Posted on 08/08/2018 7:59:31 AM PDT by Mariner
MOSCOW – An attempt by NATO to incorporate the former Soviet republic of Georgia could trigger a new, "horrible" conflict, Russia's prime minister said Tuesday in a stern warning to the West marking 10 years since the Russia-Georgia war.
Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with the Kommersant daily broadcast by Russian state television that NATO's plans to eventually offer membership to Georgia are "absolutely irresponsible" and a "threat to peace."
Medvedev was Russia's president during the August 2008 war, which erupted when Georgian troops tried unsuccessfully to regain control over the Moscow-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia and Russia sent troops that routed the Georgian military in five days of fighting.
The Russian army was poised to advance on the Georgian capital, but Medvedev rolled it back, accepting a truce mediated by the European Union.
After the war, Georgia entirely lost control of both South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia. Russia has strengthened its military presence in both regions and recognized them as independent states, but only a few countries have followed suit.
The European Union on Tuesday reiterated its "firm support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders" and lamented the Russian military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
In a show of support for Georgia, foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and a Cabinet member from Ukraine, visited Tbilisi Tuesday, urging Russia to withdraw its troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "Nowadays no country can change the borders of another country by force," said Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“But Russia, who has significant reason to fear or at least be very wary of foreign encroachment near its borders, is expected to just go along with this. It is a very poor idea, it is poking Russia in the eye, and they are bound to react by upping their defenses and probably offensive capability as well.”
President Reagan’s policy was that America will never blink to the Russians.
Now, why should America blink?
We here in the north woods don’t want to join NATO. We uns are just fine as is. /s
Yeh. Never mind that Georgia might want to join NATO, but will be denied because NATO is afraid of what might happen. That shows the Roosians how strong NATO is. pfffft! You address Russia by strength, not weakness!
That will not st5op them from nuking you and yours.
The US would do the same in the same circumstances.
The Russians don't have that many ICBM's left. Even on paper.
They have around 40 old SS-18's that are due to retire next year. If they actually work at all.
90ish Topol's and variants. On paper.
“The US would do the same in the same circumstances.”
While the United States would take decisive action, I doubt we would launch nukes if Georgia entered into an alliance with the Eastern Bloc.
However I think the chances of the State of Georgia aligning themselves with Moscow is very slight.
Russia has a very long memory and a very long history of being invaded. The last time, it cost them a staggering amount of lives. Many times more than every other country combined. Many who lived through that are still here to tell the tales.
Failure for the US and NATO to take that into account is just nuts.
Fear of invasion is in the Russian DNA.
It's not funny, it's a fact of the geographic location of Russia and the demographics of states on her Southern borders.
In fact Moscow has the largest Muslim community in Europe: about one million Muslim residents.
True, and what is notable about that is, there, the Muzzies behave in a much better manner than any place else in the world with that high a percentage of the population.
Chechnya has been a educational opportunity for Muslims in Russia.
They're already losing Siberia to the Chinese. It's Chinese companies doing the mining and timber cutting.
With Chinese personnel. Russians don't want to live there and have been leaving.
“Fear of invasion is in the Russian DNA.”
Anfd in America, not blinking to the Russians is in our DNA.
Almost 90% are Eastern Orthodox.
True, and Russian policy is intended to keep it that way, as opposed to NATO policy in Serbia and Kosovo, where it IS OK to bomb civilian Christians, ethnically cleanse Kosovo of Christians, use military force to break a Serbian Province away and make it a captive of Muslim Albania and the terrorist KLA.
The Rules apply only one way.
Most of us in the Atlanta area do not want to join NATO. I think the remaining folks are in line with that stance.
We were pretty aggressive with. Cuba in 1962.
1962 was closer to the Kaiser marching into France than it is to us...
NATO and EU are crazy. Russia has for centuries wanted a buffer zone on its borders as we again saw when EU tried to take over Ukraine. So now they’re going to repeat their folly in Georgia?
Get the US out of NATO and the UN.
I was a staunch Cold Warrior but the continued expansion of NATO is provocative in nature. I understand where countries like Ukraine and Poland want protection, especially Poland because Russia has historically destroyed them periodically.
At this point I would suggest Trump make a strategic decision to not allow further NATO expansion but do not announce it, just stop where you are. Poland in NATO makes sense but allowing former regions of the Soviet Union in NATO is again provocative in nature and not needed.
I would like to see Trump and the US military take a hard look at NATO and its mission-—what is it? Is it in our national interest? Could Russia launch a successful invasion of Western Europe in their current military state? I doubt it. Only the US and France would be in a position to resist anyway in any meaningful manner.
Russia is still bogged down in Ukraine.
And it's not popular at home.
More their folly than the West's.
“90ish Topol’s and variants.”
Closer to 200, and all MIRV’D. And most mobile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Missile_Troops
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