Posted on 08/14/2008 8:51:50 AM PDT by maquiladora
US defence chief Robert Gates has said he sees no prospect of using US military force in Georgia, following its week-long conflict with Russia.
But he warned that US-Russia relations could be adversely affected for years as a result of Moscow's actions.
(snip)
Despite concerns that Moscow may not be keen quickly to leave Georgian territory, Mr Gates said the Russians did seem to be pulling back.
"They appear to be withdrawing their forces back towards Abkhazia and to the zone of conflict... towards South Ossetia," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
“no prospect of using US military force in Georgia” is so NOT the same thing as “No forces in Georgia”.
Are the BBC deliberately twisting the headline?
Don’t really know but we don’t need another war. Georgia is Europes problem. We need to stay out of it.
wonder if the Georgian president will order his forces to engage . . . it looks like he may have done something like that this morning in Gori. It appears he is doing everything in his power to get us more directly involved.
How about just the boxes with the TOW missiles and the MANPADS then, let the Georgians do the rest.
It has MUCH more to do with the US than with Europe. It’s always someone else who should deal with it, isn’t it?
BINGO. We need to support our friends.
Russia is not our friend!!!
Other than their navy and maybe their air defense (Russkies admit 6 aircraft lost) the Georgians hve not done at all well.
If that's the sum total of your geopolitical acumen, I'd love to watch you attempting to calculate a tip at a diner.
“wonder if the Georgian president will order his forces to engage . . . it looks like he may have done something like that this morning in Gori.”
What makes you say that?
It really bothers me, and worries me, that the Russians will get away with this. If they don’t pay a price, the baltic states better expect them back, and going further each time.
“If that’s the sum total of your geopolitical acumen, I’d love to watch you attempting to calculate a tip at a diner.”
How fast do you think Thomas Jefferson could calculate a tip?
You guys that are aching to roll out the nukes for the sake of Georgia should take a deep breath.
“I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal war. All their energies are expended in the destruction of the labor, property and lives of their people.” —Thomas Jefferson
They will provide humanitarian efforts, but their very presence will also provide a military trip-line in case the Russians decide to re-engage.
Bush has acted directly, with language and now with actions in helping the Georgians...and I believe in concert with the French President and the other President's that their efforts are going to work. McCain was also strong in this. Obama was very weak out of the chute and should be a serious concern for anyone looking at world conditions and our choice for President.
It will become our problem in a hurry if the Russians are allowed to control the pipelines in the region. On the other hand I have to wonder what kind of brain damage makes some folks itchy for a war with Russia.
“..the Georgians have not done at all well.”
According to the Russkies
Had Georgia kept just 6 nuclear weapons from the old 20,000 warhead Soviet stockpile, many of which were on Georgian soil, this invasion would never have happened.
“Had Georgia kept just 6 nuclear weapons from the old 20,000 warhead Soviet stockpile, many of which were on Georgian soil, this invasion would never have happened.”
Like they actually would have nuked the Russian troops?
Right.
This needs to influence our relations with Russia the way the first World Trade Center bombing ought to have been in reference to our relations with the Muslim world.
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