The Foreign Service Journal, March 2010

M A R C H 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 15 quire war to impose Georgian rule over the separate ethnic populations of the two enclaves, which already ex- pelled local Georgians. Moreover, any effort to invade these territories would provide Russia with a pretext for destroying Georgia. The realistic hope is that, over time, there can be a slow revival of com- merce and dialogue among Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Tbilisi, possibly lead- ing to some form of federation in the future. But this will only happen when Moscow decides that peace in the re- gion serves its larger interests. Critics of the administration will undoubtedly complain that America will lose face if it backs away from the commitment to support NATO mem- bership for Tbilisi and Kyiv. But in terms of the greater U.S. national in- terest, it is more important to improve relations with Russia than to insist on a dead-end and dangerous policy in the Near Abroad. ■ Thompson Buchanan was a Foreign Service officer from 1955 to 1981, serv- ing as deputy chief of mission in Bu- rundi, Gabon and Norway, among other assignments. His Russian ex- pertise dates from 1948, when he worked for the Office of Intelligence Research at State. He later served three tours in Russia, including assign- ments as political counselor and consul general in Leningrad. In post-commu- nist Russia, he interviewed refugees for the Immigration and Naturalization Service and worked on aid projects. As a member of DACOR and the Cosmos Club, he has sponsored numerous lec- tures on Russia and Central Asia. S P E A K I N G O U T The U.S. should give priority to improving relations with Moscow over sticking with a dead-end, dangerous policy.