TODAY: Georgia hoping for US backing on monitoring against ‘enemy’ Russia, promises reforms in advance of Biden’s arrival.  Medvedev asserts arms talks to continue with US; CIS summit sign of waning influence?  Medvedev has signed NGO law.

President Medvedev has affirmed that Russia will continue arms negotiations with Washington, describing his recent meeting with Obama as ‘long expected, but not an easy one‘, but ‘as a minimum, the conversation is going on’.  Georgia is reportedly hoping that the US will join the EU’s efforts to monitor the border of the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to prevent aggression from Russian forces.  According to the Washington Post, with US Vice President Joe Biden about to touch down in Georgia, President Mikheil Saakashvili has made promises of democratic reforms such as a direct mayoral elections and an opposition TV channel, in order to encourage backing from the US.  An editorial piece in the New York Times describes the open letter from former eastern European leaders to Barack Obama as ‘remarkable breach of convention.’  ‘This letter should be a wake-up call for the Obama administration‘ says a commentator in the Telegraph.