Posted on 10/05/2008 9:18:09 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Now that the Republic of Georgia has been moved off the front pages, it is time to assess what was really behind Russia's heavy-handed invasion of that pro-Western fledgling democratic country.
Clearly Russia precipitated the war by using its proxy thugs in South Ossetia to force a confrontation through repeated provocations with Tbilisi. Aside from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's hatred of President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, was this payback for Kosovo or a signal to those border states from the Baltic to the Black Sea to reverse their pro-Western trend? Perhaps, but if it was, it didn't work. Poland, two days after the invasion, signed the ABM interceptor agreement with the United States after they had stalled for almost two years. They also just withdrew $35 billion from the Moscow stock market. The border states openly want a closer relationship with the West.
It certainly was not Mr. Putin's intent to unify the trans-Atlantic Union, but he did. Mr. Putin could care less about Serbs in Kosovo or the 70,000 Ossetians he inherited. His main objective was expanded control of energy transit pipelines going through the region. Russia has had a stated policy of preventing the West from building the Nabucco gas pipeline through Georgia since it would carry non-Russian gas to Europe not under Moscow's control.
As an aside, counter to what many have assumed, the Russian military operation into Georgia was not all that professional. Thirty percent of their tanks reportedly broke down before reaching the border. Seven or eight aircrafts were lost. One element that did work well was the simultaneous cyber Internet attack on dissidents' Web sites.
The illusion that Mr. Putin had ceded power to the newly "elected" Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was laid bare. One vote counts in Russia today ...Mr. Putin's.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
putin wanted to control the oil pipeline from baku to turkey.
but, the u.s. economy is doing what our military couldn’t do,
sucking the air out of putin’s oil and gas grab.
I've always been skeptical about the term "BRIC." Unlike Russia, India, China and Brazil have diversified economies.
Russia is merely a better educated Nigeria with nukes and white people.
you’re right.
i was wondering just today while driving down the road
when hugo’s going to start yelling about prices of oil.
iran’s break even is $70.00 and saudi arabia’s %50.00 per barrel.
wonder what hugo’s is?
Totally off our usual topic.
Pinging in case anyone missed these photos.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2098440/posts?page=5#5
From the link:
Concentration Camps (which they call detention camps) in Russian occupied Tskhinvali where so far, hundreds of Georgian civilians are kept.
Baba Yar 1941? No, at least not yet but be patient Libertarians and Rusophiles.
It seems the more things change the more they stay the same.
The Eu doesn’t seem to concerned with a KGB monopoly on their energy.
Let the EU die a cold, damp, wet, painful,lingering, death.
They will be called “Freeper Camps” if Obama wins. lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QcpdUtxNQ
Let’s pass this video around and make sure there are NO freeper camps.
Thank you, word_warrier_bob. I was searching for that link a few minutes ago. I’m going to post it on another thread, and I’ll ping you.
These are horrible sights. This is random but I have to ask. Is that snow on the ground, 4th picture down?
It appears to be snow, and I wondered about it, too, but all of those photos are from an earlier on-line newspaper article at the time, and there was no caption or notation stating otherwise.
Clearly Russia precipitated the war by using its proxy thugs in South Ossetia to force a confrontation through repeated provocations with Tbilisi. Aside from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's hatred of President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, was this payback for Kosovo or a signal to those border states from the Baltic to the Black Sea to reverse their pro-Western trend? Perhaps, but if it was, it didn't work. Poland, two days after the invasion, signed the ABM interceptor agreement with the United States after they had stalled for almost two years. They also just withdrew $35 billion from the Moscow stock market. The border states openly want a closer relationship with the West.Thanks Tailgunner Joe for the topic, LucyT for the ping.
It certainly was not Mr. Putin's intent to unify the trans-Atlantic Union, but he did. Mr. Putin could care less about Serbs in Kosovo or the 70,000 Ossetians he inherited. His main objective was expanded control of energy transit pipelines going through the region. Russia has had a stated policy of preventing the West from building the Nabucco gas pipeline through Georgia since it would carry non-Russian gas to Europe not under Moscow's control.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.