The Military Strategic and Geopolitical Importance of Georgia in the Framework of the New World Order

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Georgia's territory, which borders in the north with Russia, in the east with Azerbaijan, and in the south with Armenia and Turkey, that share a south-eastern portion of its border with Iran, makes Georgia an attractive geopolitical-economic region, particularly since it is a country through which runs the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline that flows from the Caspian Sea to Europe. Georgia also has easy access to the Black Sea ports. However, it is Georgia's military strategic importance which brings Georgia into greater focus and attraction geopolitically than its neighbors. It is more attractive than Azerbaijan, which is also a democratic country, but it has a Moslem population, than Armenia, which is Christian, but it is geographically a "dead end" country, and than Turkey with its fundamentalist regime. What is relevant for the west is that Georgia, which is located in the center of the northern hemisphere, also has a Provoslavic-Christian, stable, pro western oriented democratic tone. Therefore, the west cannot afford to relinquish its support of the Georgian government and of its people in its struggle against world terrorism and the expansion of fundamentalism.

In its attempt to find solutions for its internal political and economic problems, and without being conscious awareness, the Georgian government found itself, relatively quickly, a focus of interest among policy makers in western nations. The interest of western policy makers in the Georgian government was so transparent, that it could be claimed that Georgia's phenomenon of the "Revolution of the roses" may have been staged by the west itself.

In any case, the rise of the new Georgian regime occurred around the period when Turkey began to lose its credibility in the eyes of the west with regard to partnership in the NATO alliance, as a support for the army bases in the area, and as a military-strategic partner in the struggle of the west against world terrorism and against the expansion of fundamentalism in the world.

Turkey is a country within which, as of today, are stationed entire divisions of western armies with a significant quantity of military equipment and weapons. Just prior to the events leading to Georgia's national uprising in 2003, a wave of Islamic fundamentalism became stronger in Turkey, and was reinforced by the election of a pro-fundamentalist government headed by Ragif Taif Arduan. His regime attempted several times to overcome western aims to operate militarily from Turkey's territory.

Because of this, the west sees Georgia as an alternative to Turkey in terms of its strategic-military geopolitical importance in the area and at least equal to Tajikistan after the renunciation of Kyrgyzstan's commitment to the NATO forces in its territory.

Therefore, since Turkey stopped being a relevant reliable ally for the west, due to its ideologically pro-fundamentalist tendencies, Georgia has joined the group of most important nations, in league with Israel, Czech, Poland, and the Balkans, or Ukraine which, nevertheless of it's column importance for the west, was evaded recently by the west in exchange of Georgia for assuring the agreement of Russia to tolerate the invasion of the west and localization of NATO forces in Georgian territory. Apparently, since this agreement is achieved between the both supper powers, it remained just a question of time when, and not whether, the military bases of NATO will be removed from Turkey, at least most of them and will be placed in Georgia's territorial jurisdiction.

During the war of August 2008, the Georgian government was disappointed in its expectations for support from the west in its war against Russia, since it was on the basis of these expectations that Georgia dared to go to war against the Red Army.

Nonetheless, it was gradually understood by the Georgian government's policy makers that a military intervention on the part of the west in this war could have been interpreted as an attempt to turn the local conflict into a clash between the super-powers because, the world public opinion was not still mature to understand the eminent importance of this confrontation for protection of western values. It was the determination of the west to warn Russian policy makers not to cross red lines, such as not invading the Capital city Tbilisi, or overthrowing Saakashvili's regime, which Russia would have liked to do, and even declared as a condition for a cease fire, that raised the hopes of the Georgian people and strengthened their trust in Tbilisi's government position with regard to the west. They saw that Georgia is important enough to the west to place themselves in a dangerous position for Georgia's sake. In addition, the behavior of the west in this instance was interpreted as an attempt to preserve the existing government in Georgia. A warning was sent by the west to Russia to cease hoping that it could keep its army in the area of conflict. The Georgians understood from the actions of the west that a day would come when the NATO army bases would be placed in Georgia, and the Abkhazia and also the south Ossetian areas would return to Georgian jurisdiction, because this would be a condition that Georgia would make to the west in exchange to the military presence of NATO on Georgian territory.

