Russia at war with Georgia.

[Wakka]

TBLISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Russian television Friday showed a convoy of Russian tanks and said they were heading into the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia as escalating tensions over the region threatened to boil into full blown conflict. The move came after Russia denounced as "aggressive" a Georgian troops military offensive to regain control over the province, vowing to respond. Russian authorities earlier said several of its peacekeepers died in a Georgian attack in South Ossetia, which borders Russia and has strong ties to its vast northern neighbor, and they vowed not to leave Russian citizens in the territory unprotected. "The Georgian leadership has launched a dirty adventure," a statement from Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday. "We will not leave our peacekeepers and Russian citizens unprotected." Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Georgia started the fighting and warned that Russia would respond to their actions. "Heavy weapons and artillery have been sent there, and tanks have been added. Deaths and injuries have been reported, including among Russian peacekeepers," Putin said in comments carried Friday by Russia's Interfax news agency. "It's all very sad and alarming. And, of course, there will be a response." Earlier Friday, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said in a televised statement that Russian aircraft bombed several Georgian villages and other civilian facilities. He added that there were injuries and damage to buildings. "A full-scale aggression has been launched against Georgia," he said. A Georgian official reported that seven people were hurt in the attack, the Associated Press said. Saakashvili urged Russia to immediately stop bombing Georgian territory. "Georgia will not yield its territory or renounce its freedom," he said. He also called for the full-scale mobilization of Georgian reserve forces as fighting continued to rage in South Ossetia's capital. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer issued a statement Friday saying he was seriously concerned about the recent events in the region, and called on "all sides to end armed clashes and begin direct talks." The United States also urged all sides to bring an immediate end to the violence. "The U.S. has been in discussions for many months with all parties to find a peaceful resolution," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "We urge all sides to refrain from violence and to begin direct talks." Russian peacekeepers are in South Ossetia under a 1992 agreement by Russian, Georgian, and South Ossetian authorities to maintain what has been a fragile peace. The mixed peacekeeping force also includes Georgian and South Ossetian troops. The latest events came just hours after the U.N. Security Council finished an emergency session to discuss a dramatic escalation of violence in Georgia and South Ossetia. The session ended Friday morning without a statement about the fighting. Violence has been mounting in the region in recent days, with sporadic clashes between Georgian forces and South Ossetian separatists. South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia in the early 1990s, but its independence is not internationally recognized. Georgian troops launched new attacks in South Ossetia late Thursday after a top government official said a unilateral cease-fire offer was met with separatist artillery fire. "The objective of the operation is to protect the civilian population, to ensure their security and then convince the separatists that there is not a military solution to this conflict," said Alexander Lomaia, the secretary of Georgia's National Security Council. Lomaia said Georgian troops were responding proportionately to separatist mortar and artillery attacks on two villages -- attacks he said followed the cease-fire and call for negotiations by Saakashvili. The official news agency of the South Ossetian government reported heavy shelling in the territory's capital, Tskhinvali, that left dozens of buildings ablaze. About 2,000 Georgian troops attempted to storm Tskhinvali overnight and were regrouping south of the city, according to Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency. Around 10 a.m. Friday, Georgia said Russian military aircraft violated Georgian airspace and dropped two bombs on Kareli, a part of Georgia that is about 50 miles northwest of the capital, Tblisi, and is not in the conflict zone, said Shota Utiashvili, spokesman for the Georgian Ministry of Interior. Georgia, located on the Black Sea coast between Russia and Turkey, has been split by Russian-backed separatist movements in South Ossetia and another region, Abkhazia. Georgian and South Ossetian negotiators had been scheduled to meet Friday in Tskhinvali, Moscow's chief negotiator, Yuri Popov, told the Russian news agency Interfax. Saakashvili announced Thursday night that he had ordered his troops to cease fire while the negotiators met, but Lomaia said the call was met with more attacks. In addition, Lomaia said, hundreds of "mercenaries" -- or "volunteers," as the South Ossetians described them -- are pouring across the border from Russia to join the fight. The commander of a Russian peacekeeping mission has told Georgian officials that his troops are unable to control the situation, Lomaia said.http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/0...?iref=hpmostpop

 

[Christina]

Russia's really been flexing her musels latley uhhmm.

 

[Christina]

Well its official I guess Georgia just Declared war on Russia some 1400 said to be dead. America to evacuate some 2000 of our citizens that live there.

