Georgia on my mind

[slimD]

Unbelievable. Georgia at war with russia. Uncle joe will be spinning in his grave.

[AiA in Atlanta]

On a morning radio show here in Atlanta on Friday a woman whose power happened to be out (and her friend at the station new it) got a call from a DJ who told her that CNN was reporting that the Georgia military were firing at Russian fighter jets. By the sound of her voice she was young, blonde and stupid and assumed that Russia had invaded Georgia, USA. Funny stuff.

[JW Frogen]

No Georgia, be it USA south or the former Soviet Union can win a war.

Whats up with dat?

Why do the Georgians always start wars they cannot win?

[CryptoCon]

No Georgia, be it USA south or the former Soviet Union can win a war.

Whats up with dat?

Why do the Georgians always start wars they cannot win?

It only matters to be known, the party prevail it can.

[BrokenDrum]

No Georgia, be it USA south or the former Soviet Union can win a war.

Whats up with dat?

Why do the Georgians always start wars they cannot win?

This was all planned by the Russians. They had been planning this for months or years (that's how long it takes to get their poorly experienced / coordinated military machine up and running.) And the timing is good, isn't it, while a war-weary world is distracted by the Olympics.

What the Russians did: hand out passports to citizens in South Ossetia. Get some of their agents in South Ossetia to lob bombs into Georgia proper. Georgia responds by sending in tanks. Russia - who just conveniently happened to have massed their armed forces next to the border - roll in to take over Georgia, which was their original plan.

This serves many objectives for Putin's Russia (though long term it has many negative consequences for him, including the total loss of credibility by exposing his fangs, the triggering of a new cold war [which, believe it or not, the LEFT is blaming MCCAIN for causing!] which will of course eventually bring Russia undone, to everyone's detriment (including ours - we like having Russia there to counterbalance China.) It will bring a bolstering in how the rest of a nervous Europe now sees the USA, and potentially may stir up China, who now can count on less bad PR if they move into Siberia, since Russia have made it plain they are an aggressive, ambitious rogue state.

Putin's short term gains: strong message to the other former satellites that the US is no help to you, so now you are property of Putin; the big one, the oil pipe, of course, to further bully / blackmail the rest of Europe (Where are the protesters now who accused America of invading for oil? Funny, they don't protest the Soviets ... why not? Who is organizing their protests?) Taking out a US ally, etc.

Also, consider: will Russia be held to the same standards of war America is held to? Will each civilian death be trumpeted by the media? Where are the smart missiles? Oh what do you know, Russia is shelling apartment buildings, targetting civilians to break the will of the enemy.

Things are going to get a lot worse before this is through. Hold onto your hats. Now may be a good time to stop mocking religion and say a prayer or two for the poor people caught up in the charge of this psychopathic nation.

[BrokenDrum]

One thing not made clear above: the point of handing out passports. It makes it possible for the Russians to say "we are defending our people". The flimsiest of pretexts for an aggressive, imperialist war action. Georgia as a nation no longer exists. This is a land grab by an unstable ruler who is bringing back the days of Stalin (whom Putin has celebrated, whom the Nashi text books praise as a great ruler, whom the rank and file of the current Russian military worship.)

[Guest]

Will each civilian death be trumpeted by the media?

I would say yes. The media from the countries involved in the conflict will be all over civillian deaths like a rash.

[BrokenDrum]

Will each civilian death be trumpeted by the media?

I would say yes. The media from the countries involved in the conflict will be all over civillian deaths like a rash.

Time will tell. There have been no shortages of civilian deaths to report - the Russians are targetting civilians on purpose.

But we are yet to hear resounding condemnation from our domestic leftists. Amazingly, there are Russian apologists blaming Georgia for this premeditated campaign from Russia.

[Guest]

You seem to want to compare this conflict with another recent conflict so ask yourself who would be saying what if Australia had again sent in troops to help the big bully bash the little weakling.

[Guest]

Russian armoured vehicles patrolled the flashpoint town of Gori and about 60 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles were seen on the road from Gori to the Georgian capital, 75 kilometres away.

An AFP reporter saw Russian troops shouting: "Tbilisi, Tbilisi".

But Russia has denied these reports.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... ion=justin

Lets hope that the AFP journalists dont run in to the same fate that struck those reporters in Baghdad.

Reporters Without Borders accuses US military of deliberately firing at journalists

Reporters Without Borders called today on US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld to provide evidence that the offices of the pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera and the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad were not deliberately fired at by US forces earlier in the day in attacks that killed three journalists.

"We are appalled at what happened because it was known that both places contained journalists," said the organisation’s secretary-general Robert Ménard. "Film shot by the French TV station France 3 and descriptions by journalists show the neighbourhood was very quiet at that hour and that the US tank crew took their time, waiting for a couple of minutes and adjusting its gun before opening fire."

"This evidence does not match the US version of an attack in self-defence and we can only conclude that the US Army deliberately and without warning targeted journalists. US forces must prove that the incident was not a deliberate attack to dissuade or prevent journalists from continuing to report on what is happening in Baghdad," he said.

"We are concerned at the US army’s increasingly hostile attitude towards journalists, especially those non-embedded in its military units. Army officials have also remained deplorably silent and refused to give any details about what happened when a British ITN TV crew was fired on near Basra on 22 March, killing one journalist and leaving two others missing.

"Very many non-embedded journalists have complained about being refused entry to Iraq from Kuwait, threatened with withdrawal of accreditation and being held and interrogated for several hours. One group of non-embedded journalists was held in secret for two days and roughed up by US military police," Ménard said.

Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk (35), normally attached to Reuters office in Warsaw, and José Couso, a Spanish cameraman for the Spanish TV station Telecinco, were killed in today’s attack on the Palestine Hotel. Three other journalists were wounded when their rooms were hit by a shell fired by the US tank.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=5975