Russian Soldiers Take Prisoners In Georgia Port

The longer the Russians are stalled in Georgia, the better, as the Georgians can mobilize more reserves and import more arms.

Good points, but the Russians seem to be either systematically destroying or just stealing every military and economic asset under their control. They also seem to be fanning out and slowly enlarging that area. Although they did perform a small withdrawal from Gori, they still control the city. This was actually a favorite warfare tactic utilized by the Mongols. Attack and destroy the outlying cities. Force the refuges to withdraw to the capital. That puts a strain on the resources of the capital that it would not normally have if it was attacked initially. Basically, I see no reason why they wont eventually take Tbilisi, unless they are delaying and using the Georgians there as hostages to prevent a strike on Iran.

But you are still under the impression that Russia is still needing to be forestalled! The Russians are not going to make any moves either towards the capital or to sieze or occupy Georgia. Trust me on this the Pentagon knows exactly the score of the disposition of Russian forces and they knew when the Russian embarked on this adventure.

The Russians have not mobilised either their strategic reserve or massed forces on the Georgian border. Imagine how many Russian forces it would take to occupy and hold Georgia as a prize? It simply isn’t and wasn’t the goal of Russia. Their intention was to humiliate the Georgian Armed Forces and their President and to finally in their eyes obtain total control over South Osettia and Abkhazia. In Russian eyes Georgia will never again meddle in either of the disputed territories after the mauling that they got.

I used to serve in intel and I’m now retired. I still have serving friends and even they tell me that this was not a Russian total occupation of Georgia. The disposition of the Russian forces was far too small. That would be the first question that President Bush would have been asking? What are they up to and is this a total and complete occupation? Thank goodness the intel provided gave President Bush the heads-up and allowed him not to make any rash decisions over this conflict. If President Bush had only been listening to President Saakashvili he would have been dragged into a conflict with the Russians.

There has been lots of hype and media misinterpretation over the events. Here is the thoughts from a serving intel analyst on certain aspects. A lot of the media reporting was simply diabolacle. All the info is open source.

http://geimint.blogspot.com/2008/08/russia-georgia-disinformation.html

I agree they are not out to occuy the whole of the country...but they are still controlling major portions of the country creating havoc and mishief of all sorts, and will probably continue to do so until they see a reason to do otherwise.

Medvedev says today that will be Friday...but he had also said it would be Tuesday.

We need to give them those reasons.

And we also need to send some messages ourselves.

After what Clinton did with Kosovo, and then having it compounded by Bush recognizing that monstrocity, I believe that it will be almost impossible to stop these provinces from voting for independence and then having the Russians vouchsafe it with bases and troops on the ground.

We will need to counter that with an amdission to NATO (IMHO) and our own presence (or at least a NATO presence) and probably maintain it until such time that Putin and his ilk disenfranchise themselves enough from the western world that the Russian people feel the pinch and eject him themselves.

Thank you for the reply. Some very valid points there. In my opinion the Russian will pull out this Friday. They have had their poke at the west and have finished humiliating the Georgian President and his forces. I myself see South Osettia going for full independence. Possibly Abkhazia will follow likewise? With full military backing from Russia I can’t see how anyone can stop them?

Yeah, it’s a thing of great beauty. Now we’ve a got the Russians either retreating or fighting us via our proxies in the Ukraine and Georgia.

We don’t even have to get our hands dirty to bleed the Bear if Putin can’t calm down.

That being said, I’d rather have Russia rejoin the civilized world and act like decent neighbors. But hey, I’ll play either way.

"After what Clinton did with Kosovo, and then having it compounded by Bush recognizing that monstrocity, I believe that it will be almost impossible to stop these provinces from voting for independence and then having the Russians vouchsafe it with bases and troops on the ground. We will need to counter that with an amdission to NATO (IMHO) and our own presence (or at least a NATO presence) and probably maintain it until such time that Putin and his ilk disenfranchise themselves enough from the western world that the Russian people feel the pinch and eject him themselves."

Russia and Serbia were unfairly screwed over Kosovo and that whole ethnic cleansing 1999 nonsense. No doubt about it.

And yes, that sets a precedent that will cost Georgia Osettia.

Such is life.

But Georgia will remain, if a little smaller. And as we arm them up with anti-aircraft, anti-tank, and anti-ship munitions, they'll be a convenient speed bump should Russia get Imperical ideas later on.

Don't get too worked up about not having 100%. We'll get 80% victory out of this deal, with *zero* loss of U.S. life in the process.

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