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

[Optimus]

Russia says 'forget about' Georgia's territorial integrity
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D92I3F3O3
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press - Thursday, August 14, 2008
 
GORI, Georgia

Russia's foreign minister declared that the world "can forget about" Georgia's territorial integrity on Thursday and Georgian and Russian troops faced off at a checkpoint outside the key city of Gori, calling an already shaky cease-fire into question.

In Washington, an American official said Russia appears to be sabotaging airfields and other military infrastructure as its forces pull back. The U.S. official described eyewitnesses accounts for The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The official said the Russian strategy seems like a deliberate attempt to cripple the already battered Georgian military.

The United States poured aid into the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Thursday and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launched emergency talks in France aimed at heading off a wider conflict.

The comments from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appeared to come as a challenge to the United States, where President Bush has called for Russia to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia."

There were at least five explosions near Gori. It could not immediately be determined if the blasts were a renewal of fighting between Georgian and Russian forces, but they sounded similar to mortar shells and occurred after a tense confrontation between Russian and Georgian troops on the edge of the city.

The strategically located city is 15 miles south of South Ossetia, the Russian-backed separatist region where Russian and Georgian forces fought a five-day battle. Russian troops entered Gori on Wednesday, after the two sides signed the cease-fire that called for their forces to pull back to the positions they held before the fighting.

Georgia early Thursday said the Russians were leaving the city, but later alleged they were bringing in additional troops. In Washington, a Pentagon official said U.S. intelligence had assessed that the number of Russians in Gori was small - about 100 to 200 troops.

But the Russian presence in Gori, only 60 miles west of Tbilisi, was viewed as a demonstration of the vulnerability of the capital.

Russian deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn blamed the Georgians for Russia's decision to stay.

"The position of the Russia side is not proceed beyond the peacekeeping zone. But we have to respond to provocations," he said.

Georgian government officials who went into the city for the possible handover left unexpectedly around midday, followed by a checkpoint confrontation outside Gori which ended when Russian tanks sped toward the area and Georgian police quickly retreated.

A Russian general in Gori had said Wednesday it would take at least two days to leave the city. Lavrov said troops were evacuating Georgian weapons and ammunition from a military base there.

Some Georgian police said irregular fighters from South Ossetia had refused to leave Gori, where a BBC reporter saw them looting and burning Wednesday night.

Two planned U.S. aid flights arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi late Wednesday and Thursday, carrying cots, blankets and medicine for refugees displaced by the fighting. The shipment arrived on a C-17 military plane, an illustration of the close U.S.-Georgia military cooperation that has angered Russia.

Besides the hundreds killed since hostilities broke out, the United Nations estimates 100,000 Georgians have been uprooted; Russia says some 30,000 residents of South Ossetia fled into the neighboring Russian province of North Ossetia.

Russian troops also appeared to be settling in elsewhere in Georgia outside the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state," Lavrov told reporters.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said Russian troops remained in Poti, a Black Sea port city with an oil terminal that is key to Georgia's fragile economic health.

An APTN crew in Poti saw one destroyed Georgian military boat, about 60 feet long, two Russian armored vehicles and two Russian transport trucks inside the port. They were blocked from moving closer by soldiers who identified themselves as Russian peacekeepers.

Earlier Thursday, on Poti's outskirts, the APTN crew followed a different convoy of Russian troops as they searched a forest for Georgian military equipment.

Another APTN camera crew saw Russian soldiers and military vehicles parked Thursday inside the Georgian government's elegant, heavily-gated residence in the western town of Zugdidi. Some of the soldiers wore blue peacekeeping helmets, others wore green camouflage helmets, all were heavily armed. The scene underlined how closely the soldiers Russia calls peacekeepers are allied with its military.

"The Russian troops are here. They are occupying," Ygor Gegenava, an elderly Zugdidi resident told the APTN crew. "We don't want them here. What we need is friendship and good relations with the Russian people."

Georgia, bordering the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

A steady, dejected trickle of Georgian refugees fled the front line in overloaded cars, trucks and tractor-pulled wagons, heading to Tbilisi on the road from Gori. One Soviet-era car carried eight people, including a mother and a baby in the front seat. The open back door of a small blue van revealed at least a dozen people crowded inside.

The Russian General Prosecutor's office on Thursday said it has formally opened a genocide probe into Georgian treatment of South Ossetians. For its part, Georgia this week filed a suit against Russia in the International Court of Justice, alleging murder, rape and mass expulsions in both provinces.

More homes in deserted ethnic Georgian villages were apparently set ablaze Wednesday, sending clouds of smoke over the foothills north of Tskhinvali, capital of breakaway South Ossetia.

One Russian colonel, who refused to give his name, blamed the fires on looters.

Those with ethnic Georgian backgrounds who have stayed behind - like 70-year-old retired teacher Vinera Chebataryeva - seem increasingly unwelcome in South Ossetia.

As she stood sobbing in her wrecked apartment near the center of Tskhinvali, Chebataryeva said a skirmish between Ossetian soldiers and a Georgian tank had gouged the two gaping shell holes in her wall, bashing in her piano and destroying her furniture.

Janna Kuzayeva, an ethnic Ossetian neighbor, claimed the Georgian tank fired the shell at Chebataryeva's apartment.

"We know for sure her brother spied for Georgians," said Kuzayeva. "We let her stay here, and now she's blaming everything on us."

North of Tskhinvali, a number of former Georgian communities have been abandoned in the last few days. "There isn't a single Georgian left in those villages," said Robert Kochi, a 45-year-old South Ossetian.

But he had little sympathy for his former Georgian neighbors. "They wanted to physically uproot us all," he said. "What other definition is there for genocide?"

[larsonstdoc]

Russia hints at long stay in South Ossetia


TBILISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Russian troops appeared to be still in control of a key Georgian city Thursday as Moscow declined to give any timetable for the withdrawal of its forces from the disputed Georgian enclave of South Ossetia.
CNN's Michael Ware said Russian forces were still evident in the Georgian city of Gori Thursday despite an agreement to hand over control as part of an internationally mediated cease-fire deal to end days of territorial fighting.

Russian Gen. Nikolai Uvarov told CNN the handover of the city was "under way right now" and would be finished later Thursday.

He said Russia had invaded the city beyond the borders of South Ossetia because it is Georgia's main military base and an arms munition storage there had been left unattended.

Meanwhile Russia's deputy chief of general staff, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said a withdrawal plan to pull troops from the breakaway region had yet to be approved by Russia's defense ministry or its president, Dmitry Medvedev.

"It is not easy to turn around the existing [forces] by 180 degrees," Nogovitsyn said.

Earlier, a U.S. official told CNN about 200 Russian troops were in Gori. Georgia's Interior Ministry said Russia tanks had returned there to aid the withdrawal.

Explosions heard in the city were the result of Russian troops clearing unexploded ordnance, the Interior Ministry said.

It said Georgian police had begun returning to Gori as Russian forces moved out. Once they were established the Russian troops would fully withdraw.  Watch rescuers search for survivors of the fighting »

However, just how far Russia's forces would move remained unclear.

During a Moscow visit by the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Georgia's current borders were "limited" -- an indication that the two breakaway regions may never agree to rejoin it.  Watch more on aid for Georgia »

South Ossetia and Abkhazia leaders were in Moscow to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the future status of their previously autonomous regions within Georgia.

All three voiced their unity against what Abkhazian leader Sergey Bagapsh called "those aggressors from Georgia."

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity compared Georgia's initial assault on the region's capital Tskhinvali -- which prompted the Russian invasion -- to Germany's attempt to seize Stalingrad during World War II.

"Tskhinvali has become the Stalingrad of the Caucusus," Kokoity said at a joint news conference.  Watch more on withdrawal of Russian troops »

Kokoity and Bagapsh decried criticism of Russia's invasion in the Western media and among European leaders, saying Moscow was defending their people and cities from Georgian forces.

Lavrov told the radio station Echo of Moscow that "De facto territorial integrity of Georgia is limited because of the conflict."

"This problem can be solved only through [the] search for mutual solutions."

Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili suggested Russia invaded his country to establish control over the former Soviet republic, where a major oil pipeline passes through.  View a map of the region »


"The fact that the biggest number of bombs fell on purely economic and civilian targets clearly indicated that was a premeditated thing and it had nothing to do only with Abkhazia or South Ossetia," Saakashvili said at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He questioned why Russia attacked Georgia's oil pipelines which, Saakashvili said, "don't have any military significance."

"Why would one attack them unless there is some other purpose?"

Erdogan's visit to Georgia is part of a flurry of diplomacy aimed at stemming the Georgia-Russia conflict, which erupted last week.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who has expressed his deep concern about the situation, has sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to meet with European Union leaders in France Thursday. She will then head to Tbilisi.  Watch Bush pledge "unwavering support" for Georgia »

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, acting as the president of the European Union, negotiated Tuesday's cease-fire, which called for Russia and U.S. ally Georgia to return their forces to the positions they held August 6, before Georgia's crackdown on South Ossetia.