Of course Russia's central regime did attempt more than once to make Georgia's ruling government cease its pro-western shows of support. Russia even promised Georgia state and economic royalties in the event that there would be cooperation between them. This cooperation, when looking deeper, appears to be quite natural and understandable, because it was actually after enjoinment of Georgia to Russia's protectorate since 1783 and during the Soviet regime that Georgia reached its height of cultural and economic development since the Golden days of the 11th and 12th centuries under the rule of King David the Builder, and his daughter Queen Tamar.

All of the advanced infrastructure in the country that exists until today, and all the thousands of impressive structures like Opera Halls, theaters, sport stadiums, and palaces that decorate Georgia's cities, were built during the period of the Russia's protectorate and the Soviet regime. Many Georgian academics still remember the golden period of higher education and art during the Soviet years. Until the Soviet period, Georgia was a poor rural backward area whose only uniqueness came from its powerful wild natural beauty which blended with the natural country wisdom of its population. Its foods and wines were amazingly pure and unknown to the taste of most of the world's population, which factually was known in this area and was inserted for more than 7,000 years. They cannot be imagined until they are tasted.

Without making an historical survey of the Georgian people covering more than 3,000 years, let it be said that Georgia has known periods of highs and lows that have been diametrically polarized from its situation prior to the dissolution of the totalitarian Soviet regime. The nature of Georgia's political, social, economic and cultural processes should be mentioned, as well as those areas of conflict in southern Ossetia and Abkhazia that preceded the regional termination of Georgian sovereignty temporarily at least.

This was during the period of the decline of Soviet totalitarianism, when there was no rule of law, and total anarchy prevailed. The declared state budget was equivalent to ca. 80 million US dollars a year in a state which, at that time had within an annual turnover of 30 billion dollars. It was a time when control over the state's resources was the sole prerogative of a few families who were closely related to the ruling family, and of organized crime that flourished without obstacles. It was a State where a retired person's monthly pension was enough to purchase one kilogram of potatoes; a State where even family life and the behavior of normal citizens was dictated by organized criminal gangs; a State where a human life had no significance; a State in whose main cities the supply of electricity to residents came once a week for two hours and the flow of water to homes was maintained for about three hours every two or three weeks. All this took place in a country with one of the most plentiful water supplies rated in the world; in a land where the preference for most young people was to become "kanonieri qurdi" - [kanonieri qurdi] (legal thieves) and the absolute majority of girls wanted to become the wives of "qurdi", a concept that was improved by Stalin for criminals which collaborated with the soviet system and which later made an union with the West for destroying the Soviet Union.

Confrontation and conflict took place there because the corrupted, criminal groups who led Georgia during the civil war, were interested in the preservation of personal achievements through escalation of their military activities. Through them the Russian Government detected a circumstantial opportunity to utilize the separatist aspirations of Aphkhaz and Oss minorities to occupy strategically important regions. This was the land that Saakashvili "inherited" from Edward Shevardnadze in November of 2003, through a revolt that has been called "the revolution of the roses".

The achievements of Georgia's refreshingly "intellectual" regime, headed by a young and energetic president, with most of its government posts filled by graduates of some of the most renowned universities in the western world, however, do not begin and end with the rehabilitation of the political and economic rule of government. There has been a building of new state infrastructures and the investment of billions of dollars, so that it would be difficult today to find a Georgian who can remember the last time his home had a cut-off in electricity or water supply. In addition, young people today dream of becoming doctors, engineers, lawyers, economists, firemen and even policemen and no more a "kanonieri qurdi"...

