Russia invades province of Georgia, after Georgia attacks Russians. VIDEOS

[bigron]

   
UPDATED ON:
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
19:00 Mecca time, 16:00 GMT   
News Europe 
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/2008813153517926662.html

 
Russian forces sink Georgian ships 
 
 


 
Russian forces have sunk several vessels in Georgia's military port of Poti, Al Jazeera's Hoda Abel has reported from the scene.

The attack on Wednesday follows a day of dramatic developments in the Russia-Georgia conflict amid what appears to be an escalation of military action on the ground.

Abdel said: "Russia is clearly on the offensive.

"We have seen more and more Russian troops coming into the area all day - a continuous build up of forces including columns of tanks and truck all along the roads here.

"They came into this area and destroyed six Georgian vessels.

"From what we understand, they came with the specific task of destroying all the military facilities of the Georgians," she said.

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull said: "Poti is one of the most important ports in the Black Sea.

"The offensive means that the ceasefire is dead - back to ground zero."

Convoy tailed

Russian military vehicles earlier headed towards the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher reported.

Fisher tailed a convoy of Russian armoured vehicles  on the road from the town of Gori, less than 60km from Tbilisi.

"Right in front me, no more than 100 metres away is an armoured personnel carrier with three Russian soldiers on top ... behind that there is a long convoy of Russian military vehicles," Fisher reported.
 
"They're not moving at a fast speed, but they are moving towards Tbilisi.

"It is only 60km from Gori to Tbilisi, but this doesn't look like an invasion force."

He later said the convoy had come to a halt before turning round and heading back to Gori.

"Act of provocation"

"The fact Russian forces have moved so far into Georgian territory will be seen as an act of provocation," Fisher said.

Map with  Key locations in the conflict:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/20088113157434469.html
 
Georgian and Russian officials have traded accusations that troops from each side have been acting against the spirit of a peace plan agreed the previous day,

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from Tbilisi said: "This seems to have overstepped the bounds of the Russian side of this ceasefire, they pledged not to move from their positions and stop firing."

He said that the move could be to secure the main Gori-Tbilisi highway.

"What this adds up to however ... while we may have have a ceasefire on the ground, this is an extraordinary show of Russian force."

The events came a day after Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president, hailed an EU-mediated ceasefire agreement reached in Moscow between Georgia and Russia.

Aljazeera's Neave Barker, reporting from Moscow, said: "These are disturbing developments given all the work that was done by the EU yesterday.

He said the Russians had agreed with the Georgians on Tuesday to withdraw to the positions they were in before the outbreak of the conflict.

But he added: "We have heard from our colleagues on the ground that this isn't the case."

Earlier the secretary of Georgia's security council told local television that 50 Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers were in Gori, about 30km from the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

'Occupying forces'

"Russian occupying forces were continuing movements across Georgia despite the ceasefire," Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's president, said early on Wednesday as he stood alongside the leaders of other former Soviet states.

 
But General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russia's deputy chief of staff of the armed forces, said it was Georgian forces that were violating the ceasefire.

"Georgian forces have begun their pullback towards Tbilisi but no active withdrawal has yet been observed," he said.

"We are still obliged to fulfil our mission by taking out firing positions, snipers and so on."

Earlier Al Jazeera's Fisher reported that Russian forces in tanks and armoured personnel carriers had essentially "taken over the town of Gori".

"I myself saw three personnel carriers on the edge of the town ... but there was no doubt they were moving towards Gori," he said.

However, Russia's military on Wednesday repeatedly denied that any troops were inside Gori.

"Neither Russian peacekeepers nor any units subordinate to them are present in Gori," the Interfaxagency quoted a Russian military spokesman as saying.

Russian demand

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said that a commitment in the peace plan drafted by the French under which Georgian forces would withdraw to "permanent positions" meant they should return to barracks.

 
Russia's foreign ministers says troops will stay until Georgia withdraws .

"Upon the withdrawal of Georgian troops to their barracks, Russian troops will return to the territory of the Russian Federation," Lavrov said.

"Our peacekeepers will remain in South Ossetia," he said, referring to peacekeeping units separate from the regular army that have been deployed in the Georgian province for 15 years.

Saakashvili said on Wednesday that Russia was responsible for "Balkan-type and World War II-type ethnic cleansing and purification campaigns" during the conflict.

"We are getting reports of large-scale violation of human rights of the worst of the case," he said.

"The town of Tskhinvali was turned into Grozny Two by Russian carpet bombardment and I really want people to go in and check and verify what kind of bombs are these.

"I have been hearing accusation that this was Georgian bombing and this is not true."
 
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies 
 
 
 
 
 

[trailhound]

from the CNN article BigRon just posted, sums it all up in one neat little pile.

Saakashvili told CNN Western leaders had "failed to analyze Russia's intentions" before it invaded Georgia and "are partly to blame" for the current situation. iReport.com: Share your story of how the crisis is affecting you

"The response has not been adequate," Saakashvili said. "Not only those people who are committing all those atrocities are responsible, but those who don't react to that, I think they also share responsibility."

welcome to the club morons, you been had

[dogmadestroyer]

And not the state that's famous for it's peaches, either...

But it is next to the country famous for its apricots... Armenia. 

[Brocke]

The geopolitics of Georgia
August 13, 2008

VIDEO
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2047

F William Engdahl: There are far bigger stakes being played out in Georgia than a territorial dispute

US attempts to get Georgia into NATO, coupled with its desire to erect an anti-missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech republic would give it first strike capability towards Russia. Moscow sees this as a national security threat against the sovereignty of Russia. Political economist F William Engdahl believes this is the geopolitical endgame being played out in Georgia.

