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

[mario_bros]

I asked my friend (always very good news about russians military technics, and very bad condition of There military forces) about the sources of the information. Directly from region from Russian soldiers.Actually there could be more russian KIA . What happend over there is realy serious. Sorry for my english.

[trailhound]

I posted a news article about the build up to this in News Tips weeks ago - did anyone pick up on it? Nope! Completely ignored!

 yeah this one got ignored for a few days too. you were on top of the ball...so was my friend who suggested this was coming about ten years ago. That area is notorious for this kind of crap.

[David Rothscum]

This should explain the background and reason for what's going on now to anyone interested:
http://www.rense.com/general80/bz.htm

[mario_bros]

Google is cleaning the region ;-)

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

[EthanAllen_TruthNet Radio]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D92E76080&show_article=1

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26080747/

[EthanAllen_TruthNet Radio]

Israel backs Georgia in Caspian Oil Pipeline Battle with Russia
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1358

[Cywar]

Thanks for getting on air Alex

[David Rothscum]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26080747/

The title seems to suggest Russian and Georgian troops now fight eachother, but the rest of the article doesn't mention anything about it. I'm too tired, am I reading this wrong?

[EthanAllen_TruthNet Radio]

The title seems to suggest Russian and Georgian troops now fight each other, but the rest of the article doesn't mention anything about it. I'm too tired, am I reading this wrong?

Don't know. I'm just posting like mad as this stuff comes off the wire... lol

[Aerioch]

Ummm...

Do you think it is a coincidence that both the United States, and Israel have been VERY active in that exact region over the past year?

Both military, and contractors.

Jerusalem owns a strong interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan, rather than the Russian network. Intense negotiations are afoot between Israel Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Azarbaijan for pipelines to reach Turkey and thence to Israel’s oil terminal at Ashkelon and on to its Red Sea port of Eilat. From there, supertankers can carry the gas and oil to the Far East through the Indian Ocean.

Aware of Moscow’s sensitivity on the oil question, Israel offered Russia a stake in the project but was rejected.

Last year, the Georgian president commissioned from private Israeli security firms several hundred military advisers, estimated at up to 1,000, to train the Georgian armed forces in commando, air, sea, armored and artillery combat tactics. They also offer instruction on military intelligence and security for the central regime. Tbilisi also purchased weapons, intelligence and electronic warfare systems from Israel.

These advisers were undoubtedly deeply involved in the Georgian army’s preparations to conquer the South Ossetian capital Friday.

In recent weeks, Moscow has repeatedly demanded that Jerusalem halt its military assistance to Georgia, finally threatening a crisis in bilateral relations. Israel responded by saying that the only assistance rendered Tbilisi was “defensive.”

This has not gone down well in the Kremlin. Therefore, as the military crisis intensifies in South Ossetia, Moscow may be expected to punish Israel for its intervention.

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1358

It's going down as we speak.

Israel, and BushCo. are pressing Iran, and Russia hardcore.

[Chocolaty]

Georgia: Russia has invaded and we are under attack

Vladimir Putin: the war has started

By Gary Fennelly
Friday, 8 August 2008

Russian First Channel claims these are burning Georgian armored vehicles are seen in Tskhinvali in the South Ossetian breakaway region of Georgia on Friday, Aug. 8, 2008.



A convoy of Russian tanks and troops is reportedly moving toward South Ossetia's capital as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declares 'the war has started'.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "War started today in South Ossetia when Georgia attacked Russian peacekeepers in the disputed region."

Earlier an official in Georgia's National Security Council said Russia invaded Georgia.

Kakha Lamaia said: "If it's not war, then we are very close to it. The Russians have invaded Georgia and we are under attack."

Georgian President Mikhail Saakasvili told CNN: "Russia is fighting a war with us in our own territory.

"This is a clear intrusion on another country's territory. We have Russian tanks on our territory, jets on our territory in broad daylight."

Saakashvili accused its neighbor of a "well-planned invasion" and called on reservists to sign up for duty. He said "150 Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles" had entered South Ossetia.

The Georgian government said it will try to protect Russian peacekeepers who were already in the disputed region.

However Russia claims that hundreds of civilians and 10 Russian peacekeepers have been killed.

Reports from Georgia claim Russian jets have attacked an airport near Tblisi.

Nato, the US and the EU are calling for an immediate end to hostilities.

Georgia claims to have shot down two Russian war planes as the two countries fight for control of the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed to protect Russian citizens in the region.

