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

[akston]

Are you serious? You can't look at Georgia on Google Maps? Gawd.

This is a comment from the CBC website comments section:

singinkuz wrote:  I don't get it...

My partner is Georgian, we go there every year and we talk to our extended family there all the time. According to them, this morning, Russia bombed two civilian cities, Gori and Marneuli, which are well outside of the conflict areas in question (Abkhazia and Ossetia). In fact, Marneuli is a small village-like town located in central-eastern Georgia, closer to the capital of Tbilisi and the city of Rustavi. Casualties and deaths have ensued but as of yet, CBC, BBC, and Reuters have made no reports of the bombing. Why? And why should these two cities be targeted? Apparently, all the youth who have served in the reserves have been or are now being mobilized to Gori, including a friend of mine who is a young father of five.

To corroborate the story, I talked to a Georgian friend in NY NY, who told me that earlier today her family in Georgia reported the same details.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/08/08/russia-georgia.html

[Sub-X]

yes, i do, you forgot to add Israel and the US to Georgias count

This is the truth 

[Optimus]

Im no expert but if you look at the map (incidently georgia is blacked out on google right now) Georgia looks like the fastest way to transport goods between Russia and Iran.

U.S. backs Georgian territorial integrity
http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKN0849065620080808
Fri Aug 8, 2008 7:34pm BST By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States pledged its support for the territorial integrity of Georgia on Friday, as the staunch U.S. ally and former Soviet state battled to get control of a rebel enclave backed by Russian forces.

The White House and State Department urged an immediate cease-fire in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, and U.S. officials said they would send an envoy to mediate in the conflict in the Caucasus country.

But Washington stopped short of condemning the Russians for escalating the crisis by sending troops into a pro-Western country that wants to join NATO.

President George W. Bush, who has called Georgia a "beacon of democracy" in a volatile region, sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Tbilisi last month partly to encourage a peaceful resolution of its dispute with Russia.

"The United States supports Georgia's territorial integrity and we call for an immediate cease-fire," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement in Beijing, where Bush was attending the Olympics.

"We urge all parties, Georgians, South Ossetians and Russians, to de-escalate the tension and avoid conflict."

Moscow said its troops were responding to a Georgian assault to retake South Ossetia. As fighting raged in and around the region's capital of Tskhinvali, Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili, a U.S.-trained lawyer, said Russia and Georgia were at war.

Georgia, which hosts oil pipelines from the Caspian Sea to world markets, is at the centre of a battle for influence between the United States and Russia in the Caucasus. Continued...

[trailhound]

Are you serious? You can't look at Georgia on Google Maps? Gawd

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=georgia,+europe&sll=32.68562,-83.221436&sspn=4.723982,7.03125&ie=UTF8&ll=42.187829,43.417969&spn=4.159257,7.03125&z=7

[Wanted]

Georgia says Russian aircraft bombed its air bases

By MUSA SADULAYEV – 19 minutes ago

DZHAVA, Georgia (AP) — Russia sent columns of tanks and reportedly bombed Georgian air bases Friday after Georgia launched a major military offensive Friday to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, threatening to ignite a broader conflict.

Hundreds of civilians were reported dead in the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won defacto independence in a war against Georgia that ended in 1992. Witnesses said the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali was devastated.

"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia. "It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games and many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Bush, were in Beijing.

The timing suggests Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili may have been counting on surprise to fulfill his longtime pledge to wrest back control of South Ossetia — a key to his hold on power.

Saakashvili agreed the timing was not coincidental, but accused Russia of being the aggressor. "Most decision makers have gone for the holidays," he said in an interview with CNN. "Brilliant moment to attack a small country."

Diplomats called for another emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, its second since early Friday morning seeking to prevent an all-out war.

The United States was sending an envoy to the region Friday to meet with the parties involved. "We support Georgia's territorial integrity," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters. "We are working on mediation efforts to secure a cease-fire."

Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain. But Saakashvili told CNN that the troops would be called home Saturday in the face of the South Ossetia fighting.

Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union. Georgia has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership — a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken its influence in the region.

