GEORGIA: FIGHTING RAGES IN S. OSSETIA, RUSSIAN TANKS HEAD FOR BATTLE

[ConcordeWarrior]

I have not gone through the whole thread I am not sure if this was posted before.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=67317&sectionid=351020606

Russia: Georgia set for another attack
Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:18:56 GMT

Georgia's independence-leaning republics are to come under Georgian onslaught, high-ranking Russian military official has revealed.
Russia's Deputy Chief of Staff, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said "We have registered an increase in [Georgia's] reconnaissance activities and preparations for armed actions in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone," Ria Novosti reported Friday.

[gabba2k7]

Georgia set for another attack

Indirect proofs
•speeches of georgian authorities (f.e. of the minister of reintegration, or Saakashvilly asking for military help in a purpose of "defence", etc.)
•NATO-members and USA "humanitarian" and other help
•georgia forces are not disband. and they are not decreasing...

+5 USA hammers with armed georgians have been detained some time ago. USA ambassadors in Russia are trying to return the cars o_0.


PS: Nogovitsyn gives interview every day in Moscow press centr.

[jassy]

This is a timebomb. This is how world wars start. Probably the intention. Prod the russian bear and the chinese dragon. Throw Syria into the mix and send US ships in irans vicinity.  Its just begging to explode.
I watched the World at War series. Even with the propaganda and lies it was a horrific war.
Are enough of us informed not to fall for the War games again? I pray we are.

[gabba2k7]

its all america fault 

maybe there are will be the times when all mad psychopaths/fanatics, pragmatical egoistical geo-strategists, military-industrial magnats will loose their power or lives

[ConcordeWarrior]

This is a timebomb. This is how world wars start. Probably the intention. Prod the russian bear and the chinese dragon. Throw Syria into the mix and send US ships in irans vicinity.  Its just begging to explode.

While all the sheep crowds are asleep, I think there is something cooking. If it breaks out, chances are that very few of us will survive. The internet will be cut off anyway. My feeling is that it's not a matter of "if" but rather "when".

Maybe they are waiting for the Olympics to be over and then they will provoke some cover-up event to give them an excuse?

I am not too sure about this person's opinion but it makes for a good read.

http://www.rense.com/general83/match.htm

[bigron]

The Saakashvili Experiment

By Ramzy Baroud

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20592.htm

22/08/08 "ICH " -- -- Just as the world's attention was focussed on China's Beijing Olympics, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, on 7 August, invaded the tiny breakaway province of South Ossetia. The initial attack on the South Ossetian capital, Tskninvali, soon extended to an all out war, which eventually invited Russia's wrath, and the death of thousands of innocent civilians on both sides.

Prior to Saakashvili's war, little was known about the political specifics of that area and the brewing decades-long territorial disputes which date back to the early 20th century, highlighted during an intense civil war that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union and its satellite states. Georgia's successful secession from the Soviet grip, understandably, inspired independence fervour in ethnic regions within Georgia. The small region of South Ossetia -- majority ethnic Russians and minority Georgians -- sought to join the North Ossetian province, which remained part of Russia. Another region was Abkhazia, whose protracted fight with the central Georgian government has also provoked much violence.

The fact that South Ossetia belongs to Georgia was hardly contested. Even Russia has long recognised Georgian sovereignty in that region. Russia, nonetheless, remained largely involved in South Ossetia -- mostly as a "peacekeeping force", rationalising such involvement as essential for the national security of the country and the safety of its citizens. Most South Ossentians -- like Abkhazians -- hold Russian citizenship.

But setting such rationale aside, the fact is that South Ossetia is an important component in Russian foreign policy, and particularly its policy and attitude towards former Soviet republics and satellite states in Eastern Europe. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War was transformed into a political scramble: the US and NATO expanded their boundaries of influence and territorial outreach, while Russia struggled to maintain a level of influence and halt the encroachment of the US-led NATO.

Georgia, situated strategically between Russia, the Black Sea, Turkey and Iran, deserved due attention. The US became keenly interested in ensuring the inclusion of Georgia into its sphere of influence. Through dedicated efforts, a pro-Western leader, Saakashvili, came to power through a highly televised "Rose Revolution". While the integrity of the elections that followed and the role of the CIA in concocting and ensuring the success of the "revolution" are still intensely debated, the fact is Georgia fell into a new sphere of influence. Saakashvili is a man desperate for European-US validation. He too sought NATO membership and heedlessly invited Israeli military "specialists" to modernise his country's armed forces in anticipation of a battle with Russia.

Evidently, Georgia's leader knew well that a victory against Russia was unattainable. By embarking on a war against a tiny province, because, as he claimed, he ran out of patience, Saakashvili was following a script that was hardly of his own writing. The logic behind the war was to test Russia's resolve, and the readiness of its newest president, Dmitri Medvedev. A hesitant Russian response would be taken as another sign of weakness or lack of political and military decisiveness in Moscow, which might also inspire more such experiments. Too harsh a response could also be decried as "genocide" and war crimes and could be exploited to compel Russia's weaker neighbours to seek the protection of NATO.

This is what indeed transpired since Russia called off military actions 13 August.

First, leaders of pro-US countries in the region -- namely, Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia -- attended a rally in support of Georgia's Saakashvili on 14 August in Tbilisi. The televised event was accompanied by a flood of experts pedalling Russia's evil intents to the world media while promoting a larger US role to ensure the independence of these nations and to preserve their fragile democracies. "They're all seriously worried that it's Georgia today and one of them tomorrow," surmised Krzysztof Bobinski, director of the Warsaw-based Unia & Polska Foundation.

Second, the Russian response to Georgia's war in South Ossetia has resulted in a remarkable breakthrough in negotiations between the US and East European countries regarding the Bush administration's plans for a new missile defence shield. On 14 August, "Poland and the US signed a deal to build a controversial missile defence shield in Eastern Europe," reported the British Telegraph newspaper. "The agreement highlights how Russia's invasion of Georgia has prompted a swift reappraisal of the region's security and alliances. The US and Poland have been talking about the missile shield for a year but rushed to cement their alliance in the wake of this week's conflict."

It's rather interesting how a controversial and unpopular plan that has raised the ire of the Polish people -- 70 per cent of the country is against it -- was overcome within days of war and is now embraced as a necessary deterrent. One cannot help but question the relationship between the decision to invade South Ossetia, which was certain to compel some Russian response, and the rush to embrace Bush's military designs in that region. The plan to place missiles in Poland seemed like a resounding failure as late as last month when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "tried and failed just before leaving for Europe on Monday [7 July] to seal a deal to place missiles in Poland, the State Department said," according to CNN. Now Poland is all for it. It return, Poland would receive US assistance in overhauling its military, reminiscent of the Israeli-US efforts in aiding Georgia's military, which emboldened the latter to pursue war with Russia.

While Russia's decisive response to Saakashvili's war may have temporarily reaffirmed Russia's military readiness, it has already provided the needed justification for greater US-NATO intervention in Georgia, Poland, the Czech Republic and elsewhere. That US presence might be welcomed by the unnerved "democratic" leaders of these states but it will pique the fury of Russia, whose political radars are intercepting the Bush administration's every move in the region with great alarm.

