Tensions are high between the United States and Russia over the ongoing conflict in Georgia. On Wednesday, soon after NATO foreign ministers decided to cut formal ties with Russia until it withdrew all its troops from Georgia, President Bush vowed to continue to support Georgia.

Russian officials however continued to accuse Georgia of aggression and criticized the creation of the NATO-Georgia cooperation commission. The Deputy Chief of the Russian Military’s General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn said the commission would restore Georgia’s military capability.

Meanwhile the United States also signed a missile defense shield agreement with Poland Wednesday despite anger and threats of retaliation from Moscow. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that missile defense is “aimed at no one.”

William Hartung is Director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation here in New York. He was previously the Director of the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute at the New School.

William Hartung, Director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. He was previously the director of the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute at the New School.

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