Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby winston » Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:17 am

Russia could take further 'measures' against Georgia

Russia could take ''additional measures'' if Georgian troops refuse to return to their bases under a plan to end fighting in the ex-Soviet state, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned.

''We will be forced to take additional measures to prevent any possibility of a repeat of the situation resulting from the Georgian aggression'' in the rebel province of South Ossetia, Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

The minister said Russia would insist that Georgia sign a legally-binding agreement renouncing force and its troops must not just leave South Ossetia but also parts of Georgia from which it bombed the province.

''Without this, everything else is meaningless,'' Lavrov was quoted as saying.

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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby LenaHuat » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:38 pm

Another 6-day war for the war archives. :cry:
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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby winston » Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:56 am

INTELLIGENCE: (USD) Bush: US sending support & supplies to Georgia

(USD) President Bush says US is using various means to send supplies and support to Georgia. Bush urges Russia to keep their word to end crisis in Georgia. EU president has expressed support in sending monitors to Georgia.

Scty of State Rice will leave for Georgia and France to meet with France President Sarkozy who has pledged to broker a ceasefire.
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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby winston » Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:24 pm

Do you all remember how Bush did not do anything while Israel pounded Lebanon recently ?

===============================================

Bush accuses Russia of "bullying" Georgia


GORI, Georgia : Russia and Georgia wrangled over the blockaded city of Gori on Friday as US President George W. Bush accused Russia of using "bullying" tactics in the conflict.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi to support the Georgia's pro-West government and called for changes to a ceasefire accord to protect Georgia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, made a new statement of support for two regions that have broken from Georgia as he came under pressure during talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Three days after a ceasefire was agreed, Georgian authorities negotiated with Russian commanders for the handover of Gori, where Russian armoured vehicles and tanks have remained even though it is outside the breakaway South Ossetia province - the spark for the conflict.

"The Gori police chief is in Gori trying to hold negotiations on the handover of the city," interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

No Russian military forces were visible in the centre of Gori but scores of armoured vehicles were concentrated at a base outside the city, an AFP reporter said. A small number of Russian soldiers and two armoured personnel carriers were spotted in the city centre.

Most of the city's 50,000 inhabitants have fled. About 300-400 people gathered outside the city's cathedral to receive humanitarian food aid that handed out by priests.

The United States and Russia have stepped up their wrangling over Georgia and the US president complained of Moscow's "bullying" as he called on Russia to honour a pledge to withdraw its troops.

"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," he said, adding that Russia had damaged its credibility with the West by its offensive against Georgia.

"Moscow must honour its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory," Bush said outside the Oval Office.

Russian troops entered Georgia in response to a Georgian offensive on August 7 to retake South Ossetia, which broke away in the 1990s. Russia strongly supports South Ossetia and the second breakaway region of Abkhazia and has given Russian passports to most people in the territories.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy brokered a truce and in Tbilisi, Rice said a "formal ceasefire" had to be agreed.

"In order to get to that point there really did have to be important clarifications on a couple of these points (in the ceasefire) in order to make sure that Georgian interests are protected."

Georgia's pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili said the Russian army controlled about a third of Georgia.

"I am not planning to agree to any compromises with Putin's regime," he told Russia's Kommersant newspaper in an interview, referring to Russia's powerful prime minister, Vladimir Putin.

German Chancellor Merkel told Medvedev that the Russian military action had been "disproportionate" during talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Maintaining the territorial integrity of Georgia must be a "basic point" in any plan for restoring peace in the Caucasus, she added at a press conference with Medvedev.

But Medvedev was unrepentant. "If someone continues to attack our citizens, our peacekeepers, then of course we will answer just as we did," the Russian leader said.

"Russia, as guarantor of security in the Caucasus and the region, will make the decision which unambiguously supports the will of these two Caucasus peoples," Medvedev said.

He said the separatist regions could not live under Georgian control again.

"Unfortunately after what has happened it is unlikely Ossetians and Abkhaz can live in one state with Georgians," Medvedev said.

Russia's ambassador at the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, sounded upbeat about early approval by the UN Security Council of a new draft resolution to formalise the ceasefire accord.

The Russian envoy said bargaining was under way on a revised version which would "clearly and accurately repeat what is said" in the six-point deal reached by Sarkozy and Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow on Tuesday.

A second US military cargo plane filled with humanitarian supplies arrived in Tbilisi on Thursday, as UN officials and aid organisations complained of a lack of access to affected areas.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed serious concern and underlined the "critical importance of safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian actors to all conflict-affected areas."