The ceasefire between Russia and Georgia, achieved through French mediation, will hardly be the end of the new Cold War underway in an area too accustomed to cold wars. The fact is that Russia will fight to break away from the pro- US ring of former Soviet states that promise to undermine its influence in a Eurasia, and the US will do its utmost to maintain a level of tension, if not hostilities in the region, for without it neither a missile shield nor the 270 billion barrels of oil in the Caspian basin can be brought within Washington's reach.

-Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London).

[Brocke]

Russian security source says Georgia planned attack year ahead

23/08/2008 17:12 MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia planned the military operation against its breakaway republic of South Ossetia a year in advance, a source in one of Russia's security bodies said Saturday.

The source also told RIA Novosti that the operation was coordinated with NATO's plans to strengthen its naval presence in the Black Sea.

"The statements of some NATO representatives that the maneuvers of the alliance's ships in the Black Sea were planned a year ago are evidence that attacks on South Ossetia and Abkhazia were planned earlier, maybe even last year," the source said.

A NATO representative earlier said that the three-week deployment - which includes stops at Romanian and Bulgarian ports - was planned at least a year ago, well before the conflict in Georgia.

Already under strain due to NATO's courting of Ukraine and Georgia, and over U.S. missile defense plans in Eastern Europe, relations between the alliance and Russia have frayed badly since Georgia's attack on South Ossetia and Russia's subsequent military operation.

In the opinion of the source, NATO's buildup of naval force in the Black Sea under the cover of providing humanitarian aid to Georgia, sets a dangerous precedent and may sharply destabilize the situation in the region.

Speaking Friday at RIA Novosti news conference, the deputy chief of the Russian military's general staff expressed doubts whether it is necessary to have NATO vessels in the Black Sea delivering humanitarian aid to Georgia.

"Now that the conflict [with South Ossetia] is exhausted, there are NATO vessels [in the Black Sea]. What for and with what aim?" Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said.

He also said Russia would reply swiftly to all provocations against its Black Sea Fleet.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080823/116236332.html

[Wanted]

Georgian Civilians Tell of Miserable Conditions as War Captives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/23/AR2008082301944.html?hpid=moreheadlines


RUSTAVI, Georgia, Aug. 23 -- Georgian civilians captured and recently freed by Russian and South Ossetian forces on Saturday described beatings, forced labor and miserable living conditions in prison.

Georgian officials said that 79 Georgian civilians have been released over the past few days but that at least 75 civilians, almost all of them young men, remain in captivity in Tskhinvali, capital of the separatist territory of South Ossetia.

The former prisoners, half a dozen of whom were interviewed at a school serving as temporary housing in this industrial city, said they were seized from their homes or as they fled advancing Russian and South Ossetian forces. Some said they were held for as many as 12 days at a jail in Tskhinvali.

The detainees, many of them elderly fruit farmers from villages along Georgia's northern border, said male inmates were forced to clean streets and bury the war dead, and occasionally endured beatings that left them with bruises and welts. More than 100 men and women were packed into a cell with a single toilet, they said.

"I thought they would kill us. I was very much afraid," said Manuna Gogidze, 48.

Gogidze said she and 15 others were forced out of her neighbor's cellar on Aug. 8 and lined up against a wall. A South Ossetian militiaman was pointing a cocked rifle at them when another fighter intervened, she said. They were then loaded into a truck and taken north.

The inmates' stories could not be independently verified, though people interviewed separately gave consistent accounts. South Ossetian and Russian officials have in the past denied abusing Georgian detainees. A Kremlin spokesman, who would not give his name, said only that prisoners held by the South Ossetians were treated according to "acceptable standards." A spokesman for the South Ossetian government could not be reached for comment.

The conflict began Aug. 7 when Georgian forces invaded disputed South Ossetia and Russian forces swiftly pushed them back, seizing as much as a third of Georgian land. Despite Russia's withdrawal Friday from broad swaths of Georgian territory, major issues remain, such as the continued presence of Russian forces in Georgia, the future of South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- another section of Georgia seeking independence -- and the return of prisoners captured during the war.

Saturday also brought renewed warnings of further military conflict, as Georgian soldiers, ordered to bases outside the combat zone after being forced from South Ossetia by Russian forces two weeks ago, returned to the frontline Georgian city of Gori, which the Russians abandoned a day earlier.

With Russian troops stationed just a few miles north, it was the closest the two armed forces had come to each other since a cease-fire was reached more than a week ago.

"Georgian units are concentrated in the central part of the republic and are preparing for further actions," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the Russian general staff, said at a Saturday briefing. "Georgian special forces are setting up arms caches, in order, among other things, to carry out provocations on the territory of South Ossetia and neighboring districts."

Georgian officials denied any desire for further fighting. 'This is a false accusation trying to smoke-screen their military presence," said Alexander Lomaia, head of Georgia's National Security Council. "I categorically deny any regrouping of our troops."



Didnt feel like posting the second page follow the link please.

[Brocke]

War photographer laid to rest
August 20, 2008, 14:19

During the five days of severe fighting the Georgia-South Ossetia military confrontation claimed the lives not only of troops and civilians, but media workers as well. At least four journalists were killed and more than ten injured during the conflict.

No parent should have to bury their own child. But it was the only thing Yulia Klimchuk prayed for. Her son Aleksandr was killed in the first days of the Georgian assault. And if it wasn't for his colleagues in Russia, his Georgian family might never have recovered his body.

Aleksandr was a photographer for the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. Based in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, he often covered tensions between Georgia and its breakaway republic.

His colleague Elena Munusova recalled that they would often ask him to take some shots of Tbilisi, but he would say: "No, I prefer working in news, making political reports". He liked to work in extreme spots.

When Georgia launched its ground incursion into South Ossetia, Aleksandr and his colleague Gigi Chikhladze were travelling with the Georgian troops. Nobody knows for sure what happened to them.

Sergey Uzakov, also a photographer for ITAR-TASS, said: “Doctors can't tell me how they died. I was only told their bodies were picked up on the road by Russian troops and delivered here, to Tskhinvali morgue. But it’s very mysterious.”

Sergey identified the body and promised Yulia that she would have a chance to bury her son. With the help of other journalists stationed in Tskhinvali he found two metal coffins and drove them across the border into Georgia.

“Other journalists have joined us here. Our friends from AP, Reuters, France Press, and Time are here now and we all see it as our duty to complete this,” Uzakov said.

Oleg Panfilov from the Center for Extreme Journalism says that the “working conditions for journalists were terrible. Of all the war conflicts in the post-Soviet space and the Balkans, this was the worst time for journalists.”

But other photographers who have been working in the conflict zone say all wars are the same. And in the midst of death and destruction there's always a place for self-sacrifice and professional brotherhood.

http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/29251

[Wanted]

U.S. navy arrives in Georgia
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080824/wl_nm/georgia_ossetia_dc


BATUMI, Georgia (Reuters) - A U.S. navy warship delivered humanitarian aid on Sunday for victims of Georgia's brief war with Russia while Moscow ignored Western demands to pull its remaining troops from the Caucasus country's heartland.

Russia says residual troops are peacekeepers needed to avert further bloodshed and to protect Georgia's separatist, pro-Moscow provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Moscow withdrew the bulk of its forces from core Georgia on Friday.

But in a sign of simmering tensions, a fuel train exploded on Georgia's main east-west rail line on Sunday near the central town of Gori after hitting a landmine, according to Georgian officials. A huge plume of black smoke climbed into the sky.