However, Georgia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Russian troops were moving back into the Black Sea port city of Poti, where the Russians had bombed targets including a military installation and ships.

Russian peacekeeping troops were also in the western Georgian city of Zugdidi, just outside Abkhazia. Video showed the Russians -- clearly wearing the blue helmets which signify their peacekeeper status -- at the official government residence in the town.

U.S. officials said it believed Russia may have 15,000 or more troops in the region, between 5,000 and 7,000 more than when the fighting began.

Lavrov said Russia's operations were about "peace-enforcement" in respect of Georgia, which "violates all of its obligations."

International agreements signed in the early 1990s allow Russian peacekeepers to maintain a presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia as part of a force including Georgians and South Ossetians. Watch more on Russia's possible ambitions »

Meanwhile, BP confirmed Thursday that it had resumed pumping gas into its South Caucaus pipeline. The line runs from Baku in Azerbijan, through Tblisi in Georgia to Erzurum in Turkey. The Western Route oil export pipeline, which runs from Baku to Supsa, Georgia, on the Black Sea, remained shut.
BP shut down the two pipelines Tuesday morning as a "precaution" during the fighting.
The conflict began late last week when Georgia launched a military incursion into South Ossetia in an effort to rout rebels.

Russia -- which supports the separatists -- responded the next day, sending tanks across the border into South Ossetia. The conflict quickly spread to parts of Georgia and to Abkhazia.

[Optimus]

Russia says concerned by U.S. cargoes to Georgia
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Georgia/idUSLE20330520080814
Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:51am EDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's General Staff said on Thursday it was concerned by the type of cargoes the United States was airlifting to Georgia and said Russia's Black Sea fleet would take commands only from the Russian President.

Ukraine's president Viktor Yushchenko had signed a decree requiring authorization for Russian warships to return to their base in Sevastopol, a Crimean port which is part of Ukraine.

Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of Russia's general staff, told a news conference it was legitimate for Russian peacekeepers to be in the Georgian port town of Poti for intelligence operations.

The General Staff had previously denied Russian troops were in Poti.

[Optimus]

White House: Russian 'bluster' will be ignored
http://www.star-telegram.com/464/story/833009.html
By ANNE GEARAN and MATTHEW LEEAP Diplomatic Writers

WASHINGTON -- The White House says it is ignoring Russia's claims that Georgia's territorial integrity has been breached and that its two separatist provinces will no longer be part of the former Soviet Republic.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's (SIR' gay LAH' ruv) issued a statement saying people should drop any talk about the territorial integrity of Georgia, the one-time Soviet state which now is independent and democratic.

Reacting to this, White House press secretary Dana Perino (per- EEN' -o) is telling reporters the Bush administration views such talk from Moscow as just "bluster" and says U.S. officials won't pay any attention to it.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Russia apparently is sabotaging airfields and other military infrastructure in Georgia as its forces pull back, in a deliberate attempt to cripple the already battered, U.S.-trained Georgian military, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Reports from Georgia indicate that Russian forces are doing what they can to disable Georgia's ability to fight a future conflict, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe incomplete but apparently convincing eyewitness accounts.

Explosions were heard near Gori on Thursday as a Russian troop withdrawal from the strategic city seemed to collapse. A fragile cease-fire appeared even more shaky as Russia's foreign minister declared that the world "can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity."

Meanwhile the United States poured aid into the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in a Pentagon mission directly challenging Russia's military moves to retake territory in the former Soviet republic. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launched emergency talks in France aimed at heading off a wider conflict.

Two aid flights were carrying cots, blankets and medicine for refugees displaced by the weeklong fighting. The shipment arrived on a C-17 military plane, an illustration of the close U.S.-Georgia military cooperation that has angered Russia.

Rice was meeting Thursday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has led the European pressure campaign on Russia, at his summer residence, Bregancon, near Toulon, France. From there she was going to Paris to meet with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and on Friday she plans to fly to Tbilisi. She had no plans to go to Moscow.

Ahead of the talks, Rice said that Russia's military action in Georgia is a throwback to darker Cold War times.

"The message is that Russia has perhaps not accepted that it is time to move on from the Cold War and it is time to move to a new era in which relations between states are on the basis of equality, and sovereignty and economic integration," Rice said Wednesday.

The Bush administration is reeling from the near collapse of its closest friend among the former Soviet republics, a strategic Black Sea nation that is an emerging pathway for undeveloped energy reserves and that has worn its zeal for America and the West as a badge of honor.

As the United States mustered humanitarian aid for Georgia, President Bush demanded that Russia end all military activity inside its neighbor and withdraw all troops sent in recent days onto Georgian territory.

Bush announced that U.S. military assets and personnel would be deploying into the conflict zone. Though they going there only on a humanitarian mission, he made a point of noting that "we will use U.S. aircraft, as well as naval forces" to distribute supplies. He warned Russia not to impede relief efforts in any way.

All this appeared designed to answer criticism that Bush has not done enough to stand by his 2005 pledge, made from the center of Tbilisi before tens of thousands of citizens, to "stand with" the people of Georgia.

Amid some fear that Russian troops may be setting up for some type of medium-term occupation of parts of Georgia or even have intentions to press on to its capital of Tbilisi, Bush promised Wednesday to "rally the free world in the defense of a free Georgia."

Speaking in grave tones in the Rose Garden, Bush decried Moscow's apparent violation of a cease-fire agreement.

He demanded that Russia "keep its word and act to end this crisis."

"The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," he said.

The president postponed Thursday's planned start of a two-week Texas vacation for a couple of days to monitor developments.

A Russian military convoy defied a cease-fire agreement Wednesday and rolled through a strategically important city in Georgia, where officials claimed fresh looting and bombing by the Russians and their allies.

The Kremlin announced Thursday that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was meeting with the leaders of Georgia's two separatist provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Russia and its small neighbor had agreed Tuesday to a French-brokered cease-fire to end the dispute that began over two pro-Russian breakaway territories. The United States accuses Russia of pressing the war far beyond the initial conflict zone and threatening the democratically elected government in Georgia.

"I have to say that the reports are not encouraging about Russia's respect for this cease-fire," Rice said.

U.S. officials have had difficulty determining exactly what's happening on the ground in Georgia, despite considerable intelligence resources. U.S. spy satellites have been repositioned to refocus on the conflict area.

Rice said Moscow is harming its standing in the world and eligibility for global clubs whose eligibility depends on responsible behavior, but she made no explicit threats about U.S. retaliation.

"This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia where Russia can threaten its neighbors, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it," Rice said. "Things have changed."

[Optimus]

Ukraine ups ante in threat to block fleet
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24181797-26040,00.html
Tony Halpin, Moscow | August 15, 2008

UKRAINE threatened to blockade the Russian Black Sea Fleet yesterday in an act of solidarity with Georgia that risked escalating the conflict.

After flying to Tbilisi to assure Georgians of his country's support, the pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko signed an order imposing restrictions on the Russian fleet, which is based in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol.

His decree instructs Russia to give 72 hours' notice of any movement of ships, aircraft or personnel in Ukraine or its waters. And he gave Ukrainian authorities the power to alter those plans.

Ukraine had already warned Russia it would bar ships from returning to Sevastopol if they took part in military action against Georgia.

Moscow responded furiously, accusing Ukraine of a "serious new anti-Russian step".

Like Georgia, Ukraine's Western-backed leadership is seeking NATO membership. The Orange Revolution that swept Mr Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to power in 2004 is loathed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian Security Council issued a statement yesterday declaring the presence of foreign warships in its waters "poses a potential threat to Ukraine's national security".

Russia and Ukraine are at loggerheads over the future of the Crimean base, which Russia must vacate in 2017 under a 20-year lease signed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But most of Crimea's population consider themselves Russians and are strongly pro-Moscow.

Tension has mounted over calls by Russian politicians not to surrender control of the territory, regardless of Ukraine's wishes. Moscow is also wary of Ukraine's push for NATO membership.