Medvedev said: "In accordance with the constitution and the federal law, I, as president of Russia, am obliged to protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located," Mr Medvedev said in televised remarks.

"We won't allow the death of our compatriots to go unpunished."

Georgian troops are currently observing a three-hour ceasefire to let civilians leave the besieged capital, Tskhinvali.

Saakashvili said most of South Ossetia had been "liberated" in an overnight offensive.

"Most of South Ossetia's territory is liberated and is controlled by Georgia," Saakashvili said in televised comments today.

"Russian flights are ongoing in the centre of Tskhinvali (the South Ossetian capital)... I demand Russia stop bombardment of peaceful Georgian cities."

Video from Russia Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnd_5vbAUQQ

[Sasha]

Georgian Offical Gives us the Down Low on Russian Attack
CNN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9hLyzN2tc

Alex just played this clip.

[Sasha]

...CNN also reporting 4 shot down Russian planes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9hLyzN2tc

[David Rothscum]

You know what this means:
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSL8119534
Bush backs Georgia's territorial integrity
BEIJING, Aug 9 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush pledged U.S. support for Georgia's territorial integrity and has been updated regularly on the crisis involving Russia in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, the White House said on Saturday.

"I want to reiterate on his behalf that the United States supports Georgia's territorial integrity and we call for an immediate ceasefire," 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," she said. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Jeremy Pelofsky)

[GoodBush]

[TheGoodFight1984]

Georgian Offical Gives us the Down Low on Russian Attack
CNN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9hLyzN2tc

Alex just played this clip.

Wow - get that about 4:15 onwards, sounds like he's reding off someone else's (bush's) rhetoric-prompter.

[EthanAllen_TruthNet Radio]

Georgia: Russian Planes Shot Down
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080808/twl-georgia-russian-planes-shot-down-3fd0ae9.html

By Sky News SkyNews - Friday, August 8 01:25 pm

Georgia claims it has shot down two Russian warplanes as violence escalates in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Russia has reportedly sent 150 tanks and armoured vehicles into the territory as what started as a regional conflict between Georgia and separatists threatens to build into all-out war.

The Russian military claims that South Ossetia's capital Tskhinvali has been "almost completely destroyed", while President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed to punish the Georgians if they hurt the province's people.

It was reported earlier that Georgian artillery shells killed several Russian peacekeepers, while Georgia claimed that Russian jets had injured seven people in a bombing raid.

The UN called for an immediate ceasefire between separatists and the Georgian military.

The two sides had earlier failed to reach an agreement on a Russia-drafted statement that would have called on Georgia and separatists region to halt all bloodshed.

Witnesses reported seeing intense fire from heavy weapons at different locations skirting Tskhinvali as well as hearing heavy fighting coming from the direction of the city.

The night sky was lit up blue and red by explosions and Georgian forces appeared to be firing Katyusha rockets.

A spokesman for the separatists said in Moscow that the offensive had caused "deaths and many wounded".

Skirmishes since the weekend have deepened fears of full-blown conflict in the Caucasus, which is emerging as a vital energy transit route and where Russia and the West are vying for influence.

South Ossetia and a second rebel Georgian region, Abkhazia - both of which unilaterally broke away from Georgia at the beginning of the 1990s - enjoy Russian political and financial backing.

Georgia, formerly a Soviet republic, has allied itself with the West and is pushing for membership of Nato.

"These actions will continue until we manage to reach a durable peace because people are still in danger," Mr Gurgenidze told a news briefing.

Mr Saakashvili had earlier offered the separatists an immediate ceasefire following fighting in which Georgia said up to 10 of its peacekeepers and civilians had been killed.

Fighting stopped on Thursday afternoon after Mr Saakashavili said he had instructed troops to stop returning fire and Moscow said the two feuding sides would hold talks.

But artillery fire broke out again with nightfall.

Russian envoy Yuri Popov said Georgia's military operation showed it could not be trusted and that Nato should reconsider its plans to grant membership to the ex-Soviet state.

The Georgian government said it had information about "hundreds of mercenaries, tanks and other equipment" entering South Ossetia through the Roki tunnel from Russia. A government official said Russian army units were also approaching.

Russia's Interfax news agency said hundreds of volunteers from Russia and Abkhazia were heading for South Ossetia to support the separatists.

The United Nations and European Union have appealed for calm.

[Aerioch]

So in a nutshell...

The American military is going to be asked, yet again, to shore up Corp. Oil interests in the name of Democracy. 