Georgia's Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze told Reuters the damaged rail link was vital to the economy of Georgia and its neighbors, and Azeri officials said oil cargoes were being held up at the Georgian border following the explosion.

The Russia-Georgia conflict erupted on August 7-8 when Tbilisi tried to retake South Ossetia. A Russian counter-offensive pushed into Georgia proper, crossing its main east-west highway and nearing a Western-backed oil pipeline from Azerbaijan.

Russian troops also moved into Western Georgia from Abkhazia, another breakaway region on the Black Sea. Hundreds of people were killed, tens of thousands displaced and housing and infrastructure wrecked in the fighting.

A Reuters reporter in Batumi, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the port of Poti where Russian troops are still present, saw a giant crane unload 55 tons of aid from the USS McFaul.

Two other U.S. ships were due to follow the guided missile destroyer to the port. The United States, a strong ally of Georgia, has already delivered some aid by military cargo plane but is now shipping in beds and food.

"The United States is our great friend. They have arrived at such a difficult time. It means we are not alone," Georgian Defence Minister David Kezerashvili told reporters in Batumi.

TRADE ROUTE

The United States and Europe fear the continued Russian presence in Georgia will cement the country's ethnic partition, undermine President Mikheil Saakashvili's pro-Western government and threaten vital energy pipelines criss-crossing the country.

Russia's action has also unnerved other ex-Soviet republics.

In a clear swipe at Moscow, Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko said on Sunday his country -- home to a large ethnic Russian population -- must boost its defenses and speed up its efforts to join NATO.

Russia sees the ex-Soviet republics as part of its legitimate sphere of influence and opposes their NATO bids, but the U.S. envoy to the Caucasus said Russia had inadvertently helped Georgia's bid for NATO membership with its actions.

In Georgia, the West is particularly worried about a Russian checkpoint set up at the port of Poti, which lies outside the security zone Russia says is covered by its peacekeeping mandate and is hundreds of kilometers from South Ossetia.

"Putting up permanent facilities and checkpoints are inconsistent with the (ceasefire) agreement," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Underscoring the potential for renewed violence, Russian soldiers manning a checkpoint on the road between Zugdidi and Senaki in western Georgia fired shots in the air to disperse a protest by angry residents. No injuries were reported.

Russia has deployed its "peacekeepers" at a series of posts in the Poti area and also in a buffer zone outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia, saying they are allowed under the terms of a French-brokered ceasefire deal. But France urged Moscow on Saturday to order its forces out of Poti as soon as possible.

Though not Georgia's busiest port for oil, Poti can load up to 100,000 barrels per day of oil products, which arrive by rail from Azerbaijan. It is also the gateway for merchandise moving to Georgia, other Caucasus republics and Central Asia.

BUFFER ZONE

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said he and Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev had agreed on Saturday on the need for an international mechanism under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to replace Russian patrols in a buffer zone south of South Ossetia.

In a conflicting account, the Kremlin said replacing Russian peacekeepers was not discussed. Russia has earlier said South Ossetians and Abkhazians would only accept Russian peacekeepers.

Pope Benedict urged Russia and Georgia on Sunday to keep their promises to resolve the crisis peacefully.

Despite repeated demands for a complete Russian pullback to positions before the conflict, the West lacks leverage over a resurgent Russia whose oil and gas it sorely needs.

U.S. officials have said the conflict could affect Russia's membership in the Group of Eight industrialized nations and its bid to join the World Trade Organisation.

[Avers]

U.S. navy arrives in Georgia
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080824/wl_nm/georgia_ossetia_dc

What a nice excuse to get a Tomahawk capable platform that close to the region. Wonder what the other two ships turn out to be, maybe a nuclear submarine? Should be able to carry loads of other 'humanitarian aid', plenty of room in those missile tubes 

[Aerioch]

Would Putin calling for your removal make you nervous?  Ask Saakashvili...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=09a_1218873426

[revolt426]

Lyndon LaRouche Interviewed on Russia Today. Lays out what really happened in Georgia and the potential for WW3.


http://www.russiatoday.com/guests/video/1478

[Boubear]

Georgia gathering its troops near the border with South Ossetia
August 24, 2008, 15:15

Meanwhile, the Georgian side has been gathering its troops and heavy military hardware near the border with South Ossetia.

Irina Gagloyeva, Head of the South Ossetia Committee for Information, said last night that Georgians had fired upon neighbouring villages forcing the local population to leave their houses.

"The area where Georgian troops are concentrated in is situated around 70 km from the capital Tskhinvali. It's a mountainous region where it's hard to operate and there are no Russian peacekeeping troops stationed there," Gagloyeva said.

http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/29415

[David Rothscum]

I need your help. Could someone find the source of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5HXiQwUl7s
I can't find it.

[lord edward coke]

Lyndon LaRouche Interviewed on Russia Today. Lays out what really happened in Georgia and the potential for WW3.


http://www.russiatoday.com/guests/video/1478

sorry if this was covered, but i have not read the entire thread.   but ,on April,6 2008 , bush pimped
a ''strategic framework declaration'' with Russia. offering all sorts of incentives for Russia if they would simply ''play nice''   it seems Putin would not fall for unfulfilled ''promise'' down the road. while the u.s. puppetmasters thought the carrot dangling b4 russia would be suffice to hold of russia's enthusiastic defense.
 http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/53567.html

[gabba2k7]

there is some info. that georgia can prepare attack on Abhazia.

maybe thats why there is humanitarian help from USA cauze there is no georgian civil needs in it...

[Sasha]

Explosion severs Azerbaijan-Georgia-Europe fuel railway link

DEBKAfile Special Report
August 24, 2008,
11:20 PM (GMT+02:00)
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5530


The train hit a mine Sunday, Aug. 24 at the village of Skra, 5 km west of Gori, on the main track of the railway line linking Eastern and Western Georgia – a vital trade route for oil exports from Azerbaijan to European markets.

Responsibility for the sabotage has not been determined. The blast deals a serious blow to Georgia’s efforts to recover from its ten-day war over South Ossetia in the face of the continuing Russian military presence.

Georgian officials suggested Russian forces which pulled out of the area two days ago left a road mine on the railroad.

Azerbaijan restored its oil consignments via Georgia only two days ago; their interruption during the fighting robbed the Saakasvhili government of valuable revenue, which the attack has suspended again.

In another development Sunday, the guided missile destroyer USS McFaul docked at the Georgian port of Batumi carrying supplies such as blankets, hygiene kits and baby food. Two more US ships are due to dock later this week.

The American vessels were supposed originally to put in at the Black Sea port of Poti, 80 km to the north, but changed direction to avoid meeting Russian troops who are fortifying their positions at Poti further up the coast.

Russia says it entitled to keep its forces in a buffer zone around the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, citing the truce and other international agreements as covering unspecified “additional security measures,” over and above their pre-conflict positions. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Moscow claims, approved the buffer zones which they organized before the ceasefire was signed (as revealed by DEBKAfile on Aug. 17)

Russia acknowledges that Poti is outside the ceasefire’s terms and its peacekeeping mandate.

Saturday, the Russian missile cruiser Moskva returned to its base in Ukraine. DEBKAfile reported on Aug. 20 from official Russian sources that the warship was part of a large flotilla heading for the Mediterranean port of Tartus in Syria.