Nonetheless, all these achievements would be diminished were it not for the fact that this young, intellectual Georgian regime has chosen to lead the State towards a democratic form of government, and to bring the country closer to the western democratic alliance. In the West the new regime has found enthusiastic support, particularly because Georgia is in a region of supreme strategic military importance for the West. The choice to join the western block was made by the political leaders of Georgia in order to protect their national interests. Historically, this choice presented the best chance of survival within the political, military and economic whirlpool.

Although, as of now, Russia, like North Korea or China claim title to military super-power supremacy nonetheless, their countries have not been able to compete with western countries, headed by the United States, financially and ideologically. Thus, except the intellectual feasibility, the military status is the only scale left with which Russia can compete with the United States, but even in this area Russia is no longer a source of strategic threat, since it seems not to have any declared imperialistic ambitions to achieve the rule the world by military interventions. Russia also does not have the ability make conditional demands on the west, but rather its goal is to defend those remnants of empire left it after the process of Soviet totalitarian collapse.

In addition, it appears that the political decision makers in Russia now make their decisions rationally, as can be seen during the war against Georgia, or in case of enjoinment of Russia to the international protest against the nuclear disarmament of Iran leaded by the west. This sense of reason governed their assessment of the situation as to whether to survive within the system or to be destroyed by war through the waging of a supplementary military offensive against the conflict regions.

Georgia has recently carried through an organizational renewal of oppositional leadership and is facing adequate political leaders in the opposition. The government has taken the necessary preventive precautions to ensure the stability of democratic institutions even if political changes will occur on the governmental level if there will eventually be a military confrontation with Russia which is expected in the region by Georgian government.

On the other hand, the west is interested in preservation of Abkhaz and Ossetia conflict, which allows to the western political leadership to intervene in the internal affairs of Georgia in his national aspiration for territorial unity as a sovereign state and allocates its military struggle against Russia for creation of an aspect of a bright support of the masse communication means to influence on the world public opinion, which in result will crystallized as an origin of the reason for justification of military intervention of NATO forces into the Georgian territory and for replacement of a large portion of its military equipments from Turkey to Georgia in a case of a removal military attack of Russia on Georgia, which, according to the author, is evaluated as an inevitable event that will occur during the year 2010, while, before the termination of presidential cadency of Saakashvili with his pro western oriented regime, in the territory of Georgia will already be replaced ca. 80% of military arsenal and equipments of NATO that are stationed actually in Turkey.

Nevertheless, the Georgian economy will enjoy from such localization of tenths of thousands of NATO solders, which will be replaced from Turkey to Georgian territory as a consequence of supplementary military confrontation with Russia, but unfortunately, Georgia will no more be the same "Thamro" [the name of an abused virgin in Georgian movie], but, at this stage, presumably that is the only way for survival…

In an exceptionally urgent aspect of the world political constellation, which will be created especially for this purposes, Russian leadership will be constrained by the west, not only to tolerate such a localization of NATO forces in Georgian territory, than, in exchange of an adequate offer by the west, for instance, in exchange of unction of Alaska to Russian jurisdiction, or, through recently achieved agreement between both super powers to transmit Ukraine under the influence of Russia, Russia will even agree to evade the hegemony on Abkhazia and south Ossetia, because, that will be the definitive ultimatum of Georgia to the Western Alliance after complement of total replacement of NATO forces from Turkey to Georgia.

But the real, more dangerous enemy that threatens and could undermine the stability and security of democratic nations, primarily the United States, is not Russia, China or North Korea, but rather a nuclear Iran, the Hezbollah, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and all the other unanticipated fundamentalist movements that have made demands on the political hegemony of the entire world. And even in this area, in the regions where conflicts between cultures are taking place, Georgia's strategic, military and geopolitical importance are clear, so that western policy makers cannot relinquish such a significant strategic and military ally, because Georgia, among the states of defensive capability such the Missiles base in Poland, which presumably will be deposited in Georgia in stead of in Poland, the Radar depot of Czech, the base of Air force in Tajikistan and the sixth float in Israel, Geopolitically is that empty piece of Military strategic mosaic that till now completed the Turkey in the whole southern hemisphere of the earth.