Guess who stands to gain control of the key linking point of oil pipelines in the Black Sea area.

[Optimus]

Russia-Georgia Conflict Escalates
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Heavy-Fighting-In-South-Ossetia-As-Georgia-Launches-Offensive-Against-Breakaway-Province/Article/200808215073456?lpos=World%2BNews_8&lid=ARTICLE_15073456_Heavy%2BFighting%2BIn%2BSouth%2BOssetia%2BAs%2BGeorgia%2BLaunches%2BOffensive%2BAgainst%2BBreakaway%2BProvince
Breaking News6:19pm UK, Friday August 08, 2008

Georgia says it will withdraw 1,000 troops from Iraq as the conflict with Russia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia escalates towards all-out war.
 


Georgian troops fire rocket missiles at separatists in South Ossetia


The Georgian Interior Ministry says Russian forces are in control of part of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, while Russian TV channel Vesti-24 reported that Russian and Georgian troops had exchanged fire.

Georgia claims it has shot down five Russian warplanes.

The UN Security Council is due to discuss the crisis later.

US President George Bush and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, discussed the issue in Beijing, where they are at the Olympic opening ceremony.

The US State Department called for calm and is sending an envoy to South Ossetia to join international mediation efforts.

South Ossetian separatist leader Eduard Kokoity claimed hundreds of civilians had been killed in fighting.

The crisis was prompted by a Georgian move to retake the breakaway province and the death of 10 Russian peacekeepers.

Moscow responded by sending in tanks.

A United Nations call for an immediate ceasefire between all sides fell on deaf ears.

The UN had earlier failed to reach an agreement on a Russia-drafted statement that would have called on Georgia and separatists region to halt all bloodshed.

South Ossetia and a second rebel Georgian region, Abkhazia - both of which unilaterally broke away from Georgia at the beginning of the 1990s - enjoy Russian political and financial backing.

Speaking from Moscow, Sunday Times correspondent Mark Franchetti said Russia claims it now has no choice but to protect its peacekeepers and Russian citizens in the Georgian province.


Video
Putin: We Will Respond


He said tensions between the Georgians and the Russian-backed South Ossetians had been rising for months.

The presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili - who is viewed in Russia as a stooge of the West - has been a major bone of contention.

"(The Russians) oppose his plans for Georgia to join Nato because they feel the Americans and Nato are encircling Russia," Mr Franchetti said.

Prior to Russia's official intervention, witnesses described heavy fighting in Tskhinvali, with the night sky lit blue and red by explosions and Georgian forces appeared to be firing Katyusha rockets.

A spokesman for the separatists said in Moscow that the offensive had caused "deaths and many wounded".

Skirmishes since last weekend have deepened fears of full-blown conflict in the Caucasus, which is emerging as a vital energy transit route and where Russia and the West are vying for influence.

[trailhound]

aerioch wrote

So to recap...


- Russia is pissed about U.S. attempts to deploy a missile shield in the area.

- The U.S. has been training with Georgian troops within the last week.

- The U.S. is going "Door to Door" spreading Democracy in the region.

- Russia managed to amass 150 tanks, and the supporting troops needed within one days driving distance.

- Some lame excuse was found to launch a full-scale surprise assault on a densely populated area.

Now the Georgian President is asking for the Americans "To come help defend Democracy"........

All this in the area just north of Iran.

[/b

+2

[Sasha]

You know what this means:
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSL8119534
Bush backs Georgia's territorial integrity
BEIJING, Aug 9 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush pledged U.S. support for Georgia's territorial integrity and has been updated regularly on the crisis involving Russia in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, the White House said on Saturday.
"I want to reiterate on his behalf that the United States supports Georgia's territorial integrity and we call for an immediate ceasefire," 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," she said. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Jeremy Pelofsky)

That's the other shoe dropping.  Next we'll hear about a coalition of protectorate countries moving against Russsia to 'protect' Georgia.

Btw, most folks in here know this but, the US just moved 2 more carrier groups into the Persian Gulf,... yesterday,... as in they knew it was coming.

[Godfather77]

"Its about the World Order" -Georgian President

It was interesting how many times the Georgian President uttered this line.  He said over and over Russia threatens not just Georgia and Europe but the 'New Order'.  Obviously a veiled reference to the NWO scheme of things. 