The latest estimate by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees put the number of displaced people in the conflict region at more than 118,000.

Armed gunmen held up UN workers in Gori on Thursday and stole their vehicles, underlining the difficulty of bringing aid to areas where it was needed most. - AFP/de
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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby winston » Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:22 am

No timetable for Russian withdrawal, says Lavrov

Russian troops in Georgia have no timetable for withdrawing, as required under a peace deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Asked by journalists how long a pullout from Georgia would take, Lavrow replied: "As long as needed.''

He added it would depend on Russian units being able to implement unspecified "additional security measures.''

"It doesn't only depend on us,'' the foreign minister said. "We are constantly encountering various problems with the Georgian side and it will depend how quickly and effectively this problem will be solved.''

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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby winston » Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:00 pm

Times Online: Why the Russia-Georgia conflict matters to the West

“It would be a serious mistake for the international community to regard the dramatic escalation of violence in Georgia as just another flare-up in the Caucasus.

“The names of the flashpoints may be unfamiliar, the territory remote and the dispute parochial, but the battle under way will have important repercussions beyond the region.

“The outcome of the struggle will determine the course of Russia’s relations with its neighbours, will shape Dmitri Medvedev’s presidency, could alter the relationship between the Kremlin and the West and crucially could decide the fate of Caspian basin energy supplies.

“It was known that a serious confrontation had been building up. British Intelligence predicted this year that a war in the Caucasus was probable. The focus was Georgia, the West’s main ally in the region and the only export route for Caspian oil and gas outside Kremlin control.

“Part of the responsibility must lie with President Saakashvili. The US-educated Geogian leader has rightly been praised for turning around his country’s dire economy, transforming the Soviet-style army into a modern Western force and standing up to the Kremlin.

“On paper the small Georgian military is no match for the might of Russia. But Mr Saakashvili has calculated that his friends in the West, notably America and Britain, will protect him.

“… Russia has made clear in word and deed that it will do anything to prevent Nato’s expansion on its western and southern flanks.

“America and Britain are closely involved in providing military assistance to the Georgians in the form of arms and training. The support is aimed at encouraging the rise of Georgia as an independent, sovereign state.

“But the help is also partly a means of protecting the oil pipeline across Georgia that carries crude from the Caspian to the Black Sea, the only export route that bypasses Russia’s stranglehold on energy exports from the region.”

Source: Richard Beeston, Times Online, August 8, 2008.
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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby winston » Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:36 pm

President Medvedev says Russian troops will begin pullback toward South Ossetia Monday, AP reports.
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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby winston » Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:04 pm

US warship arrives with aid for Georgia

The first US warship to bring aid to Georgia has arrived in the country's main Black Sea port of Batumi, in a gesture of support for the ex-Soviet republic in its conflict with Russia.

The USS McFaul, a guided missile destroyer, is loaded with humanitarian aid including bottled water, blankets, hygiene kits and baby food for the tens of thousands displaced by the confrontation that erupted on August 7-8 over Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region.

The McFaul dropped anchor in waters just off Batumi, 80 kilometers south of the small oil shipment port of Poti, where Russian soldiers have been digging in for days.

REUTERS
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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby blid2def » Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:52 am

As Israel vs Iran suddenly vanishes from the headlines; Georgia vs Russia takes over.

Is the latter just about the pipeline that'd decrease Western Europe's dependence on Russian oil? Or just about a brash president? How about this perspective: it's linked with the first event (Israel vs Iran).

Commentary: Israel of the Caucasus
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE (UPI Editor at Large)

...stuff skipped...

In a secret agreement between Israel and Georgia, two military airfields in southern Georgia had been earmarked for the use of Israeli fighter-bombers in the event of pre-emptive attacks against Iranian nuclear installations. This would sharply reduce the distance Israeli fighter-bombers would have to fly to hit targets in Iran. And to reach Georgian airstrips, the Israeli air force would fly over Turkey.

The attack ordered by Saakashvili against South Ossetia the night of Aug. 7 provided the Russians the pretext for Moscow to order Special Forces to raid these Israeli facilities where some Israeli drones were reported captured.


This piece is done by the same guy who interviewed LKY in Feb 08 (I've just posted the links to the interview in the Singapore Economic Data & News section).

Full commentary here: http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/09 ... asus/f5e1/
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Re: Russia vs Georgia (War) Aug 2008

Postby LenaHuat » Wed Sep 10, 2008 2:29 pm

Hi GR

This is fasincating political intrigue. Thank Q :)
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