When Mr Shevardnadze goes, will they want someone friendlier to Moscow?That will depend partly on how Georgia fares in future confrontations.
Over in Georgia, the U.S. has quietly told President Saakashvili not to expect too much American support in future confrontations with Moscow.
If these generals can quickly link up with the FSA's leadership they could help them improve their attacks and reveal valuable information on the regime, offering them the edge in future confrontations. .
The package includes dozens of fighter jets, which could be used in any future confrontation with a nuclear-armed Iran.An American hiker was freed by Iran after a year in jail.
A bigger navy will give India the means with which to defend its own expanding energy imports and perhaps to exert leverage in a future confrontation by threatening China's.
Some conservative Japan experts in Washington have even warned of a more independent Tokyo becoming reluctant to support the United States in a future confrontation with China over such issues as Taiwan, or even to continue hosting the some 50,000 American military personnel now based in Japan.
"They are closing the qualitative gap," said the outgoing head of the home front command, Major-General Eyal Eizenberg, warning darkly that, in any future confrontation, Hizbullah would launch "between 1,000 and 1,500 rockets daily".Hizbullah has long cast itself as the leading force of resistance against Israel, but it is now fighting fellow Arabs in Syria and Iraq.
The Qassam Brigades declined a Guardian request for an interview, but last month a military leader going by the name of Abu Hamza told the Hamas-linked al-Khaleej Online: "In any future confrontation, Israelis will be surprised by the strength and solidity of these tunnels, which can withstand Israeli shelling and concussion bombs fired by the Israeli aircraft or tanks".
These reasons, coupled with Israel's unquestioned military ability to defend itself in any future confrontation, make Israel's continued argument for national security less valid.
Presence of large population of wildlife in the region (WRI et al. 2007) and widespread crop raiding by elephants within small-scale cultivated farms in Southern Laikipia (Graham 2006) are warnings of escalating future confrontations.
So grand-bargain negotiations are, in practice, just an attempt to create facts on the ground for future confrontations, not a good-faith effort to secure the nation's fiscal future.
