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

[Wanted]

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav080408.shtml


In the wake of an armed clash in Georgia’s separatist-minded territory of South Ossetia, all sides are eschewing conciliatory gestures and are instead embracing aggressive rhetoric.

Accounts of the number killed and injured vary. South Ossetia claims six civilians killed and 22 injured after Georgian forces reportedly fired on and later shelled the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, during the night of August 1-2. Tbilisi, for its part, claims that six civilians and one policeman were injured when South Ossetian forces allegedly shelled four Georgian-controlled villages in the conflict zone.

Tbilisi initially blamed Moscow for the clash, saying Russia seeks to subvert recently intensified international conflict resolution efforts. Tskhinvali, on the other hand, charges that Tbilisi is trying to make a grab for South Ossetia. Separatist leaders vowed to retaliate. "We are not going to put up with this anymore," South Ossetia’s de facto interior minister, Mikhail Mindzayev, said in an interview with Media News. "Should another provocation take place, we will strike back at Georgian cities."

South Ossetian separatists have also pledged a general troop mobilization if another clash occurs, and warned that they will seek military assistance from the fellow breakaway region of Abkhazia, as well as from Russia’s North Caucasus area, including neighboring North Ossetia. Georgian media sources have reported a build-up of Russian military forces on North Ossetia’s border with South Ossetia. The information could not be independently confirmed.

On August 3, South Ossetia’s separatist authorities declined to meet with Georgian State Minister for Territorial Integration Temur Iakobashvili for direct talks about the situation in the conflict zone.

Meanwhile, Tbilisi has adopted muscular language of its own. "I want to advise those in Tskhinvali to stop playing war games and to find a better use of their time and review the peace proposals," Georgian peacekeeping operations chief Mamuka Kurashvili said in televised remarks on August 4.

Kurashvili went on to suggest that Russian peacekeepers themselves played a part in the attack in a bid to derail internationally mediated peace talks. A Russia Defense Ministry representative angrily denied the allegation, calling it "provocative, dirty information," the official RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

Other Russian statements have helped stir up troubled waters. On August 2, the Interfax news agency quoted a top military commander as saying Russian Airborne Troops were ready to enter South Ossetia to assist Russian peacekeepers. The next day, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement ominously suggested that "the threat of large-scale military actions between Georgia and South Ossetia is becoming more real."

Such public pronouncements merely fuel the impression in Tbilisi that Russia is not interested in finding a peaceful settlement to the Ossetia issue.

Davit Darchiashvili, chairperson of the Georgian parliament’s European Integration Committee, suggested that the flare-up in Ossetia was designed to give fellow breakaway entity Abkhazia an excuse for opting out of European-backed peace talks. "The recent actions of Sukhumi and Tskhinvali come together in one logical chain," he commented.

[Darchiashvili formerly served as the director of the Open Society Georgia Foundation in Tbilisi. OSGF, like EurasiaNet.org, is financed by the Open Society Institute, but the two entities operate separately].

Citing tensions in South Ossetia, de facto Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh on August 3 declined an invitation for discussions in Berlin about a peace proposal from the United Nations Secretary General’s Group of Friends of Georgia. "Georgia is sending troops to South Ossetia’s border. Under such circumstances, we cannot talk either with the Group of Friends or the Georgian side," Bagapsh was quoted as saying on Russian television.

Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have rejected Georgian peace proposals that hinge on granting broad authority to the two regions within Georgia. Both breakaway regions affirm that their de facto independence is not negotiable.

Darchiashvili’s evaluation of the situation is shared by other political observers in Tbilisi. "We have seen a pattern [in which] the rise of tension coincides with a suspension of dialogue, or efforts to renew the talks," said Giorgi Khutsishvili, director of Tbilisi’s International Center for Conflict and Negotiation. "Now, when efforts have been stepped up to internationalize the format of engagement, fighting breaks out again."

Political scientist Zurab Abashidze, a former Georgian ambassador to Russia, agrees. The Kremlin, he argues, could use the violence to prompt Tbilisi to back off its campaign to receive a Membership Action Plan from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by the end of the year. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"This may seem highly unlikely given Georgia’s current leadership and foreign policy goals, but if there is not enough willpower in Tbilisi and tangible support from the West, Georgia may eventually succumb to the pressure," Abashidze said.

But, as always in the South Caucasus, conflict zone disputes are prone to sudden shifts in position. Accordingly, in a twist on earlier Georgian statements, Iakobashvili late on August 4 stated that Russia, which has close ties to the separatist South Ossetian government, has made it clear to Tbilisi that it understands the need for "some type of dialogue."

There has been no official response as yet from Moscow, but analyst Khutsishvili hopes that calmer heads will prevail. "The Georgian government must do its utmost to avoid military confrontation and push for creation of an international mechanism for monitoring the situation in the conflict areas," he said.

[Wanted]

Estonia calls for EU peacekeepers in Georgia's breakaway regions
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1217865726.17

(TALLINN) - Estonia said Monday the European Union should deploy peacekeepers to Georgia's separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in an international effort to head off conflict there.

"Peacekeeping there would be an appropriate task for the European Union," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said in a statement.

"States not directly linked to the conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be involved in the peacekeeping mission there," Paet said.

"We need international efforts to resolve the situation," he said.

Paet noted he had discussed the issue with his opposite numbers from Finland and Sweden, adding that "EU member states have a will and interest to find a sustainable solution to the crisis."

Abkhazia and South Ossetia have enjoyed de facto independence from Georgia since a bloody conflict in the early 1990s.

Tensions over both regions have soared in recent months since Moscow announced it was establishing formal ties with the separatists.

South Ossetia is currently in the spotlight after the deadliest clashes there in years, with Russian warning the region is close to "large-scale" military conflict.

Georgia, which in the past has accused Moscow of stirring unrest, denied it was massing troops on the border of the breakaway region.

Georgia accuses Moscow of propping up the rebel leadership in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, mainly through large Russian peacekeeping contingents in both areas, and even of seeking to annex the two regions.

Tbilisi has launched a diplomatic drive for the removal of Russian peacekeepers,

Georgia's pro-Western president, Mikheil Saakashvili, is embroiled in a row with Soviet-era master Moscow over his plans to join the Western military alliance NATO, which Russia vehemently opposes.

Estonia, which like Georgia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991, joined NATO and the European Union in 2004.

It is a staunch supporter of Georgia's efforts to build close ties with the trans-Atlantic alliance and the 27-nation EU.

[Wanted]

Georgia denies its prepares armed operation against South Ossetia
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12923526&PageNum=0

TBILISI, August 4 (Itar-Tass) -- Georgian Security Council Kakha Lomaya dismissed South Ossetian authorities’ assertions that Georgia is preparing an armed operation against South Ossetia.

“Georgian authorities did not prepare and are not preparing any armed operation. So Tskhinvali authorities’ de facto decision to evacuate children and women is some sort of a political show staged by Eduard Kokoity, who wants to show his care about the people living in the conflict zone,” Lomaya said.

Earlier in the day, Georgian State Minister for Reintegration and presidential envoy for conflict resolution Temuri Yakobashvili said “Tskhinvali authorities’ attempts to politicise the evacuation of children to North Ossetia” were “absolutely groundless”.

“It was announced two months ago that children would be taken from the zone of the South Ossetian conflict for rest in the Russian Federation, to North Ossetia, at the end of July or the beginning of August. Now Tskhinvali says that the children are being evacuated. There are obvious attempts to politicise the children’s rest,” Yakobashvili said.

North Ossetia’s Emergencies Ministry said it was evacuating a large group of children from South Ossetia.

“Fifteen buses with children and accompanying adults – all in all about 800 people – will arrive at the border-crossing point Nizhny Zaramag shortly from Dzhava where they were taken by peacekeepers,” North Ossetian Emergencies Ministry aide Vladimir Ivanov said.

He said North Ossetia cannot accommodate more people at the moment and can only receive children from South Ossetia who have relatives in the Russian republic.

South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity is negotiating for the accommodation of children in other regions of Russia’s Southern Federal District.

About 1,500 women and children have been evacuated from South Ossetia over the past three days.

According to the South Ossetian government, up to 200,000 people may want to leave the republic during the current crisis with Georgia.

North Ossetian leader Taimuraz Mamsurov said earlier his republic is determined to join forces with South Ossetia in order to repel Georgia’s aggression.

“North Ossetia is closely watching the situation and is ready to come to its southern brothers’ rescue. We are abhorred by the actions of the Georgian political leadership that has unleashed a real war against Ossetians and we are determined to repel the aggression together,” he said.