The defense ministry in Moscow later detached the Moskva from the contingent and sent it back to the Black Sea.

[Wanted]

Bush presses Russia not to recognize Georgia regions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/25/AR2008082502072.html

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - The White House on Monday pressed Russia not to recognize Georgia's rebel areas and said Vice President Dick Cheney, an staunch critic of Moscow, would visit the region to show U.S. support for former Soviet states.

President George W. Bush said Georgia's borders must be respected after the Russian parliament called on the Kremlin to recognize two separatist regions -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- as independent states.

"I call on Russia's leadership to meet its commitments and not recognize these separatist regions," Bush said.

"Georgia's territorial integrity and borders must command the same respect as every other nation's, including Russia's," he said in a statement from his Texas ranch.

Russia and Georgia, which hosts two major energy pipelines, fought a brief war this month after Tbilisi sent troops to try to retake South Ossetia, a pro-Moscow region that threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s.

Russia responded with a massive counter-attack that overwhelmed Georgia's military, and then sent troops into Georgia proper, where some of them remain.

The push by Russia's parliament to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia followed U.S. recognition of Kosovo's independence from Serbia in February over strenuous objection from Moscow.

Moscow has withdrawn most of its forces from central and western Georgia and says those still in place are peacekeepers needed to avert bloodshed and protect the breakaway regions.

But Georgia and Western governments say Moscow has not complied with a French-brokered ceasefire agreement to pull its troops back to lines held before the start of fighting.

"There continues to be a large presence of Russian forces in Georgia," U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. "It's fair to say that they are still not living up to the terms of the ceasefire agreement."

Officials from the Group of Seven (G-7) industrialized nations spoke on Monday and agreed the Russian withdrawal was "inadequate," the U.S. State Department said.

Georgia and the West also object to the scale of the Russian-imposed buffer zone adjoining the two rebel regions, which hands Moscow pressure points on key oil and trade routes through Georgia to the Black Sea.

Cheney, who in the past accused Moscow of blackmailing its neighbors, will to go to Georgia in September to show U.S. commitment to the small but vital U.S. ally, the White House said. Cheney will also visit Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy during the trip.

"The Vice President will be delivering ... the word of America's support, and also consulting on how these leaders in the region see the future playing out," White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters in Texas.

His trip comes as the Bush administration considers what steps it might take against Moscow, which has largely ignored Western demands since the conflict began.

The administration was considering what to do about a recently signed deal on civilian nuclear cooperation with Moscow that Bush sent to Congress earlier this year, the State Department said.

 

Asked whether the administration would withdraw the agreement, Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control John Rood said: "That's something that obviously we are going to have to evaluate, given the current situation. I don't have any announcements on that one way or another."

In Moscow, a Russian nuclear official said the Bush administration should withdraw the accord to prevent it being blocked by the current Congress. Key U.S. lawmakers have cast doubt on the pact's prospects after the war in Georgia.

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's running mate and head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said recently that Russia's actions had "erased" the possibility of legislative efforts to promote the nuclear deal.

The pact is required under U.S. law before countries can cooperate on nuclear materials, such as storing spent fuel or working together on advanced reactor programs.

It goes into force later this year unless Congress votes to block it -- or adjourns for the year     
before lawmakers have had 90 legislative days to review it.

[Biggs]

TOO LATE, RUSSIA IS CLEARLY TAKING REVENGE FOR THE NATO/EU RECOGNITION OF KOSOVAN UNILATERAL INDEPENDENCE

Russia recognizes Georgian rebel regions

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/26/russia.vote.georgia/index.html

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia's president said Tuesday he has signed an order recognizing the independence of two Georgian breakaway provinces, a move likely to increase tensions with the West over the conflict in the region.

Russia President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and S. Ossetia.

Dmitry Medvedev blamed Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, for forcing his hand by launching a military assault South Ossetia rebels, triggering a major invasion by Russia's military.

"This is not an easy choice but this is the only opportunity to preserve the lives of the people," Medvedev said, according to a translation from Russia Today.

Medvedev called on other countries to follow Russia's lead. He signed the order a day after it was overwhelmingly approved by both houses of Russia's parliament.

A unanimous vote on Monday by both houses of Russia's parliament in favor of recognizing South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia, as independent has already drawn international condemnation.Watch rebel leaders seek statehood

That vote was rejected by Saakashvili, who called it an attempt by Russia to "justify the occupation" by its forces, which remain in parts of Georgia.

U.S. President George W. Bush Monday urged Russia not to recognize the regions' independence, saying he was "deeply concerned" by the move.

Russian troops invaded South Ossetia on August 8, saying it needed to protect its citizens living in the territory, which borders the Russian administered region of North Ossetia.

Both sides have accused the other of creating scores of civilian casualties before an cease-fire was brokered, calling for the withdrawal of Russian forces from deep inside Georgian territory.

Western nations have expressed support for Georgia, which aspires to NATO and European Union membership, with the United States dispatching a major humanitarian aid mission.



The stand off has exacerbated already frayed relations between Russia and the West provoking fears of a return to the days of the Cold War before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Moscow has been infuriated by U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in eastern Europe. It said an agreement signed last week to base missiles in Poland would open that country up to an attack in the event of conflict.

[StemCell]

Russia's Vote Sparks Jubilation In South Ossetia

August 26, 2008 ·  The White House is pressing Russian leaders to ignore demands to recognize the breakaway regions of neighboring Georgia. The Russian parliament voted unanimously Monday to urge the Kremlin to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Those are the two regions at the heart of this month's conflict with Georgia. The move by Russia's lawmakers sparked jubilation in South Ossetia

[StemCell]

Georgia rebel regions celebrate Kremlin recognition

SUKHUMI, Georgia (Reuters) - Residents in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia fired into the air, opened bottles of champagne and wept on Tuesday after Russia recognised it and a second breakaway region as independent.

In Sukhumi, Abkhazia's palm tree-lined capital on the Black Sea coast, office workers spilled into the streets moments after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a statement he was recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"We feel happy. We all have tears in our eyes. We feel pride for our people," said Aida Gubaz, a 38-year-old lawyer. "Everything we went through, now we are getting our reward," she told Reuters.

A Reuters reporter in Sukhumi said she could hear celebratory gunfire and saw people opening bottles of champagne. She said she saw several people weeping with joy.

In Tskhinvali, capital of Georgia's second rebel region of South Ossetia, a Reuters photographer said there were scenes of jubilation in the town centre.

He said he could hear celebratory gunfire ringing out from the outskirts of the town.

[Biggs]

Christopher Story reports the following from his latest Wantagate update in relation to the failure to remit promised Wanta settlements funds to Putin  -


http://worldreports.org/news/162_u.s._military_to_bush_we_will_not_allow_a_war_

Overnight, in the early hours of Saturday morning, a train carrying crude oil was bombed on the line running between Baku, Tbilisi, Gori and the port of Poti that has been extensively destroyed so that it has become useless for US purposes (which explains why USS McFaul has been unloading 'aid' deliveries into the southern port of Batumi, in the semi-autonomous Georgian province of Adjaria, which is controlled by a tin-pot quasi-dictator).

