Obama Snubbed Another Ally – the President of Georgia

Judging from the video below, Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili is taking this better than many Americans.

The Washington Post: Forty-seven world leaders are Barack Obama’s guests in Washington Tuesday at the nuclear security summit. Obama is holding bilateral meetings with just 12 of them. That’s led to some awkward exclusions — and some unfortunate appearances, as well.

One of those left out was Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia, who got a phone call from Obama last week instead of a meeting in Washington. His exclusion must have prompted broad smiles in Moscow, where Saakashvili is considered public enemy no. 1 — a leader whom Russia tried to topple by force in the summer of 2008. After all, Obama met with Viktor Yanukovych, the president of Ukraine and a friend of the Kremlin. And he is also meeting with the leaders of two of Georgia’s neighbors — Armenia and Turkey, both of which enjoy excellent relations with Russia.

So is Saakashvili — a democratically elected leader whose ambition is to lead his country into NATO — being snubbed in order to please Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev? The White House would insist no. The summit is about nuclear security; Yanukovych got an appointment because Ukraine agreed to give up 60 tons of highly enriched uranium that it now uses in research reactors. Turkey and Armenia are seeing Obama because the administration hopes to press them to move forward with an agreement on opening borders — a deal that would benefit everyone in the Caucasus.

Georgia’s been a strong ally of the United States, no wonder Obama snubbed Saakashvili. He got a phone call, but no mention of any US support for Georgia’s bid to join NATO or buy defense weapons from the US. Obama’s too busy kissing up to Putin to help out a staunch ally. Where’s that gotten us? We still don’t have sanctions against Iran and Russia reserves the right to opt out of the nuclear treaty. Sounds like a pretty lame trade off to me.

Neil Cavuto had an exclusive interview with Saakashvili, who was much more diplomatic than President Obama. He said it’s just a matter of time until he gets a meeting in the White House. If he gets a meeting in the Obama White House there’s no doubt no press will be present to document the event.

H/T Weasel Zippers