GEORGIA/RUSSIA CRISIS

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000456 SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR SUBJECT: GEORGIA/RUSSIA CRISIS After Georgia Article by Marcelo de Paiva Abreu, professor at the School of Economics in PUC Rio de Janeiro (Catholic University),in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (08/25) says: "Last week's happenings in Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia explained important changes in the global political balance. For the first time, since the fall of communism, it is evident that there are concrete limits to the U.S. strategy based on the utilization of the U.S. economic and military forces. ... It was clearly evident the resurgence of Russian military power. But, more importantly it was the evidence that the U.S. did not have the right conditions to go further than offering moral comfort to Saakashvili and from a military point of view, nothing could be done to avoid a Georgian humiliation. The imprudence of the U.S. strategy was painfully evident and North American frustration with its own incompetence was so huge that the government easily convinced itself that everything could be explained away by Russian bad faith...." White