A foreign mediator for Georgia?

Ceslovas Iskauskas reflects on the role the West could play in Georgia: "Every initiative taken in the Caucasus needs Russia's approval. This may anger Tiblisi, but it is the reality in the region. Moscow wants to bind the secessionist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia closer to it, and for that reason rejected last Friday's UN resolution aimed at easing the refugees' return to Abkhazia. ... Most observers do not believe there is a threat of a new civil war, because the Georgians, the Abkhazians and the Russians all want to avoid that outcome. But both sides are trying to implicate other countries in the conflict. Tiblisi is calling on Washington and Brussels, and Sukhumi wants more help from Moscow. It is difficult to say whether the local population will get the peace they have been longing for if their conflict once again lands on the international agenda."

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