The Treasury versus Raimondo

The U.S. Treasury Department's statement on the economy of Georgia:

Statement by Deputy Secretary Robert M. Kimmitt
on Support for Georgia’s Economy

Washington– Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert M. Kimmitt today issued a statement welcoming the statements of support for Georgia's economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as well as their signals of continued engagement with the Government and their clients and banks in the private sector:
"The U.S. Treasury Department welcomes the statements of support for Georgia's economy made earlier today by the IMF, World Bank, and EBRD."

"Given its sound macroeconomic and fiscal policies and excellent progress in transition to a market economy, Georgia is well placed to weather the current crisis. Georgia's economy has been one of the strongest in the region owing to its proven record of reforms, and this reform effort deserves continued international support. The United States has strongly supported Georgia's reform and economic development programs and is prepared to join other countries to support the International Financial Institutions' future engagement to promote a vibrant economy that builds on the existing foundations," said Kimmitt.

Raimondo on Georgia:

What's particularly disgusting is the spectacle of the fraudulent Saakashvili's smug mug all over Western television – the BBC and Bloomberg, for starters – invoking his great love of "democracy" and "freedom" and calling on the U.S. to intervene in the name of supposedly shared "values." What drivel! Up until very recently, Saakashvili has been busy rounding up his political opponents and charging them with espionage, as his police beat demonstrators in the streets. When this happened, even our somnolent media sat up and took notice, but they seem to have forgotten...

The Georgian strongman is a thug and an opportunist who does an excellent imitation of George W. Bush-times-10: whereas GWB merely implies his political opponents are traitors to the nation, Saakashvili comes right out and says it – then drags them into court on trumped up charges of high treason. GWB has presided over a regime that has legalized torture, but only for foreign "terrorists" (José Padilla excepted). Saakashvili, on the other hand, throws his domestic political opponents – whom he labels "terrorists" – in jail and tortures his own countrymen. Georgia's notorious prisons are chock full of political dissidents. GWB justifies his aggression by invoking "democracy" and the doctrine of "preemption," while Saakashvili doesn't bother with such theoretical niceties, denying his aggression against South Ossetia in defiance of the plain facts

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My guess is that this is an oil pipelne play, the United States versus Russia, with the U.S. using Georgia as its proxy.

Putin Blasts The Unted States; Cheney Calls Saakashvili

Vladimir Putin, now Russia's prime minister lashed out at the US for airlfiting Georgia troops from Iraq. ”It’s a shame that some of our partners are not helping us, and are trying to interfere,” he said. ”I am talking about US military planes airlifting the Georgian military contingent from Iraq practically into the conflict zone.”

”I am suprised by the extent of this cynicism, the ability to pass off white as black and black as white. The ability to present the aggressor as a victim of aggression and to lay the responsibility for the consequences on the victims.”

Earlier, the US, which backs the Georgian government, stepped up confrontational rhetoric in an effort to get Russia to back down. Vice President Dick Cheney telephoned Gergia President Mikheil Saakashvili to express US solidarity in the conflict with Russia and told him “Russian aggression must not go unanswered,” the vice president’s office said on Monday.