[Barachopsalot]

I've had FOX news on most of the day. As I have been working around the house, and it seems that every time I look over at the tube, they are discussing the Presidential campaign, Olympics, and John Edwards' wife, how she is standing by her maaaan.
Holy &^%* they should be fired and thrown off the air. Pure BS reporting to keep the sheep numb and oblivious! I never hated main stream media more than I do right now.
The early stages of WWIII could be erupting and the public is worried about sports and sex.

I agree the main stream news is more sad than it has ever been. I guess if you want news have to search the net. Best chance of finding something out.

[munkey]

I believe our dickhead prime minister wants to give millions to the US to send peace keeping troops to help rebuild Geargia and bring peace to the region. 

I am so glad I never voted for the idiot 

[EvadingGrid]

Call this dumb, but should'nt the Georgian's be facing War Crimes trials for "waging an illegal war ?"

[cathiasus]

Hells yeah, but Condi wants u to think that the Russians went overboard. Yeah um Condi, wtf.

[ramallamamama]

The CNN Effect: Georgia Schools Russia in Information Warfare
By Yasha Levine

http://exiledonline.com/the-cnn-effect-georgia-schools-russia-in-information-warfare/#more-291

I woke up to discover a weird link to a Digg post sent over by a friend of mine. It was a poll conducted on CNN’s website asking readers:

    Do you think Russians actions in Georgia are justified?
    1) Yes — it’s peacekeeping
    2) No — it’s an invasion

Surprisingly, 92% of readers thought that the Russians were justified. Taking into account CNN’s boneheaded and overwhelmingly pro-Georgian coverage, the poll didn’t make any sense. Were sheepish CNN viewers actually using their brain? It didn’t seem likely. Well, the poll no longer appears on the site. It was taken down after charges of manipulation started surfacing. Apparently, Russian bloggers circulated the poll and called on Russians to let their voice be heard. And if there’s one thing CNN doesn’t like doing, it’s hearing what those damn Russkies have to say.  CNN had no idea that this seemingly innocuous poll would demonstrate the huge rift in opinion between the West and Russia and underline the importance that information warfare has played in this conflict, not to mention show whom CNN was really rooting for.

    “Information is no longer a staff function but an operational one. It is deadly as well as useful.”
    —Executive Summary, Air Force 2025 report.

The Georgians didn’t just take this message to heart, they took whole sections out of DoD’s handbook on Information Operations and followed them to the letter. Even the most cursory look at this conflict shows that Georgia’s attack was an almost perfect textbook example of how modern warfare should be fought on the information front. The Georgians showed an amazing grasp of Info Ops concepts, pulling off counterpropaganda, launching disinformation campaigns and manipulating media perceptions as if they did this type of thing every day.

Oh, the Russians tried to do their part, too. But it still isn’t clear if they didn’t give a shit about what the world thought or just failed miserably. Either way, it was bad news for the Kremlin. Despite a military victory, they are going to have a heard time getting the world to go along with their plans for post-war Georgia. All because they failed to win over the hearts and minds of the world community. The Georgians knew the importance of a well-defined information war strategy. That’s because Georgia has had ample training by the masters of this art: America and Israel. Both have provided military strategy assistance, not to mention weapons training. The Americans were just in Georgia giving them a month-long military refresher course called “Immediate Response 2008” (tab picked up by U.S. taxpayers). Israeli advisers were spotted in Georgia during the first few days of the war and had been training the country for years. In fact, Georgia’s Defense Minister, Davit Kezerashvili, is a former Israeli himself.

So how did things go so wrong for Russia and so right for Georgia? Borrowing a few talking points from a document on Military Information Operations prepared by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, I’m going to try to evaluate their performance. What did they do wrong? How can they improve?



Psychological Operations

DoD definition: Psychological Operations (PSYOPs) are focused on the cognitive domain of the battlespace. PSYOP seeks to induce, influence, or reinforce the perceptions, attitudes, reasoning, and behavior of foreign leaders, groups, and organizations in a manner favorable to friendly national and military objectives. PSYOP is just another way to say that P word no one likes to use anymore, propaganda.

Analysis: This here is a no brainer. Georgia has dominated the psychological playing field from the beginning. As Mark Ames discovered, Georgian leaders were making collect calls to just about every influential person on Wall Street, convincing them that Georgia was the victim of Russian aggression even as Georgian rockets were leveling Tskhinvali. And that was before Russia officially entered into the fray. Saakashvili then made himself available for round-the-clock CNN and BBC interviews. He repeated the same simple lines in near-perfect English, and always flanked by an EU flag: “Russia is an aggressor. We are a small democratic country. Please help us.” Georgia was putting the “CNN effect,” as the military types like to call it, to extremely good use. The pro-Georgian CNN effect was so strong, in fact, that CNN used footage of Tskhinvali for a report on the destruction in the Georgian town of Gori. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVNblG9PJMk&eurl=http://exiledonline.com/the-cnn-effect-georgia-schools-russia-in-information-warfare/

All the Russians did was call an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to try to pass a resolution demanding that Georgia and the S. Ossetia lay down their arms. It wasn’t much of a psychological operation, one that the U.S. didn’t even back.

Psychological Operations Grade: Georgia: A+, Russia: F+

Counterpropaganda



DoD description: Counterpropaganda activities are used to identify and counter adversary propaganda and expose adversary attempts to influence friendly populations and military forces situational understanding. They involve those efforts to negate, neutralize, diminish the effects of, or gain an advantage from foreign psychological operations or propaganda efforts.

