by winston » Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:24 pm
Do you all remember how Bush did not do anything while Israel pounded Lebanon recently ?
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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
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"