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

[dogmadestroyer]

Who is Sarkozy anyway? 
if not just a manipulated powerless clown.

Exactly. I just found out why he was squirming. The agreement between the EU and Russia is overwhelmingly a Russian victory. The Russian peacekeepser get to stay in Ossetia and the Georgians will have to stay far back. It looks doubtful that they could bring Georgia into NATO.

[joequinn]

Sarkozy is a Bush-clone neo-con who became the President of France last year. When I heard that the French had elected him, I was shocked: the French have always seemed so much hipper, politically, than we Americans. But then, within the past two weeks, I heard that the CIA had a major role in orchestrating his campaign and that there is considerable doubt now about the legality of his election. Sarkozy was sent to Moscow to con Medvedev, and it is no accident that Sarkozy went to Moscow only after conferring with Saakahvili, whose Rose Revolution also was spearheaded by the CIA and who, like Sarkozy, is yet another Bush-clone.

That's who Sarkozy is, ConcordeWarrior...

[Optimus]

NATO chief: Russian cease-fire not enough
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/12/europe/EU-NATO-Georgia-Russia.php
The Associated PressPublished: August 12, 2008

BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO's secretary general says Russia's announcement that it was halting military action in Georgia is "an important first step," but not enough.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters at the NATO alliance headquarters that Russian and Georgian forces need to go back to positions they held Aug. 6, the day before hostilities broke out.

After chairing a special NATO meeting, he called Georgia "a friend... and a highly respected partner of NATO" that remains a candidate for NATO membership.

[dogmadestroyer]

Sarkozy is a Bush-clone neo-con who became the President of France last year. When I heard that the French had elected him, I was shocked: the French have always seemed so much hipper, politically, than we Americans. But then, within the past two weeks, I heard that the CIA had a major role in orchestrating his campaign and that there is considerable doubt now about the legality of his election. Sarkozy was sent to Moscow to con Medvedev, and it is no accident that Sarkozy went to Moscow only after conferring with Saakahvili, whose Rose Revolution also was spearheaded by the CIA and who, like Sarkozy, is yet another Bush-clone.

That's who Sarkozy is, ConcordeWarrior...

Yep, they pulled a "Bull Moose" play and split the vote to get Sarkozy in there who seems that he may have links to the Mossad and isn't even French himself but grew up there.

[ConcordeWarrior]

Sarkozy is a Bush-clone neo-con who became the President of France last year.

Sarkozy drunk at the 2007 G8 after a meeting with President Putin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGnB3D2LI1c&feature=related

full version - uncensored.

[Optimus]

[12.08.2008 17:32] 

Ukraine is drawn into military conflicts without its will - Yushchenko
http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-266772.html

President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko calls a dangerous precedent the involvement of Russian Black Sea Fleet ships in military operations or in blocking the Black Sea water area.

According to an UNIAN correspondent, Victor Yushchenko claimed this in the Symferopol airport before leaving for Georgia on Tuesday.

“I’m concerned about the use of the Black Sea Fleet in military operations or in blocking the Black Sea water area. It is a dangerous precedent”, the Ukrainian President claimed.

According to him, because of such precedents, Ukraine is drawn into military conflicts without its will.

Victor Yushchenko stressed that the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine already expressed its stance on the issue: Ukraine insists on signing a document that would clearly regulate the involvement of the RF BSF deployed at the Ukrainian territory in military conflicts of third parties. According to the President, this issue will be discussed within frames of the sub-commission on BSF of the Inter-State Ukrainian-Russian Commission.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine warned Russia on Sunday it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia`s coast.

Ukraine`s Foreign Ministry said the deployment of a Russian naval squadron to Georgia`s Black sea coast has the potential of drawing Ukraine into the conflict.

[ramallamamama]

Yushchenko sure doesn't want to be spanked like Saakashvili just was.

[joequinn]

The Ukraine may already be committed. Unsubstantiated gossip says that the advance wave of Georgia's ethnic cleansing raid on Friday, 8 August 2008, consisted of a phalanx of tanks commanded by Ukrainians.

The Russians are carefully taking DNA samples of the dead soldiers that they are encountering. One of the reasons why they are doing this is in order to locate the Americans, the Israelis and the Ukrainians in the Georgian action. The Russians know that they were there: it's just that the Russia is being careful to accumulate the evidence before it releases it to justify its actions in Georgia.

[ramallamamama]

I'm not a doubter of US/Israeli involvement, it just seems crazy that there would be personnel flying USA colors on their sleeves. You'd think they'd have a rule against that... Oh and how will DNA testing prove someone's national identity? Just curious.

[Loungin]

I'm not a doubter of US/Israeli involvement, it just seems crazy that there would be personnel flying USA colors on their sleeves. You'd think they'd have a rule against that... Oh and how will DNA testing prove someone's national identity? Just curious.

DNA links the dead body to a name in a database.  The same database has the nationality of said individual.  This data can be crossrefrenced with other countries data for confirmation.  Example, John Smith's DNA is obtained and he is linked to America in the Russian database.  The Russians send this sample to trusted allies such as Iran for data confirmation.

[Avers]

In a short interview with the BBC Richard Holbrooke expressed his dislike on how little the current US administration has done regarding the current Georgian crisis, implicating that Barack Obama would have used a much tougher stance. He also insisted again that this entire situation is Russia's fault and that Russia had been waiting and planning for this. And as a last note he mentioned that he had recently visited the two Georgian break away regions, found them a complete mess and expressed his opinion that they were not worth a world war, errr... international crisis.

This guy is sometimes so unbelievable...

[dogmadestroyer]

Well, in more traditionally settled societies such as Russia and Georgia you could trace the general genetics of an area or people quite easily as you could with Ukraine. Finding people from the US generally would be easy as they'd stick way out from the local DNA unless their background hails from the area.

[Dok]

Hope this isnt true.

Russians move 2 SS-21 Medium Range Ballistic Missile Launchers into South Ossetia

Col. Sam Gardiner notes, in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to South Ossetia. The SS-21 Missile launchers are relatively small compared to bombs that have already been used against Georgia by the Russian air force. However, this move does indicate Russia is potentially upping the game from a conventional weapons war to a tactical nuclear weapons war. Gardiner notes that at a news conference on Sunday, the US Deputy National Security advisor has noted these weapons arriving in South Ossetia.

Business Wire confirms the subject matter of the news briefing in Beijing.
http://freeandindependent.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/russians-move-2-ss-21-medium-range-ballistic-missile-launchers-into-south-ossetia/

[Loungin]

Hope this isnt true.

Russians move 2 SS-21 Medium Range Ballistic Missile Launchers into South Ossetia

Col. Sam Gardiner notes, in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to South Ossetia. The SS-21 Missile launchers are relatively small compared to bombs that have already been used against Georgia by the Russian air force. However, this move does indicate Russia is potentially upping the game from a conventional weapons war to a tactical nuclear weapons war. Gardiner notes that at a news conference on Sunday, the US Deputy National Security advisor has noted these weapons arriving in South Ossetia.

