NATO is quite rightly publicly demonstrating that it will fulfill its obligations to Baltic member states against external aggression. An uneasy stand-off persists in Ukraine. But further south in Europe, Georgia - neither a member of NATO nor of the EU - is still subject to land grabs by Russian puppet states. Jonathan Fryer reports that Georgian troops face encroaching Russians, who have taken over South Ossetia and occasionally push forward their barbed wire barrier, separating Georgian farmers from their land and cutting them off from friends and family on the other side. Only last Friday, a raiding party came over the barrier and killed one young Georgian man.
Liberal International demonstrated its support for Georgia by holding its first ever executive committee meeting in the republic last week. Jonathan Fryer said:
The Georgian Defence Minister, Tinatin Khidasheli, was a keynote speaker. Slovenia’s former Defence Minister, Roman Jakic — recently one of LI’s Treasurers — made the point that NATO cannot say it has an open door policy and then turn people away, which offers a potentially challenging situation with regard to both Georgia and Ukraine.
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