Ten Russian peacekeepers were killed and 30 wounded when their barracks were hit in Georgian shelling, said Russian Ground Forces spokesman Col. Igor Konashenkov. Russia has soldiers in South Ossetia as peacekeeping forces but Georgia alleges they back the separatists.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry accused Russian aircraft of bombing two military air bases inside Georgia, inflicting some casualties and destroying several military aircraft. Rustavi 2 television said four people were killed and five wounded at the Marneuli air base.

Russia's Defense Ministry said it was sending reinforcements for its peacekeepers, and Russian state television and Georgian officials reported a convoy of tanks had crossed the border. The convoy was expected to reach the provincial capital, Tskhinvali, by evening, Channel One television said.

Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili said government troops were now in full control of Tskhinvali, but the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Konashenkov as saying late Friday that Russian tanks were firing on Georgian positions in the city.

"We are facing Russian aggression," said Georgia's Security Council chief Kakha Lomaya. "They have sent in their troops and weapons and they are bombing our towns."

Putin has warned that the Georgian attack will draw retaliation and the Defense Ministry pledged to protect South Ossetians, most of whom have Russian citizenship.

Chairing a session of his Security Council in the Kremlin, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also vowed that Moscow will protect Russian citizens.

"In accordance with the constitution and federal law, I, as president of Russia, am obliged to protect lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located," Medvedev said, according to Russian news reports. "We won't allow the death of our compatriots go unpunished."

An AP reporter saw tanks and other heavy weapons concentrating on the Russian side of the border with South Ossetia — supporting the reports of an incursion. Some villagers were fleeing into Russia.

"I saw them (the Georgians) shelling my village," said Maria, who gave only her first name. She said she and other villagers spent the night in a field and then fled toward the Russian border as the fighting escalated.

Yakobashvili said Georgian forces had shot down four Russian combat planes over Georgian territory but gave no details. Russia's Defense Ministry denied an earlier Georgia report about one Russian plane downed and had no immediate comment on the latest claim.

Yakobashvili said that one Russian plane had dropped a bomb on the Vaziani military base near the Georgian capital, but no one was hurt.

More than 1,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers were at the base last month to teach combat skills to Georgian troops. Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain.

South Ossetia officials said Georgia attacked with aircraft, armor and heavy artillery. Georgian troops fired missiles at Tskhinvali, an official said, and many buildings were on fire.

Georgia's president said Russian aircraft bombed several Georgian villages and other civilian facilities.

A senior Russian diplomat in charge of the South Ossetian conflict, Yuri Popov, dismissed the Georgian claims of Russian bombings as misinformation, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

Russia's Defense Ministry denounced the Georgian attack as a "dirty adventure." "Blood shed in South Ossetia will weigh on their conscience," the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev later chaired a session of his Security Council in the Kremlin, vowing that Moscow will protect Russian citizens.

"In accordance with the constitution and federal law, I, as president of Russia, am obliged to protect lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located," Medvedev said, according to Russian news reports. "We won't allow the death of our compatriots go unpunished."

Saakashvili long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and built up ties with Moscow.

Relations between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as Georgia pushed to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional peacekeeper forces to Abkhazia.

The Georgian attack came just hours after Saakashvili announced a unilateral cease-fire in a television broadcast late Thursday in which he also urged South Ossetian separatist leaders to enter talks on resolving the conflict.

Georgian officials later blamed South Ossetian separatists for thwarting the cease-fire by shelling Georgian villages in the area.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hV2N6fVKS5slf10A13Dj_uIdaZ4QD92E9QR01 

[HYDROGENPAL]

while bush and putin chill in china probably having gay owl sex

[HYDROGENPAL]

georgia ask u.s. to air lift them from Iraq to war zone

[Chocolaty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbi1okP8ERo

[Wanted]

yeah - but McWar / OhBombUs will help em

Exactly, Georgia has the backing of the US, the European Union etc. They are not worried, indeed.
This is crazy the Olympics and this, i mean c'mon just horrific the average sheep probably doesn't know. This is going on, since i am not close to a TV plus i don't have cable, does anyone know if Mainstream Media on TV is covering this?  

while bush and putin chill in china probably having gay owl sex

Haha!!!!! Sad but True. 