Mamsurov expressed condolences to the families of those killed and stressed, “the north of Ossetia will not stay indifferent to the fate of its brethren”.

[Wanted]

The Caucasian conflict in the context of world politics
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080804/115683348.html


MOSCOW. (Fyodor Lukyanov for RIA Novosti) - South Ossetia is once again on the brink of war. Alarming reports are coming from Abkhazia, and Russian-Georgian relations continue to be tense.

Why have these two unresolved conflicts on Georgian territory grown so markedly worse? Their indefinite status is by definition volatile, and sometimes a minor event can turn a frozen conflict into a hot one. In this case, however, we are seeing a major change that reflects a fundamental process.

Kosovo's unilateral proclamation of independence from Serbia last February played a key role in these developments. There may be endless disputes over whether this has created a legal precedent or not, but realpolitik takes its course regardless.

Moscow and quite a few other capitals considered the move a serious step toward the degradation of international law and the triumph of arbitrary approaches to the resolution of global problems.

Nonetheless, Russia has chosen a course of compromise. Russia's leaders could not ignore what happened in the Balkans, but they chose not respond by recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, even though they believe that after Kosovo was proclaimed independent they had every right to do so.

Reluctant to complicate an already difficult situation, Russia is ready to continue recognizing Georgia's formal territorial integrity. But it has opted for fully-fledged relations with both of the breakaway territories. This approach is manifest in Moscow's decision to withdraw from sanctions against Abkhazia and the Russian president's April decree on practical aid to the residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Tbilisi understands that after Kosovo the prospect of restoring Georgia's territorial integrity has become even vaguer. If the status taking shape after Russia's move is accepted and everything is left as it is, it will soon be pointless to talk about re-integration even in theory. Abkhazia will become an element of an enormous economic project called "the Sochi Olympics." South Ossetia is already de facto a subsidized region of the Russian Federation.

Tbilisi must show resolve if it wants to break this trend. It can make diplomatic initiatives, exert military pressure and attract the attention of its Western allies by escalating tensions. Georgia's leaders believe that closer relations with NATO and future membership in the bloc will help secure their territorial integrity. Washington shares this view. According to this logic, NATO's failure to welcome Georgia and Ukraine into a Membership Action Plan in April was a sign of weakness that prompted Russia to step up its actions toward "annexing" the territories. If Moscow is told in no uncertain terms that the decision will be made, this will ostensibly promote stabilization.

But Russia's position on this issue is just the opposite. The closer Georgia is to NATO, the more resolute steps Moscow will take toward recognizing the territories which Georgia no longer controls, because Tbilisi could see some of NATO's formal commitments as a chance to resolve the conflicts militarily.

The United States has been contributing to the tension. Six months before the end of his presidency, George W. Bush badly needs some international success, if he does not want to be remembered for a chain of failures. Approval of the Membership Action Plan for Ukraine and Georgia (or at least one of them) at NATO's ministerial meeting next December is fast becoming his only chance to leave a tangible achievement.

This is why Washington is being more vocal in its support for Georgia and bringing more pressure to bear on those of its European allies who question the wisdom of such a course. One example is the recent visit to Tbilisi by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Needless to say, Georgia perceives Washington's unequivocal position as a green light to take more active steps.

Tensions are likely to reach a peak in late fall. In December, the current U.S. administration will make its last attempt to push through the Membership Action Plan. As a prelude to this, Washington will sharply step up its political activities, thereby increasing the risk of armed conflicts in the region.

[Wanted]

Way...too many Wizard and Disco trolls today. Lets focus our heads on something important.
Some shit is about to happen. 
I think this is important so.

*bump* 

[Wanted]

Talk of war gets louder in Georgia's 'bloody little chessboard' of South Ossetia
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2008/0805/1217628552496.html

SOUTH OSSETIA is a schizophrenic place.

Legally part of Georgia, most of it is run by separatists who want to join their ethnic kin in North Ossetia, across the border in Russia. Often, the tiny rebel capital of Tskhinvali and the villages near by are quiet by day, but crackle with gun and mortar fire by night. And the old men who pause under shady trees in Tskhinvali look like pensioners anywhere, passing time and reminiscing. But here they talk of weapons, killing and the possibility of war.

"From the Soviet days the Georgians always discriminated against us, and made us deny we were Ossetians. Then in the 1990s they opened their prisons and sent convicts, police and soldiers to fight us. But we drove them out. Now they seem ready to attack us again, but we're not scared. There are no cowards here." Lev Gogichaev's friends murmur agreement.

Then they recall how Joseph Stalin divided Ossetia between the Russian and Georgian Soviet republics in 1922, and how the south tried to re-join the north in the dying days of the Soviet Union, and Georgia reacted by sending troops to crush the secessionists.

At least 2,000 people are believed to have died in the 1991-1992 war and tens of thousands were forced from their homes. It ended when a coup ousted a nationalist Georgian government and new president Eduard Shevardnadze and Kremlin counterpart Boris Yeltsin agreed a deal for peacekeepers from Russia, Georgia and North and South Ossetia to patrol the ravaged region.

But 16 years on, talk of war is once more getting louder.

Hundreds of South Ossetian children were evacuated to North Ossetia this weekend after alleged Georgian sniper and mortar fire killed six people and injured 15.

Tbilisi denied using mortars or snipers and accused the rebels of firing the very same weapons at Georgian villages in South Ossetia. Russia - relied upon by Tskhinvali and deeply mistrusted by Georgia - warned that "the threat of large-scale military action . . . is becoming ever more real". In recent weeks, bomb blasts and gun attacks have increased, cranking up tension in this tiny region - home to perhaps 40,000 people - where Georgian and Ossetian villages sit side by side, guarded by troops and militia who regularly shoot at each other.

This patchwork has been called a "bloody little chessboard" - and many people now see the pieces upon it being guided by powerful foreign hands.

Last summer, Georgia said a bomb that landed in a field between South Ossetia and a military radar base had been dropped by a Russian aircraft.

In April, furious over the West's support for Kosovo's independence, then Russian president Vladimir Putin issued a decree establishing direct links between Moscow and separatist leaders in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia.

Then, just hours before US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice visited Tbilisi last month, four Russian fighter jets flew over South Ossetia on a mission that Moscow claimed halted a major Georgian attack on the region.

"Russia's initial aim was to retaliate over Kosovo and to stop Georgia joining Nato and, when the West showed its incapacity to act, Russia saw the possibility to finally annex these territories and redraw the borders of eastern Europe," said Temur Iakobashvili, Georgia's minister for re-integration of its rebel regions.

Tbilisi was thwarted in its drive for a "membership action plan" - a key step on the road to Nato membership - when the likes of Germany and France argued at an April summit of the military alliance that energy-rich Russia would be angered by such a move.

Iakobashvili argues that Moscow will foment trouble in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and provide the rebels with cash, weapons and political support, until western powers show that they will not be deterred from bringing Georgia into the Nato fold.

Tbilisi also advocates a bigger US and EU role in security missions and negotiations in both separatist provinces.

"Russia is not an honest broker," said Iakobashvili. "It's part of the problem, not the solution."

In the dilapidated headquarters of the separatist government of South Ossetia, deputy prime minister Boris Chochiev hails Russia and condemns Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and his western backers for wrecking hopes of a peaceful settlement.

"Russia sends us money and electricity. We don't need more weapons - the Georgians left plenty behind when they ran away after the war," he told The Irish Times. "All we see is Georgia preparing for another war. But we wouldn't be alone. It would be a war of the Caucasian peoples against Georgia, and Russia would be obliged to protect its citizens. About 98 per cent of South Ossetians already have Russian passports."

Much responsibility for monitoring the region falls to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which also runs economic rehabilitation projects that encourage South Ossetians and Georgians to work together - often with startling success.

"At local level, Georgians and South Ossetians can get on and want to live their lives in peace," said the OSCE's chief military representative in Georgia, Steve Young. "But as regards the military situation, the level of tension is at its highest since 2006, and if it continues to rise then there is the potential for a deterioration into some form of armed conflict."

It is troubling that few officials in Tbilisi, Tskhinvali or Moscow would disagree with him. "We don't want war. But we won't give up one centimetre of our territory to anyone," vows Iakobashvili.

And Chochiev insists: "There's no way back. We were part of the USSR, not Georgia. And now we want to rejoin our people in North Ossetia, and Russia."

Beneath the trees in Tskhinvali, a few young people have gathered to hear the old men talk. "It's worrying when the mortars and shooting start, but we are used to it," says Aslan Lolaer (22). "We are tired of all this tension, young and old want peace. But we are ready to defend our homeland."