THE BOMBING OF THE CRUDE OIL TRAIN WAS PUTIN'S RESPONSE TO THE FACT THAT HIS EXTENDED DEADLINE OF FRIDAY EVENING EDT WAS MISSED.

According to our reliable sources, NO MENTION OF THE BOMBING OF THIS TRAIN HAD YET SURFACED IN THE U.S. MEDIA AT THE TIME OF THIS UPDATE.

By contrast, the whole of page 29 of The Times, London, was devoted to this matter, complete with a large and horrifying picture of the Azpetrol (Azerbaijani Petrol) train on fire, while the whole of the upper portion of page 13 of The Daily Telegraph was devoted to a like report with a similar horriffic photograph. It can be taken as read that these photographs were distributed by 'authorities', since of course no Western photojournalist could possibly have known about this attack in advance, and in any case no access to the railway line would have been feasible.

As soon as we heard about this attack yesterday morning, from a UK source, the Editor knew that the Settlements had not 'happened' by Friday evening. Furthermore, when discussing this matter on the transatlantic telephone on Sunday evening and Monday afternoon UK time, eavesdropping activity and interference with the calls was more than usually evident. We conclude that the intel cells operating inside all US news rooms were ordered to ensure that no reference to this attack appeared in the US media.

An alternative explanation could be that the attack on the train was a US/Georgian provocation, but the overwhelming likelihood, especially given the precision timing, is that it represented Mr Putin's response to the further non-payment of his $87 billion and to the further thwarting of the Settlement payments. Moscow needs these payments because the US kleptocrats have sold vast qualtities of fraudulent paper assets, we believe, to the Russians. Implementation of the 'son of the Wanta Plan', as approved and desired by the G-7 powers, will refloat and validate some of these dud 'assets'.

To comment further on related matters at this stage risks treading on the 'real time' constraints that we have temporarily accepted, in the general interest, as outlined above.

The Soviet military were reported last week to have positioned SS-19 missiles in South Ossetia.

•
FURTHER UPDATE, 7.30pm UK time, 25th August:

OIL TANKER SINKS IN THE BLACK SEA SATURDAY
A Georgian (supposedly) oil tanker sank in the Black Sea on Saturday, we have just learned. The cover story is that it sank in a violent storm. However we understand that there was no violent storm in the Black Sea yesterday. This event should therefore be seen as a further response by Putin and the GRU, following on from the blowing up of the oil train early Saturday morning in the above context of non-payment of the $87 billion due to him.

The White House has announced (Monday) that it is now reviewing its entire relationship with Russia. In other words, the Bush-directed operation focusing on the USSR triggered after the death of Andropov has now collapsed, as the unravelling of the US Black Operations mounted against the Rest of the World in conformity with the DVD agenda, accelerates.

[akston]

This guy really tells it like it is. Okay, it's buried in the editorials section, but it's in a major paper at least...

How Russia clobbered Georgia - and lost the war

Piotr Dutkiewicz, the Globe and Mail
August 26, 2008

Some critics have pointed to the conflict in Georgia as another example of botched Bush administration foreign policy. But, in fact, America’s real strategy was brilliantly executed, and it achieved exactly the intended outcome. Unfortunately, it’s not an outcome that makes the world a safer place.

First, it’s important to note that this dispute is not about Georgia or South Ossetia, both victims of collateral damage in geopolitical manoeuvring. It is not about Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili miscalculating the Russian response to his attack or overestimating the amount of support he would get from the West - Mr. Saakashvili is really just a colourful bit player. Nor is this entirely a case of an emboldened Russia striking back at the West for its support of Kosovo independence, or the Orange Revolution, or the Eastern European missile-defence shield, though all of these things are factors.

Simply put, this was about the U.S. depositioning the only globally significant country that consistently challenges it on foreign policy issues, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was a successful but wrongheaded attempt to undermine Russia’s global status by setting a trap into which Russia had to fall. And it was about creating a villain for U.S. domestic political reasons.

The U.S. realized that, once pushed into this corner, Russia had no choice but to respond to the Georgian attack on its lawfully present peacekeepers and on South Ossetian civilians. Not to counterattack would have put Russia in an untenable position. It could not claim to be able to protect its friends, allies and satellites from foreign intervention. It would have reverted to the Russia of 20 years ago - largely irrelevant, a nonentity.

American policy-makers knew the trap they were setting. Going back at least to the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, the U.S. has enforced its own “sphere of influence” policy. It knew precisely how far it had to push to provoke a reaction. Is there any way the U.S. would sit idly by if Russian-backed Cuba tried to oust U.S. forces from that island? Or if Russia built a missile-defence system in Venezuela?

The U.S. did not lose control of the hot-headed and impulsive Mr. Saakashvili. The pundits on the ground in Tbilisi have a saying: “Saakashvili doesn’t go to the bathroom without calling the U.S. embassy.” He was played masterfully by the Americans.

What country bombs its own citizens while they sleep? Would Ottawa bomb Quebec if it voted to separate? Even China, arguably one of the world’s most repressive regimes, does not bomb Tibet. The fact that Mr. Saakashvili bombed civilians in the middle of the night is a pretty good indication he doesn’t consider them citizens.

The result of Russia’s counterstrike has been exactly what the U.S. wanted. With the international community almost unanimous in its condemnation of Moscow, it no longer has the credibility to criticize the U.S. for its military adventures. And the Russian economy also sustained serious damage. Foreign investors are now delaying or cancelling projects, and the Russian stock market is paying the price. The U.S. and its tiny partner get to express their moral outrage while painting the Russian bear as expansionist.

This was a carefully developed and magnificently executed strategy. But it fails to recognize how important it is to have Russia inside the community of nations. Russia has more neighbours than any other country in the world, and many of those neighbours are nations we need to engage. The world is not a safer place without Russian involvement in the containment of nuclear proliferation. In fact, Russia plays a critical role in maintaining a dialogue with countries such as Iran that have nuclear ambitions. And Russia is an essential energy supplier to Europe, even if Europe’s long-term desire is to diminish its dependency.

Russia’s help also is essential in the war on terror. The U.S. simply cannot go it alone. But now Washington says Russian ships are no longer welcome to take part in the counterterrorism and non-proliferation operation in the Mediterranean. That helps no one.

The world needs a co-operative relationship between Russia and the U.S., one built on reciprocity. Rather than vilifying Russia, the U.S. should be engaging it as much as possible as a partner. It is not a zero-sum game. Russia does not need to be made to lose for the U.S. to win.

Source | See Also: The Puppet Masters Behind Georgian President Saakashvili | Asia’s new ‘great game’ is all about pipelines | The Russo-Georgian War and the Balance of Power | US must share power in new world order, says Turkey’s controversial president | Russia threatens to ’strike’ Poland in wake of U.S. missile plan | Georgia, Russia Go to War | US military advisers arrive in Georgia

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under afghanistan, economics, globalization, militarization, sovereignty.

[Biggs]

very worthwhile article on the current situation, especially with regard to oil pipelines etc

http://www.rense.com/general83/pipe.htm

Pipeline Plans And
Diaper Dreaming
By Karl Schwarz
8-25-8

will post the rest of the article separately in this section and GD, it is too long for this thread.

[Biggs]

Fire strikes Ukraine ammunition dump-ministries
27 Aug 2008 15:21:54 GMT
Source: Reuters

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LR132686.htm

KIEV, Aug 27 (Reuters) - An ammunition dump is on fire in the east Ukrainian region of Kharkiv and some military personnel are being evacuated from the area, the Emergencies Ministry and Defence Ministry said.