Is this simply different factions vying for control of the world energy or all part of some master plan to usher in the New Order on the back of world destruction and economic collapse? I also can't help but wonder if the Russian fighter jets which have been buzzing various territorial air space over the past 12 months is linked to this also.  Things could get very bad   

Russia races against time to stake claim on Arctic ~ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/10/2299647.htm
Russia Threatens Neighbors Over Gas ~ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/25/AR2006122500493.html
Russia warns against military action in Iran ~ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/18/russia.iran
Russia fighters buzz US air base ~ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1559889/Russian-bombers-buzz-US-base-in-Guam.html
Russian Bomber Buzzes U.S. Ship ~ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/11/world/main3819788.shtml
Japan accuses Russia of incursion ~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7236241.stm
RAF fighter jets scrambled to intercept Russian bombers ~ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-476751/RAF-fighter-jets-scrambled-intercept-Russian-bombers.html
Russia bombers skirt Norway & Iceland airspace ~ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05EFD9173DF932A35754C0A96F958260&n=Top%2FNews%2FWorld%2FCountries%20and%20Territories%2FIceland
Russia threatens military response to US missile defence deal ~ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4295309.ece
Putin repeats threat on missiles ~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7244495.stm
Russian bombers to test-fire missiles in Bay of Biscay ~ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3230615.ece

[mario_bros]

Georgian artillery positions (2S1 Gozdzik i DANA) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2S1  , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DANA was hit by some unit from 58th Army . Russian  Commander says, Georgian artillery positions will be bombard any time they try to open fire . There is a info circulating around russian soldiers , that georgians kill any wounded russian peacekeepers . There is a lot of georgian tanks and other equipement destroyed around russian garnison , georgian tanks fire directly to the russian military base . In abhazija is a full mobilisation , they wait if russia will give them support, if yes Bagapsh will send his troops to ossetia ----- last news ----  russian stops troops from abhazja on the border of ossetia.

Sorry for my english

[Optimus]

Russia and Georgia 'at war' - president
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24151855-23109,00.html
By Margarita Antidze in Megvrekisi, Georgia
August 09, 2008 03:01am

RUSSIA and Georgia are at war, says Georgia's pro-Western president Mikheil Saakashvili.

Russian armoured vehicles have entered the northern edges of the capital of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, according to a separatists' website.

"Russian armoured vehicles have entered the northern suburbs of Tskhinvali," the website cominf.org reported.

It said Georgian troops had started to retreat.

Moscow said its troops were responding to a Georgian assault to re-take the breakaway region.

Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili said the two countries were at war.

Russia would cut air links with Georgia from midnight on Friday, the Russian Transport Ministry said.

President Saakashvili told BBC World television Russia had been massing troops on the northern border of Georgia for months.

"They have been calling it training exercises, but they have not been concealing the fact that they are training these troops for use inside Georgia," he said.

"The way the escalation went was we came first under extensive artillery barrage from the separatists ... but in the end I was told that Russian armoured vehicles started to cross the Georgian border. And that was exactly the moment when I had to take this decision to fire back."

The US on Friday asserted its support for Georgia's territorial integrity and urged an immediate ceasefire. NASTO and the European Union have joined calls for a halt to fighting.

State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos also said the US was sending an envoy to the region "to engage with the parties in the conflict."

US President George W. Bush discussed the situation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Beijing, where world leaders were attending the opening of the Olympic Games, the White House said, giving no further information.

More than 1000 dead

A South Ossetia minister said more than a thousand people had died in overnight shelling by Georgian forces of their capital Tskhinvali, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
 
A senior Georgian security official said Russian planes had bombed the Vaziani military outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The Interior Ministry said later three Georgian soldiers were killed.

Political analysts saw Georgia's bid to re-take its rebel region of South Ossetia by force as a gamble by its leader that he could still count on Western support in a clash with Russia.

"He is in big danger of losing the cachet he built up for himself in being pro-Western and the restraint he has often shown in the face of provocation by Russia," said James Nixey, analyst at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London,.

"If he is going to start a war, he is going to lose the support of a lot of friends in the West."

President Saakashvili, who wants to take his small Caucasus nation into NATO, has made it a priority to win back control of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another rebel region on the Black Sea.

The issue has bedevilled Georgia's relations with Russia, angered by Tbilisi's moves towards the Western fold and its pursuit of NATO membership.

As fighting raged, the roar of warplanes and the explosion of heavy shells resounded more than three km (two miles) from Tskhinvali. Many houses were ablaze.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the Georgians of driving people from their homes.

"We are receiving reports that a policy of ethnic cleansing was being conducted in villages in South Ossetia, the number of refugees is climbing, the panic is growing, people are trying to save their lives," he said in televised remarks from the ministry.