Analysis: As soon as Russia started seeding reports that Georgia’s shelling of Tshinkvali might have led to more than 1,000 casualties started appearing, Georgia went on the defensive. Their brutal drive to retake the city was quickly forgotten and replaced with Georgian reports of Russian air raids on civilian targets. Georgia was now the victim of a Russian military invasion. When Russia accused Georgia of ethnic cleansing in S. Ossetia, the Georgians countered with claims of Russian genocide against the Georgians. Pictures of dead bodies, taken by Western journalists, appeared in every Western newspaper. To drive the point home, Saakashvili himself went to the city. The PR event was cut short, however, when Russian jets were spotted above. Cowering in fear, Saakashvili was bundled into a civilian Humvee and whisked away. The debacle convinced Russian viewers that Saakashvili was a coward, but to a Western audience it was more proof that Russian jets were attacking Gori. Georgian counter-propaganda was bolstered by the fact that Georgia made no attempt to hinder Western journalists’ access to the war zone, while Russia made it almost impossible for non-Russian reporters to get into S. Ossetia. Big mistake. Russian newspapers even bitched about it. When Russia tried to reiterate that it was not attacking civilian targets, Georgians claimed that Russian jets were bombing Western-financed oil pipelines deep inside Georgia proper. It was an utter lie, but that didn’t stop the headline from hanging up on Drudge Report for two whole days. Even now, after Russia signed an agreement to stop fighting, a disheveled and sleep deprived Saakashvili accuses Russian troops of attacking central Gori and moving tanks to take over Tbilisi. Who cares if it’s true. The Russian side is silent on the matter.



Counterpropaganda Grade: Georgia: A, Russia: F

Electronic Warfare

DoD description: Electronic Warfare operates across the electromagnetic spectrum, including radio, visible, infrared, microwave, directed energy, and all other frequencies. This includes targeting mass media and communications.

Analysis: Here is where both sides were more or less evenly matched. Both countries mounted cyber attacks on news outlets and government sites. As their first order of business, Georgia blocked all Russian TV transmissions and blocked all the .ru sites. Russia did the same, but despite those notorious Russian hackers, Georgia still managed to get the upper hand. Aside from getting reports of Russian attacks suppressed (thanks to Georgia’s effective counterpropaganda machine), Georgia’s big win was in managing to bring down the website of Russia Today, the only English-language TV coverage coming out of South Ossetia and the source of hard-hitting interviews like this one (skip about 1 minute forward):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fexiledonline.com%2Fthe-cnn-effect-georgia-schools-russia-in-information-warfare%2F&v=dvw01ye8sfM

Russia couldn’t keep up. And how could they? What, take down cnn.com?

Electronic Warfare Grade: Georgia: B, Russia: C-

You can email Yasha Levine at levine@exiledonline.com.

Got something to say to us? Then send us a letter.

Posted on: August 13th, 2008

http://exiledonline.com/the-cnn-effect-georgia-schools-russia-in-information-warfare/#more-291

[bigron]

Russia's big Caucasus win

Moscow has gained leverage, threatened Georgia's pro-West leader, and bolstered national pride.

By Robert Marquand | Staff writer
and Fred Weir | Correspondent
from the August 14, 2008 edition

PARIS and Moscow - In less than a week of military operations sparked by Georgia's assault on its breakaway province of South Ossetia, Moscow is emerging as the immediate winner. A still-stunned West is looking for ways to censure Russia for its "disproportionate" incursion into Georgia that has reshaped the strategic game in the Caucasus and beyond to Russia's great advantage.

"If the Russians stop hostilities now, they will have redrawn the whole strategic situation in the Caucasus, to the detriment of the Americans," says François Heisbourg, special adviser to the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. "No one will invest in Georgia, in oil pipelines, in new ventures [there] now.... The game is over. In the new version of the Great Game, the Russians can cash in." The scope of the "victory" is substantial: Moscow controls territory and leverage, has incapacitated the Georgian military, denied Tblisi its much-hoped-for NATO status, and put the Georgian leader it despises – Mikheil Saakashvili – into a tough position.

It has issued a symbolic warning to Ukraine's westward leanings, asserted clout in oil and gas pipeline futures, denied Georgia the possibility of reclaiming breakaway provinces Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and affirmed a deeply Russian set of hard-line political values regarding the disputed front lines of the old cold war.

Moreover, by agreeing to halt its military on Tuesday, working with French mediator Nicolas Sarkozy, and only "recommending" that Mr. Saakashvili step down, Moscow is arguing it has reasonably protected its interests and not overthrown a sovereign state.

Moscow also appears to be slam-dunking the cease-fire details. The truce, which Saakashvili blamed Russia for breaking Wednesday, contains a "nonuse of force" clause that forbids Georgia to take action inside South Ossetia, a terrific concession. Nor are international peacekeepers coming soon; Russia gained an "additional security role" that formalizes its peacekeeping role in South Ossetia despite US calls for a more independent force in the region.

Russia is pushing for international talks on Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which could lead to eventual backing of referendums that would allow those republics to formally separate from Georgia.

Both US President George Bush and Saakashvili cited reports of Russian miltary actions "inconsistent" with the truce Wednesday. But inside Russia, the venture is boosting pride and morale – part of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's mission to cast off the humiliation of losing the cold war, and reestablish a perception of Russia as a great power.

"At the moment it appears that Russia will have gotten positive benefits from the use of force across its border," says a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Despite Mr. Putin's clear assertion of personal authority in directing the Russian military, at least one Russian analyst describes it as a victory for new president Dmitri Medvedev. "For Medvedev, the outcome [is] a war that's been won. It's his personal victory," says Gleb Pavlovsky, a longtime Kremlin adviser and head of the Effective Policy Foundation in Moscow. But Andrei Kolesnikov, editor of the liberal New Time newsweekly in Moscow, disagrees. "The image of Medvedev is the biggest casualty. We, and the West, were hoping that Russia at last had a young, liberal, reforming leader. Now, after these events, he comes off looking like a tough guy, and there is an impression that he's totally dependent on Putin."

On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to the Russian resort town of Sochi to meet with Medevdev – considered an important diplomatic trip because of Germany's good ties with Russia.