[ramallamamama]

Good to see you're off the flouride Wizard.

bump

[Optimus]

Russia asks US to tame Georgia
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=65650&sectionid=351020606
Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:44:05
 
Russia has asked the United States to stop Georgia from letting the South Ossetia standoff spiral into a 'large-scale' face-off.

"Russia counts on constructive cooperation from Washington," in checking the "the unlawful buildup of Georgia's military presence in" South Ossetia, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin was quoted by Ria Novosti as saying adding that the matter has caused Moscow great dismay.

Russia has warned that the escalated tension in the republic, that earlier in the week cost nearly six lives during the Georgian and South Ossetian forces' confrontation, was a strong predictor of a 'large-scale military conflict'.

On Sunday, following the bloody shootout, South Ossetia started sending 1,000 children to Russia as a preemptive measure against future incidents of the kind.

Turning against Tbilisi would translate to an about-face in US' approach as Washington has without fail assured Georgia's pro-Western leadership of its support in the matter.

The US has also allied with Tbilisi in its disagreements with Russia over Georgia's Nato hopes; a matter which could render its siding with Moscow over the conflict even more difficult.

[trailhound]

Russia asks US to tame Georgia

two party war party system

 but Russia is threatening the U.S. over missle shields..depending on what day it is. I saw the word chessboard up there and indeed this all is a contrived game. Its the sovereign war party

[trailhound]

http://www.prisonplanet.com/russia-may-answer-western-pressure-with-bases-in-cuba-analyst.html

[Optimus]

Russia vows to defend S Ossetia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7543099.stm
August 5, 2008

Russia will intervene if conflict erupts in the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia, a senior Russian diplomat has warned.

Special ambassador Yuri Popov said Russia would defend its citizens living in the conflict zone, Interfax reports.

At least six people have been killed in clashes in the region in recent days.

Georgia denies being behind the violence, and has taken journalists and diplomats to people's homes it says were damaged in separatist attacks.

The BBC's Matthew Collin said local people showed the visitors holes in their houses they said were made by rocket-propelled grenades.

One elderly man said a rocket had left him with a shrapnel wound. He said it was the worse violence in the region for years.

The South Ossetian separatists blame Georgian forces for starting the fighting.

Russia, which has backed the separatists since they fought a war to break away from Georgia in the 1990s, said it would step in if violence escalated.

"If events develop according to the worst-case violence scenario, Russia will not allow itself to remain indifferent, considering that Russian citizens live in South Ossetia, particularly in the conflict zone," Interfax quotes Yuri Popov as saying.

"I don't want to make any grim predictions, but if such events are repeated, the situation may spiral out of control and lead to sad consequences," said Mr Popov, who heads the Russian delegation to a joint commission in South Ossetia.

Senior South Ossetian and Georgian officials are due to meet on Thursday, Mr Popov said.

'Evacuation' dispute

Mr Popov's comments come after South Ossetia's separatist government accused Georgia on Friday of killing six people and injuring seven in an attack on the outlying village of Satikari.

South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity accused the country of "attempting to spark a full-scale war".

Georgia denied accusations that it initiated the mortar attack, saying that its troops had responded after coming under fire at a checkpoint.

Georgia has also condemned the alleged evacuation of South Ossetian children from the conflict zone.

A spokeswoman said the children were actually being sent to holiday camps, as they were every year, and that the separatists was using their youngsters as political propaganda.

[Wanted]

Reports: Israel Halts Arms Sale to Georgia
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=18902

Israel has decided to halt all sales of military equipment to Georgia because of Russia’s objections, Israeli daily Maariv reported on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

The daily quoted unnamed Israeli defense officials saying that Russia sent Israel a letter of protest after the April 20 incident when Georgia’s Israeli-produced unmanned reconnaissance drone was shot down over Abkhazia. Russia was asking Israel to stop supplying military hardware to Georgia as Russia from time to time complies with Israel's requests not to supply weapons systems to states seen as threatening Israel, according to the Maariv.
 
Georgia has bought Hermes 450 drones from the Israeli company Elbit Systems. President Saakashvili has claimed in April that Georgia had 40 such drones.

Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgian state minister for reintegration, has strongly denied that Israel frozen arms sale to Georgia.

“I’ve heard of those reports; there was a gossipy article, published in the Israeli press,” Iakobashvili said at a news conference in Tbilisi on August 5.

He also suggested that “gossip” was linked to the internal political processes in Israel. “You know that war of compromising materials is not a strange thing in this country,” Iakobashvili added.

“We have been in touch with the Israeli Foreign Ministry; there has not been any freeze on arms sale by Israel,” he continued. “I have not seen having any problems with supply of arms from Israel.”

A similar report on halt of arms sale by Israel to Georgia emerged in February, 2005, which was also denied by officials in Tbilisi.

[Wanted]

Georgia to meet South Ossetia rebels for landmark talks: official
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jj8y6zkhG8xG9ud2jOUlgBWnhrSQ


33 minutes ago

TBILISI, Georgia (AFP) — Georgian and South Ossetian officials have agreed to hold direct talks for the first time in a decade this week amid mounting tensions in the rebel region, a Georgian official said Tuesday.

South Ossetia's rebel government denied agreeing to the talks in a statement of its website, but a senior Russian official confirmed the discussions were to take place on Thursday.

Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Yakobashvili told AFP he would meet on August 7 with senior South Ossetian officials in the rebel capital Tskhinvali.

He said the landmark talks, the first direct bilateral contact between the two sides for at least a decade, "could mark a breakthrough in resolving the conflict."

Russia's negotiator on South Ossetia, ambassador-at-large Yury Popov, also told the ITAR-TASS news agency that the talks would take place, adding that Russia would take part.

"We hope the sides will manage to find compromise decisions that will promote the removal of tensions in the region," he was quoted as saying.

Georgia's foreign ministry also said Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze would meet Russian counterpart Grigory Karasin in Moscow later this week to discuss the situation in South Ossetia.

The reports came after a top Russian diplomat warned Moscow would defend Russian citizens living in South Ossetia and a South Ossetian official said militias in the region were preparing for war, Russian media reports said.

South Ossetia has evacuated hundreds of women and children to Russia over the past few days after six people were killed on Friday by sniper and mortar fire from Georgian positions, the rebel province's government said.

Georgia has denied readying for war and said there is no major evacuation.

South Ossetia broke away from the rest of Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 in a conflict that killed thousands of people.

Russia has given the separatist province diplomatic and economic support, including granting citizenship to most of its residents.

"If events develop in the worst possible way, with the use of force, Russia will not be able to stand by, seeing as Russian citizens live in South Ossetia," Popov was quoted by media as saying.

Tensions between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia, have soared in recent months since Moscow announced it was boosting ties with the separatists.

Meanwhile South Ossetian officials said militia volunteers from southern Russia were beginning to arrive in the separatist province in preparation for a possible conflict.

"The volunteers are arriving," Dmitry Medoyev, a spokesman for South Ossetia's leadership, told reporters in Moscow, Russian news agencies said.

"We are getting offers of help from the North Caucasus and from the Cossacks of southern Russia," he added.

[Wanted]

UPDATE 4-Georgia denies war plans in breakaway region
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL564710620080805


By Matt Robinson

AVNEVI, Georgia, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Georgia on Tuesday denied preparing for war in its breakaway South Ossetia region following deadly weekend clashes that have raised fears of a new war in the Caucasus.

Russia said it would not be indifferent if there was further violence on its border, escalating a war of words in a region where Moscow and the West are vying for influence over vital energy transit routes.

"If events develop according to the worst-case violence scenario, Russia will not allow itself to remain indifferent, considering that Russian citizens live in South Ossetia, particularly in the conflict zone," Interfax news agency quoted Russian special ambassador Yuri Popov as saying.

But Georgia rejected accusations of indiscriminate shelling of Ossetian-held areas over the weekend, and denied it was preparing for conflict.

"We are not mobilising forces, we are not getting ready for war," deputy Interior Minister Ekaterine Zguladze told Reuters in the Georgian-held village of Avnevi in South Ossetia.

"There is no military build-up whatsoever on the Georgian side," said Zguladze. NATO said on Tuesday it was "not aware of any troop concentrations by Georgia in or near South Ossetia."

South Ossetia and Georgia's Black Sea region of Abkhazia broke away from Georgia after fighting wars against Tbilisi in the 1990s. Both have financial and political support from Moscow and the vast majority of locals have Russian citizenship.