The crisis, the first to confront Russian President Dmitry Medvedev since he took office in May, has flared in a region emerging as a key energy transit route, and where Russia and the West are vying for influence.

Medvedev vowed to defend Russian "compatriots" in South Ossetia, where most people have been given Russian passports.

"We will not allow their deaths to go unpunished," Interfax quoted him as saying.

The majority of the roughly 70,000 people living in South Ossetia are ethnically distinct from Georgians. They say they were forcibly absorbed into Georgia under Soviet rule and now want to exercise their right to self-determination.

[David Rothscum]

The Georgian Interior Ministry says Russian forces are in control of part of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, while Russian TV channel Vesti-24 reported that Russian and Georgian troops had exchanged fire.

Georgia claims it has shot down five Russian warplanes.

There you have it.

[Optimus]

Did the U.S. Prep Georgia for War with Russia?
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/did-us-military.html
By Nathan Hodge August 08, 2008 | 12:52:00 PM

Georgia and Russia are careening towards war. And the U.S. isn't exactly a detached observer in the fight. The American military has been training and equipping Georgian troops for years.

The news thus far: Georgia, which has been locked in a drone war over the separatist enclave of Abkhazia, has launched an offensive to reclaim another breakaway territory, South Ossetia. Latest reports indicate that Georgian forces are laying siege to Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital. And Russia, which has backed the separatists, is sending in the tanks.

So why should we care? Oh, just the prospect of a larger regional war that could drag in Russia – and involve the United States as well. Since early 2002, the U.S. government has given a healthy amount of military aid to Georgia. When I last visited Tskhinvali, Georgian troops patrolled the streets -- decked out in surplus U.S. Army uniforms and new body armor.

The first U.S. aid came under the rubric of the Georgia Train and Equip Program (ostensibly to counter alleged Al Qaeda influence in the Pankisi Gorge); then, under the Sustainment and Stability Operations Program. Georgia returned the favor, committing thousands of troops to the multi-national coalition in Iraq. Last fall, the Georgians doubled their contingent, making them the third-largest contributor to the coalition. Not bad for a nation of 4.6 million people.

Leaving aside the question of Russian interference (see below), the larger concern has been that Georgia might be tempted to use its newfound military prowess to resolve domestic conflicts by force.

As Sergei Shamba, the foreign affairs minister of Abkhazia, told me in 2006: “The Georgians are euphoric because they have been equipped, trained, that they have gained military experience in Iraq. It feeds this revanchist mood. … How can South Ossetia be demilitarized, when all of Georgia is bristling with weaponry, and it’s only an hour’s ride by tank from Tbilisi to Tskhinvali?”

One of the U.S. military trainers put it to me a bit more bluntly. “We’re giving them the knife,” he said. “Will they use it?”


Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/world/europe/09georgia.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/drone-wars-part.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7548715.stm
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/the-new-war-in.html
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3430
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=16284
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1078614.html

[Triadtropz]

I thought they were training them for Iraq?

[trailhound]

Paul Craig Roberts talking w/ Alex about Georgia right now

[Wanted]

McCain, Obama Tell Russia To Recognize Georgia's Sovereignty 
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011878563


Kris Alingod - AHN News Writer

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL) both called on the international community on Friday to help find a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Georgia and Russia over the separatist province of South Ossetia.

McCain repeatedly emphasized his support for the sovereignty of Georgia and said Russia should "immediately and unconditionally cease" its offensive against the former Soviet state.

"What is most critical now is to avoid further confrontation between Russian and Georgian military forces. The consequences for Euro-Atlantic stability and security are grave," he said in an emailed statement.

The presumptive Republican nominee called for the United States to convene an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to ask Russia to stop its military operations. He said the NATO should also meet to try to resolve the crisis and that an independent peacekeeping force be deployed in South Ossetia, a region in southern Georgia which declared independence more than a decade ago.

Obama also released a statement condemning the violence and asking Russia to recognize the "territorial integrity" of Georgia.

"Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war," he said. "All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis."

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili declared war on Russia early Friday after Russian tanks entered South Ossetia to respond to a military offensive by Georgia against separatists. Russia has accused Georgia of killing at least 10 of its peacekeepers in South Ossetia.

[David Rothscum]

Russia is killing Georgian troops:Russian, Georgian armed forces in direct combat in Caucasus

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1422511.php/LEADALL_Russian_Georgian_armed_forces_in_direct_combat_in_Caucasus
Russian and Georgian armed forces were locked in combat on Friday over control of the Caucasus region South Ossetia, with hundreds of civilians reported killed or injured.

