Joe Biden, avec sa clique autour de lui, avait, en G\u00e9orgie, \u00e0 faire face \u00e0 un redoutable probl\u00e8me: comment refuser sans para\u00eetre refuser les armes \u00e9videmment d\u00e9fensives que Misha<\/em> Saakachvili ne manquerait pas de lui demander, comme il l’avait annonc\u00e9. Ainsi a-t-on pu assister \u00e0 un savant exercice de communication o\u00f9 les diff\u00e9rents mensonges \u00e0 facettes multiples se sont succ\u00e9d\u00e9s pour induire la pens\u00e9e vers des conclusions in\u00e9vitables. Pendant ce temps, les Russes martelaient qu’ils prendraient des mesures au cas o\u00f9 la G\u00e9orgie serait r\u00e9arm\u00e9e, de fa\u00e7on \u00e0 continuer \u00e0 faire peser sur les amis US une amicale et attentive pression. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t Ainsi avons-nous eu une premi\u00e8re version, venue sur AP et que nous rapportons sur notre F&C<\/em> de ce 24 juillet 2009<\/a>. La chose va de cette fa\u00e7on:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abGeorgia’s president asked U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday for advanced U.S. weaponry, military aid and unarmed observers to monitor a cease-fire along the boundaries of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions, a senior U.S. official said. Biden made no promises of any U.S. military assistance, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Georgia specifically asked for anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, he said.<\/em> []<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbBiden emphasized to President Mikhail Saakashvili that military force should not be used to retake control of the two breakaway regions at the center of last year’s war with Russia, and warned against taking any actions that could provoke a Russian military response, the official said. The vice president knows Saakashvili well and felt comfortable speaking very bluntly with him, the official said.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t Deux heures plus tard, ce m\u00eame 23 juillet 2009<\/a>, nous e\u00fbmes une deuxi\u00e8me version, \u00e9galement d’AP; apr\u00e8s tout, cette continuit\u00e9 de source fait que la rectification coule de source, si l’on veut, et cela pourrait marquer sans aucun doute que la premi\u00e8re version \u00e9tait la bonne, celle qu’on ne veut pas trop voir accr\u00e9dit\u00e9e et qui disait que les USA avaient simplement refus\u00e9 la demande g\u00e9orgienne. Cette fois, pour faire plus s\u00e9rieux, l’officiel US prit un nom et un visage, bien que la r\u00e9daction de la d\u00e9p\u00eache voul\u00fbt laisser croire que c’\u00e9tait l’officiel en chef venant rectifier une bourde de son subordonn\u00e9. En fait, il suffisait d’annoncer que l’\u00e9v\u00e9nement rapport\u00e9 et d\u00e9taill\u00e9, en r\u00e9alit\u00e9 n’avait pas eu lieu.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abBiden’s national security adviser Tony Blinken and a senior Georgian adviser denied that Saakashvili had asked Biden for anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons and U.S. participation in an EU observer mission along its border with the disputed regions. The U.S. official who had told that to reporters earlier Thursday said later he had spoken in error.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbSaakashvili has previously expressed a strong interest in acquiring U.S. weapons as he seeks to rebuild his military after the war, and Georgian officials in recent days have said they wanted the U.S. to join the observer mission.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbBut Blinken said the Georgians have not formally requested heavy weapons, and that the EU has not invited U.S. participation in the mission. Blinken did not rule out the U.S. providing either after a formal request.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n