Diplomats and foreign-policy experts say that history may record 8-8-08 as the beginning of consequential changes in the global system, which Moscow suggests has been compromised by the US-led war in Iraq and NATO intervention in Kosovo. It may prefigure a "tri-polar" world, with the US, Russia, and China as heavyweights. Russian tanks and China's Olympic "coming-out party" offer the relevant symbols.

For the West, the implications are still being tabulated, and "a lot of work is being done on this," says one Western diplomat. "This moment could well mark the end of an era in Europe during which realpolitik and spheres of influence were supposed to be replaced by new cooperative norms and a country's right to choose its own path," argued former Clinton administration officials for Europe, Richard Holbrooke and Ronald Asmus, in a German Marshall Fund statement. "While no one wants a return to Cold War-style confrontation, Moscow's behavior poses a direct challenge to European and international order."

Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs in Moscow, agrees Russia's position has changed. But he finds a different meaning: "A Russia that has the means of force and is ready to use it spells a whole new situation," he says. "All neighboring countries will have to take this into account.... Much depends on how Russia behaves.... If it tries to dictate terms, that will have a very negative effect. But my impression is that Russia was quite restrained, and carefully calculated each move.... It seems likely that NATO will be paralyzed...."

Moscow will face downsides, to be sure. Europe and the US are refocusing on ways to censure or isolate Russia.

On Wednesday, President Bush, who is dispatching Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to France and then to Tbilisi, stated that the US would begin a "vigorous and ongoing" humanitarian mission to Georgia. He said he expected Russia to "meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia," as well as to withdraw all forces that entered the country in recent days.

Economic sanctions are not being considered seriously; the UN will not act, given Russia's veto on the Security Council. But eastern Europe – the leaders of the Baltic states, Poland, and Ukraine visited Tbilisi this week in support – are searching for punitive measures.

Western states concerned about the thwarting of democratic reforms in Eurasia are discussing methods to isolate Moscow. One idea is to cancel or ban the 2014 Winter Olympics in nearby Sochi. Another, mentioned by diplomats and by Svante Cornell, a Caucusus expert, in the New York Times, is to drop or suspend Russia's membership in the Group of Eight (G-8) nations. G-8 status is based on ideals of international norms like transparency, consensus, negotiation, diplomats say. Other ideas include quickly granting NATO status to Macedonia – as a strong signal to Moscow.

 
A quick tabulation: impact of Georgia conflict

Georgia's NATO bid: With secure borders and political stability as membership requirements, NATO is unlikely to admit Georgia soon.

Saakashvili's position: Georgians have publicly rallied behind him, but grumbled about his failed bid to reclaim S. Ossetia.

Oil and gas: Developers from Central Asia and the Caspian will likely face pressure from Moscow to use Russia instead of the South Caucasus bypass route.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia: Tbilisi wants to reclaim the ethnic breakaway regions, but a Russia-backed referendum based on the Kosovo precedent could make this impossible.

Ukraine: Russia's push into Georgia sends a message of "who's in charge" to those in this key state who wish to integrate with the West.

Russia is "back": Natalya Narochnitskaya of the Russian Institute of Democracy and Cooperation says that Russia "has a renewed national and state will.
 

 
Find this article at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0814/p01s01-woeu.html 
 

[bigron]

Russians continue to blockade Gori 


 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/20088159492870388.html

 
Russian troops blocked the eastern road into Gori on Friday .

 
Russian troops have allowed some humanitarian supplies into Gori but continued their blockade of the Georgian city.

Gori, about 75km west of the capital Tbilisi, is key to when, or if, Russia will honor the terms of a cease-fire that calls for both sides to pull their forces back to the positions they held before fighting broke out last week in the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Russian forces are also in several other cities deep in Georgia, officials say.

By holding Gori, Russian forces effectively cut the country in half as the city sits along Georgia's only significant east-west highway.

Nazanine Moshiri, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tskinvali, the South Ossetian capital, said it appeared that Russia is sending in more reinforcements.

"We saw them arriving in the capital. South Ossetia has become a symbol of a powerful Russia, a Russia that seems to be expanding its territory," she said.

 Russian military vehicles were blocking the eastern road into the city on Friday, although they allowed in one Georgian bus filled with loaves of bread.

In the city of Kutaisi, Georgia's second-largest city, there are no Russian troops despite reports they were headed in that direction overnight, according to Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman for the Georgian interior ministry.

He confirmed, however, that troops remain in the Black Sea port city of Poti.

Politicians blamed

Alexander Lomaia, the head of Georgia's national security council, said Gori was now "quiet, but there are problems with food." He said he was able to tour the city during the night.

"There's no gas, no electricity, no water in the city," said a 56-year-old woman who refused to provide her name because she said the situation was too volatile.

"It's all because of our leadership. It's not our fault, but we're the ones who suffer."

Map
 
 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/20088113157434469.html

Key locations in the conflict
 

Another resident, Sashka Korgisheli, 44, said he was among the Georgian forces who attacked South Ossetia but had since returned home and hidden his military uniform.

"The situation is stabilising," he said. "We're expecting humanitarian help from Tbilisi, like bread and sugar."

Many locals voiced frustration with the political leadership both of Georgia and Russia.

"We don't want the war," said a 48-year-old man who declined to be identified by name.

Referring to Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president and Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, Russia's leaders, he added: "The people who sit in their armchairs, maybe they want it. But we don't want it."

Rice in Tblisi

Meanwhile, diplomats focused on finalising a fragile cease-fire between the two nations and clear the way for Russian withdrawal as Condelezza Rice, the US secretary of state, arrived in Tbilisi.

Rice is expected to press Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgian president, to sign the deal, which would require significant Georgian concessions.

 
The French-brokered plan calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian combat troops from Georgia, but allows Russian peacekeepers' who were in South Ossetia before it erupted in violence to remain and take a greater role there.