[Protean]

In a bigger picture picture of this conflict, Webster Tarpley, Karl Schwarz, and Jeff Rense have been talking about Russia kicking out The Central Bankster Oligarchs. With Zbig at the helm of *Danny Casolaro's Octopus "they" (using their agents: U.S., Britain, and NATO allies) are going after Russia to force them back into their banking system. This is really, as Karl Schwarz writes: The Russian Bear vs. The NWO

Related article--"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrives in Moscow with an official visit. The Venezuelans leader is going to discuss issues of arms shipments, the energy market cooperation, as well as questions regarding the establishment of a Russian-Venezuelan bank."
http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/21-07-2008/105836-chavez_russia-0

The Bear And The NWO
By Karl Schwarz
8-12-8
http://www.rense.com/general82/bear.htm

*Danny Casolaro: suicided journalist who got too close to connecting the dots of the NWO crime syndicate.
http://www.amazon.com/Octopus-Secret-Government-Death-Casolaro/dp/0922915393

[Irobot]

"New World Order " quote in todays Wash Post by Georgia Pres Saakashvil




Reprint of the entire article here.

http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2142922%3ABlogPost%3A50540

[EthanAllen_TruthNet Radio]

http://debka.com/headline.php?hid=5510

Two US Air Force supply planes land in Tbilisi Thursday

Wednesday, Aug. 13, US president George W. Bush ordered an American Air Force-Navy humanitarian airlift to Georgia, demanding that Russia open all routes to these deliveries and to civilian transit.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the order, after seven days of Russian-Georgian warfare, amounted to a bid to break the sea, land and air blockade Russia still maintains against Georgia in violation of the EU-brokered ceasefire.

The first direct US-Russian military clashes in Georgia are now possible if the Russians fail to give way when challenged by US air transports and vessels heading for Georgia. For seven days, Russia has exerted exclusive mastery of Georgia’s skies, sea and land routes.

Flanked by the secretaries of state and defense, Bush said that Robert Gates as head of the military had already sent the first US Air Force C-17 military cargo plane with humanitarian and medical aid on its way to Georgia. It has already landed. Our military sources report that the US air corridor has a short distance to fly from US bases in Italy and Turkey.

Russia's Lavrov lashed back, calling Georgia's leadership "a special project of the United States.” At some point, he said, the US will have to choose “either support for a virtual project or real partnership [with Russia] on issues that demand collective action.”

The US president accused Moscow of violating the less than one-day old ceasefire fire in its conflict with Georgia, by sending Russian tanks and APC’s to the east of the Georgian town of Gori, threatening the capital Tbilisi, bombing the Black Sea port of Poti and sinking Georgian vessels.

Bush reiterated US support for Georgia’s democratically-elected government and territorial integrity and declared Russia must cease all military acts and withdraw to positions held before the conflict flared.

Referring to Moscow’s efforts to integrate into the diplomatic, political, economic, and security structures of the 21st century, Bush said Russia is now putting its aspirations at risk by taking actions in Georgia that are inconsistent with the principles of those institutions. Voicing a veiled threat, the US president said: “To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis.”

The Bush statement Wednesday followed reports of Russian tanks entering Gori after the ceasefire, and some 15 armored personnel carriers heading out of the devastated ghost city and blocking the highway connected South Ossetia to the rest of Georgia. Russian “irregulars” were reported killing, burning and looting in Gori and destroying ammunition dumps. A Georgian checkpoint has been placed outside Tbilisi.

Russia was also said to have shot down two Georgian spy drones over the breakaway province.

[dogmadestroyer]

Saakashvili says he's fighting for freedom and the "New World Order" every chance he gets as well. I think I've seen him use that phrase 5 times already.

[Loungin]

Perhaps the phrase New World Order is being introduced to the public to spin it in a positive light.  The phrase by itself has a positive tone as it uses the word "Order" as opposed to "Chaos".  Good vs Evil.

I would look out for a phrase to describe Iran/Russia and for it's use to be increased rapidly through MSM.  Headlines will read, NATA/UN/US aka New World Order is fighting for Justice against the Axis of Evil, Russia/Iran.

Suddenly, the masses embrace their leaderships title of New World Order.   Looks like a logical first step in the Psycological warfare that is public opinion.

[Real Truth]

Perhaps the phrase New World Order is being introduced to the public to spin it in a positive light.  The phrase by itself has a positive tone as it uses the word "Order" as opposed to "Chaos".  Good vs Evil.

I would look out for a phrase to describe Iran/Russia and for it's use to be increased rapidly through MSM.  Headlines will read, NATA/UN/US aka New World Order is fighting for Justice against the Axis of Evil, Russia/Iran.

Suddenly, the masses embrace their leaderships title of New World Order.   Looks like a logical first step in the Psycological warfare that is public opinion.

exactly what i was thinking...

[Sasha]

Bush Dispatches US Military Forces To Georgia
By Barry Grey
14 August, 2008
WSWS.org
CounterCurrents.org
http://www.countercurrents.org/grey140808.htm


In a major escalation of the conflict with Russia over Georgia, President George W. Bush on Wednesday announced a “vigorous and ongoing” deployment of US military forces to its key ally in the Caucasus. Bush appeared in the White House Rose Garden for the second time in three days, this time flanked by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and announced the military buildup, casting it as a humanitarian relief operation.

Even as he spoke of a humanitarian mission, Bush made clear the military dimensions of the measures he was announcing. He said he was directing Pentagon chief Gates to lead the mission, which would be “headed by the United States military.” He announced that a C-17 military aircraft was already on its way to Georgia and that “in the days ahead we will use US aircraft, as well as naval forces, to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies.”

This is a formula for an injection of US military and naval forces into Georgia of indeterminate scope and duration. It will certainly involve the presence of hundreds if not thousands of uniformed US military personnel on the ground, and a substantial number of warships in the region. The US is introducing this military force into a situation that remains highly unstable and combustible, raising the possibility of a direct military clash between the United States and Russia.

Bush spoke less than a day after Russia and Georgia had agreed provisionally to a cease-fire in their five-day war. The agreement had been brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, acting on behalf of the European Union.

Even as Bush spoke, Russia and Georgia were trading accusations of truce violations, and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was objecting to provisions of the agreement which, he claimed, failed to prevent the pro-Russian break-away republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from seceding from Georgia.

In his remarks, Bush issued an implicit threat against any attempt by Russia to interfere with Washington’s “humanitarian” operation. “We expect Russia to honor its commitment,” he said, “to let in all forms of humanitarian assistance. We expect Russia to ensure that all lines of communications and transport, including seaports, airports, roads and airspace, remain open for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for civilian transit.”

The US will pour military resources into Georgia to strengthen its hand against Russia, and denounce any objections by Moscow as an attack on humanitarian aid and a violation of the cease-fire agreement.

Within minutes of Bush’s Rose Garden statement, Saakashvili spelled out its essential meaning in a televised address from Tbilisi. “You have heard the statement by the US president that the United States is starting a military-humanitarian operation in Georgia,” he said. “It means that Georgian ports and airports will be taken under the control of the US defense ministry...”

He went on to call Bush’s “relief” mission a “turning point,” and characterized its import as “definitely an American military presence.”

Bush also announced that Rice would immediately travel to France to meet with Sarkozy and then go to Georgia. Employing the rhetoric of the Cold War, he said Rice would meet with Saakashvili and “continue our efforts to rally the free world in defense of a free Georgia.”

He further threatened Russia with diplomatic and political sanctions, suggesting it might be excluded from the G-8 group of industrialized nations and prevented from joining the World Trade Organization.


Hypocrisy

Bush’s remarks were drenched with hypocrisy. He reiterated Washington’s support for Georgian control of the disputed territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, invoking once again the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.” Neither he nor any other American spokesperson has explained why Georgia’s use of murderous violence against South Ossetia in its indiscriminate shelling of the region’s capital city was a legitimate defense of “territorial integrity,” while Serbia’s use of force against Kosovan secessionists was a war crime.

The US seized on Serbia’s moves against CIA-backed separatists in Kosovo to carry out a ten-week air war, under the auspices of NATO, in 1999. While Washington decries Russia’s “disproportionate” use of force against Georgian troops which attacked South Ossetia and condemns Moscow for military action beyond the borders of the breakaway republic, the US and NATO rained bombs and missiles on virtually all parts of Serbia, demolishing bridges, water pumping stations, electricity grids, government buildings, housing developments, schools and hospitals in the capital city of Belgrade. The US and NATO killed far more civilians in its campaign to crush Serbia, a traditional ally of Russia, than have been killed by both sides in the current fighting in the Caucasus.

The US has absolutely no political or moral standing to denounce Russia or anyone else for deploying military force. Washington asserts an unlimited and unilateral right to mobilize its massive apparatus of military violence wherever and whenever it wishes, spreading death and destruction from the Persian Gulf to Central Asia and threatening even more bloody conflagrations.

In the current conflict, the US government and media have cast Russia as the aggressor. There is no progressive content to Moscow’s actions in Georgia. They are motivated by the predatory aims of the Russian ruling elite, which is intent on reasserting Russian control over territories on its border that it dominated for centuries. However, the eruption of war in the Caucasus is the outcome of a policy pursued by US imperialism since the breakup of the Soviet Union whose ultimate aim is the reduction of Russia to a semi-colonial status.

It is inconceivable that Washington was not intimately involved in the preparations for Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia. US military advisers virtually run the military of what Washington considers its key ally in the Cacausus, a strategically critical bridgehead between the oil-rich Caspian Basin and Western Europe.

