One of the most popular topics in the Georgian media is the strategic command-staff maneuvers "Caucasus-2012", which has started today, September 17, 2012. Georgian media regularly publish the articles and broadcast the discussions associated with these maneuvers. The main objective of these broadcastsis to suggest an idea to the Georgian and international community that after such maneuvers in 2008 Georgia became involved in a war with Russia and has lost 20% of its original territory occupied by Moscow. The fact that in August 2008 it was the Georgian army which attacked the Russian peacekeepers, who had been serving in accordance with the interstate Dagomys agreement and it was Georgia, which tried to wipe the South Ossetian capital together with its inhabitants off the map, has not been even indirectly mentioned in the Georgian media.
Last week the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen did not fail to speak on the beginning of the maneuvers in an interview to the Euro-News channel. He expressed regret that Brussels "had not received any official information from Russia" about these maneuvers, their goals, the venue. This point of view has caused at least regret and confusion, as Russia for a long period of time has been demonstrating the openness to cooperation in various fields of the international activity, and the Transcaucasian region holds a special place. Thus, in December 2011, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces General Nikolai Makarov convened a briefing of the foreign military attaches. The briefing was also attended by representatives of NATO, including the NATO Moscow Bureau for Relations with the Russian Defense Ministry. Makarov told in detail about the objectives of themaneuvers "Caucasus-2012", their venue, about the numerical strength and weapons involved in the maneuvers. Other officials of the Russian Defense Ministry, including the Commander of the Land Forces of Russia, Colonel General Vladimir Chirkov and First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Alexander Postnikov, were also repeatedly telling at the press conferences about the planned maneuvers. Any sensible man will not believe that the head of a military organization like NATO did not know about the objectives, venue, time, forces and weapons, or the alliance is led by someone else? All this leads one to believe that Anders Fogh Rasmussen, or, to put it mildly, is cunning or is deliberately aggravating the situation in the region.
Maybe, the fact is that the head of NATO was simply childishly offended that he had not been invited to these maneuvers as the honored guest. In accordance with the international law Russia has violated nothing, as the Basic Act -NATO-Russia 1997,- states that the parties are notified officially if thenumerical strength exceeds more than 10 thousand servicemen (in the maneuvers "Caucasus-2012" are involved 8 thousandmilitary personnel), and the maneuvers will be conducted away not only from the borders of the NATO countries, but at a distance of 200 km from the border of Georgia. At the same time, it should be noted, that conducting maneuvers directly at the Russian border in the territory of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, NATO has never invited the Russian military observers.