 

[Christina]

TBLISI, Georgia, Aug 09, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As the conflict in South Ossetia continues, Christian humanitarian agency World Vision began providing emergency assistance today to displaced civilians -- most of them women and children -- who managed to flee to Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. "Our staff have been hearing some truly heartbreaking stories -- children who got out but their parents didn't, for example," said David Womble, World Vision's national director in Georgia. World Vision provided essential food including canned meat with vegetables, pasta, canned fish, vegetable oil and iodized salt, along with emergency items such as bars of soap, toilet paper, wet napkins, towels, bed sheets and large woolen blankets to some 170 people, mainly women and children, who escaped the violence in Gori and villages in South Ossetia. The agency's relief team met one 36-year-old mother who escaped the violence from Gori with her two children: "I have seen war, but what I saw today was terrible. I haven't seen anything like that in my life. I was shocked. What are we going to do now?" she told World Vision staff. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has declared a 15-day "state of war" as clashes continue in South Ossetia and against military targets in Georgia. World Vision is working with the United Nation's World Food Program, and will continue to coordinate closely with the UN and other organizations as more people flee southward toward the Georgian capital. "UN agencies and NGOs will meet tomorrow [Sunday] to discuss the increasing humanitarian crisis and how the humanitarian actors can coordinate an effective response," explained Womble. Other World Vision operations in Georgia, as well as its projects in Abkhazia, have been suspended for the time being, as all efforts are now focused on the humanitarian relief effort. More than 2,000 displaced people are currently being served at eight Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) locations identified by Georgia's Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation. Three are located in Tbilisi and five in other districts of the country. The number of displaced people is expected to rise as the violence continues. World Vision staff in Georgia are available for interviews. Please contact Rachel Wolff at 253.394.2214 or [email protected]. Notes to Editor: -- World Vision has worked in Georgia since 1994, focusing on community development and the needs of children in difficult circumstances. Current programs include microfinance for poor entrepreneurs, support for street children and children with disabilities, food for work, HIV and AIDS prevention and assistance for returning migrant workers. World Vision does not have current programs in South Ossetia but assists more than 15,000 children in Abkhazia, another breakaway region of Georgia. The agency's 155 staff in Georgia are accounted for and safe at the present time. -- World Vision also has worked in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation since 1995, including peacebuilding and economic recovery projects in North Ossetia. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. We serve all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. For more information, please visit worldvision.org/press. SOURCE World Vision http://www.worldvision.org

 

[Christina]

Tom, TimInteresting this conflict is in the area of the Caucasus region, Esau flexing his Muscles in the Caucasus Mts ? Any thoughts on this?

 

[Christina]

EUROPEAN LEADERS CONCERNED ABOUT GEORGIA-RUSSIA CONFLICTAugust 10, 2008Voice of America News reports: “French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Sunday described the hostilities in South Ossetia as ‘massacres.’ He said the European Union, which France currently heads, could not allow such a terribly devastating and unacceptable war.‘We cannot, as the European Union presidency, we cannot accept at our doors, just very close to Europe, to accept such a middle age [medieval] battle. Impossible,’ said Bernard Kouchner.Kouchner was speaking just before heading to Tbilisi with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb for a meeting with the Georgian president. They were scheduled to travel on from Tbilisi to Moscow to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Stubb is traveling in his capacity as chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a 56-nation security organization that has both Russia and Georgia as members.French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke by telephone with the Georgian president and other European leaders about the escalation of the conflict. He has proposed a plan, which calls for the return of Russian and Georgian troops to their former positions and requires Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected.The NATO secretary general declared that Russia violated Georgia's territorial integrity in South Ossetia.In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres also expressed concern over the plight of thousands of civilians caught up in fighting in and around South Ossetia. He has called on all sides to avoid harming civilians and ensure their safe passage…”

 

[Wakka]

Actually from what I've heard, a Russian peace organization was in Georgia doing humanitarian aid (because the villagers asked for aid, they're pro Russia), and Georgian military officials became hostile. Russia then responded with force.Either way, each side has it's propaganda and they're telling the people what to believe in. Personally, I think that Russia is not as bad as everyone seems to think it is.

 

[Christina]

Read your Bible Wakka who do you think the King of North is ?? Russia is also Esau.Sorry they are amoung the bad guys, Not the individual Russian People if they believe in God but the athiest Leaders of the nation.