Rice told reporters that the immediate goal is to get Russian combat forces out of Georgia and that more difficult questions can be addressed later.

But she said the US would never ask Georgia to agree to something that was not in its best interests.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, is also traveling to Russia on Friday to see Dmitry Medvedev, the president, with plans to discuss the war.

Doubts over US supplies

Meanwhile, Russia declared that its forces had seized US-made weapons from a Georgian military base near the town of Senaki, but added there had been no gunfire in Georgia in the past 24 hours.

"Our forces have seized 1,728 arms in Senaki," Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, who is deputy head of Russia's general staff, told a news conference.

Nogovitsyn expressed fresh doubts about the nature of US cargo being dispatched to Georgia.

"We would like to know whether there is a humanitarian or some other kind of military cargo, but we don't have this information."
 
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies 
 

[bigron]

Russia Warns US Against Encouraging New "Tragic Scenario"

14/08/08 MOSCOW (AFP)--Russia on Thursday warned the U.S. against encouraging Georgia's leaders to take action that might lead to a repeat of the "tragic scenario" of recent days.

"We expect the United States to adopt a responsible approach. It is especially important to refrain from any steps that could directly or indirectly be taken by the Georgian leadership as encouragement of its revanchist ambitions and prompt a repeated tragic scenario," Russia's Foreign Ministry said.

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080814\ACQDJON200808140946DOWJONESDJONLINE000609.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na

[Brocke]

Not really shot, she was grazed on the forearm. But definitely shot at.


Georgian Reporter Shot on Live TV



http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=606_1218731508

Georgian television reporter Tamara Urushadze was shot in the arm today while reporting on live television. Unbelievably she tries to continue her report as colleagues bandage her up. In the dramatic footage she says that her arm had been grazed by a sniper bullet.

[Brocke]

"Gori in ruins"? You decide



http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/29033/video

Russia's ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin has dismissed media reports that the Georgian city of Gori is "in ruins." He called the allegations a "disinformation campaign" and pointed to the fact that Russian peacekeepers have in fact performed a humanitarian mission there.

[Brocke]

Peter Lavelle'S BLOG
August 15, 2008, 1:01

Beyond South Ossetia – the new world order

Georgia’s (still) President Mikhail Saakashvili threw the dice and lost everything. His blind ambition to return South Ossetia to Tbilisi’s control through force has resulted in an unmitigated defeat for Georgia’s sovereignty. The world needs to take note and it signals things to come.

South Ossetia is a small and poor place. Who would have thought that it would herald the start of a new world order? But it has in ways almost no one could have imagined.

Saakashvili’s crazed mission to capture South Ossetia through war ends a paradigm – what is called the post-Cold era. Russia, for the first time as a new and very different state, used force beyond its borders since 1991. It did it in the name of protecting Russian citizens and defending internationally recognised peacekeepers. And both are justified - the West does the same. The world would be advised to get used to this as other ethnic Russians appeal for help beyond Russia’s borders.

Today we are all faced with the prickly debate defining the difference between state sovereignty and territorial integrity. Politicians and lawyers continue to talk about this. In the mean time, facts on the ground are proceeding forward with the most unpredictable consequences.

The catalyst for all this was Kosovo. The major Western powers decided Kosovo should be independent above the heads of the people on the ground. Today Russia listens to the people on the ground. And this is the important difference. Washington and Brussels have unwittingly admitted that self-determination is more important than a state’s sovereignty. Russia and Russians are following this lead. The post-Soviet space is poised for more change (of borders) and the West and its double-standards are the cause of this.

There is much criticism of Russia’s actions. It is said that Russia is backing international actors - South Ossetia and Abkhazia - not recognised by international law. But the fact of the matter is Moscow has forcibly demonstrated that the post-Cold War order supports only Western interests and that this approach needs to change. In the wake of South Ossetia’s invasion, Moscow is in touch with this new sentiment.

According to the West’s democracy theology, South Ossetia and Abkhazia cannot be recognised as independent. Why is this? Is it because independence for both would derail Saakashvili’s bid to join NATO? Of course it is! The West doesn’t know much about Georgia, South Ossetia, or Abkhazia. Nor does it really care. And Saakashvili has shown he can’t cross the divide between being a Georgian nationalist and a Western stooge.

I have no idea; maybe Saakashvili truly has acted in good faith, but what we all can see looks different. He failed to see that what is most important is the projection of Western security interests. And this has always been at the expense of Russia’s security concerns.

Saakashvili claims all his actions were in the name of the Georgian people. He doesn’t appear to understand he changed the world order. All people who wish to be free and have their own state have Saakashvili to thank.
 
I doubt that this is the legacy Saakashvili had hoped for. Saakashvili’s backers in Washington are surely cursing him for not doing what he was told. He was, after all, only a hired employee to take orders.

http://www.russiatoday.com/employee/27

Peter Lavelle Peter Lavelle is the host of Russia Today's week in review programme In Context, and was the anchor of the commentary series IMHO (In my humble opinion) . And Russia Today viewers can expect to find Peter in the news studio commenting on breaking events. This includes live press conferences and when decision makers meet anywhere in the world. Peter Lavelle has extensive experience in academia and the world of business. He did his doctoral studies at the University of California in Eastern European and Russian studies. He has lived in Eastern Europe and Russia for a better part of the last 25 years. During that time he was a lecturer at the University of Warsaw, a market researcher for Colgate-Palmolive, an investment analyst for a number of respected brokerage firms, including Russia’s Alfa Bank. In the realm of media, Peter Lavelle is widely published. He has written for Asia Times Online, Moscow Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, United Press International, In the National Interest, and Current History - to mention only a few. Peter enjoys reading, films, long walks through Moscow, and caring for his two dogs. Viewers are invited to read his daily blog, below.

