Georgia, Russia, and Abkhazia

The pressure to have Georgia become part of NATO may be having an adverse effect upon the state of Abkhazia. While ostensibly part of Georgia, Abkhazia's population is largely non-Georgian, but pro-Russian.

Under the Soviet Union, Abkhazia had the status of an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. This status was recognized within Chapter 10, Article 85 of the Soviet constitution of 1977.

The office of NATO Secretary General Scheffer has released a brief statement expressing concern over Russia's attempts to establish legal links with the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The BBC article "
Russia warned over Georgia move" has a map of the region showing the areas in question.

In my recollection, NATO was formed to counter the evident iron bloc that formed around the Soviet Union after World War II. Some questions to ask: What is the role of NATO after the Cold War? (The first one, anyway.) Do we still need NATO? What is the significance of having eastern European states join NATO?

Puzzling.

We know about androids. But what about robots?

The book "What Do Robots Think About?" by French author Jean-Pierre Petit was translated into Russian in 1987, and a scanned copy is now available online, complete with commentary and translation. That's good for us that ни говорят по-русски.

It's over here. (Hat tip to Boing Boing.)

Truly important things in Russia's future: iTunes Russia on April 21, 2008?

According to MacRumors:

CNews.ru believes that Apple will be launching iTunes Russia on April 21st 2008.

Evidence for iTunes Russia "first came from billboards appearing in Moscow on Friday, with the words 'iSkoro 21.04.2008’ (iSoon 21.04.2008).

Further evidence is from two domains registered: iMacintosh.ru and itunes-store.ru which redirect to a splash page that says "iTunes Store Russia 21.04.2008." The domains appear to be registered by Apple IMC Limited, "the leading distributor of Apple products in Russia."

Going to the site, we see a very dramatic black Apple logo eclipsing... a light source. We think it looks pretty cool anyway.



We will find out in some six days.

Update: May Day 2008. No word so far, although MacRumors.com rightly wonders if it was a fake. Bogus products in the age of the internets? never!

Moscow Times: "Putin Hints At Splitting Up Ukraine"

Wowsers! We knew Putin wasn't quite "stepping down" with the end of his term as president of the Russian Federation, but this is a little over the top.

Quoth the Moscow Times:

President Vladimir Putin hinted at last week's NATO summit in Romania that Russia would work to break up Ukraine, should the former Soviet republic join the military alliance, Kommersant reported Monday.

Putin "lost his temper" at the NATO-Russia Council in Bucharest during Friday's discussions of Ukraine's bid to join NATO, Kommersant cited an unidentified foreign delegate to the summit as saying.

"Do you understand, George, that Ukraine is not even a state!" Putin told U.S. President George W. Bush at the closed meeting, the diplomat told Kommersant.

After saying most of Ukraine's territory was "given away" by Russia, Putin said that if Ukraine joined NATO it would cease to exist as a state, the diplomat said.

Putin threatened to encourage the secession of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and eastern Ukraine, where anti-NATO and pro-Moscow sentiment is strong, the diplomat said, Kommersant reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who accompanied Putin at the summit, said Monday he did not hear Putin's purported remarks about Ukraine and could not confirm the report.

While I certainly can't say <<вы услышали их здесь сперва>>, we thank the Moscow Times for this intriguing coverage. (Please don't mind their many Internal Sever Errors...)

What's your take? Would, or could,Vladiye make Ukraine pay for joining NATO?

NATO: No admissions for Georgia and Ukraine (yet)

According to the BBC, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a relic of the Cold War designed to counter the eastern communist bloc, "will not yet offer membership to Georgia or Ukraine after the 26-member alliance was split amid strong objections from Russia." It is curious that the lame duck President Bush demand that the two former Soviet republics be admitted to NATO, and the reason for this are not yet clear. Regardless of Bush's wish, France, Germany, and Russia strenuously objected to the proposed admission.

The former Yugoslav republic Macedonia also will not be invited to join NATO [Link.], while Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined as "full and equal partners" in 2004. [Link.]

What purpose does NATO hold in this post-Cold War world? Does it make sense to have this ghost of the Cold War still present and operating? And how does NATO justify its presence in Afghanistan? Questions, questions...