A Conflict of Interests

Today's 'Financial Times' has some very interesting reporting on the Georgia conflict. There are three headlines on page 9, one of which reads, "EU stands united to denounce Russia's actions" and in the area of foreign policy we can only laugh when the EU says that it is united. Russia is the EU's third most important trading partner and it would be interesting to have a national breakdown of that "EU". Certainly, German reliance on Russian energy would hardly mean that Berlin is going to want any sort of economic war with Moscow. The other two headlines are, "US seeks global response and pledges aid" and "Regions of 'privileged interest'. Under the one heading we have Mr Cheney getting ready to visit, "three of the most endangered countries" in the region; Georgia, the Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Under the other heading we have Russia's President Dimitry Medvedev announcing Moscow's intention of preserving geographical spheres of "privileged interest" on or near its borders. Interesting times, interesting times, indeed!