But the frozen conflicts are fast beginning to thaw, particularly since pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili took power in 2003 and angered Russia by pledging to steer ex-Soviet Georgia towards membership of NATO.


"SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL"

Georgia is at the heart of the Caucasus, an unstable region hosting the only pipelines pumping gas and oil from the Caspian Sea to world markets without going through Russia.

South Ossetia is a mosaic of separatist-controlled territories centred on the regional capital Tskhinvali and Georgian-populated villages loyal to Tbilisi scattered across the province. Russia has peacekeepers in the area.

Georgian authorities on Tuesday bussed foreign diplomats and media through hardscrabble Georgian villages skirting Tskhinvali to show pockmarked walls and collapsed roofs from what they said was unprovoked shelling by Ossetian forces.

Six people died on the Ossetian side, and Georgia and South Ossetia have been trading blame ever since.

Tbilisi accused Moscow of "deliberate support for separatist regimes on Georgian land." The Russian peacekeepers, it said, were propping up the South Ossetians.

"The Russian Federation is carrying out on Georgian land an aggression and actions that violate Georgia's sovereignty," the Defence Ministry said in a statement

It said Tbilisi remained committed to peace talks, which are currently deadlocked.

In Washington, the State Department warned against provocative actions by any of the parties.

"It is important for us that, number one, that the violence stops and, number two, that a dialogue begins and so that they can continue to discuss the issues there," spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said.

NATO said it was following the situation, but that it was not aware of any troop build-up by its ally Georgia.

"We call on all parties to de-escalate the tensions," said alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero. EU president France called for the "swift resumption" of negotiations.

Popov, who heads Russia's delegation to a joint commission trying to resolve the conflict, said senior officials from both sides were due to meet on Thursday.

"I don't want to make any grim predictions, but if such events are repeated, the situation may spiral out of control and lead to sad consequences," he said. (Additional reporting by Conor Sweeney and Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow and Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi; editing by Sami Aboudi)

[Wanted]

New fighting reported in South Ossetia\
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/06/europe/EU-Georgia-South-Ossetia.php

TBILISI, Georgia: The Interfax news agency cites authorities in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia as saying the southern part of the regional capital is coming under heavy fire from Georgian forces.

The agency cites the defense ministry of the republic's unrecognized government, but gives no further details. Telephone calls to officials in the city, Tskhinvali, did not go through.

The report comes after fighting earlier Wednesday in which South Ossetian forces claimed to have seized a strategic heights area.

Tensions in the region have soared recently, leading to fears of full-scale war. Georgian and South Ossetian officials were to have met Thursday to try to find resolution, but South Ossetia's president was quoted by Interfax as saying the meeting was off.

[Wanted]

S. Ossetia Rejects Georgia Direct Talks
http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.asp?newsid=031030120080806212808


TBILISI, Georgia, Aug 6--The leader of Georgia's rebel region of South Ossetia on Wednesday rejected plans for direct talks with Tbilisi this week as violence continued to flare in the mountain province.

"There will be no bilateral meeting on Thursday," South Ossetia's de facto president, Eduard Kokoity, told Russia's Interfax news agency.

Georgian and Russian officials previously announced that the first bilateral talks in a decade would take place in Tskhinvali on Thursday.

Georgian officials continued to insist that the meeting would take place, despite denials from South Ossetia.

"The meeting will be held," Marina Salukvadze, a spokeswoman for Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Yakobashvili said.

Tbilisi has rejected talks under the established four-party format, which consists of negotiators from Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia and Russia's North Ossetia region. Georgia says the format is biased in favor of the rebels.

Both sides, meanwhile, accused the other of opening fire on local villages with automatic rifles and heavy weapons.

The rebel government said in statements on its website that four Ossetian villages had come under heavy fire throughout the day.

Georgian Interior Ministry Spokesman Shota Utiashvili said that Georgian forces had only returned fire after Ossetian positions began shelling Georgian-controlled villages.

Utiashvili also denied a Russian media report quoting peacekeeping forces as saying that military jets had been spotted flying over South Ossetia.

Hundreds of women and children have been evacuated from South Ossetia in the past week in preparation for a possible conflict, separatist officials said.

Tensions over South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia, have soared in recent months since Moscow announced it was boosting ties with the separatists.

Russia has given tacit support to the separatists, including granting citizenship to most of the region's residents.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgian control during wars in the early 1990s that left thousands dead and forced tens of thousands from their homes.

[gabba2k7]

new war, USA, Israel - selling weapon & equip -> getting money. nothing strange. there are will not be peace talks to solve problem . washinghton has already  decided that georgia must attack osetia.

[HYDROGENPAL]

click on picture

[Optimus]

Georgia, separatists report heavy fighting
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL7123419
Thu Aug 7, 2008 8:03am EDT

TBILISI, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Georgia and South Ossetian separatists on Thursday reported a heavy battle involving artillery in the breakaway region and blamed each other for the fighting.

A spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, Shota Utiashvili, told Reuters separatists were trying to attack the Tbilisi-controlled village of Avnevi and had destroyed an armoured personnel carrier (APC).

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted separatist officials as saying Georgians were shelling a nearby village of Khetagurovo using machineguns, mortars and guns from APCs. There is no independent information about the situation. (Reporting by Matt Robinson in Tbilisi and Oleg Shchedrov in Moscow)

[Wanted]

Georgia and S Ossetia agree truce
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/20088718342166452.html


Georgia and South Ossetia will hold Russian-brokered talks on Friday following a ceasefire being agreed in the breakaway region, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

The commander of a Russian peacekeeping force in the region said late on Thursday that the heavy shelling, which had injured at least 21 people, had stopped.

Marat Kulakhmetov, the Russian commander, was quoted by Interfax as saying that the top Georgian negotiator had "said Georgia would refrain from using force until the normalisation of the situation and tomorrow's talks".

"We came to a crisis line, and the next step would have been a step into the abyss," he said.

Reports of the talks came just hours after Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's president, offered an immediate halt to the heavy fighting and said he had ordered his forces not to return fire if attacked.

"I offer you an immediate ceasefire and the immediate beginning of talks," he said in a televised address.

Saakashvili also repeated an offer of "full autonomy" for the breakaway region and said Russia could be the guarantor of any deal.

'Emergency' meeting

Boris Chochiyev, the deputy prime minister of South Ossetia's de facto government, confirmed that talks would take place on Friday, Interfax reported.

"Tomorrow's meeting is of an emergency nature ... Such a meeting is necessary," he was quoted as saying.

RIA news agency reported that Chochiev and Temur Yakobashvili, the Georgian re-integration minister would meet at the Russian peacekeepers' base in the region's capital Tskhinvali.

Jonah Hull, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Moscow, described the offer as an "olive branch".

"It seems that Georgia is offering here some sort of an olive branch. It's certainly an admission and a sign of just how serious things have become in South Ossetia," he said.

"It's also a sign perhaps of how unwilling Georgia is to be drawn into a full-scale conflict, knowing very well that that would jeopordise its cherished chances of joining Nato."

Border clashes

The de facto government in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, said that 18 people had been wounded by Georgian fire on Thursday.

South Ossetia said 18 people were injured in Thursday's fighting [AFP]

While Marina Salukvadze, a spokeswoman for Yakobashvili said two Georgian servicemen were wounded after attacks on Georgian positions by South Ossetian forces.

South Ossetia also said that six people had died in fighting over the weekend.

Both sides have blamed each other for the fighting.

Thursday's renewed peace efforts came as the United States and Russia agreed to work together to find a solution to the growing tensions in the region.

Dan Fried, US assistant secretary of state, told the Reuters news agency he had spoken Grigory Karasin, Russia's deputy foreign minister, by telephone, and "we both agreed to work together to get the fighting stopped in South Ossetia, and encourage political dialogue".


"It appears that the South Ossetians have instigated this uptick in violence," he said. "We have urged the Russians to urge their South Ossetian friends to pull back and show greater restraint."

Earlier, Karasin urged "the Georgian leadership to show common sense and stop irresponsible military activities in South Ossetia".

South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia, receive extensive political and financial backing  from Moscow.

Tbilisi has repeatedly accused Russian peacekeepers of supporting the separatists, while  Moscow has accused of Georgia of planning a full-scale invasion to re-establish control over the region.

[Wanted]

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jozDBYPBSckYIOc6SpqAIYHSUOug


Georgia denies ceasefire agreement with SOssetia



MOSCOW (AFP) — Georgia on Thursday denied a report that it had agreed on a ceasefire with South Ossetia after a day of violence in the breakway region.