Just one month ago Secretary of State Rice visited Tbilisi and reaffirmed US support for Georgia’s admission to NATO, a development which Russia considers an intolerable threat to its security. Rice’s visit was followed by a massive three-week military training exercise, in which 1,000 US troops participated.

The incendiary measures announced by Bush on Wednesday represent the response of American imperialism to the major setback it has suffered as a result of Russia’s military intervention in Georgia. There is great concern within the US ruling elite that Russia’s routing of Georgia will undermine Washington’s drive to displace Russia from Moscow’s former spheres of influence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and establish American hegemony over the Eurasian land mass.

US policy makers worry that the example of Georgia will weaken US control over right-wing client regimes it has established in a whole number of countries that were either part of the Soviet Union, such as Georgia and Ukraine, or allied to the Soviet Union through the Warsaw Pact.


A pattern of provocation

From the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 to the present, the United States has carried out a policy of militarily encircling Russia and surrounding it with hostile states dependent upon and subservient to Washington.

As the USSR was disintegrating, the United States launched its first war against Iraq, a key ally of the Soviet Union in the Middle East. During the 1990s, the US and Western Europe sponsored the dismemberment of Yugoslavia in order to isolate and weaken the Russian ally Serbia.

In 1998, the US spearheaded the incorporation into NATO, the US-dominated military alliance, of a whole number of newly independent states that had been either part of the Soviet Union or allied to it through the Warsaw Pact, including Estonia, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria.

In 1999 the US launched the air war against Serbia. At the same time, the US organized the construction of a new pipeline to transport oil from the Caspian Basin, via Baku, through Georgia to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, bypassing Russian territory.

In 2002, the US set up military bases in the former Central Asian Soviet republics of Uzbekistan (since then closed at the insistence of the Uzbek government) and Kyrgyzstan. At the end of 2003, the US engineered the “Rose Revolution” that brought Saakashvili to power in Georgia. In 2004, NATO admitted a new group of states formerly aligned with Russia—Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. One year later Washington orchestrated the “Orange Revolution” that toppled a pro-Russian government in Ukraine and replaced it with a pro-American regime.

The final chapter in this assault on the strategic position of Russia was the recognition last February of Kosova’s bid for independence from Serbia.

Until now, the US has encountered no serious resistance. The events of the past week represent a major shift. For the first time, Russia, flush with oil money and able to exploit the overextended state of the US military, with its massive commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, pushed back.

This has evoked an apoplectic response in the American ruling elite, which has no intention of accepting a diminution of its influence in the regions formerly dominated by the Soviet Union. US imperialism will react by immensely escalating its confrontation with Russia, no matter what the cost.

There is also a domestic component to the US escalation of tensions with Russia. The Bush administration is consciously seeking to create an atmosphere of international crisis in the run-up to the November presidential election. It calculates that an election held in an environment of fear and insecurity will boost the electoral chances of the Republican candidate John McCain.

McCain has based his campaign on his military background and his supposed foreign policy experience. From early on, he has called for a more combative stance toward Russia, and has responded to the Georgia crisis by demanding Russia’s ejection from the G-8 and other punitive measures.

The Wall Street Journal in an editorial on Wednesday summed up the demand of sections of the ruling elite and elements within the Bush administration for a major and permanent shift to something like a new Cold War against Russia. The newspaper wrote: “Reshaping US policy toward Russia will take longer than the months between now and January 20, when a new president takes office. But Mr. Bush can at least atone for his earlier misjudgments about Mr. Putin and steer policy in a new direction that his successor would have to deal with.”

There are, in fact, only relatively minor tactical differences between McCain and Democratic candidate Barack Obama on US policy toward Russia. Both continue to demand the admission of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, which would put the US-led military alliance on the very doorstep of Russia. Had Georgia already been a member of NATO, the alliance would have been legally bound to intervene militarily in its defense following Russia’s incursion into South Ossetia.

The trajectory of the imperialist drive to carve up the world, spearheaded by US imperialism’s mad drive for global hegemony, is ominously clear. The American ruling elite will drag American workers and all of humanity into a catastrophe unless it is stopped. The only social force capable of achieving this is the international working class, united in the struggle to put an end to capitalism, the source of imperialist war, on the basis of a revolutionary socialist program.

[Sasha]

McCain Sends Campaign Surrogates To Georgia

August 14, 2008
12:15 p.m. EST
Kris Alingod - AHN News Writer


Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Wednesday that two of his top campaign surrogates, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), will visit Georgia to assess the ceasefire situation in the former Soviet Republic.

Graham and Lieberman are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee and high-profile supporters of the Arizona senator. Graham is a general co-chairman of McCain's campaign while Lieberman is a co-chairman of the campaign's Connecticut Leadership Team

In a press conference to make the announcement, McCain said he hoped other members of the Armed Services panel will join his surrogates in the visit to learn how to protect the independence of a "brave Democratic ally" in the future.

McCain, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who is seeking to highlight his broader foreign policy experience, also said he was "pleased" by President George W. Bush's demand that Russia honor the terms of the ceasefire agreement with and decision to send aid to Georgia. He expressed concern about reports of "looting, burning villages, and killings of civilians that are in areas under Russian control," and said the United States should speak with G8 allies about whether it "makes sense" to keep Russia in the coalition.

The four-term senator made his statement the same day his campaign officials exchanged barbs with the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) about the conflict in Georgia.

Obama Foreign Policy Adviser Susan Rice had accused McCain of "shooting from the hip" and aggravating the situation in Georgia with a "very aggressive, very belligerent statement."

McCains spokesman Tucker Bounds responded that it was "disappointing" that the Obama campaign chose to "launch inflammatory and baseless political attacks" in a time when bipartisanship is needed, according to MSNBC.

But Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan said in an emailed statement it was "the absolute height of hypocrisy" for the McCain campaign to "play victim." Sevugan said Obama had given a "strong and appropriate response" to the crisis in Georgia and is focused on what action the international community must take to resolve the crisis. Georgia was invaded by Russian military forces last Friday just as it began an offensive to reclaim the separatist region of South Ossetia, which declared independence nearly two decades ago.

Fighting continues despite a ceasefire agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Russian troops on Tuesday to stop military operations in Georgia because their goal of punishing Georgia had been achieved. Georgia has accused Russia of breaking terms of the ceasefire by sending tanks to the Georgian town of Gori.

[Sasha]

Georgian ally Lithuania slams Russia over ceasefire breaches

14 August 2008,
17:32 CET
EUbusiness Ltd
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1218727922.71


(VILNIUS) - Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus Thursday accused Russia of failing to honour a ceasefire in Georgia and said he was deeply concerned by continued fighting there.

Adamkus, a staunch ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, pointed to military action in the flashpoint Georgian city of Gori.

"This causes great concern as it is not clear whose orders the Russian troops are executing and why Russia does not honour the declared ceasefire," he said in a statement.

A ceasefire brokered earlier this week by France, which is at the helm of the 27-member European Union, formally ended five days of fighting between Russian and Georgian forces.

The Baltic state of Lithuania has been pressing for a get-tough Western stance towards Russia over its offensive, which began last week after Tbilisi's troops attacked a pro-Russian breakaway region of Georgia to try to bring it back under government control.

Like Georgia, Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 but in contrast with the troubled Caucasus republic it is now firmly anchored in the West, having joined NATO and the EU in 2004.

EU members have had trouble forging a common line on the conflict, with some members, including France and Germany, wary of ruining ties with a resurgent -- and energy rich -- Russia, while some central and eastern European members, including Lithuania, want a harder line.

Along with the leaders of ex-communist EU and NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Poland, Adamkus travelled to Tbilisi this week in a show of support for Saakashvili.

Adamkus' office said Thursday that the president believed it was essential for EU members and other Western states to deploy "a vast mission of peacekeepers, observers and other monitors who will record the illegal actions by Russian troops."

"Georgia's territorial integrity and the withdrawal of the occupation army must be the main objectives to be pursued by the international community after military actions are discontinued," it said.

Adamkus also expressed concern about Russian comments that ex-communist states would pay for supporting Georgia.

Russia's ambassador to Latvia, Alexander Veshnyakov, has warned them against criticising the Kremlin, saying "serious mistakes can be made that have to be paid for a long time afterwards."

On Thursday, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas called the comments "worrying" and said he was taking them "very seriously".

[gabba2k7]

Two US Air Force supply planes land in Tbilisi Thursday

supply = or maybe military stuff ?
in Tbilisi = as u can see - airport of Tbilisi was not bombed.

_______________PS_______________
USA government is really crazy,
USA government
-do not recognise action of Georgia as aggression
-do not recognise humanitarian accident in S.Ossetia
-do not recognise S.Osetia and Abkhazia (I mean that Kosovo was easily recognised, cause as u can see, fellaz, if USA wants - your region will be "other unique case", if not - they will recollect unexpectedly about the principle of territorial integrity. U can proud of ur country political influence possibilities)
Well and the main things...that USA government (with all its $ sponsoring, weapons deliveries, instructors sending, etc) do not recognise itself as initiators of the conflict. Ofcourse they will not do it. That is why they have such pro-georgian rthetoric -> cauze they are isolating themselves (fence off/shut off), not Georgia.