[Brocke]

August 16, 2008
No 'good guys' in Georgia conflict

Matthew Rothschild: US and Russia hypocrisy cubed

With Russia, Georgia and the US engaging in a war of words, Matthew Rothschild, Editor of the Progressive believes all three are behaving hypocritically.



VIDEO
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2056

NOTE: Matthew Rothschild is not related to the NWO Rothschilds (that I know of...)

Matthew Rothschild is the author of You Have No Rights, a collection of stories documenting the post-9/11 abuse of U.S. citizens' civil liberties. He has worked for The Progressive for a quarter century, serving for the last 12 years as the magazine's editor. The co-founder and director of the Progressive Media Project, Rothschild also hosts the syndicated weekly 30-minute Progressive Radio program, and has appeared on National Public Radio, C-SPAN, Nightline, Hannity & Colmes and The O'Reilly Factor. Rothschild is scheduled to appear at the Wisconsin Book Festival at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, 2007 at the UW-Madison's Red Gym, in a program that pairs him with the historian and First Amendment advocate Chris Finan, author of From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America.

[Brocke]

Nuclear war by miscalculation

VIDEO
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2050

F. William Engdahl: The geopolitics of Georgia pt2

ENGDAHL: Russia went into Georgia to essentially deliver a message. There are more than 1,000 US military special forces in Georgia doing exercising, training Georgian troops, before Georgia launched the attack on Ossetia on 8 August. There are 1,000 Israeli troops at least, private security firms and military advisors, including advisors who are upgrading the Georgian air force in an installation near Tbilisi. That's what the Russian airplanes hit, and they essentially made the military strike on South Ossetia militarily impossible by making incursions inside Georgian territory before they announced that they were calling a halt to their military operations.

[bigron]

War in Georgia Shows U.S. Foreign Policy Is a Bust

by Sheldon Richman, August 15, 2006
http://www.fff.org/comment/com0808e.asp

The tragic events in the nation of Georgia show that U.S. foreign policy is a bust. In particular, NATO must go. This may seem counterintuitive, but this relic of the Cold War has nothing to contribute to peace. On the contrary, it is a destabilizing tool of America’s provocative imperial foreign policy.

Let us stipulate that the Russian government would undoubtedly be interested in having Georgia in its camp even if NATO did not exist. The Russian elite has always seen itself destined for a major role in world events, and that dream of course included a large sphere of influence where friendly regimes saw things the Russian way.

Nevertheless, NATO — and the U.S. empire for which it stands — is a major aggravating factor in the tensions between Russia and its neighbors. Not long after the Soviet Union imploded and the Cold War ended, the U.S. foreign-policy elite began talking about expanding NATO to include former Soviet Satellites and republics. Considering that NATO was ostensibly created to counter the Soviet Union in Europe, how could expanding the organization up to the Russian border not be provocative? What was the point, except to show the Russians who’s boss?

Georgia has been angling for membership in NATO for years. President Mikheil Saakashvili’s Russian policy was nothing short of a pro-American in-your-face policy strategy. The Bush administration encouraged it by training and equipping the Georgian military. All of this stirred Russian suspicions about U.S. objectives in its “backyard.” In return, Georgia sent troops to assist in America’s misguided mission in Iraq.

The U.S. policy toward Georgia is part of a pattern that, naturally, is justified in the name of the “war on terror” and the spreading of democracy, although some of the Central Asia republics have odious authoritarian governments. But the Russians, hearing talk of anti-missile systems in the new NATO countries, don’t see the strategy as benign. They see encirclement. Who can blame them?

The immediate cause of the recent clash was Georgia’s violent move to put down separatist activity in South Ossetia, one of two break-away areas with sympathies toward Russia. Russia undoubtedly has helped advance secessionist sentiments there and in Abkhazia. Its brutal bombing inside Georgia is to be condemned, but that does not mean that Saakashvili’s government is blameless.

Did the Georgian president get a green light from the Bush administration? We may never know. But the question is not essential. What we do know is that U.S. policy created a moral-hazard problem. In other words, the Bush administration’s words and deeds almost certainly emboldened the Georgian government with respect to South Ossetia and Russia, encouraging it to take measures it probably would not have taken otherwise.

As we saw, it was a major miscalculation. Saakashvili may have been counting on U.S. support, but what could he possibly have hoped for? The U.S. military, spread thin already in Iraq and Afghanistan, has no forces to spare. But even if that were not the case, did Saakashvili really think the United States and Europe would go to war against Russia? Memories of the bloody 20th century are too fresh in Europe to make that a realistic expectation. It is one thing to invade and occupy Iraq, quite another to take on Russia. It was out of the question.

The Bush administration, then, made implicit — and perhaps explicit — guarantees to the Georgian government it was in no position to back up. Thus the American imperium is revealed as a costly, provocative, but in essential ways impotent force in the world. For this the taxpayers are coughing up hundreds of billion dollars a year. And people are dying.

The message of Georgia is clear. We need a top-to-bottom rethinking of American foreign policy. The American people’s interest lies in peace and free trade. Let others work out their own problems. Most of all, let’s keep the U.S. government from making the world’s problems worse than they already are.

Sheldon Richman is senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, author of Tethered Citizens: Time to Repeal the Welfare State, and editor of The Freeman magazine. Visit his blog “Free Association” at www.sheldonrichman.com. Send him email.

[PR_L]

Troublemaker demon Zbigniew Bryzenski stated in his book "The Grand Chessboard" that killing Muslims in Asia (who obviously will never join the Demonic world order) and occupying their land and taking their oil will set the stage and geo-strategic platform to make war with Russia and ASIA and the entire earth!

[bigron]

Russia 'not pulling out troops' 
 
 
Russia said it was leaving Gori but its forces were instead fortifying positions .

 
Georgia has said there are still no signs of Russia withdrawing its troops from deep inside the country as Nato foreign ministers meet in Brussels to work out a response to Moscow's military action.