[trailhound]

while bush and putin chill in china probably having gay owl sex

 

[David Rothscum]

Destroyed Georgian T-72 tanks in South Ossetian capital
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNNACX3SQKw

[akston]

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=georgia,+europe&sll=32.68562,-83.221436&sspn=4.723982,7.03125&ie=UTF8&ll=42.187829,43.417969&spn=4.159257,7.03125&z=7

If the absence of the map overlay means anything, then the fact that Armenia and Azerbaijan are blacked out too make me fearful that this is an attempt to prepare the way for further encirclement of Iran.

[David Rothscum]

Mark Brzezinski on CNN right now talking about the war his daddy started.

[Sasha]

Are you serious? You can't look at Georgia on Google Maps? Gawd.

This is a comment from the CBC website comments section:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/08/08/russia-georgia.html

My Google Earth icon links on my Desktop disappeared several days ago!  Deleted , leaving not even a dead link.

There were places all over the globe that were unviewable at certain altitudes, Missouri, Indiana, and places all over europe and asia.

[Wanted]

UN urged to hold emergency session

8 minutes ago

Diplomats called for a second emergency session of the United Nations Security Council seeking to prevent an all-out war between Russia, Georgia and the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia.

This time it was Georgia's turn to ask that the 15-nation council meet. Russia had called a meeting that began on Thursday night (0400 BST Friday) in New York, but after three hours there was no consensus on Russia's proposed council statement.

A short time later, Russia sent tanks into the separatist province in a furious response to Georgian troops launching a major military offensive to regain control of the region.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that France, as president of the European Union Council, "calls on all parties immediately to cease hostilities and resume the negotiations, the only way of finding a way out of the crisis".

The US had objected to the Russian-drafted council statement because it did not make it clear that the renunciation of force should apply to all parties - meaning Russia - and not just Georgia and South Ossetia.

There was not enough background information about what was happening on the ground, UN officials said, and the proposed statement could have been interpreted as wrongfully implying that Georgia was the aggressor in this situation.

They said that the US, Britain and other council members faulted the Russian language because it would have defined the situation as "the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict" and then called on "the parties to the conflict" - not all sides, including Russia - to renounce using force and return to the negotiating table.

Because of this, the US had proposed an alternative text that would have had the council express "serious concern" at the escalation of violence in South Ossetia and call for "the immediate cessation of hostilities" and "the parties to immediately resume negotiations."

Georgia is calling for negotiations with South Ossetia and welcomes efforts by the US and others to defuse the situation, Georgian Ambassador Irakli Alasania said. Russia has close ties with South Ossetia's separatist leadership. "At the same time, we clearly want to state that Georgia, as a responsible state, has the obligation to protect its peaceful population," Alasania said. "So all the necessary actions will be taken to continue to protect our population."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later urged Russia to halt aircraft and missile attacks in South Ossetia and withdraw combat forces from Georgian territory. In a statement she said the US wants Russia to respect Georgian sovereignty and agree to international mediation with Tbilisi in a bid to end the crisis in the former Soviet state that threatens to plunge the volatile region into full-scale war.

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gfzO8yAc2USLDgEO4ByzQP2oGXhQ

[Aerioch]

It gets even better...


Meet the State Department Man BushCo. is sending into the Georgian Region to mediate peace.



Matthew J. Bryza is a United States diplomat. He became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in June 2005.

And he started out doing....

Bryza served as the deputy to the Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy from July 1998 to March 2001. In this capacity, Bryza coordinated the U.S. Government’s inter-agency effort to develop a network of oil and gas pipelines in the Caspian region.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Bryza

  ROFL what are the odds on that?

The U.S. sends in "an oil and gas pipelines network expert on the Caspian region" to aid in the peace process.

[Chocolaty]

To watch Russia Today...
http://streaming.visionip.tv/Russia_Today

[Sasha]

Bob Chapman has a very clear perspective of the next couple of steps but what occurs to me very clearly is the possibilty that the 5000 to 9000 US troops and Israeli contractors were placed in Georgia to create a false sense of security for the Georgian leadership that the US was there to protect what will be a sacrificial lamb scenario, probably including sacrificing the US and Israeli troops to create a pre-text for a full blown US-Russia-China conflict - nuclear war, a draft, and hard martial law (for the survivors).