Business Wire confirms the subject matter of the news briefing in Beijing.
http://freeandindependent.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/russians-move-2-ss-21-medium-range-ballistic-missile-launchers-into-south-ossetia/

I would consider this move, if true, to be a power play to defuse all aggression by Georgia.  Georgia has officially brought a knife to a gun fight... unless somone comes to Georgia's aid with a "gun", Georgia is in checkmate. 

EDIT:  After reading a bit more, it would seem that Russia has been toating this move for quite some time.  Tactical Nuclear strikes is there SOP when faced with aggression from NATO/US conventional weaponry.  Russia put these in SO to send a clear message to NATO/US that if bombing commencing on Russia from NATO/US forces coming to the "aid" of Georgia, Russia will respond with their SOP. 

Side note... I wonder what our SOP when faced with an enemy prepared to use tactical nukes.  This can escalate real quick... who has the bigger gun.

[mario_bros]

Russians move 2 SS-21 Medium Range Ballistic Missile Launchers into South Ossetia ---9K79 Tochka is a Short range tactical ballistic missile system .Not a medium one

[Godsforce]

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=40.680638,44.780273&spn=7.745808,14.0625&z=6

3 Nations without roads?

Don't know if it's changed, or it really is backwater, but kazakstan and turkmenistan are mostly gone as well.  Which ones are USA puppet governments?

[dogmadestroyer]

Which ones are USA puppet governments?

Turkmenistan allegedly has had heavy US black ops going on for years now inside it.

[Sasha]

Russians move 2 SS-21 Medium Range Ballistic Missile Launchers into South Ossetia ---9K79 Tochka is a Short range tactical ballistic missile system .Not a medium one

You're right if they use the earlier stock versions but, they they can be outfitted with cruise missiles greatly extending their range and there are other upgraded versions that have significantly extended ranges ("Scarab C").  Here are the specs and who's got em:
from: 
http://www.missilethreat.com/missilesoftheworld/id.140/missile_detail.asp


SS-21 A
Country:  Russian Federation
Alternate Name:  Scarab A, OTR-21, Tochka
Class:  SRBM
Basing:  Road mobile
Length:  6.40 m
Diameter:  0.65 m
Launch Weight:  2000 kg
Payload:  Single warhead, 482 kg
Warhead:  Nuclear 10 or 100 kT, HE, chemical
Propulsion:  Single-state solid
Range:  70 km
Status:  Operational
In Service:  1976

Details

Russian Designation: OTR-21 Tochka

The SS-21 is a battlefield short-range, road-mobile, solid propellant, single-warhead ballistic missile designed for tactical deployment. It was designed as a replacement for the Free Rocket Over Ground (FROG) missile series. It is believed to be capable of being launched in either a ballistic or cruise missile mode. The ballistic mode provides an increased range and speed, but the cruise mode allows for stealth and higher accuracy. Two versions are confirmed to have been developed, the ‘Scarab A’ and the ‘Scarab B’.

The SS-21 A is a tactical system designed to be deployed alongside conventional forces. The combination of its multiple warhead options, its cruise flight profile and the mobility of its Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL) vehicle make the SS-21 A an extremely flexible battlefield system. The system is effective against military units and troop concentrations using fragmentation and submunition warheads, while it can just as effectively disable electrical equipment, airfields and military facilities using its other warhead options. In this way, it can both destroy enemy forces and degrade the ability of the enemy to engage in combat. The system is also designed to provide tactical nuclear support on the battlefield. The yield on the nuclear warhead is not insignificant and is fully capable of inflicting heavy damage to military units and facilities. If deployed with a low yield nuclear weapon, the missile would be capable of destroying hardened targets. The SS-21 A provides the Russian armed forces with an effective conventional and nuclear support system.

The SS-21 ‘Scarab A’ has a range of 70 km (43 miles) with an accuracy of 150 m CEP. It launches a 482 kg warhead which can be equipped with submunitions, 120 kg of high explosive (HE) fragmentation filling or a nuclear device. The submunition types are anti-tank, anti-personnel and anti-runway, while the nuclear device is believed to have a selectable yield of 10 or 100 kT. It uses an inertial guidance system. The missile is 6.4 m long, 0.65 m in diameter and has a launch weight of 2,000 kg. It uses a single-stage solid propellant engine.

The SS-21 A TEL vehicle is amphibious with the ability to drive 60 km/h (37 mph) on road and 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. It has the capacity of driving over rough terrain and carries a crew of three. It has Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) filter systems enabling it to operate in areas where Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) have been deployed. This is important, due to the threat of non-conventional warfare on the modern battlefield.

Unconfirmed reports claim the existence of a second upgrade, the SS-21 ‘Scarab C’. This missile would have an increased range of 185 km (115 miles) and would fit two missiles to a TEL vehicle. These reports could possibly be referring to the reload vehicle for the SS-21 A/B or the next generation tactical ballistic missile, the SS-X-26.

The SS-21 A missile was in development from 1968 until 1974, and entered service in 1975. The SS-21 B was developed between 1984 and 1988, and entered service in 1989. It is believed that Russia currently possesses 300 TEL vehicles and 310 nuclear warheads for all versions of the SS-21, though all SS-21 A’s have possibly been taken out of service. This is down from a 1993 peak of 1,200 missiles. In 1996, a life extension program was started to add another ten years to the original 15 year service life of the SS-21 B, with the first refit flight test occurring in October 1999.

An unconfirmed report alleges that Syria exported a small number of SS-21 missiles and their TEL vehicles to North Korea in 1996 for the purposes of reverse engineering. It is believed that in 1999 the Russians used 60 to 100 SRBM in Chechnya, the majority of these being SS-21 missiles. The Ukraine is reported as possessing 500 missiles, and around 80 have possibly been exported to Yemen and another 40 (along with 12 TEL vehicles) to Syria.(1)

[mario_bros]

there's not such thing like SS-21 ‘Scarab C’     From beginning of the war russian army fired from tochka system 15 times .

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/4192/25825599zx2.jpg

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/6549/21dk0.jpg

These reports could possibly be referring to the reload vehicle for the SS-21 A/B or the next generation tactical ballistic missile, the SS-X-26. ---So you have the answer . Iskander system was never used in south ossetia.

[Optimus]

Russia wants to redraw map of Europe in peace terms with Georgia
The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, is taking Russia's peace terms to Georgia, after Moscow achieved a crushing victory in a five-day war.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/georgia/2547277/Russia-wants-to-redraw-map-of-Europe-in-peace-terms-with-Georgia.html
By Adrian Blomfield in Gori
Last Updated: 6:11PM BST 12 Aug 2008

In addition to six points proposed by European leaders, Russia wants Georgia to agree to further measures which would in effect guarantee Moscow's capture of the two breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia wants a buffer zone around these enclaves, from which all Georgian forces will be excluded, and is demanding that Georgia give a signed pledge never to use force in the regions again.