The escalating crisis prompted calls for restraint from international governments and bodies including the United States, European Union, NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Eduard Kokoity, South Ossetia's leader, said more than 1,400 civilians had died as a result of the combat beginning in sporadic firefights on August 1, and shifting to full-blown warfare early on Thursday.

Georgian fire killed at least 10 Russian peacekeepers stationed in the breakaway Georgian province in severe fighting centered in the South Ossetian city Tskhinvali, Russian army spokesmen said.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in a nationwide television statement said his country's troops controlled a 'large part of South Ossetia' and have 'liberated' Tskhinvali.

Russian army sources contradicted the Georgian president, saying Russian artillery and tank fire had halted a Georgian offensive into the region begun Thursday, inflicted substantial casualties on Georgian forces, and were assisting a South Ossetian counterattack.

Artillery, mortars, tanks, ground attack aircraft, helicopters, and salvo rocket launchers were among the weapons reported used by one or both of the warring sides in house-to-house fighting in the city, and in regions around it.

Russian artillery deployed on the north side of Tskhinvali fired directly on Georgian artillery in the mid-afternoon, forcing a Georgian retreat from the city centre, according to Russian army spokesmen.

Georgian television early evening on Friday aired images seemingly showing Tskhinvali's centre fully under Georgian control.

Georgian media also reported a pair of Russian aircraft shot down during Friday - a claim flatly denied by the Kremlin.

Russian air force combat operations over Georgia appeared however to be an established fact, with a strike by Su-25 ground attack aircraft against a Georgian military base near the town of Gori confirmed by Georgian officials, without giving information of the effects of the bombing.

Tanks, armoured personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery and support elements of Russia's 58th army began entering South Ossetia by mid-morning. Russian diplomats described the de facto intervention as 'support to Russian peacekeepers', and 'protection to the local population.'

News reports from Russia and Georgia both told of massive damage to offices and homes throughout Tskhinvali. Eyewitnesses described entire city blocks as flattened by shelling.

Georgian television showed images of soldiers wounded in the fighting, but gave no casualty numbers.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speaking earlier in the day said Russia had no choice but to take action to protect its citizens.

'We will not let the deaths of our citizens go unpunished, the guilty will incur the punishment they deserve,' Medvedev said in his first statement since heavy fighting erupted, claiming six casualties in weekend clashes.

On the Georgian side, Saakashvili's national televised address called for full mobilization: 'Hundreds of thousands of Georgians should stand together to save Georgia.'

Television images Friday showed long Georgian military convoys heading towards South Ossetia and also Abkhazia, a second renegade Georgian province supported by Moscow.

International efforts to halt the fighting, possibly the most severe seen in the Caucasus region in a generation, came to little.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice according to Saakashvili called 'several times' throughout the day, and the US State department announced it was sending an envoy to Georgia.

'We support Georgia's territorial integrity and we call for an immediate ceasefire,' State Department spokesperson Amanda Harper told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The US was working on 'mediation efforts' to help secure an end to the hostilities, Harper said.

The EU called for an immediate ceasefire and a return to peace talks.

The EU 'calls all parties to cease hostilities immediately and to resume talks without delay in order to permit a political solution to the crisis while respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia,' a statement on behalf of the EU by the French government, which currently holds the bloc's presidency, said.

'The EU is working with other actors to achieve a cease-fire in order to prevent an extension of the conflict,' the statement said.

Ahead of a special meeting in Vienna of the 56-nation OSCE, current chair Finland warned that 'war would have a devastating impact for the entire region.'

Georgia's ambassador to the OSCE Victor Dolidze told the OSCE assembly that Russia had bombed Georgian territory since Friday morning, a diplomat said.

Russia's involvement in the conflict was 'clear, open, military aggression from one OSCE country to another, its neighbour,' Dolidze said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also expressed concern Friday about the situation, callingon the parties to the conflict to exercise calm and end immediately the violence, a German government spokesman said.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that NATO is 'closely following' the situation, a statement said.

De Hoop Scheffer 'calls on all sides for an immediate end of the armed clashes and direct talks between the parties,' it added.

Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis meanwhile said in a statement: 'The human toll of the escalation of the conflict in Georgia continues to rise and the country is now on the edge of a full-scale war which would have devastating consequences for the people in the region.'

