The United States once based alliances on national interest. No longer. Unable to convince its NATO partners to bring Georgia into the alliance, Washington plans to sign an agreement with Tbilisi establishing a “strategic partnership.” For what, one wonders?

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili called the accord “historic” and observed that “the United States has never before said that Georgia is its strategic partner.” Batu Kutelia, set to become Georgia’s ambassador to the United States, opined: “Cooperation with our strategic partner is almost the only assurance of our security.”

Whatever the meaning of “strategic partner,” Tbilisi is not one. Most important, Georgia has no strategic value for America.

The United states fought the entire Cold War with Georgia part of the Soviet Union. No one argued that liberating Tbilisi was necessary for the West’s survival. Indeed, long before the U.S.S.R., Georgia had been absorbed by the Russian Empire.

The fact that Georgia hosts energy pipelines matters little. The Caspian Basin’s energy resources are useful, not critical, and Russia would block the West’s access to oil and natural gas only in the sort of large-scale confrontation that is unlikely to occur – except in the case of Western meddling along Russia’s border. One need only peer at a map to determine to which country, the United States or Russia, Georgia is more important strategically.

The presumption that a new agreement will deter Moscow from undertaking military action in the future is both naive and foolish. Russia already has demonstrated its readiness to go to war regarding border issues.

via BANDOW: Strategic partners for what?.