"No ceasefire agreement was reached as we, unfortunately, have no contacts with the separatists," Alexander Lomaya, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, told AFP.

"Even after our four-hour-long unilateral ceasefire, separatists are still shelling Georgian villages," he added.

Earlier, the Interfax news agency reported that Georgia and South Ossetia had agreed to a ceasefire pending a Russian-brokered meeting on Friday, citing the commander of peacekeepers in the breakaway region.

The top Georgian negotiator "said Georgia would refrain from using force until the normalisation of the situation and tomorrow's talks," peacekeeper commander Marat Kulakhmetov was quoted as saying.

Hostilities in the region had stopped during the past four hours, he said.

"We came to a crisis line, and the next step would have been a step into the abyss," Kulakhmetov said.

Boris Chochiyev, the deputy prime minister of South Ossetia's self-styled government, confirmed the talks would take place Friday, Interfax reported.

"Tomorrow's meeting is of an emergency nature.... Such a meeting is necessary," Chochiyev was quoted as saying.

The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. (0900 GMT) Friday, Russia's point man for South Ossetia, Ambassador-at-large Yury Popov, was quoted as saying by Interfax.

[David Rothscum]

Oh, I didn't know you kept all these stories in a central topic. Good job Wanted.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/tiny-rebel-region-brings-russia-and-georgia-to-brink-of-war-886101.html
Tiny rebel region brings Russia and Georgia to brink of war

By day, the tiny rebel capital of South Ossetia and the villages nearby are often quiet. But, by night, they crackle with gun and mortar fire. The old men who pause under shady trees in Tskhinvali look like pensioners anywhere, passing time and reminiscing. But here they talk of weapons, killing and the prospect of war.

Legally part of Georgia, most of the territory is run by separatists who want to unite with their ethnic kin in Russian-controlled North Ossetia.

"From the Soviet days the Georgians always discriminated against us," says Lev Gogichaev. "Then in the 1990s they opened their prisons and sent convicts, police and soldiers to fight us. But we drove them out. Now they seem ready to attack us again, but we're not scared. There are no cowards here." . His friends murmur agreement.

At least 2,000 people are thought to have died in 1991-92, when Georgia deployed troops to crush South Ossetia's bid to break free of Tbilisi's control. Now, after a 16-year stand-off, and with Russia furious at Georgia's bid for Nato membership, talk of renewed conflict is growing louder. South Ossetia says it is evacuating hundreds of children to North Ossetia after Georgian sniper and mortar fire killed six people and injured 15 others last weekend. Tbilisi denies using such weapons, and insists the children are simply going to the same summer camps that they attend every year.

Moscow, relied upon by Tskhinvali and deeply mistrusted by Georgia, has warned of "large-scale military action" and said yesterday that it would "not remain indifferent" to any danger posed to the vast majority of South Ossetians who have been given Russian passports.

The region, home to perhaps 40,000 people, is a patchwork of Georgian and Ossetian villages, guarded by troops and militia who regularly exchange fire. It has been called a "bloody little chessboard" – and the pieces upon it often seem guided by powerful foreign hands. Last summer, a Russian plane allegedly bombed Georgian territory close to South Ossetia and, last month, hours before the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, visited Tbilisi, four Russian fighter jets circled over Tskhinvali.

Temur Iakobashvili, Georgia's minister for re-integrating its separatist regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, said: "Russia's initial aim was to retaliate over Kosovo [claiming independence] and to stop Georgia joining Nato and, when the West showed its incapacity to act, Russia saw the possibility finally to annex these territories and redraw the borders of eastern Europe."

He argues that Russia will undermine Georgia until it is formally placed on the path towards Nato membership, and he wants more US and EU involvement in security missions and negotiations in its breakaway provinces.

In the dilapidated government headquarters of separatist South Ossetia, Boris Chochiev, the deputy prime minister, hails Russia and condemns Georgia and its Western backers. "All we see is Georgia preparing for another war," he said. "But we wouldn't be alone. It would be a war of the Caucasian peoples against Georgia, and Russia would be obliged to protect its citizens."

Much responsibility for monitoring the region falls to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which also runs economic projects that encourage South Ossetians and Georgians to work together – often with startling success.

"At a local level, Georgians and South Ossetians can get on and want to live their lives in peace," said Steve Young, the Briton who is the OSCE's chief military representative in Georgia. "But as regards the military situation ... if [tension] continues to rise then there is the potential for a deterioration into some form of armed conflict."

Few officials in Tbilisi, Tskhinvali or Moscow would disagree. "We don't want war. But we won't give up one centimetre of our territory to anyone," vows Mr Iakobashvili. And in his office 60 miles to the north, Mr Chochiev insists: "There's no way back. We were part of the USSR, not Georgia. And now we want to rejoin our people."

Roots of conflict stretch back to Stalin

*Most Ossetians are Orthodox Christians, and live on the northern and southern slopes of the Caucasus mountains. Russia controls North Ossetia; South Ossetia is legally part of Georgia, but most of it is run by a rebel government that wants to unite with the north.

*Stalin divided Ossetia between the Russian and Georgian Soviet Republics in 1922, despite protests from the Ossetians.

*Calls for reunification grew louder as the Soviet Union weakened and finally collapsed, and nationalism intensified in Georgia. Tbilisi sent troops to crush the rebellion, sparking a war in 1991-92, in which at least 2,000 people are thought to have died and thousands were driven from their homes. Russia covertly supported the rebels, and ultimately helped shape a peacekeeping deal for the region.

*Georgia says the peacekeeping format is being abused by Russia, which it accuses of financing and arming the breakaway government. Tbilisi says Moscow is destabilising South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia on the Black Sea, to maintain influence in the Caucasus and undermine Georgia's bid to join Nato. Both areas, Georgia says, are rife with smuggling of arms, drugs and people.

*South Ossetian officials claim 65,000 people live in the territory; Georgia puts the figure nearer 20,000.

[Wanted]

Its gonna be fireworks all over again folks.....


Georgian forces attack Russian-backed separatists

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4481342.ece


Heavy fighting was reported tonight in the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia after Georgian forces launched an assault on Russian-backed rebels.

The battles erupted shortly after the president of Georgia made a dramatic appeal for a ceasefire following a day of heavy clashes which claimed at least 10 lives.

President Saakashvili offered “an immediate ceasefire and an immediate beginning of talks” in a televised address to the separatist region. He repeated an offer of autonomy within Georgia, saying that he was willing to make Russia the guarantor of any agreement.

The President said that rebel forces were continuing to fire at Georgian military positions but he had ordered his forces not to retaliate. He said: “It was a painful decision but we have suffered casualties and villagers' homes have been damaged.”

However, shortly before midnight, the Georgian government announced it had begun "Operation restore constitutional order"

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded by saying that the actions in South Ossetia showed that Georgia's leadership "can no longer be trusted".

Tensions between Georgia and Russia have soared since April when the outgoing President, Vladimir Putin, told officials to strengthen economic ties with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's other breakaway region.

The regions broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s and most residents now have Russian passports. Moscow gave warning this week that it would not remain indifferent if war broke out. That prospect appeared closer than at any time in the past 15 years yesterday when separatist leaders and the Georgian Interior Ministry reported heavy fighting in South Ossetia involving artillery and mortar fire. Georgia announced that rebel forces had destroyed an armoured personnel carrier near the village of Avnevi, wounding three soldiers.

Daniel Fried, the US Assistant Secretary of State, said later that the United States and Russia had agreed to work to end the fighting. He said that he had spoken to Grigori Karasin, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, and “we agreed to work together to get the fighting stopped in South Ossetia, and encourage political dialogue”.

Mr Karasin had earlier blamed Georgia for the violence and claimed that Tbilisi was preparing for war. He cautioned that the situation had “reached a dangerous point”. Mr Saakashvili accused Russia of inciting the separatists into confrontation.

He said: “It is all a result of hysterical militarisation, constant military rhetoric and real military propaganda conducted by Russian television stations.” Mr Saakashvili said that neither Russia nor Georgia needed further conflict and should “pool our efforts to end this madness”. Georgia and South Ossetia had been due to hold talks yesterday to try to resolve their dispute but separatist leaders cancelled the meeting after the shelling began.

There were reports that a convoy of thirty buses and seven military trucks filled with Georgian soldiers had been spotted near Gori, at the southern edge of South Ossetia, waiting at a checkpoint. Abkhazia said that it had put its forces on combat alert in response to the deepening crisis.