The United Nations Security Council scheduled another emergency meeting Friday afternoon in New York, after failing Thursday night to agree on a response to the escalation of violence.

Pro-Western Saakashvili, who with US backing is bidding for Georgia to join NATO, has made re-asserting control over both the rebellious regions a top priority of his presidency.

South Ossetia had become a lawless region ruled by bandits and dangerous to regional stability, and Georgia's right to assert state control over the province was guaranteed under the Georgian constitution, Saakashvili argued.

Moscow, in turn, has been angered by the former Soviet country's rapprochement with the alliance and moved to strengthen ties with the rebel government. The Kremlin's support to South Ossetia has long been seen in Tbilisi as a first Russian step towards de facto annexation of the Georgian territory.

South Ossetia is inhabited primarily by Ossetians, an Iranic ethnicity traditionally opposed to both Georgian and Russian efforts to assert control of the region.

Over 2,500 Russian peacekeeping troops have been stationed in the province since a 1994 ceasefire ending fighting between the Georgian army and Ossetian separatists.

This is why the Georgians had to retreat. The Russians were slaughtering their troops. It's worse than we thought.

[Sue]

This has been in the works for sometime now.
Everyone here knows that.....

with our privite parts involved in this we are about to get emasculated.

Hold on folks the roller coaster may come off the tracks.

[EthanAllen_TruthNet Radio]

http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2008/05/09/9585.shtml

Chechen Mujahideen offer to help Georgia in its standoff with Russia

On April 29, Movladi Udugov, an envoy of the Chechen rebels outside the Caucasus, declared that the North Caucasian insurgency could help Georgia in its standoff with Russia. Relations between Georgia and Russia have significantly deteriorated since the Russian government decided to establish direct official relations with the secessionist authorities of Abkhazia, the region that is de-facto independent but officially is part of Georgia. At the end of April, additional Russian troops were deployed to Abkhazia under the pretext of increasing the number of peacekeeping troops in the breakaway republic in order to guarantee security. The Georgian authorities regarded these steps by the Kremlin as aggression against Georgia. On May 6, Georgia's State Minister for Issues of Reintegration, Temur Iakobashvili, declared that Georgia and Russia were "very close to war" (Interfax, May 6).

 

Apparently the rebels in the North Caucasus who are fighting for the region's independence from Russia could not ignore the situation and not try to use it in their interests. Movladi Udugov who calls himself "the Head of the Informational-Analytical Service of the Caucasus Emirate," told the Kavkaz-Center rebel website that two months earlier the Amir of the Caucasus Emirate, Dokka Umarov, had ordered the creation of a special monitoring group with the task of monitoring the situation surrounding Russian-Georgian relations because "these events are taking place directly at the borders of the Caucasus Emirate and directly affect our interests." According to Udugov, the group has informational and operational departments and monitors the activities of Russian troops near the border with Georgia, including "movements of troops and equipment, visits to the region by high-ranking military officials, and the activities of intelligence services, including the Russian Defense Ministry's military intelligence." Movladi Udugov also declared that the rebels had "agents in South Ossetia [another breakaway region of Georgia] and Abkhazia."

Just three days before Udugov's statement, Kavkaz-Center reported that the situation around Georgia was discussed at the most recent meeting of top rebel field commanders, which took place in early April in southwestern Chechnya. "The military leadership of the Caucasus Emirate has made certain decisions regarding this issue, which were not disclosed," the website reported (Kavkaz-Center, April 26).


Movladi Udugov's declaration could be described as a direct offer from the rebels to the Georgian government to establish a kind of an anti-Russian military alliance-an objective the Chechen rebels have been trying to achieve since the beginning of the second Russian invasion of Chechnya in 1999. Udugov particularly stressed in his statement that the Georgian authorities had not yet asked the rebel leadership to share intelligence that they have or to render military assistance "in case of a real Russian aggression." This phrase could be interpreted as advice from the rebels to the Georgian authorities not to hesitate to get in touch with them.

This is not the first public proposal made by the Chechen rebels to Georgia to fight together against Russia. In August 2004, then Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov said in an interview with Georgia's Mze TV channel: "I know what Russia is and how to resist it." In that interview, Maskhadov expressed his full support for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in his struggle to defend Georgia's interests and independence (Grani.ru, August 28, 2004). Three years before this statement by Makhadov, Chechen warlord Shamil Basaev, in an interview to Kavkaz-Center, called on Georgia to provide the rebels in Chechnya with antiaircraft missiles (Grani.ru, May 17, 2001).