"A fire broke out in the military store near the town of Lozovaya, we are taking steps to localise the blaze, the size of which we are checking," said a Defence Ministry spokesman.

An Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said the situation was "very serious" and military families were being evacuated from the area. (Editing by Tim Pearce)

[Wanted]

US and Russian warships line up in dispute over Georgia
US and Russian warships took up positions in the Black Sea today in a risky war of nerves on opposing sides of the Georgia conflict.

With the Russians effectively controlling Georgia's main naval base of Poti, Moscow also dispatched the Moskva missile cruiser and two smaller craft on "peacekeeping" duties at the port of Sukhumi on the coast of Abkhazia, the breakaway region that the Kremlin recognised as independent yesterday.

The Americans, wary of escalating an already fraught situation, cancelled the scheduled docking in Poti of the US Coast Guard vessel, the Dallas, and instead sent it to the southern Georgian-controlled port of Batumi, 200km (124 miles) from the Russian ships, where it delivered humanitarian aid.

"Let's hope we don't see any direct confrontation," said Dmitri Peskov, the spokesman for the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, as the Russians challenged the US policy of using military aircraft and ships to deliver relief supplies.

"The decision to deliver aid using Nato battleships is something that hardly can be explained," said Peskov. "It's not a common practice."

He said Russian naval forces were taking "some measures of precaution" around the Black Sea as the worsening dispute caused by Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence brought strong criticism from the key European countries most reluctant to sever relations with Russia.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, spoke to President Dmitri Medvedev today, the first western leader to talk to the Kremlin since Medvedev announced the recognition of the two secessionist regions of Georgia. She made it plain she had voiced her strong disapproval to the Russian leader.

"I made clear above all that I would have expected that we would talk about these questions in [international] organisations before unilateral recognition happened," she said. "There are several UN Security Council resolutions in which the territorial integrity of Georgia was stressed, which Russia also worked on."

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said Russia had broken international law and, along with other senior European officials, worried that Russia's decision to redraw Georgia's borders would encourage Moscow to act similarly with other former parts of the Soviet Union such as Ukraine.

"We cannot accept these violations of international law ... of a territory by the army of a neighboring country," he said.

Germany and France, who opposed the US and Britain in April in blocking Georgian negotiations to join Nato, have been the most reluctant to punish Russia for the Georgian conflict of the past three weeks and are desperate to try to revive the Russia-Georgia peace plan mediated by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, a fortnight ago.

Paris and Berlin agree the unilateral recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia left the peace plan ineffectual. A summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Monday is to ponder Europe's options.

With mounting warnings of western economic or trade sanctions against Russia, an EU official admitted that threats to block Russian membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) were meaningless. The push for Russian admission being driven not by Moscow but by western business interests keen to tap the large Russian market, he said.

Peskov warned that trade sanctions against Moscow would hurt the west as much as Russia.

He admitted that South Ossetia, a mountainous region of 70,000 people, would struggle to establish itself as an independent state, but stressed that Russia's constitution made it possible for Russia to expand.

"My country will extend the arm of cooperation and friendship to ease the transition period [for South Ossetia]," he said.

EU officials complained that Moscow was seeking to control the distribution of international relief. EU aid officials were demanding entry to the Russian controlled regions, but were being barred unless they handed over the aid to the Russian authorities for distribution.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/27/georgia.russia1

[Dok]

From The TimesAugust 28, 2008

Cold War tension rises as Putin talks of Black Sea confrontation

Russia has criticised the US for using naval ships to deliver aid to Georgia
Michael Evans, Defence Editor
A new Cold War between Russia and the West grew steadily closer yesterday after the Kremlin gave a warning about “direct confrontation” between American and Russian warships in the Black Sea.

Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, declared that Russia was taking “measures of precaution” against American and Nato naval ships. “Let’s hope we do not see any direct confrontation in that,” he said.

Any attempt by countries in the West to isolate Russia would “definitely harm the economic interests of those states”, he said.

A day after the Kremlin said that it was ready to fight a new Cold War, both sides gave the impression that they were preparing for a protracted stand-off. Foreign ministers of the G7 leading industrialised nations condemned Russia’s excessive use of force and the decision to recognise the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, while the US and Russia shelved a key nuclear agreement that would have given the Americans access to Russian nuclear technologies and Russia help from the US in establishing an international nuclear fuel storage facility for spent fuel.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, also flew to Ukraine to assemble the “widest possible coalition against Russian aggression”, while Georgia downgraded its diplomatic relations with Russia, recalling all but two of its diplomats from Moscow in protest at the continuing occupation of its country.

Russia criticised the US for using naval ships to deliver aid to Georgia. The US Coast Guard cutter Dallas delivered supplies to the Georgian port of Batumi yesterday, three days after the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul docked in the port. The US sailors were greeted with chants of “USA! USA!”

By choosing Batumi, the US opted for a less confrontational move than docking at Poti, another Georgian port where Russian troops are dug in. The US may have also suspected that the Russians had mined the harbour at Poti, possibly one of the precautionary measures referred to by Mr Putin’s spokesman.

General Anatoli Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, accused Nato of “ratcheting up tension” in the Black Sea. Mr Peskov said: “It’s not a common practice to deliver humanitarian aid using battleships.”

The Russian rhetoric was matched in the US by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, who will visit Georgia next week. He called the Russian occupation of Georgia an unjustified assault, and pledged to ensure the country’s territorial integrity.

The G7 — Britain, the US, France, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan — said in a statement released by the US State Department: “We deplore Russia’s excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia.”

For now, US help has been confined to delivering aid to Georgia by sea and air, but with Russian troops and tanks still occupying parts of Georgia, US military planners are now openly considering how to rearm Georgia’s forces, which fought as allies of the US in Iraq. “Down the road we will be looking at what may be required to rebuild the Georgian military \ right now the mission of the United States military is to provide humanitarian assistance,” a Pentagon spokesman said.

A former British ambassador to Tbilisi said that Nato might have to send troops to the region. Donald McLaren, who was Ambassador to Georgia from 2004 to July last year and is now retired, told the Today programme on Radio 4: “I think we shouldn’t be too complacent or too scared in a situation like this.”

He suggested that a peacekeeping force made up of troops from the US, Britain, France, Germany and Russia should be sent to Georgia to replace the Russian units. If Moscow rejected such a proposal, he said, Nato had only two choices: “To give up and surrender and say to the Russians, ‘It’s your backyard, you’ve won’, or to put men on the ground to protect Georgia’s sovereignty and the east-west oil and gas pipeline from the Caspian and Central Asia.”

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that there was no prospect of troops being deployed to Georgia.

Nato diplomatic sources said that no one within the alliance was speaking about sending troops. “We have no mandate to act in the Caucasus,” a source said. Even the European Union, which is to hold a summit next month, has downgraded its most likely response to the Russian military presence in Georgia from deploying peacekeepers to sending observers.

Masha Lipman, of the Moscow centre of the Carnegie Endowment, told Today that Russia was in a belligerent mood and that if the West sent a force into Georgia, the situation would escalate.