Officials in South Ossetia said that 18 people were injured in overnight shelling of Tskhinvali and nearby areas. Georgia claimed that militant forces had fired first, provoking a response from its troops.

Mr Saakashvili has pledged to reclaim both regions and accuses Moscow of attempting to annex the territories. The pro-Western Government in Tbilisi is convinced that Moscow is stirring trouble now to wreck Georgia's bid for membership of Nato when the alliance meets in December.

Russia admitted last month that it sent fighter jets to circle over South Ossetia as Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, was visiting Tbilisi. Mr Saakashvili accused Moscow of an act of aggression and a State Department official gave warning of catastrophe unless Russia halted pressure on its former Soviet satellite.

[David Rothscum]

South Ossetia: Georgia preparing for war, Russia claims
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/08/georgia.russia/print
The capital of South Ossetia came under heavy fire last night, hours after the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, denied Russian accusations that Tbilisi was preparing for war against the breakaway region.

"The assault is coming from all directions," said a brief statement on the separatist government's website.

Tbilisi said it was trying to "neutralise" rebel forces which it said were attacking Georgian villages, a senior official told Reuters. Casualty figures were unclear, but the escalating violence has raised fears of an all-out regional war, drawing in Russia, which has close ties with South Ossetia's separatist leadership.

Earlier last night, Saakashvili had offered a unilateral ceasefire and called for talks with the South Ossetian separatist leaders. But South Ossetian president Eduard Kokoity blamed Georgia for the renewed fighting and called Saakashvili's ceasefire call a "despicable and treacherous" ruse, Interfax reported.

The Russian foreign ministry joined in the criticism, saying "the actions by Georgia in South Ossetia bear witness to the fact that the leadership of that country can no longer be trusted," the agency said.

Earlier this week Russia, which has a peacekeeping contingent in the area, said it would not stand aside if serious fighting broke out. Busloads of South Ossetian children were evacuated to Russia last weekend. Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast, said that in the event of war it was ready to come to South Ossetia's aid.

But Saakashvili, who has accused the separatists of hysteria, said confrontation with South Ossetia was "not in Georgia's interests". "I offer you an immediate ceasefire and the immediate beginning of talks," he said yesterday, repeating an offer of "full autonomy" for the region.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgia when the Soviet Union collapsed and both regions insist that nothing less than independence will satisfy them.

But thousands of Georgians who used to live in the breakaway regions are now refugees and Tbilisi says it will not accept the loss of its territory.

[David Rothscum]

This thread should be stickied.

[trailhound]

This thread should be stickied.

 especially since this area has been the catalyst for huge wars in the past..the baltics

http://www.jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2372371

[trailhound]

The Baltic Sea: The Link of Northern Europe

Brian Schnase

SCAND 344, Spring 2001

Introduction - Trade (Vikings - Amber - Hansa - Decline of trade - Modern Trade) Naval Importance - References

Introduction

The Baltic Sea has been at the center of life for the countries of North and Northeastern Europe for many centuries. It has provided not only a means of food but also an economic means of providing industry in the way of markets for fish, the shipbuilding industry, and trade industry. The Baltic has joined the countries around it into a market of trade and interaction between nations. It has also been the stage for conflicts between these same nations. Whether fighting for control of trade routes or to take new territory, the Baltic Sea has provided the arena in which many a battle took place. In the middle of the competition for trade and naval activities has been the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Although not mighty powers militarily or economically, these countries have long been used for their important and strategic locations on the eastern side of the Baltic.

In studying the Baltic it is helpful to focus on the main issues that dominated the region and were the forces that helped to shape history. Militarily the Baltic was an important key in conflicts between the empires of Northern European history. The Danes, Swedes, and Russians all played large roles in the conflicts throughout the sea. Trade was probably the biggest and historically most important aspect of the Baltic Sea. The waterway was the easiest way to move large supplies of goods to and from Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, and the Russian Empire.

Trade on the Baltic Sea: The Link of Northern European Empires

Vikings and the Silver Age

The Baltic Sea has been the key to bringing northern Europeans together since mankind first learned to build ships and navigate upon the sea. Evidence of early travels throughout the sea can be seen by the various trade items found throughout the region, or in other areas of Europe. Hoards of precious metals such as silver, gold, and iron in the form if ingots, coins, tools and ornamental objects have been found all over the Baltic region. These hoards date as far back as the 8th century and up to the 13th century. (Hardh p.37-40) They are evidence of trade networks developed during the rise of the Viking Age. Many of these hoards have been found in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The Vikings traveled throughout the Baltic, passing through the Baltic states as they traveled inland on the regions rivers, reaching as far as the Arab lands around the Black Sea and Constantinople. This is evident by the presence of many Arabian coins found in the hoards throughout the Baltic states. The finding of such hoards has lead to theories of the creation of a monetary system. The coins and larger ingots, brooches, pendants, and neck rings found indicate a need for varying values in order to pay for goods and services. (Hardh p.37-40) The highest concentration of finds has been on the Swedish island of Gotland. This is believed to be due to Gotland’s location between Sweden and the Baltic states, making it a large and wealthy trading port between Scandinavia and the Baltic states and Russia to the east. The lack of banks seems to be the most reasonable explanation for the hoards. To safeguard their wealth, people often buried it in secret locations, in some instances taking the secret to their grave. (Keys)

Amber Trade

The Baltics have long been a source for the highly sought and prized amber. This fossilized pine resin became a major trade item all over Europe and as far away as the Middle East. The sea has long been the source for Baltic amber. As far back as prehistoric times people gathered amber washed up on the shore. Later, different methods were used to obtain it. These ranged from scooping it up in nets as it floated at sea, to riding through the coastal marshlands on horseback. Other methods were to use long poles or pikes to pry the amber loose from the sea floor and collect it as it rose to the surface. In more modern times dredging the seafloor and mining on land have become the main source for Baltic amber. No matter what method was used to collect it, the best concentrations of Baltic amber come from the Lithuanian and Kalingrad region.(Aber)

Growth of Trade, Piracy, and the Hanseatic League

What has historically made the Baltic Sea such an integral part of Northern Europe is the ability to transport goods and allow mobility in an area unsuited for large-scale land travel. Control of the coast and ports became key struggles between the powers of Northern Europe. Denmark maintained an "island kingdom" from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, which stretched from the Jutland peninsula to the Gulf of Riga.(Kirby p.111) The main strength of the Danes power over the Baltic was their control of shipping through the straits between Denmark and Sweden. Germans gained control over present day Latvia and part of Estonia. This was an important key to trade since the Baltic states were the gateway to the east for Northern Europe before roads or railroads were developed. The rivers of the Baltic states provided trade routes linking Northern Europe to Russia and also to the Black Sea, the Middle East, and to the Silk Road trade. Control of ports linking the Baltic to the East became a source of great wealth to the power that could control them.

With the rise of trade through the Baltic and the vast amounts of wealth being obtained from it, pirates and raiders became a problem to contend with. Protection from piracy became one of the reasons leading to the formation of the Hanseatic League. Another key reason for forming the league was to organize and control trade on the Baltic. Creation of the Hanseatic League started in the port of Lubeck around the twelfth century and quickly spread to many other trading centers around the Baltic.(Kirby p.114) The league was for the most part a confederation of German merchants and guilds intent on gaining from the large amount of wealth Baltic trade created. Not all members of the league were German towns, though. Gotland was a major trading port of the time, which the league realized and sought to take advantage of. Ports in the Baltic states, such as Riga and Reval (Tallin) were also seen as desirable due to their link to the East and for their vast resources.

The rise of the Hanse didn’t come about without opposition and struggle. Sweden and Denmark both felt this organized group of merchants weakening their control over Baltic trade. England and the Netherlands also had concerns, relying on resources and goods from the Baltic. Concern for keeping trade open and struggles for control lead to confrontations and treaties in order to maintain secure trade for the kingdoms around the Baltic. Alliances were created to counter the power of the Hanse. The league had strong political power and ties to the German Lords, along with a fleet of ships greater than most other Baltic kingdoms. This brought about treaties with England to maintain their ability to receive Baltic trade goods.(Kirby p.116) It also caused others, the Scandinavians, to join forces to compete with the Hanse.

Throughout the struggles for conquest and control of Baltic trade, the Baltic states were often caught in the middle. Livonia and Prussia were sources of vast amounts of resources like timber, grain, and furs and resented the German control over their ports and ability to trade with western Europe. They sought to have more control over their ports and to keep the Sea open to the trading ships from the west.(Kirby p.115) The politics of Prussia and Livonia, pressure from their neighbors, Poland, Lithuania, and Muscovy, and the rising power and control over Baltic lands by Poland allowed the interests of the Baltic ports to be asserted over the wishes of local rulers and the Hanseatic League.