 

[Christina]

The air raids of the two Georgian airports took place as the US began flying hundreds of Georgian troops home from Iraq, leaving them nowhere to land.During the day, Russian soldiers and marines entered Abkhazia, Georgia's second breakaway province, by land and from Russian Black Sea naval vessels, which were ordered to block Georgian ports against arms delivery by sea. This opened a third front in Russia’s war with Georgia on Day Three of the armed conflict. At midday, Ukrainian military circles indicated the possibility of closing Russia’s main Black Sea base of Sevastopol to naval ships on their way back from blockading Georgian ports. The US has drafted a resolution condemning Russia in third UN Security Council session later Sunday. In the face of President George W. Bush’s demand for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and support for international mediation, Moscow poured an additional 10,000 men and armor into South Ossetia Sunday as well - and Russian jets bombed a military airfield outside the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Under heavy fire, Georgia “temporarily” pulled its soldiers from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, but stayed in the region and denied it was surrendering. President Mikhail Saakashvili asked the United States to act as mediator with Moscow and appealed to the Russians to stop “this madness.”That was Sunday morning.Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, for his part, accused Georgia of ethnic cleansing. As disputed casualty figures climbed, civilians were increasingly bearing the brunt of the bloodshed and hardship. Two Georgian towns, Gori and the Black Sea naval, military and oil port of Poti, also took casualties and heavy damage from Russian air strikes. A third town, Zugdidi on Abkhazian border, was targeted Sunday. DEBKAfile’s military analysts: By flouting US demands to accept mediation, Moscow highlights America’s lack of leverage for helping its embattled Georgian ally. The Bush administration has trapped itself in its foreign policy commitment to dialogue and international diplomacy for solving world disputes but is short of willing opposite numbers. Russia is following Iran’s example in exploiting Washington's inhibition to advance its goals by force. Therefore, the Caucasian standoff has profound ramifications for the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Moscow’s disdain for Washington’s lack of muscle will further encourage Tehran and its terrorist proxies to defy the international community and the United States in particular. DEBKAfile’s military analysts reported Saturday: Tiny Georgia with an army of less than 18,000, having been roundly defeated in South Ossetia, cannot hope to withstand the mighty Russian army in Abkhazia.Therefore, President Saakashvili, who had bid to join NATO, must consider both breakaway regions lost to Georgia and gained by Russia. This is Moscow's payback for the US-NATO success in detaching Kosovo from Serbia and approving its independence. It is also a warning to Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia against joining up with the United States and the NATO bloc in areas which Moscow deems part of its strategic sphere of influenceAfter seizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia, four follow-up Russian steps may be postulated:1. The two separatist provinces will proclaim their independence, just like Kosovo. 2. Russia will continue to exercise its overwhelming military and air might to force the pro-American Saakashvili’s capitulation.3. The Georgian president will not survive in office long after losing two regions of his country and national humiliation. Moscow aims to make Washington swallow a pro-Russian successor.4. Moscow’s trampling of Georgia will serve as an object lesson for Russia’s own secessionist provinces such as Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushettia not to risk defying Russian armed might.

 

[tomwebster]

I think we, the USA, should send Georgia all the arms they need.We helped in Iraq - now help us, beg Georgians:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle4500362.ece

 

[Christina]

