The Georgian Security Analysis Center (GSAC) was founded at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies to foster discussion and understanding of Georgian security issues among opinion makers in NATO countries.  After a period of organization and staff training, GSAC began operation on September 19, 2006. Recognizing that opinion makers—journalists, think tanks, academics, parliamentary staffs—play a vibrant role in NATO democracies, GSAC aims to promote discussion among them and to provide timely, accurate information.

6 Oct 2008 European Monitors Must Head into Abkhazia, South Ossetia October 6, 2008. David J. Smith. Is deployment of the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning of Russia’s occupation? All we can say with confidence today is that the arrival of the EUMM animates two vital steps. First, it enables the return home of at least some people displaced by Russia’s August attack on Georgia. Second, it sets the stage for Russia to fulfill its unequivocal obligation to withdraw its forces to their prewar positions. Beyond this, the road is fraught with mudslides, sinkholes and—western diplomats beware—no doubt a few landmines. detailed 2 Oct 2008 Is it Really All Quiet on the Georgian Front? The EU Monitors Deploy On October 1, at 09:00, local time, European Union Monitors began patrolling Georgian territory in accordance with the six-point ceasefire negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Their mission is to monitor compliance with the ceasefire agreement throughout Georgian territory—including the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia—particularly the withdrawal of Russian forces to the positions they held before the August war against Georgia. detailed 1 Oct 2008 It Should Be So and it Will Be So! David J. Smith. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili addressed the 63rd Session of the United Nations last week. Georgia, Saakashvili told heads of government and ambassadors of the 192 member nations, was “invaded by our neighbor.” Rather than dwell on the war, however, the Georgian President set out two challenges for the peace. He asked the international community, “Will we draw a clear line and defend the principles that uphold the international order, and declare—enough? Then he rededicated Georgia to ambitious democratic reforms in a “Second Rose Revolution.” It was a principled call to action on several fronts. detailed 24 Sep 2008 Saakashvii at the UN: Balanced, Constructive, Forward-looking Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili addressed the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly yesterday in New York. “It was a great speech,” said David J. Smith, Director of the Tbilisi-based Georgian Security Analysis Center. “It was balanced, constructive and forward looking.” detailed 22 Sep 2008 Wake Up; Gassiev is Calling! In the predawn hours of August 7, Russia invaded Georgia. Gassiev, a border guard of the separatist regime in the Georgian territory of South Ossetia, was at the southern end of the Roki Tunnel that leads from Russia. At 0352, he used his mobile telephone to tell his supervisor: “Armor and people…twenty minutes ago…tanks, armored personnel carriers and that.” The intercepted telephone call, first reported in the September 16 New York Times, explodes the myth that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili precipitated Russia’s assault on Georgia with an ill-conceived attack on Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia. detailed