The Great Game Round-Up brings you the latest newsworthy developments regarding Central Asia and the Caucasus region. We document the struggle for influence, power, hegemony and profits between a U.S.-dominated NATO, its GCC proxies, Russia, China and other regional players.
After the recent U.S. visit of Azerbaijan's Defense Minister, it was now the turn of his Georgian counterpart. DM Irakli Alasania's meeting in Washington with United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel resulted in a new agreement:
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| © Photo Georgian Ministry of Defense |
Alasania continued his trip at the Johns Hopkins University where he spoke at an event organized by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute addressing Georgia's acession to NATO:
Defense Minister, Irakli Alasania, said he expects active discussions to start later this year and early in 2014 about specifics of what should be “next step” on Georgia’s path to NATO integration in the context of NATO summit in 2014.
The Georgian Defense Minister highlighted Tbilisi's stance towards the Kremlin with respect to this issue [emphasis mine]:
“We have to demonstrate that Russia does not have any say in relationship between NATO and Georgia,” he said. “We will have exemplary [presidential] election [on October 27] that will demonstrate that we are ready for the next step for integration.”
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