[David Rothscum]

Bob Chapman has a very clear perspective of the next couple of steps but what occurs to me very clearly is the possibilty that the 5000 to 9000 US troops and Israeli contractors were placed in Georgia to create a false sense of security for the Georgian leadership that the US was there to protect what will be a sacrificial lamb scenario, probably including sacrificing the US and Israeli troops to create a pre-text for a full blown US-Russia-China conflict - nuclear war, a draft, and hard martial law (for the survivors).

It can't be that bad yet, right? Nuclear war? I think they're just trying to surround Russia and China, strip them of all their allies, and then destroy them both, possibly by making them turn against eachother.

[mike E. dangerously]

It gets even better...


Meet the State Department Man BushCo. is sending into the Georgian Region to mediate peace.



Matthew J. Bryza is a United States diplomat. He became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in June 2005.

And he started out doing....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Bryza

  ROFL what are the odds on that?

The U.S. sends in "an oil and gas pipelines network expert on the Caspian region" to aid in the peace process.

This has always been about the Trans-Caucus pipeline Biggs and I have told all of y'all this.Make no mistake this is one of the opening battles of WWIII.

[doublethink]

My Google Earth icon links on my Desktop disappeared several days ago!  Deleted , leaving not even a dead link.

There were places all over the globe that were unviewable at certain altitudes, Missouri, Indiana, and places all over europe and asia.

my google earth works fine, and i was looking all over Georgia.

[Aerioch]

Mark Brzezinski on CNN right now talking about the war his daddy started.

Don't forget about his sister, Mika.  On the Morning Joe.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RUl5Dt4xdw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mika_Brzezinski

[mytee726]

Looks to Me like the NWO is starting to fall APART yee haaaaaaaaaaaaa If Obamma and McCain and
Bush are against whats going on there, then I am for it, Death to NWO Go Team GO

[Wanted]

GEORGIA: PRESIDENT SAYS GEORGIAN TROOPS CONTROL SOUTH OSSETIA
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav080808a.shtml


Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, addressing the nation via television August 8, indicated that Georgia had won the opening battle for control of the separatist territory of South Ossetia. The outcome of the war, however, remains very much in doubt.

Clashes began August 7 between Georgian troops and South Ossetian separatists. [See related EurasiaNet story]. After nightfall, Saakashvili went on television to tell viewers that Georgian forces "completely control" Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian separatist capital, as well as "all population points and all villages" in the territory.

The Georgian leader went on to call for national unity and attempted to cast the military operation as an unavoidable action amid the country’s transformation from formerly Soviet republic to a Western-oriented democracy. "The fight for the future is worth fighting," he said. "If we stand together, there is no force that can defeat Georgia, defeat freedom, defeat a nation striving for freedom -- no matter how many planes, tanks, and missiles they use against us."

It remains to be seen whether Georgia will be able to consolidate its battlefield gains. Russian leaders have vowed to punish Tbilisi, and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev told state television that "the guilty will get the punishment they deserve." A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman announced that Russian troops have been dispatched to South Ossetia, nominally to support Russian peacekeeping troops already on the ground, the official RIA-Novosti news agency reported. In addition, witnesses have reported that dozens of Russian tanks and armored vehicles have moved into the conflict zone, along with hundreds of supposed "volunteers" ready to assist beleaguered South Ossetian separatist forces.

According to Russian military sources, at least 10 Russian peacekeepers had been killed and 30 wounded during the initial Georgian thrust into the separatist-held territory, according to a RIA-Novosti report.

As night fell over Tskhinvali, Georgian officials in Tbilisi and troops in South Ossetia braced for a Russian riposte. There were some early indications that the Kremlin might not limit its response to Ossetia. For example, the Rustavi-2 television station in Georgia reported late August 8 that jets coming from the direction of Armenia bombed a site in the southwestern Georgian hamlet of Bolnisi, not far from the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Such reports are especially ominous, given that they portend a widening of the fighting. US President George W. Bush conferred with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Beijing on August 8. "We urge restraint on all sides -- that violence would be curtailed and that direct dialogue could ensue in order to help resolve their differences," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.

