Posted on 08/15/2008 9:13:17 PM PDT by MarMema
The crush of displaced people has proved more than the government or aid organizations can handle. Many who have taken shelter in the Georgian capital say they could not have survived if not for an impromptu outpouring of charity from fellow Georgians, who have opened their doors to strangers and shown up at shelters bearing food, bedding, soap and medicine.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
"A slight, dark-haired woman named Leila Kopadze said she watched militiamen rampage through her neighborhood in the Divani district. They stole cars and stuffed them with household goods, she said; ripped down Georgian flags and replaced them with Russian flags; set fire to houses. When one of her neighbors, a man named Ermala Bejanishvili, came running with buckets of water to put out the blaze engulfing his home, the militiamen gunned him down with a Kalashnikov, she said."
ping
So heartwrenching to read these sad reports from Georgia - one day life is normal - the next day Russian bombs are falling and tanks are coming into your city....and you are an instant refugee.
Almost unbelievable.
Russian thugs - go home!
Thugs, criminals and monsters, but some people still will defend the indefensible.
The Russians are the scum of the earth. Putin has that “little man” syndrome. He is probably small where it counts so he rolls out the military as compensation. What a worthless steaming sack of yak dung.
BOO! BOOOO!
That bloody hairless ape in a silk suit is still just a hairless ape in a silk suit!!
If that kluziky ever spoke and I was in the crowd, I’d stand up and turn my back on him just to avoid him....
MarMema, is there anyway to donate to a decent charity to help those folks to get through the situation?
The world suffers from the “little man” sydrom. Putin, Achmadinajad, Chavez, Kim Jong-il, dang!
Thank you for caring. I would do almost anything to be there right now. I grit my teeth when I read this stuff. If I had coverage at work, I would be SOOO outtahere and on my way.
Well, I’m not a rich man by far, but I’d be willing to send some money as long as it directly goes to the Georgian people and not a Aid Agency.
If you have an mail address or something I’ll see what I can do.
I'm skeptic over HRW as they don;t want the use of cluster bombs by any party.
Here’s from a World Vision online newsletter. World Vision was also one of the first to act during the Tsunami. They are in place at so many locations in the world and have the resources in place. I also seem to recall that they have a very low overhead.
GEORGIA - World Vision began assisting displaced people in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi on Saturday August 9.
World Vision provided essential food and non-food items such as bars of soap, toilet paper, wet napkins, towels, bed sheets, large woolen blankets, and essential food items such as cans of canned meat with vegetables, pasta, canned fish, vegetable oil, iodized salt, among others items to an estimated 170 people, mainly women and children, who escaped the violence from Gori and villages in South Ossetia.
The refugees and internally displaced persons have been arriving at an existing center in Tbilisi that has been home to hundreds of families displaced from Georgia’s other breakaway region of Abkhazia.
“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?” asked a shaken and concerned 36-year-old woman, who managed to escape the violence from Gori with her two children.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has now declared a 15-day “state of war” as clashes continue in South Ossetia and against military targets in Georgia.
World Vision will continue working with WFP and other organizations as more people continue to flee southward toward the Georgian capital.
All World Vision Georgia 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.
“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 David Womble, World Vision Georgia National Director.
World Vision will continue working with WFP and other organisations as more people are expected to flee southward toward the Georgian capital.
Currently, eight Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) locations have been identified. Three are located in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and five of them in other districts of the country. These locations have been identified by the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation, and are currently serving over 2,000 people with the number expected to rise as the violence continues
I have always heard good things about them here, on conservative radio. They have a huge location near me toward Seattle.
They are not leaving, they are going to say they are peacekeeping.
ping to my post above
Since Russia invaded Georgia and occupied the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, looters and armed gangs in uniform — many of them apparently Ossetians, Chechens and Cossacks — have operated behind the army’s path, ransacking villages largely vacated by fleeing civilians. The push to Igoeti opened a new security vacuum between Gori and here, creating fresh targets for these roaming bands.
One exhausted old man sat on the road. He said he had walked about 65 miles in two days to escape the looters, and had seen burning villages along his path. “It is not going to get better,” he said. He asked that his name not be published, out of fear. Then he stood and limped down the shrinking band of highway between Russian troops and the capital.”
Fine Cossack Tradition.
Now what will Bush and Condi do, I wonder?
That was from Sarkozy’s agreement, it seemed to leave the Russians a loophole. I don’t know, Poti is important, Georgia must have the east or it is nothing. Having presidents and staff in Tbilisi should be a block, but the Russians are digging in for the long haul.
They are not going to leave. So what will we do next?
You are sweet.
Humanitarian aid , support Georgia diplomatically and re-arm Poland ,Ukraine, Baltic states and re-arm Georgia. I don’t know how we will get the Russians out of Gori or Poti, they will keep the “breakaways” even if they pull back. Russia will have to fear something to leave, I don’t see any threat to make them step back. Maybe there is one out there, but the Oil lines are still threatened (which if the West can’t look out for Georgia, perhaps the Oil will make them step towards helping Georgia more pro actively). Poland and its missiles however, may be something that Russia fears, due to their “we smash’em yous” response.
Thank you. Very much.
Georgian Orthodox priests try to prevent a Georgian man from insulting passing Russian officers in the garrison city of Gori, Georgia.
ping
In sharp contrast to the excellent care two downed Russian pilots are getting in Georgia.
Thanks for posting that. I feel sickened by how evil the Russian troops have become.
They were always evil and besides, many of these troops are thugs that Putin conscripted.
Just disgusting. And this is what the apologists are aluding as ‘Well, gosh, what do you expect the Russians to do?”
I can see the defenses on DU but on Freeper? disgusting.
Thanks for the ping.
I saw this too and thought of you.
Please keep us all up to date with you travel plans.
?
God Bless them, they are trying to save lives, he must listen and watch until help comes or is forced upon the aggressor.
We have no idea really what these people must watch and endure.
sorry..that didn’t post right.
I meant, I can see how DU has posts that defend the russians, but it is hard for me to see Freeprs defending russia when those posts go on here. Most of them just don’t have any information other than general media info.
OK this is page one of Article.;http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200606/russian-soldier
Fascinating and sad. Thank you. I had friends in Moscow who went to great lengths to have their son documented with a heart murmur when he was about 5, to keep him from ever being able to serve. Now I guess I really understand why they did that.
If you want to see the BEST panel discussion of this...go to CSPAN and search for ‘Georgia” then go to “american Enterprise Institute Panel discussion on Russia and Georgia Military conflict.”
We are trying to get the link posted now!
BTW, did you see this?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2062759/posts
Too, thank you for posting the pics.
Just sad...
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