Narva Trade and the Decline of Baltic Ports

During the mid-sixteenth century the Muscovy Company attempted to stop the Russians from trading with Riga and Reval by shifting trade in the eastern Baltic away from Livonian ports and center it in Viborg and Narva. This brought much resistance from Riga and Reval, who petitioned Lubeck to stop trade with Viborg and Narva without much luck. Later, the Livonians captured a fleet of ships loaded with goods bound for Narva. This resulted in a lawsuit in the High Court, which ruled in favor of Lubeck. Shipping was to remain open, although an oath was to be taken swearing that no military goods were to be supplied to the Russians.(Attman p.43) Trade with Narva, although contested by the Baltic ports, was seen by those in Lubeck as profitable and couldn’t afford not to trade with them or risk losing the business to other merchants. By trading directly with the Russians, the ports of Riga and Reval were cut out of the loop as middlemen and faced declines in their ability to earn wealth off the goods from the eastern lands.(Attman p.44)

Modern Trade in the Baltics: Russian Dependence

With the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia is once again faced with the challenge of obtaining trade goods with limited access to the Baltic Sea. With independence of the Baltic states Russia’s harbor capacity diminished by over fifty percent.(Viitasalo p. 23) For the Baltic states this has been good news. Along with gaining their freedom, they also gained a major share of trade in and out of the Baltic and are a major link between the East and West. Russia will still be able to import goods through Baltic ports, although now it will require fees paid to the Baltic states and maintaining favorable political relations.(Viitasalo p.22) Competition among the ports of the Baltic states, Russia, and Finland will increase, but the Baltic states sit in position to gain the most from this. Finland’s ports don’t offer year round shipping and are further from the core of Russia and the surrounding countries. Russian ports can’t handle the quantities of goods required, and even if new ports are built, Russia may not have enough access to the sea to expand her harbor capacities to meet the needs. This leaves the Baltics in a good position with the infrastructure already in place. They can expand to meet growing needs; they are centrally located to easily deliver goods to Russia and her neighbors, and can operate virtually year round.

Naval Importance of the Baltic

Throughout its history the Baltic Sea has played host to military confrontations of the kingdoms of Northern Europe. Since the Viking Age the Baltic has been the arena for conquest and domination. Whether it has been the Danes, Swedes, Russians, Poles, or Germans, there has long been a struggle for control in the Baltic. During the rise of trade in Northern Europe the Hanseatic League pioneered the use of warships to maintain order and control. Following this example, the empires around the Baltic realized the importance of the need for a strong maritime force to control holdings in the area and to provide safety to their homelands.

The kingdoms competing for control of the Baltic often fought one another, allied together to fight a common opponent, and then ended up fighting one another again. History of the area is full of naval battles between Denmark and Sweden, Sweden and Russia, and Denmark and Sweden against Russia.(Anderson) Involvement in the Baltic wasn’t just restricted to those countries with its borders on the sea. England, Spain, and the Dutch also played roles in the struggle for power and control. Their concerns weren’t necessarily territorial, rather they had a high stake in keeping the trade routes their countries depended on open and free.(Zins p.2) Throughout all of the fighting and alliances the role of the Baltic states was that of a bystander. Not possessing much strength of their own, they played little part in deciding their own fate. Rather, they were a key reason for most of the fighting. Their vital link as ports to the east were sought after by their stronger neighbors, while keeping them open and free was of great importance to others.

Until the modern age, although the naval battles were frequent and ongoing, the history of the Baltic has been mostly dominated by agreements and bargains struck in order to maintain the vital and highly profitable trade links between Eastern and Western Europe.

With the rise of Germany to power during the early part of the twentieth century the "normal" way of life on the Baltic changed. Controlling and keeping the trade routes open was no longer the goal. Germany’s presence in the Baltic was to disrupt and stop trade to the rest of Europe. Merchant ships weren’t spared or seen as neutral. They became the targets. German U-boats took control over the sea, disrupting the link between the east and the west.

With the independence of the Baltics form Soviet control the dynamics of naval power in the Baltic have shifted. The Soviet presence has been greatly reduced, while the newly independent countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have each developed and expanded their own naval capacities. Naval presence now, as in the past, seems to be a safety measure to ensure that the avenues of trade can’t be shut down or controlled as they were by Germany during World War II. For the newly independent states in the Baltic the presence of their own naval forces also plays the role of offering them a greater sense of security to maintain their long awaited freedom.

[trailhound]

bump

[trailhound]

http://books.google.com/books?id=c5OZ4ACHAjoC&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&dq=baltic+trade+wars&source=web&ots=_kD4tx1vxM&sig=f_0GB9XmEM7PV2nFtVqCthHDGiQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result

[Wanted]

Georgia launches attack on rebel region
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jYiEYd_roDGOs5KuDVRoapNY-pTw

TBILISI (AFP) — Violent clashes were underway Friday in South Ossetia as Georgian forces launched an attack to retake control of the breakaway region, officials said.

"An attack is underway, clashes are taking place outside Tskhinvali," interior ministry spokesman Shota Utyashvili told AFP within hours of reports that Georgia and South Ossetia agreed to meet Friday for talks.

The Georgian government has decided to "restore constitutional order" in the region which broke away from Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s, said the head of Georgian peacekeepers in the province, General Mamuka Kurashvili.

"Tskhinvali is being shot at by mortar and heavy weapons from the Georgian villages of Nikozi and Ergneti and some houses are burning," Ria-Novosti news agency quoted an official speaking for South Ossetia's ministry of emergency situations as saying.

"The assault of Tskhinvali has started," South Ossetian rebel leader Eduard Kokoity told Interfax news agency.

"Violent attacks are underway," he said, describing the attack on Tskhinvali as a "perfidious and vile" act by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Georgian television station Roustavi 2 reporteed that Georgian forces had captured the South Ossetian villages of Muguti and Didmukha outside Tskhinvali.

South Ossetia's representative in Moscow, Dmitri Medoyev, said the region's military forces told him the offensive had resulted in "deaths and many wounded after massive Georgian firing on the capital Tskhinvali."

Officials said earlier that up to 12 people were killed and more than 20 wounded in clashes Thursday.

The Georgian offensive came within just hours of reports that Georgia and South Ossetia agreed to meet Friday for talks and the declaration of a unilateral ceasefire by Georgia.

Ambassador-at-large Yury Popov, Russia's point man for South Ossetia, was earlier quoted as saying by Interfax: "We have reached an agreement on a meeting tomorrow (Friday) at about 1:00 pm (0900 GMT) under Russian mediation."

The Georgian president announced a unilateral ceasefire and called for a resumption of talks to defuse tensions in South Ossetia.

"Let's stop this spiral of violence ... Let's resume negotiations," Saakashvili said in a televised address.

The Georgian leader also reiterated a previous offer of broad autonomy for South Ossetia, whose independence is not recognised by any other state.

Saakashvili said that Russia -- which backs the separatists -- could serve as a guarantor of South Ossetian autonomy, a new offer by Tbilisi.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "serious concern" about the violence, his spokeswoman said in a statement.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called Saakashvili and urged him to start peace talks with the rebels, Solana's office said.

The United States also called for an end to the violence.

"We're urging Moscow to press South Ossetia's de facto leaders to stop firing. We're urging Tbilisi to maintain restraint," Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, told reporters.

In recent months, Moscow and Tbilisi have sparred repeatedly over South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia.

Georgia's pro-Western government accuses Moscow of seeking to annex the two regions and derail its efforts to join the transatlantic NATO alliance, which Russia vehemently opposes.

In the latest diplomatic exchanges, Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin accused Georgia of "military preparations" while a top Georgian official said Russia was fuelling the conflict by supplying arms to the region of 70,000 people.

[point99]

Modified By Brocke: Totally off topic. Please repost on a more appropriate thread.

Hello everyone,
Recently, I came across some astonishing facts,
One of it was about Nazi technologies and their imports to U.S, one of the Nazi award winning Thomas J.Watson, founder of IBM and mastermind of mass destruction, inventor of Hollerith punch cards and sponsor of verichip along with Gillette,
And now a days they're highlighting a mother who was partying in Orlando and lost her child, its just a propaganda to prepare our minds to get ready for the verichip.
 
Its just to inform my all the brothers and sisters that fascism is around us,

The point in establishing the NWO or formerly called One World Order is for anti-Christ to rule us and project his image in our mind as messiah and our so god.
Don't get chipped and dont get real IDs.