'Oil, Israel and Iran' Among Factors that Led to Georgia War9 Av 5768, 10 August 08 11:25by Gl Ronen(IsraelNN.com) Analysis of the war in Georgia points to a fight over a major oil route as the main reason for hostilities, but also to an Israeli connection.Channel 2's expert on the Muslim world, Ehud Ya'ari, told viewers of the central evening newscast that Russia and neighboring countries were vying for control of a strategic oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. This relatively new pipeline passes through Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey and is the only pipeline between Asia and Europe that does not pass through Russia or Iran. Israel is expecting to receive oil and gas through the pipeline.By using the ethnic Russian population in South Ossetia to destabilize Georgia, Russia was making a play for the pipeline, he said. The Israeli ConnectionThe Georgian move against South Ossetia was motivated by political considerations having to do with Israel and Iran, according to Nfc. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili decided to assert control over the breakaway region in order to force Israel to reconsider its decision to cut back its support for Georgia's military.Russian and Georgian media reported several days ago that Israel decided to stop its support for Georgia after Moscow made it clear to Jerusalem and Washington that Russia would respond to continued aid for Georgia by selling advanced anti-aircraft systems to Syria and Iran.Hundreds of Israeli defense experts are reportedly in Georgia and Israel's military industries have been upgrading Georgia's air force, training its infantry and selling the country unmanned aerial vehicles and advanced artillery systems.Former minister Ronny Milo was reportedly among the leading Israeli middlemen in the arms deals with Georgia and Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsch has been training army units through a company he owns.Russia nixes ceasefireGeorgia has ordered its forces to cease fire, and offered to start talks with Russia over an end to hostilities in South Ossetia, Georgian officials said Sunday. However, Russia has reportedly rejected the offer. Earlier in the day, Georgia said its troops had pulled out of the breakaway region and that Russian forces were in control of its capital, Tskhinvali. Georgian President Saakashvili said Sunday that his country's sovereignty is in danger.After conducting consultations regarding events in Georgia, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Sunday that Israel "recognizes Georgia's territorial integrity." Israel also called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Russia and Georgia.Russia bombs Israeli-run plant Also on Sunday, Russia bombed a Georgian military plant in which Israeli experts are upgrading jet fighters for the Georgian military. According to Nfc, the bombing was a "sharp message" to Israel.A Russian fighter jet bombed runways inside the plant, located near Tbilisi, where Israeli security firm Elbit is in charge of upgrading Georgian SU-25 jets.Dozens Waiting to Make Aliyah from GeorgiaEight Jews were scheduled to arrive from Georgia to Israel Sunday evening and dozens more intend to make Aliyah to the Jewish state, once they finish the required paperwork. Representatives of Russian Aliyah agency Nativ will provide the Olim with Aliyah permits. The Georgian government claims Tbilisi's international airport was damaged Sunday after being bombed by Russian jets, and it is not clear if flights will be able to take off in the coming days.Russia's foreign minister denied the Georgian claim, Russian news agency Interfax reported.Russia is not denying reports that it bombed a military airport in a suburb of Tbilisi twice. Russia: Western Media is Pro-GeorgianRussian Deputy Foreign Minister Gregory Karasin said Sunday that international and western press coverage of events in Georgia were biased in favor of the Georgians."The West behaved strangely in the first hours of the attack on South Ossetia," Karasin said, and added that "the U.S.A.'s negative attitude" would be "taken into consideration in the future in contacts about other global questions." The US says it will ask the United Nations to condemn Russia's actions in Georgia.

 

[tomwebster]

(kriss;56635)
...The US says it will ask the United Nations to condemn Russia's actions in Georgia.
As if the United Nations is going to do something. I still think we should arm Georgia and help them take out a couple Russian planes.

 

[Christina]

They just might if Russia takes out that oil Pipeline. When are those 100lb hail stones supposed to fall ? A little to soon I guess uh.

 

[Christina]

Things are really heating up Bush is speaking in very strong language if Russia Bombs the capital of Georgia Says there will be consequences, he calls things a dramtic escalation will post a news article on his statement when I find one.

 

[Christina]