The Ministry of Defence has decided to postpone a military exercise in Georgia involving the Territorial Army and the Georgian Army. The exercise, planned for next month, was to help the Georgians with peacekeeping. The MoD said that the Georgian Defence Ministry had requested the delay because of the current situation.

Countdown to the crisis

August 7 Georgia sends troops into breakaway region of South Ossetia

August 8 President Saakashvili of Georgia says that most of South Ossetia has been “liberated”. Russia sends in troops and promises to defend residents with Russian passports

August 12 President Medvedev of Russia says that he has decided to stop military action against Georgia. President Sarkozy of France begins negotiations on a peace agreement

August 15 Georgia signs French-brokered agreement

August 16 Mr Medvedev signs peace agreement, but Russian troops advance through Georgia to the capital Tbilisi

August 18 Russia announces withdrawal from Georgia but Tbilisi accuses Moscow of stalling and not observing ceasefire

August 20 Abkhazia, another breakaway region, votes to ask Russia to recognise its independence. Russia freezes relations with Nato

August 26 Russia formally recognises South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. Mr Medvedev says: “We are not afraid of . . . a Cold War”

August 27 David Miliband, right, and Mr Sarkozy call on Russia to avoid

[Suriel]

... Foreign ministers of the G7 leading ...The G7 — Britain, the US, France, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan...

I thought it was the G8.  Did I miss a story about Russia being kicked out?  I could of sourn it was G8 with Russia in a a memeber.

[Sasha]

I thought it was the G8.  Did I miss a story about Russia being kicked out?  I could of sourn it was G8 with Russia in a a memeber.

McCain and Lieberman and some other NeoCons have called for Russia to be removed from G8 but, I can't confirm that they actually have with a source.

[Suriel]

McCain and Lieberman and some other NeoCons have called for Russia to be removed from G8 but, I can't confirm that they actually have with a source.

That's odd I could not find anything either after googleing "Russia kicked out of G8".  All I found was some stories about people wanting Russia to be kicked out.

[Avers]

A small comment, very easily glossed over, but with possibly quite large implications. Watch the video, especially the part starting at 47 seconds. For CNN to report that "now the US is drilling down in these fields", just over week after the agreement has been signed, for me clearly shows how this has been prepared in advance for quite a while already. And who is to say that they are not only drilling to test, but drilling to create?

Video link: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/08/29/verjee.lok.eop.missle.cnn

[baldguy]

A link showing where China and Asia stands on Georgia for now.

           http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUA357W77ndvCMh32VlQqdGj53mAD92RCBI80

[Wanted]

Russia support for separatists could have ripples
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gewZgSQvGE07GicVTN67rCPsLrOgD92TCUG08

By PAISLEY DODDS – 1 hour ago

LONDON (AP) — Russia's conflict with Georgia and recognition of its small breakaway territories as independent states may have broad repercussions for separatist movements in the former Soviet sphere and around the world.

The crisis could give a jolt of energy to other breakaway regions, especially those with links to Russia, or embolden China to pursue a tougher line in Tibet and Taiwan in the absence of tough Western measures.

"Any country that has a potential separatist movement will view the events in Georgia through its own unique prism," Richard Holbrooke, the former U.S. envoy who mediated peace in Bosnia in the mid-1990s, told The Associated Press.

"But the greatest cause for concern lies in the Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova — all states that border Russia."

With the exception of the Balkans, post-Soviet era Europe has grown accustomed to the notion of territorial integrity as stable — if not sacrosanct.

Russia's push into Georgia and its recognition of the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have undermined this status quo — and may start to warm up so-called "frozen conflicts" in Moldova's Trans-Dniester region and Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh, where Moscow backs separatist movements.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is encircled by Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenian forces. Russia has close historical and economic ties to Armenia, which surrendered control of key sectors of its economy to Russia in exchange for debt forgiveness.

For the Kremlin, the stakes in oil-rich Azerbaijan have been raised by Washington's plan to build a military base there — a project that has incensed the Russians, who have a large military installation in Armenia with hundreds of personnel, fighter jets and air defense systems.

Russia also continues to back the breakaway Russian-speaking province of Trans-Dniester, that has split from Moldova over its feared reunification with Romania.

Russian troops remain stationed in the province to guard a huge stockpile of Soviet-era military equipment. It's a situation with eerie echoes to South Ossetia — the flashpoint of the Russia-Georgia conflict — where Russia kept "peacekeepers" before the eruption of this month's war.

"By illegally recognizing the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Dmitry Medvedev — Russia's president — made clear that Moscow's goal is to redraw the map of Europe using force," Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili wrote in an editorial that appeared in the Financial Times on Friday.

Perhaps nowhere are concerns about Russian designs in its "near-abroad" so acute as in Ukraine.

The country the size of France with a population of 46 million has long held a special place in Russian hearts and Moscow has been humiliated by its drive to join the European Union and NATO.

Many now fear Moscow has its sights on the strategic Crimea peninsula on the Black Sea — once one of the glories of the Russian empire.

Russia has not explicitly declared it wants to regain control of Crimea but nearly 1.2 million of the region's 2 million residents are ethnic Russians, many of whom believe Crimea should be Russian.

Russia has a lease that gives it control of the Sevastopol military base until 2017 and has hinted that it does not want to leave when the lease runs out.

The events in the Caucasus have been watched closely by a resurgent China, which has tried to extinguish separatist movements in Tibet and its far western province of Xinjiang, where Beijing says radicals are trying to set up an Islamic state.

For Beijing, the Russia-Georgia conflict may be double-edged.

On one hand, the spectacle of South Ossetia and Abkhazia making a big leap toward independence with Moscow's backing may send chills through the Chinese ruling elite as it struggles with its own separatist movements.

On the other, the Kremlin's use of military might to reassert dominance in a region it considers own backyard could set a valuable precedent for Beijing as it maneuvers to assert its will in places like Taiwan — which China has vowed to take back by force if necessary.

That may account for Beijing's ambivalent response to Russia's request for support at a meeting last week in Tajikistan.

China, along with four Central Asian nations, refused to endorse the invasion or recognize the breakaway provinces — but also criticized the West and signed a statement praising the "active role of Russia in promoting peace and cooperation" in the region.

"We have our Western friends and those in Central Asia who are not in agreement with Russian actions. But we also have a strong relationship with Russia," said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at People's University in Beijing.

"So China just needs to take a middle road."

In Turkey, which borders both Georgia and Armenia and hosts pipelines for Caspian Sea oil, Kurds in the country's southeast near the frontier with Iraq have been fighting for self-rule in parts of Turkey's east and southeast.

So far there are no signs the Georgia conflict will give a psychological boost to the Kurds' flagging struggle or provide the Turkish government reason to consider a harsher crackdown.

In Spain, the Basque separatist group ETA's fight for an independent homeland has steadily lost support after a long and deadly battle that has killed hundreds in terror attacks. Any sign of separatists triumphing elsewhere in Europe may help revive morale among Spain's separatists.

"The Georgian conflict isn't likely to have a direct effect on the emergence of new separatist or secessionist movements but it has the potential to create a long-term precedent," said Nicu Popescu with the European Council on Foreign Relations.

[lord edward coke]

don't know if this has been posted but it seems to be shaping up to be the big one.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/27/georgia.russia1

US and Russian warships took up positions in the Black Sea today in a risky war of nerves on opposing sides of the Georgia conflict.