With his Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, Mr Sarkozy will now place these terms before President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia. After suffering five days of Russian onslaught, Georgia's beleaguered leader may have little choice but to agree.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Mr Sarkozy, the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, insisted his forces would remain in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "That has been the case and that will continue to be the case," Mr Medvedev said.

President Medvedev said the EU peace plan contained "good principles to settle the problem," but that Russia would also add proposals and that it was "up to Georgia now". He said that President Saakashvili, whom he described as a "lunatic," had lied about his side's respect for a ceasefire during the conflict.

"You know, lunatics' difference from other people is that when they smell blood it is very difficult to stop them. So you have to use surgery," President Medvedev said.

Asked about the progress of the peace plan, President Sarkozy said: "The night is young. We are not at peace yet but we are at a stage of temporary cessation of hostilities, which is certainly significant." He added that the EU could provide peacekeepers to be stationed in South Ossetia if all sides agreed.

President Saakhashvili said that he would continue to regard Russian troops in the breakaway states as occupying forces. He said Georgia would refuse to be "broken to pieces" under any agreement. Georgia also disclosed that it had filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice for ethnic cleansing.

"Today Georgian ambassador to the Netherlands filed a law suit to the International Court of Justice," the secretary of Georgia's Security Council, Kakha Lomaia, said, "because of ethnic cleansing conducted in Georgia by Russia in 1993 to 2008."

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, said that he had also been contacted about the conflict, and may launch a preliminary investigation.

The news conference came shortly after Russian forces continued to shell the strategically important Georgian town of Gori, in an attack representing a continuation of Moscow's military offensive, even after President Medvedev had ordered a cessation to hostilities.

The artillery barrage – the first against Gori since the five-day conflict began – suggested that, despite denials in Moscow, Russian ground troops had advanced into undisputed Georgian territory from South Ossetia. Gori, a town of about 70,000 people that was the birth place of Stalin, lies 15 miles south of Georgia's internal border with the breakaway region.

A Dutch journalist was killed and another wounded after a fragmentation shell exploded outside a press centre where western reporters in Gori, including reporters for The Daily Telegraph, have based themselves since the conflict began.

The explosion shattered windows and embedded walls in neighbouring buildings with shrapnel. It also destroyed the sole shop that had remained open in Gori in order to provide reporters with food and drink.

Russian shells also struck apartment blocks in the main square in an apparent attempt to destroy Gori's town hall. Only one elderly woman was living in the block as all her neighbours fled yesterday when the Georgian military abandoned the town without firing a shot during a chaotic retreat to the capital Tbilisi.

Other buildings on the outskirts of the town were also damaged or destroyed in the assault, which witnesses said killed at least six people. But, contrary to Georgian government claims, there were no Russian ground troops in the town.

Earlier President Medvedev had announced: "I have taken the decision to end the operation to force Georgian authorities into peace," said President Medvedev, in a televised meeting. "The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored. The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganised."

However, over half an hour after Mr Medvedev gave his ceasefire order, The Daily Telegraph saw three Russian helicopters fire nine missiles at targets 25 miles north of Tbilisi. It was not immediately clear what they were shooting at.

"Despite the Russian president's claims earlier this morning that military operations against Georgia have been suspended, at this moment, Russian fighter jets are bombarding two Georgian villages outside South Ossetia," the Georgian government said.

Eduard Kokoity, the leader of the South Ossetian separatist movement, said that following the conflict he would redouble his efforts to have his province unified with the Russian region of North Ossetia. He said: "I would like to point out again that we are a small, divided people. This is a big humanitarian problem and of course we will strive for unification with North Ossetia."

Thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, which was sparked by Russia's response to a Georgian grab for South Ossetia last week, while 100,000 are now thought to have been displaced. Plane loads of medical supplies and aid are being flown into Tblisi by international agencies including the Red Cross, while the US and several European countries have pledged to provide humanitarian and economic aid to prevent the conflict from destabilising Georgia further.

[Cobra]

I can't believe how many people are buying the Russian bullshit here. Don't buy either sides bullshit.

Americans and Israeli's soldiers with patches identifying them as so were found? LOLZ
Russia taking DNA samples? For what? You don't need DNA samples to tell who's a foreigner. Believe me. I'm from that part of the world and racism is alive and well and people know how to tell each other apart very well.

Georgians committing genocide? Lets even say the Georgians have killed 2k civilians on purpose. That hardly qualifies as genocide. If that counts as genocide than what the Russians did to the Chechens is genocide to the 10th degree.
 The Russians are feeding you the same line of bullshit that NATO fed us during the Kosovo conflict.

The simple fact is Russia has been goading that idiot Sakhashvili into doing something stupid and he did. How do all of you think Russia got almost 2 armored divisions into South Osssetia virtually overnight? Preparations for that take at least a month if not more. How do you think the fleet got to Abhkazia's coast in a matter of days? Preparations for that also take weeks.

Sakhashvili took the bait. I don't even think anybody gave him the OK. That training with the US military prob. gave him a sort of beer balls and he began to think that the Georgian forces were now better than they actually were.   I think he really believed that Russia would never advance on Georgia and try to kick him out.

Now Bush and Co. are caught with their pants down. They don't know what the hell to do. Putin is playing the same game that the US is playing and Bush doesn't even know how to respond.

[Wanted]

Russian jets attack Georgia
http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1088&fArticleId=nw20080811142418855C287343


Btw...good points Cobra. 


Tbilisi - Dozens of Russian warplanes staged air raids in Georgia on Monday, officials said, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of trying to undermine Russia's mounting military offensive.

Georgian forces shelled the South Ossetia capital, as European ministers went to Tbilisi and Moscow in an attempt to end the worsening crisis which Russia says has left 2 000 dead.

Russia and Georgia pursued their attacks as diplomatic tensions worsened.

US President George Bush, Georgia's biggest western ally, said he had told Russia's influential prime minister that its bombing of Georgia was "unacceptable".

Putin responded by accusing the US of trying to disrupt the Russian military operation by transporting Georgian troops from Iraq into the "conflict zone".

"I regret that some of our partners are not helping us but in fact are trying to impede us," Putin said directly referring to the US flights of Georgian troops.

"It seems that this will not change anything, but will move us away from resolving the situation," he added.

Bush said he had been "very firm" with Putin in their conversation.

"I expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia and that we strongly condemn bombing outside of South Ossetia," the US president told NBC television.

Georgia's foreign ministry accused Russia of staging new air attacks.