Some Georgian officials, including Georgian National Security Council chief Kakha Lomaia, have publicly compared Tbilisi’s current predicament to that faced by Hungary in 1956 and the former Czechoslovakia in 1968, references to invasions carried out by Soviet military forces. Lomaia has announced that roughly half of the approximately 2,000 Georgian troops now in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition were being brought home to help contend with the domestic security crisis.

Although the strategic situation late August 8 seemed favorable to Georgia, Saakashvili sounded as though his side was on the defensive. He conveyed a feeling that the challenges in the coming days will only mount for Georgia. "We will not give up, and we will achieve victory. I call on everyone to mobilize. I declare, here and now, a universal mobilization of the nation and the Republic of Georgia," he said during his televised address. "I hereby announce that reserve officers are called up -- everyone must come to mobilization center and fight to save our country."

[David Rothscum]

GEORGIA: PRESIDENT SAYS GEORGIAN TROOPS CONTROL SOUTH OSSETIA

Last report I read claimed that they had to retreat out of the capital.
What the hell is going on.

[Sasha]

It can't be that bad yet, right? Nuclear war? I think they're just trying to surround Russia and China, strip them of all their allies, and then destroy them both, possibly by making them turn against eachother.

If Bob Chapman is correct, and he's got a great track record, Russia and/or China can crash the dollar tomorrow.  Russia and China have many times the global credibility in military intel and economically that we do right now.  The US would, and likely is being intentionally plunged into a total state of emergency by the mobbsters running the White House.    

[Wanted]

Georgia's Saakashvili commits war crimes against humanity
http://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/08-08-2008/106045-georgia-0

A surprise military offensive by Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia reportedly killed hundreds of people Friday, triggering a ferocious counterattack from Russia that threatened to plunge the region into full-scale war.

Moscow, which has close ties to South Ossetia, sent a column of tanks rolling into South Ossetia and reportedly attacked two Georgian air bases as it moved to assert itself as the dominant regional power.

As night fell, there were wildly conflicting claims as to who held the battlefield advantage.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said "Georgian military forces completely control all the territory of South Ossetia" except for a northern section adjacent to Russia. But Russian news agencies cited a Russian military official as saying heavy fighting was under way on the outskirts of the regional capital.

Witnesses said the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, was devastated.

"We lost our city ... The Georgians are like Nazis, they are killing civilians, women and children with heavy artillery and rockets," said 28-year-old Sarmat Laliyev, a Tskhinvali resident who had fled to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia.

The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games and many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Bush, were in Beijing.

The timing suggests Saakashvili may have been counting on surprise to fulfill his longtime pledge to wrest back control of South Ossetia _ a key to his hold on power.

Saakashvili agreed the timing was not coincidental, but accused Russia of being the aggressor. "Most decision makers have gone for the holidays," he said in an interview with CNN. "Brilliant moment to attack a small country."

Diplomats issued a flurry of statements calling on both sides to halt the fighting, but with no immediate effect. It was unclear what might persuade either side to stop shooting. Both claim the battle started after the other side violated a cease-fire that had been declared just hours earlier after a week of sporadic clashes.

The United States was sending its top Caucasus envoy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, to the region to try to end the bloodshed.

Russia, which has granted citizenship to most of the region's residents, appeared to lay much of the responsibility for ending the fighting on Washington.

In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Georgia must be convinced to withdraw its forces, according to a ministry statement.

Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain. But Saakashvili told CNN that the troops would be called home Saturday in the face of the South Ossetia fighting.

Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union. Georgia has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership _ a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken its influence in the region.

The leader of South Ossetia's rebel government, Eduard Kokoity, said about 1,400 people were killed in the onslaught, the Interfax news agency reported. The toll could not be independently confirmed.