PS: = \

[EthanAllen_TruthNet Radio]

supply = or maybe military stuff ?
in Tbilisi = as u can see - airport of Tbilisi was not bombed.

_______________PS_______________
USA government is really crazy,
USA government
-do not recognise action of Georgia as aggression
-do not recognise humanitarian accident in S.Ossetia
-do not recognise S.Osetia and Abkhazia (I mean that Kosovo was easily recognised, cause as u can see, fellaz, if USA wants - your region will be "other unique case", if not - they will recollect unexpectedly about the principle of territorial integrity. U can proud of ur country political influence possibilities)
Well and the main things...that USA government (with all its $ sponsoring, weapons deliveries, instructors sending, etc) do not recognise itself as initiators of the conflict. Ofcourse they will not do it. That is why they have such pro-georgian rthetoric -> cauze they are isolating themselves (fence off/shut off), not Georgia.

PS: = \

Quite clear to me that both sides are positioning for a casus belli against the other. Isn't it ironic that Bush came out today and warned Russia not to attack Georgian sea and airports, meanwhile that exact thing was happening as he mentioned it? Russia wants to limit Georgia's ability to make further attacks in the future, and is doing everything they can to stop Georgia's war capabilities, but this is is futile as more and more western weapons and supplies flood in. I don't think we've seen anything yet. This conflict is only getting started.

And McCain was right. The US government doesn't want another cold war with Russia; they want a very HOT one. Double speak in effect.

[trailhound]

 and he says Ron Paul is a fascist Roll Eyes i agree Obama is scary as hell and even scarier than McCain, but not enough for me to fall for the lesser evil line, no not again not me anyway. Im voting Baldwin winner be damned

Please post articles or video/audio where Tarpley says this.
Thanks.

 On the show the other day Alex jumped him for calling RP a racist and fascist. I was working so maybe i didnt hear it quite right, but Tarpley didnt deny best i remember. I'll try to find something in writing.

[ConcordeWarrior]

The humanitarian aid planes are just a lie. Under the humanitarian aid there is more stuff we know what kind.

Quote: "In a major escalation of the conflict with Russia over Georgia, President George W. Bush on Wednesday announced a “vigorous and ongoing” deployment of US military forces to its key ally in the Caucasus."

This is a bad move from Bushco that can only escalate the conflict. Be ready for more war if this is true, and even worse than what we have seen so far.

If Putin is Hitler then Bushco is Satan in person.

[EthanAllen_TruthNet Radio]

East vs. West. What's old is new again. Both sides are igniting old flames and is fueling the fire with the globalist agenda. More people will die, more nations will invade and conquer.

All for the New World Order.

[Wanted]

US concerned over false information from Mikhail Saakashvili
http://www.karachinews.net/story/394412


A false claim by US-backed Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili could have provoked a dangerous response from the Kremlin.

The claim, that the United States was preparing to take over airports and ports in the former Soviet republic of Georgia was quickly denied by US officials.

It was just one of the many statements made recently by Mr Saakashvili that have increased the tension between the US and Russia.

His comments, along with other conflicting information from all sides, has made it difficult to report on the war between Russian and its former state.

Meanwhile, Russia's deputy prime minister has said that his country's military actions in Georgia were comparable to the US response to the September 11th attack on America.

Sergei Ivanov told the BBC he was surprised at international condemnation of Russia's offensive Georgia, because Georgia's attempt to regain control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia by force had left Russia with no choice.

Mr Ivanov said the Russians hadn’t thought they had annoyed anyone else by taking action.

He said: 'We just reacted because we didn't have any other option. Any civilized country would act same way. I may remind you, September the 11th, the reaction was similar. American citizens were killed. You know the reaction.'

[ramallamamama]

Run this through your Opposite World Translator.
=
Russia to U.S.: Choose Us or Georgia

http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=11934

Russia pressed the United States on Wednesday to choose between "a real partnership" with Moscow or an "illusory" relationship with U.S. ally Georgia.

Washington said it's sticking with Georgia.
"As to choosing, the United States has made very clear that it is standing by the democratically elected government of Georgia," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.

She spelled out the Bush administration's stance after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Georgia's government "a special project for the United States."

"And we are aware that the U.S. is uptight about this project," Lavrov said in remarks broadcast on Russian television. "But a choice will have to be made someday between considerations of prestige related to an illusory project and a real partnership in matters which indeed require collective efforts."

Rice, amid reports that Russian troops remained on the move Wednesday, pushed Russia to abide by a cease-fire signed Tuesday by the Russian and Georgian presidents.
Russian military action in Georgia "must stop and must stop now," Rice said.

Rice said Moscow already faced "quite significant" diplomatic consequences over its conflict with Georgia before Tuesday's cease-fire agreement, which calls for Russian and Georgian troops to return to pre-conflict positions.

Bush said reports he had received were contrary to Russian assurances that it had halted military operations. Bush said he was told the Russian military had blocked Georgia's major east-west highway, and had soldiers at the main port at Poti. There were reports that some ships had been attacked, he said.

Russia has likely moved additional troops into the disputed Georgian provinces and into Georgia proper over the past several days, several administration officials told CNN on Wednesday.

The officials said the United States now believes Russia may have 15,000 or more troops in the region. That would be an increase from the 8,000-10,000 the U.S. government estimated when the fighting began. A Bush administration official stressed that the scope of Russia's military effort remains unclear.

Any violations of the cease-fire would call into question Russia's "suitability" as an international partner, Rice told reporters before leaving on a diplomatic trip to Europe.

Bush administration officials told CNN the United States and its European allies were considering kicking Russia out of the G-8, the group of the world's largest industrial economies, and other international organizations as punishment for its actions in Georgia.

Rice discounted concerns that Moscow would no longer assist Washington on thorny diplomatic issues such as efforts to halt nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, saying it had its own interests at stake.

"Let's be very clear whose interests are being served by the partnership that Russia and the United States have engaged in on Iran or North Korea," she said. "Again, it's not a favor to the United States."
Russia sent troops and tanks into the breakaway Georgia region of South Ossetia last week after Georgia's military acted to clamp down on Russian-linked separatists there. Separatists in South Ossetia want independence -- or unification with North Ossetia, which is in Russia.

The conflict quickly spread to other parts of Georgia, including Abkhazia, another separatist region.

Georgia has been a close U.S. ally, contributing troops to the war in Iraq and seeking to join NATO with Washington's support. In a CNN interview Wednesday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili criticized the United States for not doing more to help his nation.

"America is losing the whole region, and this is the region of eastern and central Europe," said Saakashvili, who called for the United States and European powers to send peacekeepers to the region. "This is much bigger than any other place where there is American influence, and this is the most natural allies of America."

But later Wednesday, in an interview with CNN's "Situation Room," Saakashvili seemed to have a change of heart. He said that after speaking with President Bush earlier in the day, he felt "there will be no compromise at the expense of our territorial integrity."

"I never accused the United States in the first place of anything," he said. "I just said that the Russians mistook some of the statements at certain levels."

Rice defended the administration's response to the fighting.
"I don't think you can have any doubt but that the United States has, from the very beginning, believed that the South Ossetian situation needed to be resolved and resolved peacefully, as we've been working for months and months and months to do, but that Russia seriously overreached, that Russia engaged in activities that could not possibly be associated simply with the crisis in South Ossetia," she said.

U.S. officials said they warned Saakashvili not to provoke Russia militarily by sending Georgian troops into South Ossetia and they had ruled out any U.S. military action to defend Georgia.

Rice spoke after Bush's announcement that U.S. aircraft and ships would deliver humanitarian aid to victims of the fighting.
Bush and Rice warned Russia not to interfere with the delivery of humanitarian aid, noting that Tuesday's French-brokered cease-fire allows for the delivery of international relief, and expressed concern over reports that Russian units were continuing to advance into Georgian cities despite Tuesday's cease-fire.

"We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces that entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country," Bush said.
Rice will travel to France and then head to Tbilisi, Bush said.

Next week, Rice will travel to NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Russia's move into Georgia came amid a struggle between the United States and Russia for influence within Eastern Europe. From Russia's point of view, American support for Georgia is a direct threat to its influence.

By striking heavily in Georgia, Moscow is sending a signal to other former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine and Moldova, said Sarah Mendelson, the director of the Human Rights and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"If I were a neighbor of Russia and I saw what Russia had done in Georgia, I would be very nervous," Mendelson said. "I think those countries that are leaning toward the West are very nervous today."

[Avers]

supply = or maybe military stuff ?
in Tbilisi = as u can see - airport of Tbilisi was not bombed.