"More than 50 Russian warplanes are flying over Georgia. Tbilisi was bombed. Bombs hit the village of Kojori and Makhata mountain," said a ministry statement.

The Russian military acknowledged that it has lost 18 soldiers and four planes in the conflict but gave no details of its latest operations.

Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili told foreign reporters his country's army has killed several hundred Russian servicemen and shot down at least 80 Russian aircraft.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said "a major part" of the military operation has been completed - but the conflict escalated after Georgia launched an operation last week to take back control of breakaway South Ossetia.

Russian planes bombed radars at Tbilisi airport and hit civilian targets in the city of Gori, an interior ministry spokesman said.

The UN refugee agency said up to 80 percent of Gori's population of 50 000 have fled the city because of Russian attacks.

Russian planes had already bombed a special forces base and an air traffic control centre in the Tbilisi suburbs, the spokesperson said. Explosions could be heard from the centre of the capital.

Three Russian soldiers were killed and another 18 wounded by Georgian forces in South Ossetia on Monday, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a South Ossetian spokesperson as saying.

Georgian forces pounded the rebel capital, Tskhinvali, with artillery fire during the night and residents said there had been "many deaths."

Georgia declared Sunday it had withdrawn from South Ossetia and offered a ceasefire, but Russia insisted Georgian troops were still fighting.

A local cleric in Tskhinvali, Bishop Georgy Pukhati, said: "The situation is very tense here. This is a humanitarian catastrophe. There is no water and the city's entire infrastructure is destroyed."

Russia, which has already moved battleships to the Black Sea and said it has sunk a Georgian navy vessel, is preparing to deploy 9 000 troops to bolster its forces inside a second separatist Georgian region, Abkhazia, a military spokesperson was quoted as saying by Interfax.

It will send more than 350 armoured vehicles to add to what is officially a Russian peacekeeping force in the breakaway region, the spokesperson said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili had accepted nearly all of a European Union peace plan during meetings in Tsibili.

The European plan calls for a ceasefire, medical help for victims, controlled withdrawals of troops on both sides and eventual political talks.

Kouchner and Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb were to leave for Moscow to see the Russian president and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said Stubb, current chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will travel to Georgia on Tuesday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told journalists. Sarkozy is also due in Moscow to try to hammer out a ceasefire, Kouchner said.

A French plane was to take aid supplies to Georgia and bring back stranded French and EU nationals from Tbilisi, the French foreign ministry said.

Russia sent thousands of troops, tanks and air support into South Ossetia on Friday after Georgia launched an offensive to seize control of the province, which broke from Georgia in the early 1990s.

The conflict has already forced about 40 000 people from their homes, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. - Sapa-AFP

[Sasha]

posted 10 minutes ago



'Uncle Putin, help us fight the Georgians'
12 August 2008, 07:25
By Matt Robinson
The Mercury
http://www.themercury.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20080812060222552C892771


Western powers have appealed to Russia for an immediate ceasefire, after Georgia accused Moscow of pushing troops further into its territory, and seeking to overthrow President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The US state department said on Monday foreign ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations had agreed to support international mediation to end the crisis, and urged Russia to respect the territorial integrity of its former Soviet vassal.

Moscow was in no mood to compromise.

Russian Defence Ministry officials blasted Georgia for failing to abide by a ceasefire it announced on Sunday, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sharply attacked the United States for a "cynical" Cold War mentality in backing close ally Georgia.

On the ground, Russian officials said Georgia continued to shell the pro-Russian, breakaway territory of South Ossetia - the province at the centre of the conflict - despite announcing a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was expected to fly to Georgia and Russia today on a peace mission, following a round of shuttle diplomacy by his foreign minister.

It was unclear what his visit could bring.

Relations between Russia and its small, former Soviet neighbour have deteriorated in part because of Georgia's ambition to join Nato, and bring the Western alliance to Russia's southern border.

The conflict erupted last Thursday when Georgia suddenly sent forces to retake South Ossetia, which threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s.

Moscow responded with a counter-attack by its vastly bigger forces that drove Georgian troops out of the devastated South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali on Sunday.

The Georgian government said 130 Georgian civilians and military personnel had been killed and 1 165 wounded, many because of Russian bombing inside Georgia.

Russia denies hitting civilian targets, and says 1 600 have been killed in the fighting, with thousands left homeless, but these figures are not independently verifiable.

Women and children wept in the streets of Tskhinvali on Monday as they surveyed the destruction amid continued Georgian shelling. Russian troops distributed water and food from trucks.

An elderly resident told how she sheltered in a cellar with her seven-year-old grandson during the bombardment.

"My grandson screamed: 'Uncle Putin, please help us, help us so that the Georgians don't kill me!'. They were screaming and crying. It was terrible, a nightmare," she said.

"Thank God the Russians have come. It is getting better."

Russia and Georgia engaged in a bitter war of words on Monday. Saakashvili told reporters Russia "wants to replace the government in Tbilisi", and claimed Moscow wanted to seize control of energy routes.

Moscow insisted it had not moved its troops beyond South Ossetia and a second separatist region, Abkhazia, and said it would not push further.

But a Georgian Interior Ministry spokesperson said Russian troops had advanced 40km from Abkhazia into the town of Senaki, inside Georgia proper.

President Dmitry Medvedev said the operation to restore calm in South Ossetia was nearing its conclusion. This led to a recovery rally among battered Russian stocks.

Putin, who has taken a leading role in the crisis, attacked the US for helping Georgia fly home troops from Iraq, and said the West was mistaking the aggressors for victims.

Putin mocked the support given by the West to Saakashvili, comparing him to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, hanged in 2006 for executing Shi'as.

"They (the Americans) of course had to hang Saddam Hussein for destroying several Shi'a villages," Putin said.

"But the Georgian rulers who in one hour simply wiped 10 Ossetian villages from the face of the earth, the Georgian rulers who used tanks to run over children and the elderly, which threw civilians into cellars and burnt them - they are players to be protected."

Despite international calls for peace, both sides continued fighting. Georgia shelled Tskhinvali early in the day, and Tbilisi said Russian jets had bombed Georgian targets again overnight.

Russia said at a daily military briefing it had lost four military aircraft and 18 soldiers since the fighting started, with another 14 missing in action and 52 wounded.

But Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn rejected Georgian claims that up to 50 Russian jets had bombed Georgia overnight.

Russian financial markets slid to their lowest levels in two years early on Monday as investors panicked over the conflict, though stocks later reversed some losses.

Moscow issued an ultimatum to more than 1 500 Georgian forces stationed in the Zugdidi district near Abkhazia, a second separatist area west of South Ossetia, to disarm or face attack, but Georgia swiftly rejected the demand.

Russia said it had boosted its forces in Abkhazia, stationing more than 9 000 paratroopers and 350 pieces of armour there to "rule out a repetition of the situation Russian peacekeepers faced in Tskhinvali". - Reuters

[ConcordeWarrior]

Have they gone nuts or what? 
This is crazy.