Twelve Russian peacekeepers were killed and 30 wounded in the fighting, said Russian Ground Forces spokesman Col. Igor Konashenkov. Russia has soldiers in South Ossetia as peacekeeping forces but Georgia alleges they back the unrecognized republic.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry accused Russian aircraft of bombing two military air bases inside Georgia, inflicting some casualties and destroying several military aircraft. Rustavi 2 television said four people were killed and five wounded at the Marneuli air base.

Russia's Defense Ministry said it was sending reinforcements for its peacekeepers, and Russian state television and Georgian officials reported a convoy of tanks had crossed the border. The convoy was expected to reach the provincial capital, Tskhinvali, by evening, Channel One television said.

"We are facing Russian aggression," said Georgia's Security Council chief Kakha Lomaya. "They have sent in their troops and weapons and they are bombing our towns."

Putin warned in the early stages of the conflict that the Georgian attack would draw retaliation and the Defense Ministry pledged to protect South Ossetians, most of whom have Russian citizenship.

Chairing a session of his Security Council in the Kremlin, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also vowed that Moscow will protect Russian citizens.

"In accordance with the constitution and federal law, I, as president of Russia, am obliged to protect lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located," Medvedev said. "We won't allow the death of our compatriots go unpunished."

On Friday, an AP reporter saw tanks and other heavy weapons concentrating on the Russian side of the border with South Ossetia _ supporting the reports of an incursion. Some villagers were fleeing into Russia.

"I saw them (the Georgians) shelling my village," said Maria, who gave only her first name. She said she and other villagers spent the night in a field and then fled toward the Russian border as the fighting escalated.

Yakobashvili said Georgian forces had shot down four Russian combat planes over Georgian territory but gave no details. Russia's Defense Ministry denied an earlier Georgia report about one Russian plane downed and had no immediate comment on the latest claim.

Yakobashvili said that one Russian plane had dropped a bomb on the Vaziani military base near the Georgian capital, but no one was hurt.

More than 1,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers were at the base last month to teach combat skills to Georgian troops. Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain.

South Ossetia officials said Georgia attacked with aircraft, armor and heavy artillery. Georgian troops fired missiles at Tskhinvali, an official said, and many buildings were on fire.

Georgia's president said Russian aircraft bombed several Georgian villages and other civilian facilities.

A senior Russian diplomat in charge of the South Ossetian conflict, Yuri Popov, dismissed the Georgian claims of Russian bombings as misinformation, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

Saakashvili long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and built up ties with Moscow.

Relations between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as Georgia pushed to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional peacekeeper forces to Abkhazia.

The Georgian attack came just hours after Saakashvili announced a unilateral cease-fire in a television broadcast late Thursday in which he also urged South Ossetian  leaders to enter talks on resolving the conflict.

Georgian officials later blamed South Ossetia for thwarting the cease-fire by shelling Georgian villages in the area.

[mytee726]

I like that guy can we get him to run for President here, thats what we have to do here though to be honest. There needs to be a Revolution all over the world to put these NWO satan worshiping scum down.

GO TEAM GO

[Sasha]

my google earth works fine, and i was looking all over Georgia.

Yeah, I could redown load the new beta version but the point is, how did the previously downloaded versions end up deleted from my desktop?  Generally when a program is updated, and requires a download of the new update, it will still leave the icon, or a dead linked one.

[David Rothscum]

If Bob Chapman is correct, and he's got a great track record, Russia and/or China can crash the dollar tomorrow.  Russia and China have many times the global credibility in military intel and economically that we do right now.  The US would, and likely is being intentionally plunged into a total state of emergency by the mobbsters running the White House.    

If they do that then China will be attacked by the US.

[doublethink]

Yeah, I could redown load the new beta version but the point is, how did the previously downloaded versions end up deleted from my desktop?  Generally when a program is updated, and requires a download of the new update, it will still leave the icon, or a dead linked one.

I dont know, but ive had my GE for awhile, no problems, so its probably a local thing.