The prospects of these movements and states which support the spread of fundamentalism in the world are not negligible. On the contrary, the example of Turkey is a precedent of what may come about in the future even within democratic states where the government will be forced to turn over power to the fundamentalists in democratic elections. The fundamentalist epidemic is spreading through contagion mainly within the weaker stratifications of the population, in civil society throughout the world, and the focus of these clashes between the both main civilizations, the archaic-fundamentalist and the atheneistic-secular civilizations, is the conflict in the Middle East.

In this framework the sufferings of the Palestinian people are being exploited feverishly by the fundamentalist policy makers in order to justify their propagandist sabotaging and subversive activities and to manipulate world opinions. They are doing this without any intention of finding a solution to the Palestinian problems, since it has been their intention from the beginning to exploit the Palestinian suffering in order to form the world public opinion, for justifying their terrorist and propagandistic activity for their task to realize their imperialist aspirations of recapturing the total hegemony and control of all of mankind. This has been the goal of every form of fundamentalism since the establishment of the "interfaith movement" in the end of 19th century, which agglomerates fundamentalist representatives of all religious and nationalist convictions from all over the world including Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist fundamentalists.

For this reason, and despite the guaranteed survival of the world's democratic system, the primary issue of the west should be an attempt to constrain the creation of an independent state of Palestine based on fundamentalist or secular identification of political power. Such a state would accelerate the cultural clash between the two basic civilizations, between the archaic fundamentalist and the secular atheneistic civilizations. Then national uprisings will inevitably set a precedent for the consolidation of democratic systems in entire Arab nations within the region which could preserve democracy over the entire world. This is similar to the possible scenario variation that recently almost successfully was incinerated in Iran, and should be elaborated in the case of Iraq and Afghanistan instead of military interventions and the creation of a state of instability.

However, in order to prevent the expansion of fundamentalist movements, prior to the attempt to establish an independent Palestinian State, it is urgently necessary to eliminate the threat of Iran's nuclear potential. Contemporary decision makers in a nuclear Iran cannot be compared with the decision makers of nuclear Russia, South Korea or China, because the rational thought of fundamentalists diametrically differs from that of secularists. This difference probably may even be determined through human genetic codes. Because, according to the author, the human gene, which is responsible for rational thought by individuals, probably differs in each of the two main civilizations, since there is no doubt that the logic and rational thought of the fundamentalists differs profoundly from that of the secularists. If cultural dispersion is genetically transmitted through the patterns of human beings, then the human genes responsible for rational thought, so differently related to in the two civilizations, must differ fundamentally from each other optically as well as substantially! (It should be noted that such differences in rational thoughts can also be found in individuals with diametrically polarized ideological convictions!).

From this point of view, it is possible that the source of Russia or China's reasonableness with regard to avoiding the use of deterrent force is from rational existential apprehensions. However, Russia is convinced that a reason for avoiding being drawn into confrontation with the west comes mainly from their belief and hope that there will come a day when the fundamentalist movements will triumph over the west. When this occurs, the economic bubble of the free market economy will have to swallow democratic governments in the soft belly of capitalism. Political evolution will dictate to mankind the reality that the attractive framework of young educated regimes such as the government of Georgia, which was created by the West, will be essential and impossible to ignore. The demand of intellectuals in power will become an inevitable reality of civil societies in popular revolts that will take place in the future as a result of the general and intellectual opposition to submission to fundamentalism. It will be necessary to establish a world leadership of intellectuals and secular civilization will be the determinant of the political system in the post history era. This is the essence of the undeclared aspiration among political decision makers at the head of Russia and China's political systems. Presumably, even those who determine policy in West also believe that any option other than political control by secular civilization, such as the control of fundamentalist civilization over the world, would bring the destruction of mankind.

David Botera (Boterashvili)
Dr. in Political Sciences