The United States once based alliances on national interest. No longer. Unable to convince its Nato partners to accept Georgia into the alliance, Washington is planning an agreement with Tbilisi to establish a 'strategic partnership'. For what, one wonders?
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili called the accord 'historic' and observed that 'the United States has never before said that Georgia is its strategic partner'. Batu Kutelia, set to become Georgia's ambassador to the US, opined that 'co-operation with our strategic partner is almost the only assurance of our security'.
Whatever the meaning of 'strategic partner', Tbilisi is not one. Most important, Georgia has no strategic value for America.
The US fought the entire cold war with Georgia as part of the Soviet Union. No one argued that liberating Tbilisi was necessary for the survival of the west. Indeed, long before the establishment of the Soviet Union, Georgia had been absorbed by the Russian empire.
The fact that Georgia hosts energy pipelines matters little. The Caspian Basin's energy resources are useful, not critical, and Russia would block the west's access to oil and natural gas only in the sort of confrontation that is unlikely to occur - except in the case of western meddling along Russia's border.
The presumption that a new agreement will deter Moscow from undertaking military action in the future is both naive and foolish. Russia has already shown its resolve to go to war over border issues.
Moscow isn't likely to believe that Washington is prepared for a military confrontation in a region of no serious strategic interest to the west. With a large supply of tactical nuclear weapons, as well as an adequate strategic nuclear deterrent, the Kremlin is well placed to tell the US to stay out.