Georgia: Home Alone

Has Georgia really become Washington’s poor relative, who spends hours waiting in the White House lobby while the party is swinging inside? One TIME Magazine reporter makes that argument in The Huffington Post, implying that, when approached by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili these days, Obama and other Western leaders apologetically point at their watches and run to a meeting with Russia's Dmitri Medvedyev.

Busy trying to cooperate with Russia on nuclear matters, Washington seems increasingly to avoid saying the G-word, and, when it does, the mention is not always quite what Tbilisi had in mind. On May 10, for instance, Obama declared that Georgia is no “obstacle” to proceeding with a US nuclear cooperation pact with Russia.

Granted, old friends like Senator John McCain and ex-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Kramer have come out recently to boost the Georgia cause. But it's the White House itself that's seen as the best defense against the big, bad wolf -- or bear -- roaming outside Georgia's house.

The White House does issue statements in support of Georgia's territorial integrity. Yet, to many Georgians, this is akin to commenting on a friend’s Facebook photo instead of meeting him for drinks.