Posted on July 4, 2009 - by Venik
U.S. Congressional Junkets: Who's Number 1, Russia or Georgia?
Congressional trips abroad paid for by U.S. taxpayers have increased 50% since 2006 and tripled since 2001, according to The Wall Street Journal
Russia and Georgia are in the news again this week before President Obama’s first visit to Moscow. But the rumors of war in the Caucasus being promoted by certain U.S. pundits should probably take a backseat to a report published by The Wall Street Journal on American Congressional trips to the two countries. Accordng to the WSJ, last year Russia was the 10th most popular foreign destination for Congressional delegations funded by the American taxpayer. Georgia trailed as the 13th most popular destination, but still didn’t do too badly, considering that it is a small country in the Caucasus with barely four million people. Not surprisingly, France, Switzerland, Germany, and the United Kingdom were well ahead, with only Kuwait, China and Israel proving exceptions to the overall Euro-Atlantic (and perhaps taxpayer funded Alpine skiing and wine and cheese tasting) bias.
Popularity: unranked [?]
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- Georgia’s olive branch, Russia’s call | Giorgi Badridze
- Russia and Georgia set to share blame for South Ossetia conflict
- Georgia’s fine, lofty, useless strategy | Georgia Hewitt
- US embassy cables: Russia ‘armed’ separatist rebels ahead of Georgia war
