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December 2006 News East-West Debt

East-West Debt started its activities in 1997 when Dutch and Belgian economists and counsellors with more than 15 years of experience in the market found each other and decided to establish a structured cooperation.

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From the januari 2007 publication:

GEORGIA GASPS UNDER PRESSURE GIANT
The former USSR Republic of Georgia is sailing a steady west bound course since the election of President Mikheil Saakashvili who took over from his predecessor Shevernadze in 2003. This is clearly not amusing to his Russian counterpart Putin who is steering his country in a directly opposite path. President Putin seems to long back to a more totalitarian way of leading Russia. No doubt he has perfect knowledge of such management styles, given his background as director of the KGB in the former USSR.
President Saakashvili has more than once created uproar in the Kremlin with his various pro western ideas and aspirations for the future. As close neighbor Russia is not charmed with the idea that Georgia wants to become a member of NATO and has clearly expressed its dismay. The US and other foreign diplomats have however stated that such a membership is the choice of each state individually and Russia's wishes will have no bearing on the decision to grant membership to Georgia or not. NATO has just last month restated their intent to proceed forward in the membership process. President Putin has warned that such a process causes divisions reminiscent of cold war times. To be honest both republics are behaving towards each other in a style that could be called truly reminiscent of exactly that era.
A quick rehash of the sordid list of events. Georgians were left in the cold because Putin decided to turn off the gas in the middle of winter. In an effort to become less dependent on Russia, President Saakashvili then turned to other gas providers also offering favorable terms in return to those providers who want to use a pipeline through Georgia. Russia openly supports the two pro-Russian breakaway provinces of South-Ossetia and Abkhazia. A referendum early November saw 90% of the mainly Russian population of South-Ossetia choose for independence. Georgia however is said to contemplate military solutions against the two separatist enclaves. The general treatment of the large settlement of Georgian immigrants in Russia has been on the steady decline for the last few years but is now at an all time low. The final blow to the already freezing relationship came when four Russians were arrested in Georgia accused of spying. Although the prisoners were released and deported back to Russia, Putin was infuriated. The arrests sparked a series of serious sanctions from the Russian side. All mail services and travel between the countries have been suspended and all diplomatic relations have been annulled. Apparently also more than a hundred Georgians have been deported and Georgian shop owners in Moscow have reportedly been harassed by local police and in some cases assaulted. Some foreign observers are actually speaking of an "ethnic cleansing" going on inside Russia's borders.
The United Nations and America's foreign minister Condoleezza Rice have urged both countries to de-escalate the tension. President Putin however seems set to show his strength in the region and has not shown any motion towards an end of this conflict. The latest move to isolate Georgia even further has been made as all banking traffic between the two countries has been prohibited. This is an even more severe blow to Georgia whose biggest business partner is Russia but who also receives a mountain of cash each month from the more than one million Russian based Georgians who send monies home to their families. Putin has declared that these monies are being used by Georgia to build up military strength so they can move against the Pro-Russian provinces. International commentators have great concerns that if President Saakashvili should really do so Russia will launch an attack against its neighbor. Russia's declared aim in Georgia said one Washington lobbyist is a 'regime change' and there is a risk of Russia provoking military confrontation to achieve this.
It seems that Putin is hoping that international interference will force Georgia to capitulate into subservience once more and has pulled an unprecedented diplomatic trick on the Americans. Rumors have it that the US was put in an impossible position by Putin who took keen advantage of the twin crises the US was facing in North-Korea and Iran over their nuclear programs. The President of Russia apparently made a bargain: if the US wanted his support in the UN Security council concerning sanctions on North-Korea and Iran (resolution 1718) they first had to support resolution 1716 which extends the mandate of an UN observer mission for the breakaway Georgian provinces; calls for independence from Georgia only increased. This way Bush squandered Georgia's interest for his own. But hey, that's politics!