Georgia called for international intervention on Monday and pulled its battered forces back to the capital, as Russian troops pushed deep into its territory, ignoring Western pleas to halt."The Georgian army is retreating to defend the capital. The Government is urgently seeking international intervention to prevent the fall of Georgia," a Georgian statement said.President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russian forces had taken control of Georgia's main east-west route, effectively bisecting the country. He urged Georgians to stay home and not panic.Moscow snubbed a plea from the Group of Seven (G7) industrial powers for a ceasefire. It said Georgia had not kept a promise to halt fighting and was shelling the Russian-held region of South Ossetia where the conflict began last Thursday.The fighting has unsettled oil markets because Georgia hosts a key pipeline supplying the West. It has alarmed investors in Russia and has raised fears of a wider conflagration in the volatile region bordering Iran, Turkey and Russia.A feeling of uneasiness pervaded Tbilisi as for the first time in four nights, city streets were largely empty, with no evening demonstration by the president's supporters."We are working with an international community, but all we got so far are just words, statements, moral support, humanitarian aid," Saakashvili said in a televised address. "But we need more -- we want them to stop this barbaric aggressor."The conflict erupted last Thursday when Georgia sent forces to retake South Ossetia, which threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s and declared itself independent, albeit without international recognition.French President Nicolas Sarkozy was expected in Moscow and possibly Georgia on Tuesday for talks on behalf of the European Union, though it was unclear what could be achieved.U.S. President George W. Bush was due to make a statement on the conflict at 5:15 p.m. EDT (2115 GMT) on Monday.Five liberal leaders from central and eastern Europe -- Poland, Ukraine and the three Baltic states -- planned to visit Tbilisi in a show or support for Saakashvili. PARLIAMENT TO SITAn emergency session of parliament was called on Tuesday."The situation in Georgia is extremely difficult as Russia is using all its resources to occupy the country," Saakashvili said, referring to what he said was the capture of a major road.Georgia's prime minister, Lado Gurgenidze, told television viewers Russian troops had entered Poti, an oil and dry cargo shipping centre on the Black Sea coast. They were also in two other towns in western Georgia -- Senaki and Zugdidi.Russia's Defense Ministry denied its forces were in Poti. Officials earlier said Russian troops had advanced 40 km (25 miles) from a second separatist enclave, Abkhazia, to capture Senaki, but the ministry later said they had left the town.Russian officials have said they have no intention of occupying territory beyond the two separatist areas.A Reuters witness saw Georgian helicopter gunships bombing targets near the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, sending dark smoke billowing into the air. A second reporter heard heavy artillery bombardments on the road north of the wrecked town. CONVOY HEADS FOR TBILISIA senior Georgian official at one point said Russian troops had seized the Georgian town of Gori, some 40 km (25 miles) from South Ossetia, though Reuters correspondents saw no evidence of Russian forces in the town. One saw a column of Georgian military trucks moving eastwards from Gori towards Tbilisi.A senior parliamentarian, Nika Rurua, later said that Russian forces were positioned outside Gori.Moscow responded with a counter-attack by its vastly bigger forces that drove Georgian troops out of the devastated South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on Sunday. Russia says 1,600 people have been killed in the fighting and thousands more are homeless but these figures are not independently verifiable.Saakashvili earlier said he had agreed to a plan proposed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner under which hostilities would end, a mixed peacekeeping force would be deployed and troops would return to pre-conflict positions.Women and children wept in the streets of Tskhinvali on Monday as they surveyed the destruction amid continued Georgian shelling. Russian troops distributed water and food from trucks.One elderly resident told Reuters how she sheltered in a cellar with her 7-year-old grandson during the bombardment."My grandson screamed: 'Uncle Putin please help us, help us so that the Georgians don't kill me !'. They were screaming and crying it was terrible, a nightmare," she said."Thank God the Russians have come. It is getting better."Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has taken a leading role in the crisis, attacked the United States for helping Georgia fly home troops from Iraq and said the West was mistaking the aggressors for victims in the conflict -- a reference to strong Western support for Georgia.Putin mocked the support given by the West to Saakashvili, comparing him to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was hanged in 2006 for executing Shiites."They (the Americans) of course had to hang Saddam Hussein for destroying several Shiite villages," Putin said."But the current Georgian rulers who in one hour simply wiped 10 Ossetian villages from the face of the earth, the Georgian rulers which used tanks to run over children and the elderly, which threw civilians into cellars and burnt them -- they (Georgian leaders) are players that have to be protected."Russia said at a daily military briefing that it had lost four military aircraft and 18 soldiers since the fighting started, with another 14 missing in action and 52 wounded.Russian financial markets slid to their lowest levels in two years early Monday as investors panicked over the conflict.Stocks later reversed some of their losses on suggestions by President Dmitry Medvedev that the war may be nearing an end. For special coverage see http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/georgiaconflict

 

[Christina]

After listening to this all day I have to agree with Tom if we let Russia go ahead unheeded we are headed for World War in my opinion if Russia is allowed to keep going and take back over the souvergin nation of Georgia they have already threatned their coming after the Ukraine then the what the Balkins isnt this what started WWII in the same area. They have already run War Games over Alaska.This could well be the start of major World conflict. If someone doesnt oppose Russia. Germany and the E.U. says their hands are tied because they get 42 % of their Natural Gas from them and Russia says it will cut it off. So if the EU cant stop them and we cant/dont stop them where are we at?the world may be witnessing a resurgent Russia attempting to reassert influence over territory it lost with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. question is why should they stop there if nobody can stop them.

 

[Jordan]

Sorry to butt in, but I'm like never good at this stuff. I'm confused...so what's going on... I just can't comprehend what's going on today... and the fact I like never watch TV...

