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November 20th, 2008
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ČR sides with Georgia in crisis

Many Czechs evacuate former Soviet republic during Russian conflict

By Kimberly Hiss
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
August 13th, 2008 issue

Following Russia's announcement that it was ending military operations in Georgia Aug. 12, the Czech government continued with plans to supply 5 million Kč ($323,000) in humanitarian aid to the former Soviet republic.
According to Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Jiří Beneš, supplies including medicine were scheduled for shipment, and any further actions would be discussed at the Aug. 13 crisis meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
The Czech Republic expressed its support for Georgia shortly after Russian airstrikes began Aug. 8 — an escalation of long-standing tensions in the separatist region of South Ossetia.
“We urge all the parties involved to immediately stop their military activities and to avoid any further escalation of the conflict,” the Czech government added in a statement.
As the Russian assault intensified to include naval and missile attacks, a group of 30 Czech citizens along with a larger group of Poles left Georgia Aug. 11 on a flight to Warsaw, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said. As of press time, 15 Czechs remained in Georgia, with an additional 15 in the mountainous region. While calls to the Czech Embassy in Georgia were not answered, the embassy said through an Aug. 11 Foreign Affairs Ministry statement that “all Czechs in Georgia are all right.”
Returning to Prague early from holiday, Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg called it a “sad coincidence” that the events in Georgia were taking place as the Czech Republic observes the anniversary of the August 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has drawn similar parallels in the press, recently comparing the current situation in his country to that of Czechoslovakia in 1938, when the Munich Agreement permitted the German annexation of the Czech Sudetenland region.
However, not all observers agree with such conclusions.
“I don’t think it’s a valid comparison,” said senior Radio Free Europe Caucasus analyst Liz Fuller, “simply additional evidence of Saakashvili’s obsessive need to occupy the moral high ground and of his apparent refusal, or inability, to acknowledge the degree to which he personally helped to precipitate the current crisis by seizing on every opportunity to sideline Russia.”
— Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

Kimberly Hiss can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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Reader's comments:

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[16:32 15/08/2008] : It was gratifying to see the nations who stood up for poor Georgia this week and that the Czech Republic is one of them.

The pathetic response of the EU and the naive 'Peace Agreement' created by Sarkozy which actually extended the mandate for Russia to continue occupying Georgia, has shown what we are in store for when an isolationist US President like Obama hands over the defence of Europe to Europeans.

Only NATO backed by a militarily robust US Army can seriously check Russia's ambitions for the region.

Let us hope those opposed to the missile shield being installed in the Czech Republic will finally understand that if Russia gets away with this farce in Georgia, and she probably will if the EU have anything to do with it, none of us are safe.

Hopefully even an appeaser like Obama would rally behind a country hosting his nation's hardware.
Stephen Rothbart
Prague
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