US, allies weigh punishment for Russia

WASHINGTON - Scrambling to find ways to punish Russia for its invasion of pro-Western Georgia, the United States and its allies are considering expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of powerful nations and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_russia_georgia

[Sasha]

Russia halts fighting in Georgia – what went wrong in Iraq, Eastern Europe, and Georgia?
Kiran Chaube
India Daily
Aug. 12, 2008  --  20 minutes ago
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/19907.asp



Russians apparently achieved their strategic goals. But international think tanks believe Putin may have launched the biggest insult for the current US president George Bush before he leaves office.

Russia ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia's army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering. Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.

Sources say, Russian offensive punch is coming to a grinding halt as they close in on the Georgian capital. The Russian military is worried about creating another ‘Iraq’ in Georgia.

There are some strange similarities between Bush’s Iraq invasion and Russia’s Georgia take over, however, a lot is not similar. What really happened in Iraq, Eastern Europe, and Georgia is an episode of an immature less than adequately educated US presidency. George Bush has finally learnt about the world politics. Bill Clinton also learnt the same in eight years. The sad story is that in US schools world history, culture, and geography is taught sparingly. As a result, the educated US population is vastly ignorant about world affairs, cultural diversities, and geopolitical significances. Bill Clinton stayed in UK for a while. As a result he was somewhat in a better shape. But George Bush unlike his father was totally ignorant about world affairs, history, geopolitics, and geography. He selected his cabinet from whom he liked with little knowledge about the world. In his book, everything was Texan Cowboy Politics – might and money equal power, defiance and arrogance.

He treated Iraq with little respect. He lied about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam’s link to Al-Queda. He instigated the former Soviet states like Georgia and Ukraine with hope that Russians will not dare challenge American interests. He went ahead with missile defence plan with arrogance and defiance without understanding the geopolitical fall out.

America must make sure any new American President passes a test on world affairs, geography, history, and geopolitics before entering the oval office. Under George Bush, America has lost more than two trillion dollars because of ill informed decisions and mismanagement of resources. If this continues, eventually America will become a third world country with little resource to spare.

[Cobra]

Have they gone nuts or what? 
This is crazy.

US, allies weigh punishment for Russia

WASHINGTON - Scrambling to find ways to punish Russia for its invasion of pro-Western Georgia, the United States and its allies are considering expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of powerful nations and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_russia_georgia

Did you read the entire article?
They're considering symbolic measures. Russia would be offended if they DIDN'T do this.  

[Wanted]

Russian-Baltic relations solid but shaky
The title should read "Russian-Latvian relations solid but shaky" 
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/21067/


RIGA- Russian Ambassador to Latvia Alexander Veshnyakov does not think that the Latvian-Russian relations have deteriorated, but their future depends on Latvian politicians.

"We have all the chances to keep up the relations and implement everything that has been planned for this year. We, politicians, understand that our nation should not suffer," the ambassador said.

He also voiced hopes that Latvia's decisions to support Georgia, which "have been based on the principle of solidarity than on objective information", will not leave a negative impact on the relations between both countries, on which Russiahas worked so hard.

Veshnyakov said that only now Georgia's real goals for joining NATO are clear.

"There is hardly anybody to believe now that Georgiawishes to strengthen Euro-Atlantic values and democracy. I hope that our western partners have now noticed Georgia's democracy," said the ambassador.

Veshnyakov said that he has received information about a meeting, which is being prepared in Georgia, to announce the victory of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. The diplomat voiced hopes that it might not be true and Georgiadoes not aim to turn Russiaagainst the western countries.

He said that Russia's aim has not been to overthrow Georgia's government, but he admitted that Russiaearlier said that cooperation would have been better with another head of the state.

The ambassador appreciated Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis' visit to Georgia, but only if he obtains comprehensive information, not just the opinion of one side.

Veshnyakov also said that his personal opinion is that an international tribune should be set up to punish Georgiafor its actions. "Responsibility should be taken for such rubbish," he said.

Russian schools and universities are getting ready to receive refugees from Ossetiaand helping victims of the military activities, said the ambassador.

Georgia has been engaged in armed hostilities with Russiasince last Friday when it sent its troops into its breakaway region of South Ossetia, which unilaterally declared independence from Georgiain 1990, albeit unrecognized by any nation.

[Cobra]

Russia halts fighting in Georgia – what went wrong in Iraq, Eastern Europe, and Georgia?
Kiran Chaube
India Daily
Aug. 12, 2008  --  20 minutes ago
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/19907.asp



Russians apparently achieved their strategic goals. But international think tanks believe Putin may have launched the biggest insult for the current US president George Bush before he leaves office.

Russia ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia's army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering. Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.

Sources say, Russian offensive punch is coming to a grinding halt as they close in on the Georgian capital. The Russian military is worried about creating another ‘Iraq’ in Georgia.

There are some strange similarities between Bush’s Iraq invasion and Russia’s Georgia take over, however, a lot is not similar. What really happened in Iraq, Eastern Europe, and Georgia is an episode of an immature less than adequately educated US presidency. George Bush has finally learnt about the world politics. Bill Clinton also learnt the same in eight years. The sad story is that in US schools world history, culture, and geography is taught sparingly. As a result, the educated US population is vastly ignorant about world affairs, cultural diversities, and geopolitical significances. Bill Clinton stayed in UK for a while. As a result he was somewhat in a better shape. But George Bush unlike his father was totally ignorant about world affairs, history, geopolitics, and geography. He selected his cabinet from whom he liked with little knowledge about the world. In his book, everything was Texan Cowboy Politics – might and money equal power, defiance and arrogance.

He treated Iraq with little respect. He lied about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam’s link to Al-Queda. He instigated the former Soviet states like Georgia and Ukraine with hope that Russians will not dare challenge American interests. He went ahead with missile defence plan with arrogance and defiance without understanding the geopolitical fall out.

America must make sure any new American President passes a test on world affairs, geography, history, and geopolitics before entering the oval office. Under George Bush, America has lost more than two trillion dollars because of ill informed decisions and mismanagement of resources. If this continues, eventually America will become a third world country with little resource to spare.

Good article.

How do people think Cheney and Co. will react to such an "insult"? If anything this will give them more impetus to bomb Iran.

This conflict will make things much worse. Not better. Russia may have miscalculated in pushing things this far. Cheney and Co. aren't exactly rational.
Miscalculations on top of miscalculations leads to messy situations.

[Wanted]

Britain's Brown urges 'permanent solution' for Georgia
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g-D_3tx_p1YQaMzgChSH4MugJHSg

11 minutes ago

LONDON (AFP) — Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday hailed international efforts to broker a ceasefire in the conflict between Georgia and Russia and called for a "permanent solution" to the crisis.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband used blunter terms, saying Russia's "aggression" in Georgia was incompatible with its desire to join the World Trade Organization and its status as a major energy supplier to Europe.

