NATO-GEORGIA MILITARY EXERCISE, HEAVENS DID NOT FALL?

Icheoku says, as the much hyped one-month long NATO-Georgia military exercise gradually draws to an end, heavens did not fall after-all; despite Russia's strong objections that the exercise should not hold? Whether the cooling-down of their initial strong objection and vituperation was in deference to President Barack Obama or they just chickened out, Icheoku does not know; but says, the world is surely enjoying a less heated polity now and should continue in that direction. As we observed in one of our earlier articles on Russia, Russia and America will never come to firearms hostilities; and the world will not allow them, assuming they become mad enough and want to try. The stakes are just simply too high to permit the fiercesome clash of such two elephants? Now back to our discussion of the on-going NATO military exercise in and with Georgia; and the need for friendly dispositions of countries of the world to one another.

Russia, which had condemned the exercises as "provocative" had to swallow its pride when it became obvious that NATO was not ready to back down and that the exercise was not in any way targeted at them or in any other way a threat to their security. It equally shows the good that can come out of a situation when educated and intelligent men run affairs of a nation wherein instead of bluster and brute force, they can reason out their differences towards achieving and securing world peace. On this particular note, Icheoku congratulates President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia for his understanding and for not heating up the world tension any further; as the world can use less of that now. Admitted he had described the military exercise as "dangerous" because they are taking place in close proximity to South Ossetia where Russian troops are stationed and also "provocative" because they are coming so soon after the conflict with Georgia. However, reason eventually prevailed and he backed down. The way to go, Dimtry!

The military exercise, has been taking place at Vaziani military facility, around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) east of the Georgian capital Tbilisi and very close to South Ossetia, the breakaway region of Georgia which is recognised as independent by Russia. It started on May 6, 2009 and will last till June 1, 2009. About 700 soldiers from 13 countries have so far taken part in the exercises, which ends on June 1, 2009 with field manoeuvres; and another aspect of it based on peacekeeping training, will run until 3 June. The military exercises are being held under NATO's Partnership for Peace program, under which NATO works with non-NATO countries to build up military cooperation. The exercise is divided into two parts, the first named Cooperative Longbow 09 and aims to improve coordination between brigade commanders with procedure, coordination and command systems was scheduled to involve around 220 soldiers and does not involve tanks. While the second exercise named Cooperative Lancer 09 is a live firing exercise termed "crisis response" and aims to improve cooperation at battalion level. This part of the exercise was planned for around 400 soldiers and involves tanks.

Participating countries in the exercise include Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Britain, Canada, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Macedonia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, and United States. However some non-NATO countries who earlier indicated interest later pulled out; possibly not to offend Russia and include Armenia, Moldova, Serbia, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan?

Once again, congratulations to NATO for courageously going through with the military exercise as planned and also to Russia and President Dimtry Medvedev for not being obtrusively antagonistic and for allowing peace to reign. Icheoku says, it was just a military exercise and nothing stops Russia from conducting one or even joining NATO as part of the one world peaceful nation it aspires to be. Finally, it gladdens everyone heart that the exercise is taking place and will conclude peacefully without any major incident. Everybody wins!