[monkeyboy]

This reminds me of the storyline in the original "Ghost Recon" PC game, released in early 2002:

Storyline

Eastern Europe, 2008

The world teeters on the brink of war. Radical ultranationalists have seized power in Moscow - their goal, the reestablishment of the old Soviet empire. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan - one by onne the nearby independent republics slip back into the Russian orbit. Russian tanks sit in the Caucasus Mountains and the Baltic forests, poised to strike to the south and east. The world hold ots breath, and waits.
For one small group of elite soldiers, the war has already begun: U.S. Special Forces Group 5, First Battalion, D Company. Deployed on peacekeping duty to the Republic of Georgia in the Caucasus, this handful of Green Berets represents the very tip of the spear - the first line of defense. Equipped with the latest battlefield technology, and trained in the latest techniques of covert warfare, they strike - swiftly, silently, and invisibly.
They call themselves "The Ghosts"

http://ghostrecon.us.ubi.com/product_gr.php

[David Rothscum]

So, why are they risking so much over a region in which about 60.000 people live? Is Washington telling Georgia to go ahead and retake the region to create a conflict to try and get Russia to intervene and look like the bad guy? There haven't been any open hostilities since 1992. Why now? First Kosovo, now South Ossetia, are they just trying to get Russia into making a mistake?

[David Rothscum]

Georgia launches offensive in South Ossetia

By Shaun Walker in Moscow
Friday, 8 August 2008

The Caucasus was on the brink of a full-scale war last night as reports came in that Georgia had mounted a large-scale attack to win back its breakaway region of South Ossetia.

According to the Russian agency Interfax, a large group of Georgian soldiers moved towards the breakaway capital, Tskhinvali, late in the evening.

The separatist President, Eduard Kokoity, told the agency that "the storming of Tskhinvali has started" and said that separatist forces were engaged with the Georgian army on the roads into the city. A statement on the separatist government's website said: "The assault is coming from all directions."

The fear is that Russia could be drawn into the conflict, with previous foreign ministry statements saying that Russia could not remain "indifferent" to an armed skirmish on its southern border. Already late last night there were reports that hundreds of volunteers were on their way from North Ossetia, which is part of Russia, through the Caucasus Mountains to join their ethnic kin in South Ossetia. The leadership of Abkhazia, Georgia's other breakaway state, said that 1,000 volunteers from Abkhazia were also on their way.
South Ossetia is a tiny territory with a population of around 50,000, which broke away from Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most of the region is under the control of separatist authorities but the central Georgian government in Tbilisi controls several villages. Tensions have been high in recent months, with frequent exchanges of fire between the sides, but so far all-out war has been avoided. An exchange of fire on Wednesday night left at least one person dead and many injured.

The West has supported Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who wants to bring his country out of Russia's orbit and into Nato, in his drive to reintegrate the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia into Georgia's fold. However, any military action could harm the country's chances of Nato accession. Russia has provided financial support to the separatist authorities.

It now seems the Georgians may have tired of negotiations and decided to take matters into their own hands. But the timing is bizarre. Negotiations between the separatist authorities and a Georgian minister were planned for this afternoon, and the attack on Tskhinvali came just hours after Mr Saakashvili had announced a unilateral ceasefire on live television.

"I want to acknowledge that several hours ago I, as a supreme commander, have issued a very painful order not to return fire in response to a very intensive shelling [of Georgian villages]," said the Georgian President yesterday evening.

But the ceasefire lasted only hours and Mr Kokoity called Mr Saakashvili's ceasefire a "despicable and treacherous" ruse.

"Despite our call for peace and a unilateral ceasefire, separatists continued the shelling of Georgian villages," said Georgian commander Mamuka Kurashvili. "We are forced to restore constitutional order in the whole region."

And Moscow reacted furiously to the news. "The actions by Georgia in South Ossetia bear witness to the fact that the leadership of that country can no longer be trusted," said a foreign ministry statement.

The Georgian government said it had information about "hundreds of mercenaries, tanks and other equipment" entering South Ossetia through the Roki tunnel from Russia.

[trailhound]

Already late last night there were reports that hundreds of volunteers were on their way from North Ossetia, which is part of Russia, through the Caucasus Mountains to join their ethnic kin in South Ossetia. The leadership of Abkhazia, Georgia's other breakaway state, said that 1,000 volunteers from Abkhazia were also on their way.

 the Caucasus mountains...so much history there, this could be a serious flashpoint.

[Wanted]

So, why are they risking so much over a region in which about 60.000 people live? Is Washington telling Georgia to go ahead and retake the region to create a conflict to try and get Russia to intervene and look like the bad guy? There haven't been any open hostilities since 1992. Why now? First Kosovo, now South Ossetia, are they just trying to get Russia into making a mistake?

Washington could definitely be telling Georgia that, in order to piss off the Russians. Since Russia supports S. Ossetia plus they dont want to be a part of Georgia, so therefore if S. Ossetia secedes Russia wins, after Kosovo seceded Russia lost. So the United States is pretty much is trying to kill every single sphere of influence that Russia has. Like they are doing in Eastern Europe with the Nuclear missiles, "for safety" against the Russians. And therefore lets say US and Georgia have a deal and if Georgia invades S. Ossetia and takes it back, obviously with the US help so therefore, Georgia would be another ally for the US against the Russians. Which would kind off explain as to why Georgia is taking such aggressive steps toward S. Ossetia knowing that the Russians suppport them. Are they dumb? I mean going against Russia? They probably do have some back up.
And as probably this whole thing escalates Russia will get more pissed and could possibly make a wrong move, or fall into a trap of a false flag. Yes, after this useless rant i do think that they might want to heat up things with Russia, once again. Hmmmm.....interesting as to how this thing will come out.

[Wanted]

Russia: Georgia Actions May Be 'Military Preparations'
http://www.nysun.com/foreign/russia-georgia-actions-may-be-military/83446/


MOSCOW — Russia's government said it is "concerned" by recent Georgian actions around Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which "could be characterized as military preparations."

Russia is working to defuse the situation in South Ossetia, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday in a statement on its Web site. The regional government said that 18 Ossetians were wounded overnight in firefights with Georgian "military units."

South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s and exists now as a de facto independent state with Russian peacekeepers and economic support. Georgia, an American ally that wants to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, accuses Russia of stoking tensions in South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia.

Georgia "has no plans to take any special measures" in the South Ossetian conflict zone and is "ready to conduct direct dialogue," the country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

Violence erupted in the region on August 1, when South Ossetia said Georgian shelling of Tskhinvali claimed six lives. Georgia denied using artillery at the regional capital and said South Ossetian forces had sparked the fighting.

[Cobra]

I trust neither Georgia nor Russia in this matter. Both have their motives.

The Russian may not be at the forefront of the western led NWO but they are just as much imperialists as the US or Britain.

[David Rothscum]

Washington could definitely be telling Georgia that, in order to piss off the Russians. Since Russia supports S. Ossetia plus they dont want to be a part of Georgia, so therefore if S. Ossetia secedes Russia wins, after Kosovo seceded Russia lost. So the United States is pretty much is trying to kill every single sphere of influence that Russia has. Like they are doing in Eastern Europe with the Nuclear missiles, "for safety" against the Russians. And therefore lets say US and Georgia have a deal and if Georgia invades S. Ossetia and takes it back, obviously with the US help so therefore, Georgia would be another ally for the US against the Russians. Which would kind off explain as to why Georgia is taking such aggressive steps toward S. Ossetia knowing that the Russians suppport them. Are they dumb? I mean going against Russia? They probably do have some back up.
And as probably this whole thing escalates Russia will get more pissed and could possibly make a wrong move, or fall into a trap of a false flag. Yes, after this useless rant i do think that they might want to heat up things with Russia, once again. Hmmmm.....interesting as to how this thing will come out.

Great points. Why would Georgia attack now all of a sudden? It doesn't make sense, they haven't dared to for 16 years, and now a sudden invasion. Only makes sense if you look at how they're now all of a sudden buddies with the US and how the US has been trying to piss of Russia for months now. Look at this, it's complete madness. Russians bombers in Cuba, US trying to build a missile shield around Russia, Russia pointing it's nukes at Europe. This must be Brzezinski. And Obama hasn't even taken office yet.

[trailhound]

. Since Russia supports S. Ossetia plus they dont want to be a part of Georgia, so therefore if S. Ossetia secedes Russia wins, after Kosovo seceded Russia lost.

 im confused. wasnt russia asking the u.s. to help georgia?