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The Guns of August

AG/DC Aug 08 2008 07:24 AM

Russian armies invading a breakaway reginon of Georgia. Republic of Georgia returning fire.

Benjamin Grimm Aug 08 2008 07:26 AM

Wow. The Russians have invaded Georgia? Good thing the Braves are on the road tonight.

Benjamin Grimm Aug 08 2008 07:29 AM

]Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and built up ties with Moscow. Relations between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as Georgia pushed to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional peacekeeper forces to Abkhazia. I had no idea any of this was going on. But I do know about Brangelina's twins. It's good that our media give coverage to the important and interesting stuff.

metirish Aug 08 2008 07:39 AM

The people of South Ossetia see themselves as more Russian than Georgian , North Ossetia in Russia is just over the border and a good many of the people in South Ossetia are citizens of Russia.

AG/DC Aug 08 2008 08:03 AM

Well, like the North of Ireland was, some see themselves one way, some another, while the silent majority ducks for cover.

Frayed Knot Aug 08 2008 10:22 AM

]Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia Just an O-ssetia, keeps Georgia on their minds ]I had no idea any of this was going on -- But I do know about Brangelina's twins. It's good that our media give coverage to the important and interesting stuff. Maybe we'd get more news about it if we could convince CNN et al that Brangelina is also a breakaway republic from the former Soviet Union.

AG/DC Aug 08 2008 10:33 AM

Seriously, the amount of celebrinews leading the items is gross. Yahoo either has one or two of six items dedicated to round-the-clock celebrity watching. CNN usually has two or three of 15. Between that and sensationlistic and sexual-element stuff that may be compelling for clicks but really doesn't impact more than a few lives at all, it's a wonder anybody's ever heard of Georgia. A current lead story at FOXNews.com: "26 Texas Cheerleaders Squeeze Into Elevator, Get Stuck." There's 57 million channels and nothing on.

metirish Aug 08 2008 10:38 AM

Fortunately I get my news from a different source. http://www.irishtimes.com/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Nymr83 Aug 08 2008 11:03 AM

i dont know where you are looking edgy but the russia/georgia thing has been the top left story on foxnews.com all day. i've been trying to figure out what exactly is the relationship between georgia and nato, but the page for the georgian mission to nato is understandably overloaded at the moment

metirish Aug 08 2008 11:16 AM

One reason Russia is pissed is because Georgia is trying to join NATO.

AG/DC Aug 08 2008 11:38 AM

Nymr83 wrote: i dont know where you are looking edgy but the russia/georgia thing has been the top left story on foxnews.com all day. I'm looking exactly where I say I'm looking. I didn't say it was the top left story.

Nymr83 Aug 08 2008 12:16 PM

metirish wrote: One reason Russia is pissed is because Georgia is trying to join NATO. yes i'm aware of that, my interest was in what the exact current relationship is. i'd want to join nato too if i had Putin for a neighbor.

metirish Aug 08 2008 12:35 PM

Not sure where the NATO aspiration stands right now but I read this today.... ] Yet the decisive factor was Georgia's efforts to gain Nato membership, a move in tune with the country's progress in consolidating democratic rule. Angela Merkel's statement that a country with unresolved conflicts can't enter Nato helped, too: it sent Russia a signal that it could prevent Georgia's Nato membership simply by stirring conflict. Here is the link to that. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/08/georgia.nato

AG/DC Aug 11 2008 07:51 AM

Any theories on how to sort through the propaganda on this? Georgia: "18 or 19" Russian planes have been downed. Russia: Maybe four. Georgia: They're bombing the piss out of of our country. Russia: No operations outside of the disputed region. Russia: They were committing acts of genocide against Russians in the disputed region. Georgia: Nyet. There really seems to be a paucity of Western reporters to sort out facts from the region. There are brave bloggers and videobloggers I've read and seen, but many of them have only a small piece of the picture. Presumably a lot of them are volunteers with aid agencies that were already stationed in Georgia --- and I'm guessing many of those workers are being pulled out as we speak. I'm figuring the US adminsitartion has a handful of satellites parked over Georgia, and while they're publickly saying that Russia's activities have been disporportionate, they're not gving too many specifics. On the theory that the simplest explanation is the most likely, it looks like that Georgia wants to be in NATO because they're intimidated by Russia being next door; and Russia is acting because they'd be intimidated by NATO next door. Georgia delayed re-asserting their authority over their territory hoping that NATO membership would be forthcoming. A lot of the rest is probably eyewash.

metirish Aug 11 2008 08:01 AM

Georgia claimed that up to 50 Russian jets had bombed Georgia overnight. ]"Fifty ? Is that what they said ? How do they count them at night ?," he said. "We don't do that. We don't have 50 planes flying at night." Russian Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn.

