To any Booman wikipedia nerds… I’d love some help. Please join in the discussion on the Georgia talk page, and/or help improve the Georgia article!
The current foreign relations section reads, in part:
Georgia maintains good relations with its direct neighbours Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey and participates actively in regional organizations, such as the Black Sea Economic Council and the GUAM.[44] Georgia also maintains close political, economic and military relations with Ukraine.
The growing US and European Union influence in Georgia, notably through the Train and Equip military assistance programme and the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, have frequently strained Tbilisi’s relations with Moscow.
Here’s what I wrote on the talk page:
Georgia-Israel Relations
“The growing US and European Union influence in Georgia, notably through the Train and Equip military assistance programme and the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, have frequently strained Tbilisi’s relations with Moscow.” This leads the reader to believe that it’s mainly the US & Europe interested in the pipeline (Israel has a stake in the pipeline – 1 2 3) and also having influence in Georgia… when in fact Israel has been an ally of Georgia, and assisted in training troops and providing arms [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1010224.html].
Please rescue me from trying to write this!
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Wikipedia – Georgia
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Georgia maintains good relations with its direct neighbours Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey and participates actively in regional organizations, such as the Black Sea Economic Council and the GUAM. [44] Georgia also maintains close political, economic and military relations with [ADD: Israel and] Ukraine.
[REPLACE] The growing US and European Union influence in Georgia, notably through the Train and Equip military assistance programme and the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, have frequently strained Tbilisi’s relations with Moscow.
[NEW] The growing US and European Union influence in Georgia, notably through proposed EU and NATO membership, the US Train and Equip military assistance programme and the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, have frequently strained Tbilisi’s relations with Moscow. Georgia’s decision to boost its presence in the coalition forces in Iraq was an important initiative. (http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=8271)
[REPLACE] Georgia has been recently invaded by Russian armed forces due to the conflict over Ossetia.
[ADD: In July 2008 hostilities started between Ossetian militia and Georgian armed forces which led to a full-fledged attack with artillery fire on Tsinkvali region (South Ossetia) on Friday August 8. Russia claimed 1,600 Ossetians were killed in this attack. (http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/12662) As a consequence, Russians troops entered S Ossetia through the Roki tunnel in support of Ossetians and Russian peacekeepers already stationed there.]
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
August 12, 2008, Georgia’s president Saakashvili, has told tens of thousands of people at a rally outside the country’s parliament that Georgia will quit the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and urged Ukraine to follow suit. (http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19064&search=commonwealth) The CIS was created in 1991 and has included Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
SUGGESTION
The military relationship with Israel and the US should be added under topic: MILITARY. I need to do some further research.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Wow, thanks! I’m starting that ball rolling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Georgia_(country)#Georgia-Israel_Relations
I’ve got the results up… the page is still a mess in general, which is something I’ll tackle slowly. Sheesh, if you’re going to steal stuff from Wikipedia, do it from a better article!
I am still at a loss with the BTC pipeline article… Man, it’s hard to find research on this stuff. Any ideas where to start? I’d normally start with Wikipedia. 😉
google is your friend:
btc pipeline about 132000 hits….you can then refine the search re: dates, sources, or other specific criteria.
another good resource is the asia times. using their search engine you get about 61 hits re: btc pipeline
you can do the same at the guardian uk, bbc. the independent, etc.
good luck.
Um… I’ve spent hours and hours and google, and have been to all the sites you recommend. I may be politically unsavvy, but I’m not a moron. The problems I’m having are that the articles aren’t good sources for Wikipedia – they mention Israel in passing, but I haven’t found good articles discussing the relations of Israel & Georgia generally. Alas, self-published materials are not valid sources!
Anyways, I’ll keep trying….
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Ariel Sharon, during his August 8 visit to Ankara, stated that Israel was interested in even closer relations with Azerbaijan and in a Turkey-Israel-Georgia-Azerbaijan alliance to counter an Iran-Russia-Armenia alliance. Turkey also maintained that Iran’s Shahab-3 missiles were operational and that, as Israel’s defense minister had stated during his visit to Turkey, Iran would be a nuclear power by 2005. Furthermore, if Iran attacked Azerbaijan, Israel, in cooperation with Turkey, would come to the aid of Baku. Ankara seemed confident that if Iran’s threatening actions increased, the United States could be compelled to intervene. The media stressed that Ankara, Washingon and Jerusalem were in constant contact regarding the current crisis.25
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."