Ms. Rice on a Mission in the Caucasus

The scene on the ground in Georgia remains very chaotic. Today the American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will arrive in the region after meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy and will present to the parties an outline for the cease-fire.

In the meantime the Georgia government has announced that Russian troops have stopped their advance towards Kutaisi, the second largest city in the Caucasian Republic; instead the troops of Moscow are found in the city of Senaki, about 60 kilometers from Kutaisi.

Previously the same Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had announced that over 100 Russian tanks and other vehicles were moving from the West of Georgia towards Kutaisi, the country’s ‘second city.’ The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, confirmed that despite the agreement reached between Russia and Georgia the violence continues and that civilians are suffering the consequences. Pentagon chief Robert Gates maintained that the Russian military action in Georgia calls into question the entire premise of (Russia’s) relations with the United States, and that the impact will be felt for years.

In Italy, meanwhile, the debate on the eventuality of a dispatching of soldiers comes up. “Italy will be able to do it if Europe asks,” claims Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League, in opposition to the Minister of Legislative Simplification Roberto Calderoli, who said yesterday: “Ossetia is not Iraq. It does not serve to send our troops; UN observers will suffice.” And the Defense Minister, Iganzio La Russa, claimed: “It is right that Italy would participate in an eventual European Union peace mission in Georgia. That is my position, naturally, but the entire government will decide.”