Brown said: "It's international pressure in these last few days from many countries that has now brought this immediate ceasefire that's now shared by Georgia and Russia.

"What we must do now is ensure that it's a lasting ceasefire, and that there is humanitarian aid, which we are prepared to provide for those who are casualties of what has been a terrible set of events."

The prime minister said he had phone conversations with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, as well as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who as the current EU head held talks with Medvedev in Moscow on Tuesday to broker the ceasefire.

Brown has also discussed the conflict in South Ossetia with US President George W. Bush and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Speaking from his constituency home in Scotland, Brown stressed that once hostilities ceased, a long-term solution was necessary to prevent future tensions between Russia and former Soviet state Georgia.

"There must now be talks that will resolve this once and for all," he said.

"We cannot continue with the situation where hostilities are likely. We must bring them to an end by having a permanent solution to this problem."

Writing in London's Evening Standard newspaper, Miliband called on Medvedev to prove his commitment to the rule of law and told Russia it must see its neigbours as sovereign states and not "ex-Soviet space".

"There are strong political reasons for Russia to accept the international call for a ceasefire and a return of all troops to their positions on 7 August," Miliband wrote, naming Russia's desire to join the World Trade Organisation and its role as one of the world's main producers of oil and gas.

"Business as usual is not compatible with Russian aggression in Georgia," he added.

Miliband also challenged Medvedev -- who many observers say has played a secondary role to former president and current prime minister Vladimir Putin in the conflict -- to show leadership in the crisis.

"Russia has a new president. He is formally in charge of foreign policy. He has made 'rule of law' his motif. Now is the time to show that he means what he says," he wrote.

[bigron]

Georgia claims fighting ongoing :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/2008812152116928720.html
Tbilisi reports continued bombing despite Russian president's ceasefire announcement. 

 Saakashvili: Georgia to leave CIS  :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/20088121471612654.html

 The ugly side of resurgent Russia?  :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/2008812154629447507.html

 Video: Georgian troops flee Gori  :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/200881292858858149.html


 Reporter's diary: Assault on Gori  :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/200881282217682257.html


 'State of war' between Georgia and Russia: Your views  :
http://english.aljazeera.net/your_views/europe/200889151032832837.html
 

[dogmadestroyer]

Russian-Baltic relations solid but shaky
The title should read "Russian-Latvian relations solid but shaky" 
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/21067/

Oh I'm sure there is still plenty of love from Estonia after the semi-official Russian boycott when they moved those statues. 

[Sasha]

Good article.

How do people think Cheney and Co. will react to such an "insult"? If anything this will give them more impetus to bomb Iran.

This conflict will make things much worse. Not better. Russia may have miscalculated in pushing things this far. Cheney and Co. aren't exactly rational.
Miscalculations on top of miscalculations leads to messy situations.

Yup.  They've overplayed their hand again. This time miscalculating Russia's response.  Cheney isn't very good at the predictive parts of playing chess - too maniacally overconfident.

I'm not sure they aren't including the nuclear response by Russia though.  I'd bet this was part of the plan, to get Russia to break out their evil gear and then Cheney and Co. head into their undisclosed locations to start pressing their big red buttons - full blown WWIII nuclear style.

Here's a bit by HW Bush, full fledged mad man himself and globalist heavy weight, in and interview durring the height of the Cold War:

(Originally published on the front page of The Los Angeles Times on January 24, 1980.)

... Scheer: Don’t we reach a point with these strategic weapons where we can wipe each other out so many times and no one wants to use them or is willing to use them, that it really doesn’t matter whether we’re ten percent or two percent lower or higher?

Bush: Yes, if you believe there is no such thing as a winner in a nuclear exchange, that argument makes little sense. I don’t believe that.

Scheer: How do you win a nuclear exchange?

Bush: You have a survivability of command in control, survivability of industrial potential, protection of a percentage of your citizens, and you have a capability that inflicts more damage on the opposition than it can inflict upon you. That’s the way you can have a winner, and that Soviets’ planning is based on the ugly concept of a winner in a nuclear exchange.

Scheer: Do you mean like five percent would survive? Two percent?

Bush: More than that—if everybody fired everything they had, you’d have more than that survive.

[Cobra]

 The ugly side of resurgent Russia?  :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/2008812154629447507.html

 

The return of Zbig.

Thank You Putin. 

Anybody ready for Cold War Part II? 

[Wanted]

McCain: We are all Georgians now WTF? 
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ikiswcdUvM9iosFqywY7Ea3BD82Q




YORK, Pennsylvania (AFP) — Republican White House hopeful John McCain Tuesday stepped up a fusillade against Russian "aggression" and declared that today, "we are all Georgians."

Addressing voters in Pennsylvania, McCain said he had spoken by telephone earlier with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who he said wanted to thank the American people for their support.

"I told him that I know I speak for every American when I say to him, today, we are all Georgians," said the Republican, a hardliner against Russia who wants the mighty nation expelled from the Group of Eight club.

Both McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama have condemned Russia's incursion into Georgia following the Saakashvili government's abortive attempt to rein in the breakaway, pro-Moscow region of South Ossetia.

"It is past time for the Russian government to immediately sign and implement a ceasefire," Obama, who is on vacation in Hawaii, said in his latest statement on the crisis.

"Russia must halt its violation of Georgian airspace and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia, with international monitors to verify that these obligations are met," the Illinois senator said.

McCain, at his "town hall" meeting in the town of York, said Russian military operations were continuing despite assurances to the contrary from Moscow.

And he cited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's assertion that "it would be best if he (Saakashvili) left" power, stating that this showed Russia was bent on the destruction of Georgia's democratically elected government.

"Today the killing goes on and the aggression goes on," McCain said, adding that Russia wanted "to send a signal to any country that chooses to associate with the West."

With the eruption of the crisis in Georgia, McCain has jumped on the opportunity to cast himself as a grizzled veteran in contrast to the relatively inexperienced Obama.

"My point is we live in a dangerous world," he said at the town hall meeting, stressing his frequent visits to Georgia, although he again mispronounced Saakashvili's name.

The Obama campaign says judgement is more important than experience, noting that Washington veterans such as McCain and Vice President Dick Cheney were driving forces behind the war in Iraq.

[TheGoodFight1984]

Saakashvili: Georgia to leave CIS http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2008/08/12/10073.shtml

Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's president, has told tens of thousands of people at a rally outside the country's parliament that Georgia will quit the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and urged Ukraine to follow suit.

The president said: "We have taken a decision, Georgia is quitting the CIS."

The CIS is an alliance consisting of ten former Soviet Republics, including Russia.

