Great expectations on US Navy visit to Georgia

A U.S. Navy frigate, the USS John L. Hall, has completed its visit to Georgia, where it spent four days making a call at the port of Batumi. These sorts of things are pretty routine for the U.S. Navy but Georgian officials portray them as something much more meaningful. As GeorgiaTimes observes:

Washington and Tbilisi provide a different appraisal of the visit. The USA officials characterize the visit as a friendly and planned one, while the Georgian security officials see it as political and moral support of Georgia on the part of the United States' government...

It was noted during the meeting between the ship commanders and the US Embassy officials that the ship arrived to Georgia with a friendly mission. "The visit is a planned one; such visits are paid by the American warships to the Georgian ports several times a year", - the Americans said. However, in three days, the vague notions of "friendship" and "planned activities" acquired a definite and a rather urgent meaning, which became clear due to the revelations of Minister of Georgia for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili, who said in his interview that the US Navy ship will evidently become a restraining factor for Russia. "There are other factors as well that Georgia will use in case of a real danger of another aggression on the part of Moscow, which possibility is quite expected. Moscow was unable to achieve its purpose in Georgia", - the minister stated....

Not so long ago, President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili suggested that Washington should use the sea ports and airports of the republic as a base for NATO's blows against the forces of the Taliban extremist movement.