 

[Christina]

Georgian official to 'Post': Russia moving in on capitalAug. 11, 2008Yaakov Lappin, Hilary Leila Krieger, and AP , THE JERUSALEM POST Russian forces are moving in on the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, and the Georgian military has received orders to gather en masse around the capital and hold off the attack for as long as possible, Georgia's chargés d'affaires, Vladimir Konstantinidi, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday night. "The Russians took control of [the strategic city of] Gori, which is west of the capital, Tbilisi. It's the same distance as from Haifa to Tel Aviv," Konstantinidi said. "They've started moving towards the capital because that is their main target. So our forces are concentrating around a town [between Gori and Tbilisi]. They have to try and hold the Russians off for at least a while," he added. Asked if he believed this to be a realistic goal, Konstantinidi said, "I don't think anything. I hope that we will succeed." He said it was becoming apparent that the entire conflict had been "planned by Russia a long time ago." "Now we can see that this was not a response to defend the separatist region of South Ossetia. This was actually a plan of aggression which has been prepared for years and over the last few months especially. It began with a provocation and is continuing into this war," he said. "We're waiting for more action from our friends all over the world." Some foreign ministers and officials are attempting to plan visits to Georgia in order to raise support for the independent country but Constantinidi said, "we are waiting for more assertive actions from the international community." Despite continued calls for calm from the United States and other Western powers, Russia rejected a cease-fire with Georgia Monday after reportedly capturing Gori. Georgia's president Mikhail Saakashvili told a national security meeting on Monday night that Russian troops had effectively sliced his country in half. "[Russian forces] came to the central route and cut off connections between western and eastern Georgia," he said. Russia denied seizing Gori and effectively cutting the country in half (since the city straddles Georgia's only significant east-west highway) according to the Russian news agency Interfax. But the ongoing hostilities threatened to widen the conflict, which Georgian leaders warn augers a Russian attempt to take over the country, even as Western powers are urging international mediation and respect for Georgia's territorial integrity. Fighting also raged Monday around Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Swarms of Russian warplanes also launched new air raids across Georgia, with at least one sending screaming civilians running for cover. The two-front battlefield was a major escalation in the conflict that blew up late Thursday after a Georgian offensive to regain control of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Even as Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili signed a cease-fire pledge Monday with EU mediators, Russia flexed its military muscle and appeared determined to subdue the small US ally which has been pressing for NATO membership. On Monday afternoon, Russian troops invaded Georgia from the western separatist province of Abkhazia while most Georgian forces were busy with fighting in the central region around South Ossetia. The conflict is severely straining relations between Russia and the West, as Washington and Moscow have traded barbs while the situation on the ground intensifies. At Georgia's request, the UN Security Council called an emergency session for later Monday - the fifth meeting on the fighting in as many days. Meanwhile, the US helped the 2,000 or so Georgian forces deployed in Iraq to return home, eliciting an angry reaction for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who said the move wouldn't help resolve the situation. "Of course, Saddam Hussein ought to have been hanged for destroying several Shi'ite villages," Putin said in Moscow. "And the incumbent Georgian leaders who razed ten Ossetian villages at once, who ran [over] elderly people and children with tanks, who burned civilians alive in their sheds - these leaders must be taken under protection." The US has criticized such rhetoric from Putin for inflaming and feeding the conflict. The administration has also condemned the type and breadth of force employed by the Kremlin - including ballistic missiles, strategic bombers and raids into areas the US says are far from the provinces in contention. "I've expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia, and that we strongly condemn the bombing outside of South Ossetia," Bush told NBC Sports in an interview Sunday. Still, the US is continuing to emphasize diplomatic engagement, with a State Department official saying Monday that, "The United States is responding to Georgia's humanitarian and reconstruction needs and is prepared to provide assistance as needed." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterparts in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations spoke by telephone Monday and affirmed their support for a diplomatic solution, urging Russia to agree to international mediation and respect Georgian territorial integrity and condemning the loss of civilian life. But Russba expert Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, assessed that Western diplomatic engagement will yield little. "Russia is beyond the point of no return. The US and European diplomatic entreaties failed. Russian delivered a slap in the face to [EU President] Nicolas Sarkozy and President Bush. Now it has created a new geopolitical reality between the Black Sea and the Caspian," he said. "It will be extremely difficult to dislodge" Russia. He said the Kremlin's aim is to establish control of the oil and gas resources in the region and that it would not be responsive to diplomatic pressure, while the US and other Western powers had not indicated a willingness to use military force to oppose Putin. Georgians have expressed criticism of the US and its Western allies for not doing more to help, given Georgia's strategic decision to ally itself with the West and seek membership in NATO in the face of Russian displeasure. But US senior officials indicated that the US had cautioned Georgia against provoking armed conflict with Russia, despite the long-simmering territorial dispute and what it sees as Russian violations. "President Saakashvili miscalculated and walked into a trap that the Russian president set for him," Cohen assessed. "We [the US] were warning Georgia that we did not want a military confrontation between Georgia and Russia. Now we can see why." Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Both the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s - and both have close ties with Moscow. Georgia began an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia late Thursday with heavy shelling and air strikes that ravaged South Osseita's provincial capital of Tskhinvali. The Russia response was swift and overpowering - thousands of troops that shelled the Georgians until they fled Tskhinvali on Sunday, and four days of bombing raids across Georgia. Yet Georgia's pledge of a cease-fire rang hollow Monday. An AP reporter saw a small group of Georgian fighters open fire on a column of Russian and Ossetian military vehicles outside Tskhinvali, triggering a 30-minute battle. The Russians later said all the Georgians were killed. Another AP reporter was in the village of Tkviavi, 12 kilometers south of Tskhinvali inside Georgia, when a bomb from a Russian Sukhoi warplane struck a house. The walls of neighboring buildings fell as screaming residents ran for cover. Eighteen people were wounded, six of them seriously. Georgian artillery fire was heard coming from fields about 200 meters away from the village, perhaps the bomber's target. Hundreds of Georgian troops headed north Monday along the road toward Tskhinvali, pocked with tank regiments creeping up the highway into South Ossetia. Hundreds of other soldiers traveled via trucks in the opposite direction, towing light artillery weapons. Saakashvili signed a cease-fire pledge Monday proposed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb. The EU envoys headed to Moscow to try to persuade Russia to accept the cease-fire. Saakashvili, however, voiced concern that Russia's true goal was to undermine his pro-Western government. "It's all about the independence and democracy of Georgia," he said. Saakashvili said Russia had sent 20,000 troops and 500 tanks into Georgia. He said Russian warplanes were bombing roads and bridges, destroying radar systems and targeting Tbilisi's civilian airport. One Russian bombing raid struck the Tbilisi airport area only a half hour before the EU envoys arrived, he said. Another hit near key Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which carries Caspian crude to the West. No supply interruptions have been reported. Abkhazia's separatists declared Sunday they would push Georgian forces out of the northern part of the Kodori Gorge, the only area of Abkhazia still under Georgian control. Before invading western Georgia, Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn demanded Monday that Georgia disarm its police in Zugdidi, a town just outside Abkhazia. Still, he insisted, "we are not planning any offensive." At least 9,000 Russian troops and 350 armored vehicles were in Abkhazia, according to a Russian military commander. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said more than 2,000 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of them Ossetians with Russian passports. The figures could not be independently confirmed, but refugees who fled Tskhinvali over the weekend said hundreds had been killed. Many found shelter in the Russian province of North Ossetia. "The Georgians burned all of our homes," said one elderly woman, as she sat on a bench under a tree with three other white-haired survivors. "The Georgians say it is their land. Where is our land, then?"This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com