Shota Utiashvilli, the spokesman of Georgia's interior ministry, said on Tuesday there had been no significant Russian troop movements overnight.

He said Russian troops remained entrenched in previous positions, including in and around the flashpoint city of Gori.

"There is still no sign of a withdrawal, nothing at all," Utiashvili said.

Jonah Hull, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tbilisi, said: "One suspects that there is unfinished business here for the Russians.

"One of their main motivations has been to see the back of Saakashvili [Georgia's president], Putin's long-time nemesis.

"It [the delay in retreating] is aimed at intimidating him and destabilising the country," Hull said.

On Monday Russia announced the start of its withdrawal from Georgia, but Tbilisi accused Moscow of stalling and seeking to spread further into the country.

Access prevented

Russian soldiers were still preventing access into Gori, just 60km west of Tbilisi.

Four tanks were also present at the checkpoint, an AFP correspondent reported.
   
"I really do not know how long we will be staying here," said one of the soldiers, who declined to give his name.

The Russian soldiers were bearing the insignia of "peacekeepers" on their uniforms.
   
Tanks were also in evidence on the road to Gori from Igoeti, 30km west of Tbilisi.

Map
 
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/20088113157434469.html

Key locations in the conflict
 

Maxime Verhagen, the Netherland's foreign minister, said ahead of the talks in Brussels that there was disproportionate use of violence by Russia.

"We should send a signal that that the agreement between Russia and Georgia should be fulfilled and the Russian troops should withdraw. But I am also convinced we should have the possibility for dialogue," he told Al Jazeera.

Hannah Belcher, reporting for Al Jazeera from Georgia, said orders to pull out don't appear to have reached the Russian military patrolling the strategic east-west highyway near the city of Gori.

"Their [troops] only movement has been towards the Georgian capital Tbilisi," she said.

"The Russians are expected to be sent a strong message from Nato foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. Nato is set to back Georgia's territorial integrity and condemn Russia's military presence."

She said Moscow seems determined to finish the operation on its town time table, and not one imposed by outsiders.

Jonah Hull, also reporting for Al Jazeera from Tbilisi, said Russia was sending "all sorts of mixed signals" and in the same breath saying that the pull out is underway.

He said Al Jazeera's correspondents had seen with their own eyes that Russia is "simply making no preparations to withdraw at all".

The United States has warned Russia to stop what it calls Moscow's "dangerous game" of using its military to assert its power.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, is expected to push Nato allies to send a strong message to Russia that it must stick to its ceasefire commitment with Georgia or risk diplomatic fallout.

At Washington's request, the 26 foreign ministers of Nato member countries are meeting to reaffirm their solidarity with Georgia.

"Russia will pay a price," Rice said on Monday before flying to Brussels for the talks.

"We are going to send the message that we are not going to allow Russia to draw a new line at those states that are not yet integrated into the transatlantic structures like Georgia and Ukraine. We are determined to deny them their strategic objective."

Consolidating positions

Russia promised to start withdrawing forces on Monday back to positions in Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia province in line with a peace deal brokered last week by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.

And the deputy chief of staff of Russia's army said on Monday that the withdrawal had begun.

Russian forces are concentrated in the town Gori and were also roaming the western town of Senaki, where they have occupied a Georgian military base.

Witnesses also reported Russian patrols in the port city of Poti, which has been repeatedly raided and there were also Russian forces in and around the town of Zugdidi, near the border with Abkhazia.

Rice has accused Moscow of using "disproportionate force" against its neighbour, whose hopes of joining Nato have angered Russia.

The US secretary of state is scheduled to travel to Warsaw later on Tuesday where she is to sign a deal on installing a missile defence shield pact with Poland - a move certain to further increase tensions with Russia.

US diplomats denied Russian claims that Washington wants to break up the Nato-Russian Council which was set up in 2002 to improve relations between the former Cold War foes.

Alliance unity

But a senior US official said on Monday that the alliance would have to rethink a range of planned activities - from a meeting with Russia's defence minister foreseen in October, to regular military consultations in areas such as counterterrorism, managing air space or rescue at sea.

 
Rice is expected to push Nato to affirm its commitment to Georgia .


Some Nato officials said that approach was very likely to win support at Tuesday's emergency meeting, despite wariness among some European allies about further damaging relations with Moscow.

Despite one senior US official's assurance that "you'll see a Nato more united than you might expect", some diplomatic sources said the subject of Russia's role in Georgia had split Nato members.

Britain, Canada, the US and most Eastern European member states are in one camp seeking a tough stance on Russia's actions, the sources said.

But most of Western Europe, led by France and Germany and backed by Hungary and Slovenia among others, were more cautious of further hurting ties with Moscow.

Russian warning

Russia's ambassador to Nato warned that an "anti-Russian propaganda campaign" could jeopardise "the quality of co-operation" and that ties between Moscow and the alliance would suffer if the Nato foreign ministers failed to reach a "responsible decision".

"We hope that decisions by Nato will be balanced and that responsible forces in the West will give up the total cynicism that has been so evident [which] is pushing us back to the Cold War era,'' Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on Monday.

"We don't want to hear that [Mikheil] Saakashvili is a saint," he added, comparing the Georgian president's actions in the breakaway province of South Ossetia to the worst excesses of Hitler and Stalin.

The Nato meeting will also discuss support for a planned international monitoring mission in the region and a package of support to help Georgia rebuild infrastructure damaged in the conflict with Russia.

The ministers are also expected to restate Nato's firm opposition to the separatist ambitions of Georgia's pro-Russian breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Saakashvili has accused Nato leaders of encouraging Russia's move into Georgian territory by postponing a decision in April to put Georgia and Ukraine on a fast track to Nato membership.

The alliance had held off because Germany and France were wary of Russian opposition to the move, since Russia is Europe's main energy supplier.

