russia, a route that would increase Russia's role in providing
natural gas to Europe. Mr. Cheney, who in 2006 accused Russia of using
its natural resources as "tools of intimidation or blackmail,"
expressed the administration's strong support for seeking alternate
routes for oil and natural gas from Central Asia and the Caspian.

"The United States strongly believes that, together with the nations
of Europe, including Turkey, we must work with Azerbaijan and other
countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia on additional routes for
energy exports that ensure the free flow of resources," he said.
"Energy security is essential to us all, and the matter is becoming
increasingly urgent."

Peter Baker contributed reporting from St. Paul, and Helene Cooper
from Washington.