Donald Rumsfeld Hangs Out in Georgia

Guess who's in town. Ex-US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has dropped by Tbilisi on a visit eclipsed by an ongoing domestic drama over the Georgian government’s confrontation with opposition billionaire Bidzina Ivanisvhili.

Little is known about what brings Rummy to George W. Bush’s beacon of regional democracy; perhaps because local media are too busy covering the government's seizure of property belonging to a cable television company accused of bribing voters for Ivanishvili. What we know is that Rumsfeld met Georgian Defense Minister Bacho Akhalia, who thanked him for his contribution to deepening US-Georgia military ties.

The two past and present defense bosses chatted about Georgia’s plans to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the ongoing military reforms in the country. Rumsfeld will stay in town for a week; perhaps he is working on a chapter for a new installment of memoirs?