Posted on 08/13/2008 11:52:34 AM PDT by MNJohnnie
President Bush has directed the U.S. military to lead a humanitarian mission to Georgia where tens of thousands have been forced out of their homes following a Russian invasion last week that has been described by Georgia's president as an "ethnic cleansing."
A U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies already has arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and another C-17 will arrive there Thursday with additional medical and humanitarian aid, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said after the president's announcement.
Speaking from the White House Rose Garden with Defense Secretary Bob Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bush said the aid mission will be "vigorous and ongoing." He warned Russia not to interfere.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The Turks and Ukrainians sent aid and electricity days ago
That's possible.
Realistically, we can't just go in and bomb Russia back into the stone age (much as we might want them to do so). But we can supply humanitarian aid to Georgia, and taunt Russia at the same time. Russia will not attack US military personnel, because while they feel that they can take on a military of 1/100 their size, they really don't want to tangle with the US directly.
That is a beautiful picture. It looks like a bunch of happy people who love their country.
Georgia being traded for Russians standing aside while Israelis take out Iranian nukes with US/ EU support.
Good to see ya Mano! Eeevil interviewed for Blog Talk Radio Duncan Hunter last week on the GOP Energy Revolt. He was awesome. You would of loved it
I heard it on the replay! I somehow knew Eeev would be back with a radio show.
Think again. Geopolitics is chess, not checkers.
Politics today are not just based on who has the biggest military but who controls the supply of what economies need, especially when it is short supply. And that necessity today is energy -- oil and gas.
There are three key elements to the energy game -- source, control and the energy supply routes.
Right now Russia's sole power in Europe is not its military, it is that Russia supplies Europe with 40% of its gas and and oil. And Russia has increased its power with Gazprom deals that cross Eastern Europe. We, in turn, have tried to compete with that with the Nabucco oil pipeline that brings Caspian sea oil in via a different route that bypasses Russia. One of those non-Russian routes runs through, guess where? Georgia!!!! And what was one of the first things that Russia took out when it attacked Georgia? That pipeline!
But this "humanitarian aid" that we are using the US Secretary of Defense and the US Military to deliver(?) has now given us an excuse to plant ourselves right in that main-hub transit neighborhood.
This isn't "tinfoil-hat imaginings", is geo-strategic thinking. There is more at play here than just a Russian-Georgian border dispute. And if you don't believe me, then look at the figures that even Georgia puts on its "number of dead" -- "Tbilisi puts deaths on its side at over 175, with hundreds injured. That figure does not include South Ossetia."
A US presidential press conference, putting the Secretary of Defense on it, sending US military to "deliver humanitarian aid" and sending the Secretary of State to France to discuss it, for a conflict that left "175 Georgians dead"? Something is wrong with this picture!
She certainly looked as if she'd like to do some head ripping today.
We’ve got our hands full right now in the middle east. There’s no way the Bush administration would purposely incite Russia with so many of our troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. OTOH, Putin probably thinks the end of an unpopular, “lame-duck” president’s term is the perfect time to expand his territory,lessen U.S. influence in the region, and get his hands on more oil.
Good.
Now I would like to see us resupply the Georgian Armed Forces with things that go KA-BOOMM!
You'd think -- but he obviously is freeing up troops to deliver this "humanitarian aid by land and by sea".
But, if this whole Georgian thing was a strategy by us, it's a losing one. Because even Europe is reluctant to back us on it:
"The conflict opened a diplomatic gulf between the United States and Britain, who condemned Moscow's "blatant aggression," and France, Italy and Germany, who were careful to avoid criticising Russia, a key energy supplier and business partner."
Or mini-bar sized exlax-laced humanitarian vodka bottles for the Russians.
I think Bush is freeing up troops because no one else will, and it’s the right thing to do. It is in no way easy or convenient, but defending freedom usually isn’t.
I don’t see why the Europeans haven’t mobilized to help a democracy on its borders being overrun. Hopefully, they get their heads out of the sand and stand with Georgia before Russia regains its iron grip on eastern Europe once again.
My communications to and from Afghanistan in Spring 2002 were "carried" via this Gorgeous Baby: 
The U.S.S. Roosevelt.
The U.S. Navy has sent ships into the Black sea since the 90’s. There is even a regional exercise that takes place there. We http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=38435.
Talk is cheap, my friends, but it will take American money and life and possibly lead to disaster.
Even Rush has jumped the shark! How do any of the 3 places involve our national security?
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