Former Commanding General of United States Army Europe, Ben Hodges, believes that in the light of the events in Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia should be invited to join NATO.
In his letter published at "EUObserver", Hodges states that the West had failed to fully and consistently compete in all areas of the Greater Black Sea region, including the South Caucasus, leading to a resumption of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"We yielded the initiative to the Kremlin and so today we are on the sidelines, observing the result.
Let's build new, stronger relationships with Armenia and Azerbaijan, reinforce our long-standing alliance with Turkey, and strengthen our presence in Georgia, to include infrastructure there for the US air force and navy.
We should also extend an invitation to Georgia to immediately join Nato.
The West must compete in the Southern Caucasus while we still have the opportunity, if we want to prevent great-power conflict", - reads the letter.