With the Russians effectively controlling Georgia's main naval base of Poti, Moscow also dispatched the Moskva missile cruiser and two smaller craft on "peacekeeping" duties at the port of Sukhumi on the coast of Abkhazia, the breakaway region that the Kremlin recognised as independent yesterday.

The Americans, wary of escalating an already fraught situation, cancelled the scheduled docking in Poti of the US Coast Guard vessel, the Dallas, and instead sent it to the southern Georgian-controlled port of Batumi, 200km (124 miles) from the Russian ships, where it delivered humanitarian aid.

"Let's hope we don't see any direct confrontation," said Dmitri Peskov, the spokesman for the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, as the Russians challenged the US policy of using military aircraft and ships to deliver relief supplies.

"The decision to deliver aid using Nato battleships is something that hardly can be explained," said Peskov. "It's not a common practice."

He said Russian naval forces were taking "some measures of precaution" around the Black Sea as the worsening dispute caused by Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence brought strong criticism from the key European countries most reluctant to sever relations with Russia.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, spoke to President Dmitri Medvedev today, the first western leader to talk to the Kremlin since Medvedev announced the recognition of the two secessionist regions of Georgia. She made it plain she had voiced her strong disapproval to the Russian leader.

"I made clear above all that I would have expected that we would talk about these questions in [international] organisations before unilateral recognition happened," she said. "There are several UN Security Council resolutions in which the territorial integrity of Georgia was stressed, which Russia also worked on."

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said Russia had broken international law and, along with other senior European officials, worried that Russia's decision to redraw Georgia's borders would encourage Moscow to act similarly with other former parts of the Soviet Union such as Ukraine.

"We cannot accept these violations of international law ... of a territory by the army of a neighboring country," he said.

Germany and France, who opposed the US and Britain in April in blocking Georgian negotiations to join Nato, have been the most reluctant to punish Russia for the Georgian conflict of the past three weeks and are desperate to try to revive the Russia-Georgia peace plan mediated by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, a fortnight ago.

Paris and Berlin agree the unilateral recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia left the peace plan ineffectual. A summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Monday is to ponder Europe's options.

With mounting warnings of western economic or trade sanctions against Russia, an EU official admitted that threats to block Russian membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) were meaningless. The push for Russian admission being driven not by Moscow but by western business interests keen to tap the large Russian market, he said.

Peskov warned that trade sanctions against Moscow would hurt the west as much as Russia.

He admitted that South Ossetia, a mountainous region of 70,000 people, would struggle to establish itself as an independent state, but stressed that Russia's constitution made it possible for Russia to expand.

"My country will extend the arm of cooperation and friendship to ease the transition period [for South Ossetia]," he said.

EU officials complained that Moscow was seeking to control the distribution of international relief. EU aid officials were demanding entry to the Russian controlled regions, but were being barred unless they handed over the aid to the Russian authorities for distribution

[Wanted]

Lavrov Warns West on Georgia
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/370606.htm

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the West on Monday against supporting Georgia's leadership and called for an arms embargo against Tbilisi until a different government is in place.

Lavrov's remarks are likely to anger the United States and Europe and enrage Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

"If instead of choosing their national interests and the interests of the Georgian people, the United States and its allies choose the Saakashvili regime, this will be a mistake of truly historic proportions," he said.

"For a start it would be right to impose an embargo on weapons to this regime, until different authorities turn Georgia a normal state," Lavrov said in an address at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Hours later, a spokesman for Lavrov's ministry suggested that U.S. ships that have carried humanitarian aid to Georgia's Black Sea coast following last month's war could have also delivered weapons.

Without naming a specific country, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said there were "suppositions" that the cargo of military ships bringing aid to Georgia could have included "military components that will be used for the rearmament" of Georgia. He said such suspicions were behind Russia's call for an arms embargo.

Neither the U.S. State Department nor the Pentagon had immediate comment.

The Russian officials spoke as European Union leaders gathered for a summit to discuss relations with Russia.

Russia repelled a Georgian offensive against the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia and sent troops, tanks and bombers deep into undisputed Georgian territory, where some still remain.

Last week, Russia recognized South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia, as independent countries.

The United States and Europe have accused Russia of using disproportionate force and of violating a cease-fire that called for forces to be withdrawn to pre-conflict positions. They have denounced Russia's recognition of the separatist regions, saying Georgia's borders must remain intact.

Russia says it was provoked. Russian peacekeeping forces were stationed in South Ossetia before the war. And Moscow had given most of South Ossetia's residents Russian passports in recent years, enabling it to argue that it was defending its citizens when it responded to Georgia's Aug. 7 offensive in the separatist province.

Meanwhile, A New York-based human rights group said Monday that Georgia and Russia both dropped cluster bombs in the war. The weapons are widely denounced for spreading death among civilians.

"These indiscriminate attacks violate international humanitarian law," said Bonnie Docherty, arms division researcher at Human Rights Watch. She said the toll from cluster bombs in only four Georgia villages was 14 dead and dozens wounded.

Human Rights Watch claimed that Georgia's government has admitted using the bombs, while Russia denies it. The organization called on Russia to allow access to demining groups to enter South Ossetia to reduce the threat of more deaths from unexploded bomblets.

Nesterenko said Russia would welcome an EU-dominated international police presence and more military observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in what is now a Russian-controlled zone around South Ossetia.

But he said Russia would want be part of the police force and that it would be a long time before Russia would consider reducing its military presence in and around South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

[gabba2k7]

there is some info...
that there are activization of the georgian army in a zone of the conflict (near S.Osetia) ...

[Biggs]

Georgian soldiers shooting up civilian area in S Ossetia

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=932_1220302619

[Boubear]

U.S. to announce $1 billion aid for Georgia: official
Wed Sep 3, 2008 1:21am EDT

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration will announce on Wednesday a package of roughly $1 billion dollars in aid to help rebuild war-torn U.S. ally Georgia, which battled Russia over a separatist enclave last month, an administration official said.

The announcement was readied as Vice President Dick Cheney headed for the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine in a trip designed to show Washington stands by its allies in the region despite Russia's military intervention in Georgia.

The planned U.S. aid to Georgia would stretch over several years, the administration official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. There were no further details of the package immediately available.

But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday that the United States was considering how it might provide economic support for Georgia, which saw much of its infrastructure attacked by Russian soldiers during the brief war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

"One of the real ripple effects of Russia's action has been the need for the outside world to help Georgia and its economy," McCormack said.

"It's a strong economy. It had -- it had a strong record of growth, and we want to make sure that it continues to have that strong record of growth," McCormack told reporters.

The amount of the Bush administration's aid package appears to dovetail with a proposal by Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee. He has called for Congress to approve $1 billion in assistance for Georgia -- a proposal endorsed by the Democratic presidential nominee, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

The Bush administration is also pondering whether to take moves to punish Moscow for the Georgian intervention, such as possibly scrapping a lucrative civil nuclear deal.

Russia sparked Western condemnation by sending its forces deep into Georgia last month after Tbilisi tried to retake South Ossetia by force. Moscow later recognized South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states.

Article Con't...

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAN0246652720080903

[Triadtropz]

my town needs an aid bailout plan..somehow the USA doesnt even matter anymore..screw georgia..let the russians help them..when you break it..you fix it.