Georgian Rambos battle their way to NATO?

Tbilisi is negotiating with NATO on presence of Georgia's military contingent in Afghanistan. It was stated by Vladimir Chachibaia, the Chief of Georgia's Army United General Staff on February 18.

"We are ready to take part in the NATO operation in Afghanistan anytime; - Chachibaia is quoted by Armenia Today. - The details of negotiations will be cleared up in the coming days".

According to Interfax the coming NATO-Georgia Commission meeting is expected to clear up things. For now according to Barrack Obama's order Kabul and Kandagar are meeting 17,000 extra US troops.

Why are Georgians so willing to accompany the Americans? Naturally they want to join NATO as soon as possible. There is Georgia's Defense Minister David Sikharulidze's report "The Defense Minister's Vision - 2009" in witness thereof. According to ITAR-TASS the document states that the armed forces' main task is implementation of requirements elaborated in compliance with the current and new formats of Georgia-NATO partnership plus enhancement of bilateral cooperation with specific NATO member states and participation of Georgian servicemen in international and antiterrorist missions.

This is how Tbilisi is stating: this year our army will conform to the standards of the alliance. Here Georgia will be supported by "specific NATO member states". As reported by General Carter Ham, U.S. Army Europe Commander:

"At the time of implementation of the former program - he is quoted by Rosbalt, - Georgian servicemen were trained to act as part of expeditions. But they were not trained to protect their own territories". According to Ham now European command is considering the form of assistance to Georgia.

What protection is meant here? Protection against whom, to be more precise? There is just one reply to both questions: NATO is seriously alarmed by Moscow's plans to deploy military bases in South Caucasus calling it "a serious violation of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Now it makes no sense to dwell upon recognition or non-recognition of Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's independence by the world. The core of the matter is this: fulfilling the NATO partnership program Georgia repeatedly makes a visible drift towards militarization forgetting that for accession to the alliance it is essential to "carry out democratic and economic reforms" according to the stipulated requirements first.

Saakashvili won't go far on participation in antiterrorist operations and NATO exercises (that Georgia will host in May by the way). And the lusted Membership Action Plan might remain his unfulfilled dream.

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