Posted on 11/10/2008 9:46:40 PM PST by Lorianne
On Nov. 6, in a long expository article, The New York Times informed us that, according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Tbilisi had (a) initiated the hostilities and (b) done so with indiscriminate bombing of the South Ossetian capital without regard to civilian casualties--despite Georgian claims to the contrary. All sides consider the OSCE to be a highly dependable, impartial, monitoring body with long experience in the region.
Whatever the BBC is pretending to report there, their subtext sneaks through loud and clear--Georgia invaded first. If Georgia invaded first, Russia was provoked, Russia could not but respond, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is a trigger-happy maniac, we should back off from confrontation with Moscow, this is no incipient or even full-fledged Cold War casus belli to test Obama, he can press the refresh button and the new world will pop up as a tabula rasa.
In the G.W. era this would fall under "faith-based" as opposed to "reality-based" reasoning. The Times and BBC can lay out their dream narrative all they want, but it's unlikely that Obama--as sober and intentional a politician as it's possible to wake up to with a hangover--will buy into it. Biden certainly won't.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The day I belive Georiga instigated hostilities is the day I take the blue pill.
"The crisis was sparked earlier this week when Georgia sent troops into the breakaway province of South Ossetia to quell a Russian-backed separatist uprising."
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Russia-On-Verge-Of-All-Out-War-As-Troops-Clash-In-Georgias-South-Ossetia/Article/200808215074261?lpos=World%2BNews_4&lid=ARTICLE_15074261_Russia%2BOn%2BVerge%2BOf%2BAll-Out%2BWar%2BAs%2BTroops%2BClash%2BIn%2BGeo
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From the New York Times, September 15, 2008
Georgia Offers Fresh Evidence on Wars Start
Russia has not disputed the veracity of the phone calls, which were apparently made by Ossetian border guards on a private Georgian cellphone network. Listen, has the armor arrived or what? a supervisor at the South Ossetian border guard headquarters asked a guard at the tunnel with the surname Gassiev, according to a call that Georgia and the cellphone provider said was intercepted at 3:52 a.m. on Aug. 7.
The armor and people, the guard replied. Asked if they had gone through, he said, Yes, 20 minutes ago; when I called you, they had already arrived.
Shota Utiashvili, the director of the intelligence analysis team at Georgias Interior Ministry, said the calls pointed to a Russian incursion. This whole conflict has been overshadowed by the debate over who started this war, he said. These intercepted recordings show that Russia moved first and that we were defending ourselves.
The recordings, however, do not explicitly describe the quantity of armor or indicate that Russian forces were engaged in fighting at that time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/world/europe/16georgia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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Georgia says Russia deploying troops in S.Ossetia
October 23, 2008
TBILISI (Reuters) Georgia said on Thursday Russia had deployed 2,000 additional troops into South Ossetia in the past week and was preparing "provocations" in the breakaway territory.
"In the past week, Russia increased the number of troops by 2,000 to 7,000 staff," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told a news conference.
"We fear Russia is preparing provocations in South Ossetia," he said.
There was no immediate response from Russian authorities.
Utiashvili said dozens of Russian armored vehicles had been positioned in the disputed Akhalgori region, the southeastern corner of South Ossetia which Georgia insists should be returned to Tbilisi's control under a French-brokered ceasefire deal.
Russia sent troops and tanks into Georgia in August to repel an offensive by the Georgian military to retake pro-Russian South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92.
Russia's powerful counter-strike drove the Georgian army out of South Ossetia, and Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent Georgian attacks.
The West condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" and Russian troops have since pulled back from buffer zones around South Ossetia and a second breakaway region, Abkhazia.
The Kremlin has recognised both rebel regions as independent states and said it would station 7,600 troops there to provide security.
A 225-strong European Union mission is monitoring the ceasefire, patrolling the former buffer zone around South Ossetia up to its de facto border.
Russia says the mission will not be allowed to operate inside South Ossetia.
(Reporting by Niko Mchedlishvili; editing by Christian Lowe)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081023/wl_nm/us_georgia_ossetia_troops_1
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"the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century" -Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the collapse of the Soviet Union...
"World democratic opinion has yet to realize the alarming implications of President Vladimir Putin's State of the Union speech on April 25, 2005, in which he said that the collapse of the Soviet Union represented the 'greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.'
http://www.hooverdigest.org/053/beichman.html
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Militant Possibilities on the New-Old Front
September 17, 2008
By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart
Over the past several months we have written quite a bit about the Russian resurgence. This discussion predates Russias military action in Georgia. Indeed, we have discussed the revival of Russian power since at least 2005, the implications of the FSBs return since April and the potential return of the Cold War since March.
After the Aug. 7 confrontation between Georgia and Russia and the Sept. 10 deployment of Russian strategic bombers in Venezuela, there is little doubt that Russia is reasserting itself and that we are entering a period of heightened geopolitical tension between Russia and the United States. This period of tension is, as forecast, beginning to resemble the Cold War though as we have noted in previous analyses, the new version will be distinctly different. ..."
Much more, at:
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20080917_militant_possibilities_new_old_front
Relevant article if you haven’t seen it already. A bit lengthy, but worth the read:
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/08/the-truth-about-1.php
One thing I did like about McCain is when he said, "When I look into Putin's eyes, I see KGB..." (I am remembering that correctly, right?) That's what I've seen all along. Now, they're trying to work with Obama. I guess the commies are glad to have a genuine allie in the White House.
The BBC report info was provided by Human Rights Watch, a leftist Soros-funded NGO.
"Georgian military action in South Ossetia in early August 2008 led to a Russian military response that not only occupied the breakaway areas, but large portions of Georgia proper as well. Russian troops pulled back from most occupied Georgian territory, but in late August 2008 Russia unilaterally recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This action was strongly condemned by most of the world's nations and international organizations."
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gg.html
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