But on a visit on Sunday to Tbilisi, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, repeated Western promises that Georgia will eventually join Nato.
 
 

[Femacamper]

Ossetia Genocide

http://tracker.conspiracycentral.net/torrents-details.php?id=614

*******************************************************************************
      Russia Today News Channel  DVB-S Broadcast 12 Aug 2008 ENGLISH
*******************************************************************************

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           General Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russia Today News Broadcast 12 August 2008

For an alternative view of the conflict in
Georgia from a Russian perspective.

File Info:

Format: XViD
Bitrate: 1606 Kbps
File size: 200 mb
Duration: 17.25 mins

[jaro]

Please watch this video I made and email 10 people.

http://posmedprod.webs.com/alexjonescensored.htm

[jaro]

Please watch this video I made and email 10 people.

http://posmedprod.webs.com/alexjonescensored.htm

[kevin0045]

hi
  i am kevin i think it is dangerous for both the country & world also.
      http://www.drugtreatments.com/wyoming

[Brocke]

Why in the world would anyone ever think of attacking Russia or a Russian enclave?!

The 3rd International Exhibition of Weapons and Military Equipment MVSV-2008


Now that's a big rocket launcher...                             Is that a beach chair with dual bazookas?

The 9K57 Uragan multiple launch rocket system.

[Brocke]

Places That Don't Exist: South Ossetia, Abkhazia 1 of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zWuu-F_bbY

Places That Don't Exist: South Ossetia, Abkhazia 2 of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQYRzuo8dsg

Places That Don't Exist: South Ossetia, Abkhazia 3 of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F50zfcJEID

Places That Don't Exist: South Ossetia, Abkhazia 4 of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYcbhZ0P3D0

PLACES THAT DON'T EXIST

Author Simon Reeve undertakes a thrilling journey through the most obscure countries in the world – PLACES THAT DON'T EXIST.
This award-winning five part series on breakaway states and unrecognised nations, broadcast on BBC2 and broadcasters internationally, took Simon to little-known parts of the world including Somaliland, Transniestria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Ajaria, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Somalia, Moldova, Taiwan, and the former Soviet republic of Georgia.


Georgia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Adjaria

The former Soviet state of Georgia has a particular problem with breakaway states. After independence from Moscow three parts of the country – South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Adjaria, broke away from Georgia. Conflicts broke out, thousands were killed, and the whole region has suffered ever since. The new President of Georgia, who Simon meets in a lift, is trying to re-unify the country, but he faces a difficult task.
Simon travels across the frontline to visit South Ossetia – a self-declared country which has had its own flag, army and government for 12 years. The Ossetian people speak a different language to Georgians, and their government has vowed to fight to the death rather than rejoin the Georgian fold.
Simon persuades a tough Ossetian Foreign Ministry official to let him have a look around. Tensions are high between Georgia and South Ossetia, and the Ossetians are suspicious of foreigners, particularly when a government guide tells locals in the market that Simon’s from London, America. After his nationality is explained people become friendlier, although locals are tense because everyone has someone they love on the dangerous Georgian frontline and war is imminent. Everywhere Simon goes he’s followed by state security.
Back in Georgia proper Simon realises war is close when he finds a troop train packed with soldiers and tanks. He’s chased away by armed guards.
Heading west to the former breakaway region of Adjaria, Simon visits the palatial home of the former dictator. His son used to race a Lambourghini along the main street of the region, much to the anger of locals earning an average £15 a month.
Elsewhere in Georgia, Simon and his BBC crew are the first film unit ever allowed inside a major former Soviet military base. In a chilling scene, they find thousands of tonnes of explosives unguarded and huge working missiles, any of which could be stolen by criminals or terrorists, and which are capable of destroying skyscrapers.

[Brocke]

Colin Powell admits that the latest Caucasus war was started by Georgia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fDxp9-CZ4M

The former US Secretary of State Colin Powell admits that the latest Caucasus war was started by Georgia.
He was speaking on the CNN together with another former State Department head, Henry Kissinger.
Mr Kissinger advised the administration to tone down criticism of this country and focus on cooperation with it.

[gabba2k7]

Nothing strange that Georgia wins in infowar. We know who controls such countries after colored revolution. [FYI:The biggest advisors staff from USA is located in Georgia.]

And we do know what role western mass media played during such revolutions (and after) making(kicking up) a pother (/talking greedily) about new georgian super-democratic regime and a great independent Saakashvilly. [imho, The man who in fact much closer to the USA, than to his own country.]

080808... there was no cover of how Georgia fired from long distance on sleeping Tshinalli.
[we know, they [USA] want scenario where Ossetia (as well as Abhazia) will be captured during "Clean Field" operation, thus all territorial problems will be solved, thus Georgia enters NATO, thus NATO/USA control caucasus with its pipelines etc]
But when Russia entered to Ossetia, the infowar had began. Tanks, big angry communistic Russia, invade small democratic Georgia, OMG!!! ... the created myth that is easily sold and very popular [I'm intrested why - maybe to legitimate their future evildoings against Russia, If some reason come about] ... People of western countries go on the streets with candels and writing word "SOS" ... they can turn on TV and see pictures from Tshinval but with tag/mark "Gori" .. or see how Saakashvilly running from "jets" ... or listen his "democratic" speeches already made in English [in order not to let west mass media spend their time translating, show must go on... as faster as it can] ... or see russian minister of defence talking in interview to CNN that russian forces don't invade Georgian territory, but the screen which was divided into 2 parts showed simultaneously the video of weapons that attacking Tshinval at night (during the time of interview with minister), of course without any designation that it is georgian weapons and that they are attacking tshinvall + at the bottom of the screen there was title with yhr number of victims (1,000-2,000) [of couse all together make western audience think that it was Russia who was attacking and had killed 2,000 people.] ... etc etc etc