Uhhh... Vice President Cheney did you hear the one about the Georgian Ministers?

Mikhail Saakashvili, president of Georgia, has ordered those ministers of his goverment that have never served on active duty in the army to undergo and pass 2 months of military training with army reservists. Every minister must wear the uniform, be able to use a machine gun, and run ten kilometers or be sacked.

In the past, those who could afford it, would simply bribe their way out of military service. But now, that's just not part of the equation in the new Georgia.

Saakashvili has considerable problems in Georgia which may compel him to use military force, although he says that he hopes to avoid it. For one thing, much to Russia's displeasure, he's been trying to reunify the country after more than a decade of Moscow's meddling. And logically, it seems that if Georgia's leadership plans to order its children into battle, the leadership should, at the very least, be personally acquainted with serving in the military.

According to Eurasia Net:

Policy-makers in Russia are apprehensively monitoring developments in Georgia. For over a decade, Moscow often used its leverage in Abkhazia, Ajaria and South Ossetia to ensure Tbilisi’s general loyalty to Russian security interests in the Caucasus. Saakashvili’s rise to power and his ability to topple one of the Kremlin’s pawns – former Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze – has caused a dramatic change in the political calculus governing Russian-Georgian relations. Russian officials and experts now worry that a strengthening central government in Tbilisi is causing Russia’s strategic position in the Caucasus to erode.

This is potentially an even greater problem for Tbilisi than the current seperatist situation. The Georgians have in the past complained about actual Russian troop incursions. Destabilizing Georgia continues to be very much in Moscow's interests.

The US, of course, is equally interested in Georgia and was instrumental in helping to bring about Saakashvili's Rose Revolution. On May 18th, 2004, U.S. State Department issued the report: "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U. S. Record 2003-2004" which details the U.S. assistance provided to Georgia for both the January election and the subsequent parliamentary elections. Aid included training for new election-commission members, a get-out-the-vote campaign, exit polling, and voter marking. It also continued support to NGOs promoting human rights, religious freedom, and anticorruption efforts in Georgia. Furthermore, the US has actively trained, armed and supplied the Georgian army.

It is thanks to the official support described in the report, as well as the more covert support that everyone suspects, that Saakashvili was swept into the Presidential office. To the genuine benefit of the Georgian people, it seems that the US training was valuable and he learned well. He is agressively pursuing anti-corruption policies. He understands that you don't send children off to battle without knowing something about battle yourself. Mr. Bush, perhaps the teacher should now be learning from the student.