[trailhound]

It can't be that bad yet, right? Nuclear war? I think they're just trying to surround Russia and China, strip them of all their allies, and then destroy them both, possibly by making them turn against eachother.

yeah it seems like a good spot for international middlemen to restrict, constrict, siphon off etc etc

[mytee726]

My harddrive just made a really weird noise like it was working really hard and fast ya think they don't like my cheerleading. LOL

GO TEAM GO kick their butts out of your country. Yee Haaa the revolution is on

Too much ya think ?

[Sasha]

I dont know, but ive had my GE for awhile, no problems, so its probably a local thing.

Might be - being in MO and not being able to large parts of this state.

[David Rothscum]

ITN - 08.08.2008 20:55
http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=9161134
'Fierce battle' in South Ossetia

© ITN 2008
Russia has said its troops are fighting a "fierce battle" against Georgian forces in South Ossetia.

A Russian military source said 12 of its soldiers have been killed and 150 wounded in the south of Tskhinvali, the capital of the disputed border region.

Georgia earlier claimed it had won control of the city from ethnic Russian separatists.

President Mikheil Saakashvili said about 30 Georgians had been killed in fighting but insisted: "Tskhinvali and the heights around Tskhinvali and the majority of the villages in South Ossetia are under the control of Georgian forces."

Moscow is said to have sent 150 tanks and units from the 58th Army to relieve the city after Georgia began shelling pro-Russian rebels in Tskhinvali.

South Ossetian president Eduard Kokoity was quoted as saying there were "about 1,400" fatalities in the city.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said: "We will not allow their deaths to go unpunished. Those responsible will receive a deserved punishment."

Russian jets killed three Georgian soldiers when they bombed an airbase 25 miles from the capital Tbilisi, a Georgian interior ministry spokesman said.

Mr Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader who has spearheaded the former Soviet Republic's bid to join Nato, called for help from the US after accusing Russia of "fighting a war with us in our own territory".

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia's territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil."
I think they're still fighting. There's no way Georgia just took control over S. Ossetia from the Russians. I wish journalists would give the time of something going on, and include the time zone they're referring to as well. This story seems to indicate the fighting is still going on as well:http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=032b147a-22e8-4176-aad6-a988a64cb09e&p=1

[Tyrson]

This is crazy the worlds gone nuts Russians are the good guys, the necons are trying to destabilize Russia maybe even provoke widening escalations.
Peace,
 Tyrson

[David Rothscum]

What do you guys think? Did Georgia's president just thought this up by himself? What does the evidence really show? I know, they've done it before with Kosovo, but how do we know for sure Georgia's crazy president didn't just think he could get away with this?

[mytee726]

I think he may be confused if he thinks we will help but this is what set me off

The Georgian leader went on to call for national unity and attempted to cast the military operation as an unavoidable action amid the country’s transformation from formerly Soviet republic to a Western-oriented democracy. "The fight for the future is worth fighting," he said. "If we stand together, there is no force that can defeat Georgia, defeat freedom, defeat a nation striving for freedom -- no matter how many planes, tanks, and missiles they use against us."

With an attitude like that if more of us had that we would win this war it is the same attitude that this country was built on and as Americans we should help. I just got excited someone was fighting someone other than fake terrorists. I think I got to excited now that I've calmed down, it looks like we are supporting this and are threating Russia. is that right?

[doublethink]

I think he may be confused if he thinks we will help but this is what set me off

The Georgian leader went on to call for national unity and attempted to cast the military operation as an unavoidable action amid the country’s transformation from formerly Soviet republic to a Western-oriented democracy. "The fight for the future is worth fighting," he said. "If we stand together, there is no force that can defeat Georgia, defeat freedom, defeat a nation striving for freedom -- no matter how many planes, tanks, and missiles they use against us."

With an attitude like that if more of us had that we would win this war it is the same attitude that this country was built on and as Americans we should help. I just got excited someone was fighting someone other than fake terrorists. I think I got to excited now that I've calmed down, it looks like we are supporting this and are threating Russia. is that right?

Just words. You dont attack a world superpower over a parcel of land the size of rhode island (maybe smaller) without the backing of other world powers.

nobody is that crazy.

[mytee726]

Ya think it was another setup like they did to Saddam in Kuwait, it kinda looks like it or they are wanting to get into it with Russia