Other speakers shouted slogans against Russia and Vladimir Putin, its prime minister, shouting "Georgia, Georgia!"

Posters denounced Putin, the former Russian president, with one depicting him with the caption "Wanted: Crimes against humanity in the world."

Saakashvili has appealed for international support after Russian forces moved into Georgia on Friday after the Georgian army launched an offensive to bring South Ossetia, which broke away in the early 1990s, back under government control.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, called a halt to military operations on Tuesday.

However, Georgia says that Russia is still continuing operations inside Georgia.

Nato concern

In Brussels, Nato ambassadors voiced serious concern at the situation in Georgia, with many nations saying it could not be "business as usual" with Russia.

The ambassadors from the 26 Nato nations met in the Belgian capital on Tuesday ahead of talks with the head of Georgia's Nato mission.

Kurt Volker, the United States ambassador to Nato, said there was "serious concern about the events in Georgia" including the humanitarian situation, support for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of forces.

An extraordinary meeting requested by Moscow of the joint Russia-Nato council did not take place.

Volker said: "Given the events in Georgia, many allies expressed the  sentiments that there cannot be business as usual with Russia."

Meanwhile, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Nato secretary general, said "I think that the Bucharest communique stands. That was the situation and that is the situation and that has not changed" despite the current conflict with Russia.

At their Bucharest summit in April, Nato member states agreed that neither Georgia nor Ukraine were ready for Nato candidate status, a preliminary to joining the alliance, but that they could become members of the alliance one day.

[Wanted]

Fidel Castro: Cannon Fodder for the Market
http://www.plenglish.com/Article.asp?ID=%7B625D5EEF-3E2D-48C0-BA19-871D4E085B19%7D&language=EN


Havana, Aug 12 (Prensa Latina) Cuban leader Fidel Castro stated that the government of Georgia would never have launched its armed forces against the capital of the Autonomous Republic of South Ossetia in the dawn of August 8th, engaged in what it called the re-establishing of constitutional order, without previous coordination with Bush.


Fidel Castro stressed that Bush, last month in Bucharest, had committed to support President Saakashvili for Georgia’s admission to NATO; that is like plunging a sharpened dagger deep into Russia’s heart.



In his Tuesday Cubadebate article entitled "Cannon Fodder for The Market," the Cuban leader said that if Russia today is no longer a Communist threat and it no longer has more than 400 nuclear launching-pads directly aimed at Europe’s military and strategic targets since they were dismantled after the demise of the USSR, why do they seem determined to surround it with a nuclear shield? The old continent also needs peace.

Prensa Latina is posting below the full text of Fidel Castro's reflection.

REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE FIDEL

CANNON FODDER FOR THE MARKET

Perhaps some governments are unaware of the concrete facts, and so for that reason Raúl’s message setting Cuba’s position seemed to us to be very timely. I shall be generous in the aspects that cannot be dealt with in a brief and precise official statement.


The government of Georgia would never have launched its armed forces against the capital of the Autonomous Republic of South Ossetia in the dawn of August 8th, engaged in what it called the re-establishing of constitutional order, without previous coordination with Bush who, last month in Bucharest, committed to support President Saakashvili for Georgia’s admission to NATO; that is like plunging a sharpened dagger deep into Russia’s heart.


Many European states that are members of that military organization are seriously concerned about the irresponsible manipulation of the nationalities issue, fraught with potential conflict, which within Great Britain itself might result in the disintegration of the United Kingdom. This is how Yugoslavia was dismantled: Tito’s efforts to avoid it proved useless after his death.


What need was there to light the powder keg of the Caucasus? How often is the jug taken to the well before it shatters? Russia continues to be a strong nuclear power. It has thousands of such weapons. On the other hand, I must recall that the Western economy illegally siphoned out more than 500 billion dollars from that country.


If Russia today is no longer a Communist threat and it no longer has more than 400 nuclear launching-pads directly aimed at Europe’s military and strategic targets since they were dismantled after the demise of the USSR, why do they seem determined to surround it with a nuclear shield? The old continent also needs peace.


The Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia were sent there on an internationally recognized peace mission: they were not shooting wantonly.


Why did Georgia choose August 8th, at the time the Olympic Games were being opened in Beijing, to occupy Tskhinvali, the capital of the Autonomous Republic? On that day, four billion people on the entire planet were watching on television the marvelous spectacle with which China was opening those games.


Only the American people could not enjoy a live broadcast of the exciting festival of friendship among all the people of the world that was staged there.



The monopoly over the broadcasting rights had been bought by a television channel that had paid 900 million dollars and wanted to earn maximum commercial dividends for every minute of broadcasting time.


The rival corporations got even by covering news of the war in the Caucasus since this was nobody’s exclusive. The dangers of a serious conflict were threatening the world.



Bush did enjoy the spectacle as an official guest. On Sunday the 10th, two and a half days later, he could still be seen waving flags, pretending to be a champion of peace and preparing to delight in the victories of the excellent American athletes, those which his eyes, accustomed to besmirching everything, were looking upon as the symbol of the power and superiority of his empire.


In his moments of leisure, he held long conversations with his officials in Washington, threatened Russia and encouraged the humiliating speeches against that country given by the representative of the United States in the UN Security Council.



Some of the countries that had made up the socialist bloc or been part of the USSR itself are today acting as United States protectorates.


Their governments, driven by a reckless hatred for Russia, --such as the case of Poland and the Czech Republic-- aligned themselves in positions of absolute support for Bush and for the surprise attack on South Ossetia by Saakashvili, an adventurer with a bizarre background who was born under Socialism in Tbilisi, the capital of the country, graduated as a lawyer from a Kiev university and took postgraduate courses in Strasburg, New York and Washington. He was a practicing lawyer in New York City. He comes off as a Westernized Georgian, greedy and opportunistic. He returned to his country supported by the Yankees and then went fishing in the tempestuous river of the USSR disintegration. He was elected President of Georgia in January 2004.



Following the United States and Great Britain, that is the country with most soldiers in the Iraqi war adventure; and not precisely out of internationalist sentiment. When Cuba, throughout almost two decades, sent hundreds of thousands of combatants to fight for independence and against colonialism and apartheid in Africa, they were not seeking fuel, raw materials or capital gains: they were volunteers. Thus our steel-like principles were forged.


What are Georgian soldiers doing in Iraq if not supporting a war which has cost that people hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of victims? What ideals are they defending there? It is only natural that people from South Ossetia do not wish to be sent as soldiers to fight in Iraq or in other parts of the planet at the behest of imperialism.



Saakashvili, on his own, would never have jump to the adventure of sending the Georgian army into South Ossetia, where he would be clashing with Russian troops stationed there as a peace force. A nuclear war is not something to fool around with; and providing cannon fodder to the market cannot be rewarded.



