From Ben Birnbaum, the Washington Times:  Georgia’s second-most-powerful man vows that his country will not drag NATO into a war with Russia if accepted into the Western alliance, saying that the chance of another confrontation with Moscow is far lower than it was before their 2008 conflict.

“We made a unilateral commitment to nonuse of force, so there is no way we will become a problem for NATO in terms of Article 5 or in terms of a possible military confrontation between Georgia and Russia,” David Bakradze, speaker of the Georgia Parliament, said in an interview with The Washington Times.

Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty stipulates that an attack on one member state “shall be considered an attack against them all.”

“We still have threatening rhetoric on the side of Russian officials,” Mr. Bakradze said, “but I think in the current international situation, it’s not very likely that Russia will dare to use large-scale military force against Georgia, so if one asks me, I would say that the probability of another invasion or large-scale conflict is low, and it’s much lower than it was in 2008. . . .” 

Mr. Bakradze expressed hoped that NATO’s spring summit in Chicago will bring “progress” and “clarity” to Georgia’s bid. However, he promised that Georgia will continue to deploy troops in Afghanistan, regardless of NATO’s decision.  (photo:  Westminster Consortium)

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