Tweet
GEORGIA: THE WHITE HOUSE'S NEW CAUCASUS ENVOY VISITS GEORGIA
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/new s/eav091109a.shtml
9/14/09
Washington's new point person for diplomacy in the Caucasus and
Southern Europe, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Tina Kaidanow,
visited Tbilisi on September 14 for meetings with Georgia's key
political players, and to get an update on the status of Georgia's
Geneva talks with Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Kaidanow, a career diplomat who most recently served as US
ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo, is replacing Matthew Bryza,
the Bush administration's longtime face in the Caucasus who
enjoyed celebrity-like status among many Georgians. After the 2008
Georgian-Russian war, however, Bryza took hits from both domestic
critics and Georgian opposition groups for having allegedly developed
personalized ties with President Mikheil Saakashvili and his close
circle of advisers.
Kaidanow, by contrast, is new to the South Caucasus. The bulk of
her career has been spent in the Balkans -- Belgrade, Sarajevo and
Skopje -- or in Europe-related assignments at the State Department
and National Security Council in Washington, DC, according to her
State Department biography.
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/new s/eav091109a.shtml
9/14/09
Washington's new point person for diplomacy in the Caucasus and
Southern Europe, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Tina Kaidanow,
visited Tbilisi on September 14 for meetings with Georgia's key
political players, and to get an update on the status of Georgia's
Geneva talks with Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Kaidanow, a career diplomat who most recently served as US
ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo, is replacing Matthew Bryza,
the Bush administration's longtime face in the Caucasus who
enjoyed celebrity-like status among many Georgians. After the 2008
Georgian-Russian war, however, Bryza took hits from both domestic
critics and Georgian opposition groups for having allegedly developed
personalized ties with President Mikheil Saakashvili and his close
circle of advisers.
Kaidanow, by contrast, is new to the South Caucasus. The bulk of
her career has been spent in the Balkans -- Belgrade, Sarajevo and
Skopje -- or in Europe-related assignments at the State Department
and National Security Council in Washington, DC, according to her
State Department biography.