This reflection was already drafted when Bush spoke at 5:30 p.m. Cuban time. But none of what he said changes what we are analyzing here: if only the U.S. government media war is today even much more intense. It is the same prefabricated maneuver that fools no-one.


The Russians have very clearly stated that the withdrawal of the invaders to their positions prior to the conflict is the only decent solution possible. Let’s hope that the Olympic Games can continue without interruption by a very serious crisis. The women’s volleyball match with a good U.S. team was great and baseball has yet to begin.

[Sasha]

War is result of imperial game
by, Anindya Bhattacharyya and Simon Assaf
Socialist Worker Online
Posted: 7.15pm Tuesday 12 August 2008  --  23 minutes again
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=15755


War has torn apart yet another region of the world in the last week, as Russia and Georgia clashed over South Ossetia, a breakaway province that lies in the Caucasus mountains between the two countries.

But the question of South Ossetia’s status has become wrapped up in a much larger conflict – the US’s relentless drive to expand its Nato alliance and encircle Russia with a ring of pro-Western regimes.

By Monday of this week the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali lay in ruins as a result of the Georgian assault there.

Tens of thousands of refugees have fled South Ossetia, the majority heading north across the mountains into Russia.

The US backs Georgia’s government, while Russia supports the South Ossetian separatists. And now this imperial rivalry has spilled over into a military conflict that has started to spread further across the Caucasus region.

Breakaway

At the weekend Russia boosted its military presence in Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia.

On Monday Russian troops crossed over the border into Georgia proper.

Recent US actions have also poured fuel on the flames in the region. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, declared in July that “membership of Nato is Georgia’s future” and pledged support for the country’s “territorial integrity”.

Many commentators believe it was this move by the US that emboldened the Georgian government to mount its attack on Tskhinvali last week.

The new round of tensions is the result of US expansion into countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence.

In a “gentlemen’s agreement” made with Russia following the fall of the Soviet regime in 1991, the US promised it would not expand its military influence into eastern Europe.

But the US broke this agreement when it moved to establish radar systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. A host of former Soviet republics have become drawn into Nato’s push towards Russia’s borders.

Russia has responded by backing regions that have come into conflict with the US’s new allies. In April, Russia announced it was boosting ties with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Georgia then threatened to invade the breakaway provinces. This prompted Russia to buzz the Georgian capital Tblisi with its warplanes during Condoleezza Rice’s July visit as a direct warning against the country’s Nato aspirations.

Georgia began massing its troops along the border with South Ossetia last week. The Ossetians began to evacuate children and the elderly. Shots were fired across the patchwork of front lines.

These soon escalated into artillery duels and then full scale war.

Although Russia has its own imperial agenda and has become more assertive in the face of Nato’s expansion, it has been much weakened.

Disputed

It was powerless to prevent the US from recognising Kosovo’s independence from Serbia last year – a move that many people predicted would destabilise other disputed regions around the world, stoking up more conflicts and wars.

And the denunciations of Russia’s regional ambitions are especially hollow coming from the mouths of Western politicians who have slavishly supported the US’s wars and invasions in the name of the “war on terror”.

Russia has itself used the “war on terror” as an excuse to brutally crack down on separatist forces within its own borders – notably in Chechnya, which lies near Ossetia and shares a border with Georgia.

The Caucasus region lies next to the Middle East and Central Asia, crucial strategic areas of the world that the US is determined to bring under its heel.

The wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan are spiralling out of control, triggering instability across the region.

The latest conflicts in the Caucasus are inseparable from that wider context – and underline the need to end the global system that breeds war and destruction.

[Brocke]

Georgian troops burn South Ossetian refugees alive
10.08.2008

...Ossetian journalists wrote on their website that Georgian troops had captured a group of refugees from one of the regions of S. Ossetia. The Georgian military men locked them in a house and set the house on fire, burning all the people inside alive. An Ossetian woman informed Russian Prime Minister Putin of the hideous crime during his visit to a refugee camp. Another woman told Putin that she had seen a Georgian tank running over an elderly Ossetian woman who was trying to save two children. The woman was running out of the village, occupied the by the Georgian troops...

Full Article
http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/106050-1/

[70983]

^ My God...

[Wanted]

Georgia files ethnic cleansing suit against Russia
http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=682964



(RTTNews) -  The goodwill of a mutually agreed ceasefire over the hostilities in Georgia seems to be swiftly withering away, as Georgia filed an ethnic cleansing suit against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after Moscow achieved a crushing victory in the five-day war that killed hundreds of Ossetians and drove thousands of others from their homes.

The secretary of Georgia's Security Council, Kakha Lomaia said the Georgian ambassador to the Netherlands filed a lawsuit to the International Court of Justice "because of ethnic cleansing conducted in Georgia by Russia from 1993 to 2008."

The ICJ, based in Hague in the Netherlands, is empowered to rule on disputes between nations.

The alleged atrocities committed in South Ossetia have also been brought to the notice of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and its chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he might launch a preliminary investigation into the allegations.

With Russian jet planes continue to bomb civilian targets in the former Soviet republic despite an official declaration by the Russian President that his government has decided to end hostilities in Georgia, the United States urged Russia to stop military operations immediately.

A statement issued by U.S. Secretary of State Condolleezza Rice after a conference call with her counterparts of the G7 said the foreign ministers agreed to initiate international efforts to facilitate the withdrawal of forces from the zone of conflict.

"We can then look to the issue of how to resolve the longstanding frozen conflicts of South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Rice said after briefing President George W Bush on the ongoing diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Georgia.

Earlier, speaking at a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is mediating between the two sides on a EU-sponsored peace proposal, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev insisted his forces would remain in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "That has been the case and that will continue to be the case," Medvedev told reporters.

(RTTNews) -  Russia wants a buffer zone around Georgia's breakaway regions and is demanding that Georgia guarantees never to use force in the regions again.

With his foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, Sarkozy is taking Russia's peace terms to Georgia.

Even while announcing a ceasefire after five days of intense fighting that saw heavy casualties, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sounded aggressive, saying that "The aggressor has been punished and suffered significant losses."

He also sent a warning note to the neighboring country, as he said that future Georgian attacks in the rebel region of South Ossetia should be "liquidated."

News of the ceasefire contributed to a continued decrease in the price of oil, with crude for September delivery closing down $1.44 at a new three-month closing low of $113.01 a barrel."

The acting Georgian ambassador to Britain, Georgei Badridze, was quoted as saying that Russian helicopter gunships hit civilian targets, including a hospital in the town of Gori and a minibus carrying civilians.

He said that the only way to prevent Russian aggression and safeguard Georgian democracy was for the West to allow Georgia to join NATO.

He sought the help of the international community to force the Russians leave Georgia.

Tuesday, Georgian authorities said Russia's air force made a second attempt to bomb the strategic Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, a charge the Russians refuted.