At this point Saakashvili would claim chemical warfare by Russia if a Russian soldier farted in the direction of Tblisi. He has been lying all through the last seven days on a huge amount of things, all used to hype up the propaganda. A few examples:

- Russia attacked first: Even the mainstream NWO media are now saying that it were Georgian troops who fired first
- Russian tanks were rampaging through the streets of Tskhinvali driving killing civilians: Footage has shown that those were Georgian tanks
- Airport of Tblisi being bombed: It was confirmed by a Georgian official to be production facility for planes located on the same grounds
- Tblisi under fire: Yeah right
- And many more


How obvious must it become? All the while he is using his propaganda lies to try and deadlock the west into action. His last action was one of brilliance though, claiming that the US would take control over the air and sea ports. He almost had the perfect escalation there.

[Sasha]

The fleet that headed to the Persian Gulf is not there by Congressional orders, thus we have the status quo move for positioning massive groups of hardware and soldiers into war footings all with undeclared motives and missions - secret agendas, yet again.


IRAN BLOCKADE (WAR) ACT HR362 HAS NOT PASSED CONGRESS
feed though MySpace BBS
from:  Guy  @  http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=160998170&MyToken=ce175293-6c33-416c-bee9-ca5c54bb9693


I just got off the phone with the Congressional Clerk Office House of Representatives...202-226-5200.

A very well informed gentleman answered the phone! Yes I was very surprised!

I asked it HR 362 had passed, because the website shows it was referred to committee. He confirmed that IT DID NOT PASS and that indeed it was referred to committee.
He referred to the bill as the Iran War Act, without me referring to it that way first!

I then asked if it would be appropriate to assume that the Huge Naval Armada currently enroute to Iran (that was assembled under the assumption that the Concurrent resolution with 200+ cosponsors would pass) had NO Congressionally approved mandate or tasking....he agreed that was an appropriate assumption.

I then asked if there was any possible way the bill could have been passed in the secret session of Congress in March...he said that was not possible.
(I am not sure he has the information to support this statement though)

I then asked when the House of Reps left for recess, because it seemed early as opposed to their posted schedule of 8Aug. He said that they had left DC on Friday 1Aug, but the official first day of recess was Monday 4Aug.

So, finally, I asked...Is it possible that Congress actually did something good by doing nothing and going on recess a bit early (which I really think is a chickenshit way of doing anything positive) and therefore making it impossible for the HR Concurrent Rex 362 and Senate Res 580 to pass anytime in the immediate future...He answered with...Well, it has been done in the past.


SO, WE EITHER HAVE A HUGE MULTI NATIONAL ARMADA ABOUT TO ARRIVE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ARMED TO THE TEETH WITHOUT ANY REAL MISSION....OR IT WAS APPROVED IN SECRET!! EITHER WAY, THE BUILDUP GREATLY INCREASES THE RISK OF AN ACCIDENT (WHICH COULD EASLIY BE TURNED INTO A FALSE FLAG EVENT) TO INITIATE CATASTROPHE!!
LETS HOPE CONGRESS DID NOT SECRETLY GIVE THE OK FOR THIS EVENT!!

[Sasha]

Russian troops search for weapons across Georgia
2008-08-14
19:15:03
AP
http://www.pr-inside.com/russian-troops-search-for-weapons-across-r756339.htm


GORI, Georgia (AP) - Russian troops swept through Georgian cities, forests and fields on Thursday, searching for military equipment left behind by Georgian forces. In Moscow, Russia's foreign minister declared the world «can forget about» Georgia getting back its two separatist provinces.

The declaration from minister Sergey Lavrov came simultaneously with the announcement that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was meeting in the Kremlin with the two separatist leaders _ a clear sign that Moscow is considering absorbing South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The latest developments presented a huge challenge to the EU-sponsored cease-fire agreement designed to end seven days of fighting. The EU accord had envisioned Russian and Georgian forces returning to their original positions _ something that is not happening, at least in Russia's view.

«One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state,» Lavrov told reporters.

The Bush administration said it will ignore the «bluster» from Russia about the future of separatist regions _ but U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned if Russia does not pull back from Georgia it could hurt Moscow-Washington relations «for years to come.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew into France on Thursday to support the EU cease-fire crafted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

«The United States of America stands strongly, as the president of France just said, for the territorial integrity of Georgia,» she said after meeting with Sarkozy.

Relief planes swooped into the Georgian capital of Tbilisi with tons of supplies for the estimated 100,000 people uprooted by the fighting. U.S. officials said their two planes carried cots, blankets, medicine and surgical supplies _ but the Russians insinuated that Georgia's U.S. ally might have sent in military aid as well and warned the U.S. not to support revenge attacks.

Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said he wasn't sure that the U.S. planes carried only humanitarian cargo. «It causes our concern,» he said.

U.S. officials rejected the claim.

Russian troops and Georgian troops briefly patrolled the strategic city of Gori on Thursday, before relations between the two sides broke down and the Georgians left. At least 20 explosions were heard later near Gori, along with small-arms fire. It was not clear whether it was renewed fighting or the disposal of ordnance.
Gori, battered by Russian bombing even before Tuesday's cease-fire, lies on Georgia's main east-west road only 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Tbilisi.

Earlier at a checkpoint outside the city, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said Georgian engineers and special forces were combing the area for Russian mines.

«We are cleaning roads because we have information that there are some mines,» he told AP.
AP television footage showed Russian troops both inside and outside Gori, with plumes of black smoke rising from behind a forest.

Nogovitsyn said Russian troops went into Gori to establish contact with its civilian administration and to take control over military depots abandoned by the Georgian forces. «The abandoned weapons needed protection,» he said.

Danish journalists said drunken South Ossetia militiamen fired shots into the ground before them and a UNHCR representative Thursday as Russian tanks blocked them from entering Gori. One journalist had his television camera seized.

In Vienna, Victor Dolidze, Georgia's ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Russians were looting the Georgian military base in Senaki, as well as the key Black Sea port of Poti. Dolidze also cited fears that Russian troops had also laid mines in Senaki and Poti.

Russian troops operated with confidence Thursday in and around Poti, the site of Georgia's key oil terminal.
Georgia's coast guard said Russian troops burned four Georgian patrol boats in Poti on Wednesday, then returned Thursday to loot and destroy the coast guard's radar and other equipment.

An AP television crew in Poti was blocked from the waterfront Thursday by soldiers who identified themselves as Russian peacekeepers. Still, APTN saw one destroyed Georgian military boat, about 20 meters (yards) long, and several Russian armored vehicles inside the port.

The same APTN crew followed a different convoy of Russian troops on the outskirts of Poti as they searched a fields and forests nearby for hidden Georgian military equipment.

Nogovitsyn would not comment on the Russian presence in Poti, saying only that Russian forces were operating within their «area of responsibility.

Another APTN camera crew saw Russian soldiers and military vehicles parked Thursday inside the Georgian government's elegant gated residence in the western town of Zugdidi. Some of the Russian soldiers wore blue peacekeeping helmets, others wore green camouflage helmets, all were heavily armed. Other Russian troops patrolled the city.

«The Russian troops are here. They are occupying,» Ygor Gegenava, an elderly Zugdidi resident told the APTN crew. «We don't want them here. What we need is friendship and good relations with the Russian people.

Georgia, bordering the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia has distributed passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and stationed troops they call peacekeepers there since the early 1990s.
Georgia wants the Russian peacekeepers out, but Medvedev has insisted they stay.

In his meeting with leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Medvedev reiterated Moscow's longtime position that the regions should be allowed to choose their own affiliations.

Europe and the United States, meanwhile, began sending planes full of humanitarian aid _ blankets, tents, food and medical supplies _ into Georgia. The United Nations estimates 100,000 people have been uprooted by the fighting, including 12,000 South Ossetians who fled north into Russia.

In Tbilisi, displaced Georgians set up tents at a makeshift refugee camp Thursday, hanging washing on lines and rolling out mattresses and bedding.

«We have no beds, six of us are sleeping on the floor. We don't have anything left,» a Georgian woman named Manana told an APTN crew. She would not give her last name, fearing reprisals.
A similar refugee camp was set up in Alagir, in Russia's North Ossetia province, for South Ossetians who had fled.

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried shuttle diplomacy Thursday, flying to Tbilisi to talk to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili after meeting in Moscow with Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Turkey, a key NATO ally in the region, has helped train Georgia's army.

In London, BP PLC said it resumed pumping natural gas Thursday through one Georgia pipeline, but two oil pipelines in Georgia remain closed.

BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams said the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline that runs from the Caspian Sea through Georgia into Turkey was open but BP's Baku-Supsa oil pipeline _ from Baku in Azerbaijan to Supsa on Georgia's Black Sea coast _ remains closed for security reasons.

Another pipeline in Georgia, the larger Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan line, remains out of action due to an earlier fire in Turkey.