AG/DC Aug 11 2008 08:08 AM

Does he mean, "How do they count them at night when we've vaporized their radar stations?"

metirish Aug 11 2008 09:48 AM

Official propaganda. http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/ Putin not at all happy that the US airlifted Georgian troops from Iraq back to their home country. ] "It is a shame that some of our partners are not helping us but, essentially, are hindering us. I mean … the transfer by the United States of a Georgian contingent in Iraq with military transport planes practically to the conflict zone. The very scale of this cynicism is astonishing - the attempt to turn white into black, black into white and to adeptly portray victims of aggression as aggressors and place the responsibility for the consequences of the aggression on the victims."

AG/DC Aug 11 2008 10:01 AM

They were probably brought to Iraq by US planes. If so, t would seem miserly of us not to give them a lift home.

Nymr83 Aug 11 2008 10:05 AM

i'm sure both accounts are either flat out lying or exagerating. i don't know the first thing about the Georgian president but i know i don't trust a word out of Putin's mouth.

metirish Aug 13 2008 07:08 PM

Reports have a deal in place to pull back but now I am reading that Russia are advancing deeper into Georgia , looks like Russia are showing the world that she's back in play. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/0814/1218477550041.html

Nymr83 Aug 15 2008 01:05 PM

Russian scumbag soldiers caught robbing a bank in Georgia [url]http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1563317.ece[/url]

AG/DC Aug 18 2008 09:04 PM

^ That's hardly the issue, anymore than foul play by American soldiers in Iraq is the issue there. Seems to me the longer this goes on, the more the shit bubble inflates, and we don't know how it's going to burst. A lot of states --- not just NATO states like Poland, but former Soviet States like Georgia, Ukraine, and the Baltics, to say nothing of Japan --- have lived in the assumption that the threat of US retaliation is their main shield against Russian aggression. Putin has caught Europe and a war-weary America and unprepared to interfere, and that poses an existential threat to a lot of nations. The Georgians modest commitment in Iraq is part of what had been a strong diplomatic relationship with the US. (George W. Bush was the first US president to visit Georgia, and since 2006, the road to Tbilisi International Airport has since been calledd George W. Bush Avenue. The Russian claims of genocide are clearly an exaggeration at best, bullshit at least, and a pretext for a plan they already had in place. We're in a pickle. Sarkozy is, like, suddenly the most important guy in the world.

MFS62 Aug 19 2008 05:44 AM

When Condi was named Secretary of State, her credentials included a PhD in Russian Studies. This should be in her sweet spot. Let's see how she handles it. Later

AG/DC Aug 19 2008 06:16 AM

Well, there's partially the problem. Early criticism of her was that she saw the world through the lens of her Cold War expertise. Now we have the potential for a new Cold War starting in the last months of her watch. On top of that, the Russians know we have a war-weary populace willing to blame our own leaders for everything. This situation actually may need Obama, because the nation won't trust McCain if he asks us to send a force to new theater in a country the nation doesn't feel a connection to.

metirish Sep 16 2008 07:34 AM

Ukrainian government falls apart The chairman of Ukraine's parliament today declared the governing coalition linked to the country's 2004 "Orange Revolution" dissolved, opening the way for complicated talks to find a viable alternative. "I am obliged to fulfil my constitutional duty. This has been long expected, but for me it is extremely sad," chairman Arseniy Yatsenyuk told the chamber. "I officially declare the coalition of democratic forces ... in Ukraine's parliament dissolved." The coalition had been made up of forces led by President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, allies in the 2004 revolution who have since sniped continually. They have become fierce rivals ahead of the 2010 presidential election. The Ukrainian parliament now has 30 days to either form a new coalition or a fresh election will be called. Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko have engaged in a tug-of-war since she regained premiership late last year. The final straw came when Mr Yushchenko accused Ms Tymoshenko of acting in the Kremlin’s favour by failing to condemn Russia’s war with Georgia. © 2008 irishtimes.com