U.S. Keeping an Eye on Misha's Future

Every year the U.S. Director of National Intelligence has to give a "threat assessment" to Congress, outlining what the U.S. intelligence community thinks Washington ought to be worried about around the world. This is generally pretty boilerplate stuff, and the five-paragraph section of this year's report (pdf) on "The Caucasus and Central Asia" is no different. It highlights the Russian presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the increasing tension in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the instability of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- all of which is obvious without spending $80 billion a year.

But one bit of this year's report stood out as somewhat curious. There is only one country in the region whose internal political situation is discussed:

Georgia's new Constitution strengthens the office of the Prime Minister after the 2013 presidential election. President Saakashvili has not indicated his future plans but the option is available for him under the new Constitution to serve as Prime Minister.

Is this a bad thing -- the emergence of a Putin-style autocracy in Georgia? Or a good thing -- the continued presence of a dependable U.S. ally? The report doesn't say.