Such declarations by Chechen rebel commanders helped the Georgians blackmail Russia by threatening to help the Chechen rebels the same way the Russian authorities help separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. At the peak of the crisis in South Ossetia in summer 2004, Koba Davitashvili, a Georgian parliamentary deputy, called on the Georgian government to recognize Chechnya's independence (Grani.ru, August 28, 2004).

Nevertheless, there is no real proof that the Georgian government has ever actually helped the rebels in the North Caucasus with weapons or ammunition. The shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles that were brought to Chechnya by rebels loyal to Chechen commander Ruslan Gelayev in 2002 were reportedly purchased from Russian officers in Russian military garrisons then stationed in Georgia, Batumi and Gudauta.

In fact, Georgia is in a much more advantageous position than Russia when one considers the relative strength of separatist forces in the breakaway regions of Georgia and Russia. No matter how significant the Kremlin's help to Abkhazia or South Ossetia might be, the two separatist regimes are unable to confront Georgia without the Russian armed forces' direct involvement. As for the rebels in the North Caucasus, even small financial assistance from Georgia can double their capability to fight Russian forces in the region. The ability of Caucasian insurgents to move across the North Caucasian range from Sochi (Krasnodar Krai) in the west to Makhachkala (Dagestan) in the east make them potentially very helpful to the Georgian authorities in case of an open armed conflict with Russia.

"I want to say that the mountain area of the Caucasus Emirate from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea is under Mujahideen control, and it is the zone in which the Armed Forces of the Caucasus Emirate are active," Udugov said in his appeal to Georgia.

It is also interesting to note that while the Kremlin is threatening to send volunteers from the North Caucasus (Chechnya, Kabradino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, and Adygeya) to help Abkhazia, it is not clear that such volunteers actually exist. Many Kabardinians who are ethnically very close to the Abkhaz are now in the anti-Russian camp fighting for the independence of the North Caucasus from Russia. If a Russian-Georgian war breaks out, nobody knows who will have more North Caucasians on its side, Georgia or Russia.

At the first glance, Russia looks dominant in the Russian-Georgian standoff. Neither Georgia nor its allies like the United States or the European Council can really do anything to change the political course of the Kremlin towards further recognition of the separatist regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Nevertheless, if we include in the equation a war that may break out in the Russian rear, the North Caucasus, Russian superiority does not appear so obvious. It is hard to say what the rebels in the North Caucasus can really do to disrupt Russian control over Abkhazia, but any violent actions in the northwest Caucasus could damage Russian influence in the southern flank of the Caucasian Range.

By Andrei Smirnov

Source: The Jamestown Foundation

[Protean]

Zbig's fingerprints are all over this one...


"The most influential response to this situation is the one articulated by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the dean of the Democratic Party foreign policy establishment going back to the Jimmy Carter regime and even earlier. Brzezinski’s name is associated with a new strategy which calls for a de-emphasis of the Middle East in favor of a global approach to crushing the power of Russia and China once and for all."

Excerpt from article--
http://anomalynews.com/2008/07/23/webster-tarpley-historical-changes-in-false-flag-terrorism-deepjournal/

[point]

This has been in the works for sometime now.  Everyone here knows that.....with our privite parts involved in this we are about to get emasculated.  Hold on folks the roller coaster may come off the tracks.

This might disrupt the NWO plans, may be what they want.  Keep the powder dry indeed. 

[Sub-X]

Georgia v Russia: By numbers


                           Georgia                                    Russia:
 
 
Population      4.6 million                                          140 million   
 
Army              18,000                                              400,000
 
Tanks                128                                                23,000
 
Fighter jets           9                                                  1,736


Anybody else see a problem with this 

[doublethink]

Georgia v Russia: By numbers


                           Georgia                                    Russia:
 
 
Population      4.6 million                                          140 million   
 
Army              18,000                                              400,000
 
Tanks                128                                                23,000
 
Fighter jets           9                                                  1,736


Anybody else see a problem with this 

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

[trailhound]

 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.

[das_ding]

Georgia v Russia: By numbers


                           Georgia                                    Russia:
 
 
Population      4.6 million                                          140 million   
 
Army              18,000                                              400,000
 
Tanks                128                                                23,000
 
Fighter jets           9                                                  1,736


Anybody else see a problem with this 

yeah - but McWar / OhBombUs will help em

[trailhound]

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

+1

[point]

If you add all the troops in Iraq/Afghan and Israel forces... this could get very dirty, very fast.