 

[Christina]

Bush deeply concerned by “Russian troop movements into Georgia”August 12, 2008, 12:57 AM (GMT+02:00) Bush issues tough statment to MoscowIn a special statement from the White House Monday night, Aug. 11, the US president said the Russians may soon be bombing targets in the Georgian capital. This was a dramatic escalation. It was inconsistent with Russian assurances that their purpose was to restore the status quo ante of Aug. 6, and meant they may now be seeking to depose Georgia’s elected government. This is unacceptable in the 21st century.Bush demanded that Russia accept the peace agreement put forward by the US and Europe and let talks start again. Russia must respect Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. DEBKAfile notes that the agreement was rejected by Moscow after it was signed by the Georgian president in Tbilisi in the presence of the French and Finnish foreign ministers. Washington sources comment that, despite President Bush’s tough tone compared with his previous statements on the Russian-Georgian conflict - “Russia has substantially damaged its standing in the world and jeopardized its relations with the US and Europe,” - his brief statement came too late affect the course of events in and around Georgia or to deter Moscow from its military pressure to topple President Saakashvili in Tbilisi.

 

[crooner]

Nothing will probably happen over this. Russia is testing things. There is not much Bush can do. Its just the way its gonna be. Russia will eventually try to take some of her old country back.Iran is going to be the kicker.