The Russian General Prosecutor's office said it has formally opened a genocide probe into Georgian treatment of South Ossetians. For its part, Georgia filed a suit against Russia in the International Court of Justice, alleging murder, rape and mass explusions of Georgians in both separatist provinces.

More homes in deserted ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia were apparently set ablaze, sending clouds of smoke Wednesday over the foothills north of Tskhinvali, the provincial capital.

Ethnic Georgians who have stayed behind _ like 70-year-old retired teacher Vinera Chebataryeva _ seem increasingly unwelcome. Chebataryeva sobbed to see that shelling had ripped two gaping holes in her apartment in Tskhinvali and destroyed her piano.

Janna Kuzayeva, an ethnic Ossetian neighbor, was not sympathetic.
«We know for sure her brother spied for Georgians,» said Kuzayeva. «We let her stay here, and now she's blaming everything on us.

Correspondents Misha Dzhindzhikhavili in Tbilisi, Georgia; Mansur Mirovalev in Tskhinvali, Georgia; Jim Heintz and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Alexander Higgins in Geneva; and Matthew Lee traveling with Rice contributed to this report.

[Sasha]

McCain is pulling a full Orwellian.  See if you can stomach this:



We Are All Georgians

By JOHN MCCAIN
August 14, 2008 -- 25 minutes ago
Wall Street Journal - Page A13
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121867081398238807.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


For anyone who thought that stark international aggression was a thing of the past, the last week must have come as a startling wake-up call. After clashes in the Georgian region of South Ossetia, Russia invaded its neighbor, launching attacks that threaten its very existence. Some Americans may wonder why events in this part of the world are any concern of ours. After all, Georgia is a small, remote and obscure place. But history is often made in remote, obscure places.

As Russian tanks and troops moved through the Roki Tunnel and across the internationally recognized border into Georgia, the Russian government stated that it was acting only to protect Ossetians. Yet regime change in Georgia appears to be the true Russian objective.

Two years ago, I traveled to South Ossetia. As soon as we arrived at its self-proclaimed capital -- now occupied by Russian troops -- I saw an enormous billboard that read, "Vladimir Putin, Our President." This was on sovereign Georgian territory.

Russian claims of humanitarian motives were further belied by a bombing campaign that encompassed the whole of Georgia, destroying military bases, apartment buildings and other infrastructure, and leaving innocent civilians wounded and killed. As the Russian Black Sea Fleet began concentrating off of the Georgian coast and Russian troops advanced on one city after another, there could be no doubt about the nature of their aggression.

Despite a French-brokered cease-fire -- which worryingly does not refer to Georgia's territorial integrity -- Russian attacks have continued. There are credible reports of civilian killings and even ethnic cleansing as Russian troops move deeper into Georgian territory.

Moscow's foreign minister revealed at least part of his government's aim when he stated that "Mr. Saakashvili" -- the democratically elected president of Georgia -- "can no longer be our partner. It would be better if he went." Russia thereby demonstrated why its neighbors so ardently seek NATO membership.

In the wake of this crisis, there are the stirrings of a new trans-Atlantic consensus about the way we should approach Russia and its neighbors. The leaders of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Latvia flew to Tbilisi to demonstrate their support for Georgia, and to condemn Russian aggression. The French president traveled to Moscow in an attempt to end the fighting. The British foreign minister hinted of a G-8 without Russia, and the British opposition leader explicitly called for Russia to be suspended from the grouping.

The world has learned at great cost the price of allowing aggression against free nations to go unchecked. A cease-fire that holds is a vital first step, but only one. With our allies, we now must stand in united purpose to persuade the Russian government to end violence permanently and withdraw its troops from Georgia. International monitors must gain immediate access to war-torn areas in order to avert an even greater humanitarian disaster, and we should ensure that emergency aid lifted by air and sea is delivered.

We should work toward the establishment of an independent, international peacekeeping force in the separatist regions, and stand ready to help our Georgian partners put their country back together. This will entail reviewing anew our relations with both Georgia and Russia. As the NATO secretary general has said, Georgia remains in line for alliance membership, and I hope NATO will move ahead with a membership track for both Georgia and Ukraine.

At the same time, we must make clear to Russia's leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability and peace of that world. The U.S. has cancelled a planned joint military exercise with Russia, an important step in this direction.

The Georgian people have suffered before, and they suffer today. We must help them through this tragedy, and they should know that the thoughts, prayers and support of the American people are with them. This small democracy, far away from our shores, is an inspiration to all those who cherish our deepest ideals. As I told President Saakashvili on the day the cease-fire was declared, today we are all Georgians. We mustn't forget it.

[Loungin]

McCain's article has turned me 2 shades of green.

Hulk Green and Nauseous Green.

[cathiasus]

Blow it out your @zz Mccain. We're not gonna take your evil feeble BS. We know the truth u effer.
Some great info at Russia Today, a timeline for each horrible day that has occurred over there:
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/28989

[Switters]

I find it so hypocritical and ironic that McCain, Rice et-al condemn Russia for attempting to replace the leadership in Georgia.  Isn't that what the U.S. has been doing for decades?  Most recently in Iraq.  Isn't that what we did in Georgia to get that puppet Saakishvilli in place to begin with?

[Optimus]

Poland and US finalise antimissile deal
http://www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/news/?id=89242
Created: 14.08.2008 19:49

Polish and US negotiators have signed a preliminary agreement on placing an antimissile shield in northern Poland, after nearly two years of negotiations.

The announcement on Thursday evening involves the condition demanded by Warsaw that an additional arsenal of Patriot missiles be stationed in Poland without time limits. Washington, it is believed, had been offering Patriots for a limited time period, even as short as one year.

American troops will jointly run the antimissile base and there will be a US garrison in Poland by 2012.

After long, protracted talks between the two sides, it is believed that the impulse to close the deal has come from the bloody conflict in Georgia.

The negotiations came to a head after intense talks this week. First, Poland’s Ambassador in Washington, Robert Kupiecki, met with Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. On Wednesday, America’s chief negotiator, John Rood, came to Warsaw to nail the deal with the Polish government.

The move will not please Moscow, which has vehemently opposed the plan to station 10 interceptor rockets in Slupsk, northern Poland. The radar part of the system has been already agreed to be placed in the Czech Republic after Prague and Washington tied up the deal this May. (pg)

[Sasha]

Russia says Georgian move for South Ossetia was 'like 9/11'

Georgia's attempt to reclaim South Ossetia has been compared with 9/11 by Sergei Ivanov, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister.

By Jon Swaine
9:19AM BST
14 Aug 2008
Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/georgia/2556139/Russia-says-Georgian-move-for-South-Ossetia-was-like-911.html


Seeking to justify Moscow's overwhelming response to Georgia's attempt to reassert itself over the breakway province, Mr Ivanov said that Russia had no choice but to take military action, just as the US felt bound to respond after the attacks by al-Qa'eda on New York and Washington in September 2001.

"We just reacted because we didn't have any other option. Any civilised country would act same way. I may remind you - September 11th, the reaction was similar. American citizens were killed. You know the reaction," Mr Ivanov said.

International condemnation for the Russian response had taken Moscow by surprise, according to Mr Ivanov. "We didn't think that we annoyed anybody," he said.

Mr Ivanov also rubbished comments by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary. Mr Miliband earlier accused Russia of engaging in "19th Century forms of diplomacy" in its "blatant aggression" towards Georgia. He said "the sight of Russian tanks rolling into parts of a sovereign country on its neighboring borders will have brought a chill down the spine of many people, rightly".

Mr Miliband's claim that Russia was keen restore the Soviet Union was "total rubbish - to use a proper English word," Mr Ivanov said.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, earlier taunted the US and Georgia over the crisis, describing the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili as a "special project" of the Bush administration rather than a proper state.

[Sasha]

The double-talk from the DoD should be expected by everyone right now.  Here's the latest load of BS that's broken through the 'Gates',... while US Air Force C-17's are carrying out aid missions and US Navy Carrier groups keep packing into the Persian Gulf, Gates just plain lies through his teeth.




Gates: No Prospect for Use of Military Force

Georgian Daily - Independant Voice
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi
14 Aug.'08  --  21:14


“I do not see any prospect for use of military force by the United States in this situation,” U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said at a special news conference about situation in Georgia on August 14.

The press conference was held jointly with Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright.

U.S. cargo aircraft C-17 with humanitarian supplies started to arrive in Tbilisi and Washington said it would also use its naval forces to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies.

“This is a humanitarian relief mission and that is our focus at this point,” Gates said.

“The United States government will then turn to the questions both of economic reconstruction and also what to do to help the Georgian security forces looking to the longer term future… Right now the only people we will have on the ground are those that are required to deliver humanitarian mission.”

Gen. Cartwright said that the U.S. military was doing a “standard package of humanitarian aid,” involving identifying where the help is needed, what kind of help is needed; is it medical, is it communications rebuilding etc.

