Reports of military mutinies and Russian plots in Georgia, while still unclear, have heightened tensions which were already building this spring. The U.S. should lead preventive diplomacy now, underscoring to Russia the high costs of intervention in Georgia while seeking to engage Moscow in a broad security dialogue. The West's stake in Georgia is high. The United States and the European Union have made support for the independence of former Soviet states a hallmark of their foreign policies. In January, Washington elevated Georgian independence to a "vital" interest. Already before the latest...
photo: AP / Bela Szandelszky
