abkhazia and south ossetia in the east. russia decided to recognize each of those places as their own count country. you don t become your own country by saying that you are. ask taiwan. if you want to be your own country, other countries have to see you that way as well. that s why taiwan was will to pay vanuatu and why russia has the same problem when it comes to these two countries it wanted to create inside georgia. russia wanted to create these two countries so russia recognized them. then they said, okay, south ossetia, you recognize abkhazia. abkhazia, you recognize ossetia. somebody call vanuatu. it was 2011 by the time russia was shopping around the world for microcountries it might be able to persuade to recognize the two fake new countries it had invented inside georgia. vanuatu for a while was happy to go along with the russians plan. we don t know what russia
china, all of places, mad at you. you know what, $30 million is $30 million. if you re the kind of country that cycles through prime ministers every few hours, that gives you a way to unburn your bridges in cases like this. yeah, vanuatu made china mad at them, but when the prime minister who made that decision got thrown out of office, just a month later vanuatu reversed the policy, making up with china, hopefully pocketing the old hard taiwanese cash. whatever you think of a country diplomatically prostituting itself like this, it s one way to make money and opportunities like this araise from time to time. four years after the china/taiwan deal, cha-ching, russia was trying to create two new countries inside the nation of georgia. you ll remember that vladimir putin in 2008 invaded georgia. russia and georgia went to war for about a week. there are pro-russia local governmentses in these two places inside georgia in
even more inflammatory to the international community. just unilaterally annexing new territory. but it s an action that saves them from the vanuatu-style international humiliation they just went through a few years ago. i wonder if that means they re learning. joining us now, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel who has been reporting from ukraine recently. richard, great to see you. i love that you blurred the videos. they dive off the towers naked except for wearing gourds. yes. there s gourds, leaf action. this is the only time i think there s been any broadcast on any television network where you re talking about vanuatu and abkhazia in the same sentence. but it ends up being, i think, part of the calculation that russia must be making here. this referendum, everybody knew there was going to be some sort of referendum staged in crimea in terms of how to try to normalize the russian invasion. did you know or should we have expected it would be to annex them in
russia wanted to create these two countries so russia recognized them. then they said, okay, south ossetia, you recognize abkhazia. abkhazia, you recognize ossetia. somebody call vanuatu. it was 2011 by the time russia was shopping around the world for micro countries it might be able to persuade to recognize the two fake new countries it had invented inside georgia. vanuatu for a while was happy to go along with the russians plan. we don t know what russia offered to pay to them, but in may 2011, vanuatu s foreign minister announced his nation was prepared to recognize the independent nation of abkhazia. a few days later, vanuatu s ambassador to the united nations said, no, that s not true, we don t recognize this abkhazia
offered to pay to them, but in may 2011, vanuatu s foreign minister announced his nation was prepared to recognize the independent nation of abkhazia. a few days later, vanuatu s ambassador to the united nations said, no, that s not true, we don t recognize this abkhazia thing as an independent nation. no, that was a misunderstanding. a few days after that vanuatu s foreign minister insisted in this youtube video, yeah, there had been a misunderstanding but are totally going to recognize abkhazia. are we going to do that? i wish to reaffirm vanuatu s recognition of the republic of abkhazia. vanuatu conducts an open foreign policy and is amongst members of the international community in eradicating colonialism from the