Two shipments of humanitarian supplies with worth of USD 2 million, have been delivered to Georgia so far, the U.S. Air Force said.

Secretary Gates said that Russia's attack on Georgia was not just about South Ossetia or Abkhazia.

He said he thought that Russia wanted “to punish Georgia for daring to try to integrate with the west.”

“If Russia does not step back from its aggressive posture and actions in Georgia, the U.S.-Russian relationship could be adversely affected for years to come,” he warned.

When asked what he thought Russia’s intentions were, Gates responded: “My view is that Russians – and I would say – principally PM Putin is interested in reasserting not only Russia’s superpower status, but in reasserting Russia’s traditional sphere of influence. I think that there is an effort to try redress what they regard as many of the concessions they feel were forced upon them in 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.”

He also said that since 2004, every August there had been an exchange of fire between the Georgian and South Ossetian forces.

“This year it escalated very quickly and it seemed to me that Russians were prepared to take advantage of an opportunity and did so very aggressively,” Gates said. “They [Russians] clearly had a great advantage and having superior air power and lot of force.”

Gen. Cartwright said that the Russian forces were currently “generally complying” with the ceasefire commitment.

“Generally the [Russian] forces are starting to move out of the city, particularly Gori; starting to consolidate their positions and get themselves into the position where they can start to back away towards the border,” Gen. Cartwright said. “Air activities in and around of that region has slowed down dramatically over last 24 hours; there has been no air activity.”

Town of Gori remained under the Russian forces’ control at the time of writing this report. The Georgian security forces and the police were outside the town waiting for the Russians to hand over the town.

[Sasha]

FOX NEWS SLIPPED UP!
12 YEAR OLD AMERICAN GIRL ADMITS GEORGIAN TROOPS WERE DOING THE KILLING

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9aMgFQpc1c

Wow.  That was pretty point blank and in Shep's face.  Twice.

<<<Whispers in the Background>>>,  Deep gasps,  "Cut to Commercial!"

[Freeski]

FOX NEWS SLIPPED UP!
12 YEAR OLD AMERICAN GIRL ADMITS GEORGIAN TROOPS WERE DOING THE KILLING

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9aMgFQpc1c

Wow.  That was pretty point blank and in Shep's face.  Twice.

<<<Whispers in the Background>>>,  Deep gasps,  "Cut to Commercial!"

Sort of reminds me of the H&K's Kuwaiti princess and the incubator babies before Gulf War #1. I'm not saying this is bogus, though, because I don't think anyone truly knows what's going on.

[Optimus]

That is a very smart girl. She said something like "before I continue, I want to make it CLEAR that is was Georgian troops attacking civilians and not Russian troops. The Russians were very helpfull."

Not word for word, but that is generally what she was saying.

[Sasha]

Sort of reminds me of the H&K's Kuwaiti princess and the incubator babies before Gulf War #1. I'm not saying this is bogus, though, because I don't think anyone truly knows what's going on.

This Fox interview smacks of credibility, mostly because of the info control, freak out that Fox had to lurch into in order to keep the two guests from talking too much.

These propagandists generally like spit and polish on their intentional misinfo.

[Sasha]

That is a very smart girl. She said something like "before I continue, I want to make it CLEAR that is was Georgian troops attacking civilians and not Russian troops. The Russians were very helpfull."

Not word for word, but that is generally what she was saying.

She was smart and boldly took the show and Shep's vapid questions into the direction of truth and eye-witness testimony,... better journalism than Fox is used to.

[C]

12 year old girl owns Fox. Gutted!

[Protean]

and he says Ron Paul is a fascist Roll Eyes i agree Obama is scary as hell and even scarier than McCain, but not enough for me to fall for the lesser evil line, no not again not me anyway. Im voting Baldwin winner be damned

 On the show the other day Alex jumped him for calling RP a racist and fascist. I was working so maybe i didnt hear it quite right, but Tarpley didnt deny best i remember. I'll try to find something in writing.

Yes, I heard Alex jump Tarpley, but when it came to playing this fabled video clip of Tarpley saying RP is a fascist, Alex chose not to play it and said, after a radio break and listening again to it, he thought (I'm para-phrasing) Tarpley had said some very interesting things in his speech (the one in question with his so-called remark.)

I have yet to find or hear this speech, so if you can find it--great, love to listen to or watch it.

It is quite possible that Tarpley said one thing and the RP lovers heard another. We, as humans with opinions, frequently hear want we want to and not what was really said.
 

P.S. Tarpley has been critical of Ron Paul on certain issues, but more to the effect--a message to his supporters to ask their fearless leader why he didn't address an issue or turned his back on one; particularly 911 Truth, and as Alex said on his show that day with Tarpley, that was a betrayal.

[Protean]

(Isn't it embarrassing that Raisin Brain is our Prez?)

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/12-08-2008/106067-bushshutup-0

Taking the words of the illustrious King of Spain, in his imbecillic retort to President Hugo Chavez, we use them not as a response to a diatribe but rather, a just retort to an imbecile. President George W. Bush, why don’t you shut up?
   
   
Bush: Why don’t you shut up?
   
President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? In your statement on Monday regarding the legitimate actions of the Russian Federation in Georgia, you failed to mention once the war crimes perpetrated by Georgian military forces, which American advisors support, against Russian and Ossetian civilians. Kinda embarrassing, eh?

President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? Your faithful ally, Mikhail Saakashvili, was announcing a ceasefire deal while his troops, with your advisors, were massing on Ossetia’s border, which they crossed under cover of night and destroyed Tskhinvali, targeting civilian structures just like your forces did in Iraq. Kinda humanitarian, eh?

President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? The military forces of your faithful ally, Georgia, supported by American advisors, while on a mission as peacekeepers in Ossetia, were ordered to open fire on Russian peacekeeping forces in the same team. Kinda noble, eh?

President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? Your American transport aircraft gave a ride home to thousands of Georgian soldiers from Iraq directly into the combat zone. Did your boys wish them good luck as they stepped off the aircraft? I can almost hear it, “Give ‘em Hell!” Kinda friendly, eh?

President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? How do you account for the fact that among the Georgian soldiers fleeing the fighting yesterday you could clearly hear officers using American English giving orders to “Get back inside” and how do you account for the fact that there are reports of American soldiers among the Georgian casualties? Kinda odd, eh?

President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? Do you really think anyone gives any importance whatsoever to your words after 8 years of your criminal and murderous regime and policies? Do you really believe you have any moral ground whatsoever and do you really imagine there is a single human being anywhere on this planet who does not stick up his middle finger every time you appear on a TV screen? Kinda makes ya’ll think, eh?

Do you really believe you have the right to give any opinion or advice after Abu Ghraib? After Guantanamo? After the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens? After the torture by CIA operatives? Kinda difficult, eh?

[Optimus]

Russia Fires SS-21 Ballistic Missiles at the Republic of Georgia,
Poland Agrees to Have US Missile Defense
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/russia-fires-ss-21-ballistic-missiles/story.aspx?guid=%7BBBA6D0C0-0C68-4870-AD17-D64189FBD05F%7D&dist=hppr
Last update: 4:33 p.m. EDT Aug. 14, 2008

WASHINGTON, Aug 14, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Riki Ellison, President of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance ( www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org), issued the following statements about the situation in Europe concerning Russia, Poland and the Republic of Georgia.
 
"Over the last few days Russia has fired over two dozen SS-21 Ballistic Short Range Missiles into the country of Georgia, integrating ballistic missile strikes with their conventional military forces. The SS-21 is a road mobile, solid fuel, single stage ballistic missile, which is maneuverable in flight and carries a high-explosive warhead weighing up to 1060lbs. with 150 meter accuracy. It has a range of 43 miles. These missiles have been used by the Russians tactically for psychological and military targets as the Georgians do not have the capability to defend against or defeat ballistic missiles.
 
"The use of ballistic missiles by Russia in this conflict sends an endorsement to the international community that the use of ballistic missiles has value, thus propelling countries and terrorist organizations to develop, purchase and continue to proliferate ballistic missiles. Modern warfare continues to integrate and use ballistic missiles as a tactic.
 
"This outward military aggression with the use of ballistic missiles from Russia on a former USSR country sends a very serious message to all former members of the Soviet Block, especially Poland, who today made an agreement with the United States to host 10 U.S. ground-based missiles that will protect the United States of America and most of Europe from ballistic missiles. This agreement will also provide Poland with U.S. Patriot Missile Defense Batteries that have the capability to defeat and defend against short range ballistic missiles. Deploying a United States Strategic asset that protects the national security of the United States in the Country of Poland further enhances the security and sovereignty of Poland. 72% of the American public supports this missile defense agreement with Poland. To view the most recent public survey regarding missile defense at
 
www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org and click on surveys."
 
Riki Ellison is one of the top spokespersons on our nation's missile defense system. Call Mike Terrill at 602 885-1955 to arrange an interview
 
SOURCE Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance