tagged w/ Mikhail Saakashvili
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By Eric Margolis
On Aug. 8 Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin swiftly and deftly checkmated the United States on the Georgian strategic chessboard.
Georgia's President, Mikheil Saakashvili, fell right into Moscow's trap.
Georgia and Russia have been feuding since 1992 over two Georgian ethnic enclaves, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, whose people wanted to decamp Georgia and join Russia.
The young, U.S.-educated Saakashvili became Georgia's president in 2003 after an uprising, believed organized by the CIA and financed by U.S. money, overthrew the able former leader, Eduard Shevardnadze. I interviewed Shevardnadze in Moscow when he was Mikhail Gorbachev's principal ally and architect of Soviet reform.
Saakashvili quickly became the golden boy of U.S. right wing neocons, who saw him as a model of how to turn former Russian-dominated states into "democratic" U.S. allies. Critics claim Saakashvili kept power by bribery and vote rigging.
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Read the whole article at link.By Eric Margolis
On Aug. 8 Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin swiftly and... more
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The problem is, the document that Georgia signed (which Condoleezza Rice brought to Saakashvili) differs from the document brought to Russia. In a sense, this could make the agreement moot.The problem is, the document that Georgia signed (which Condoleezza Rice brought to... more
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No comment needed, the clip says it all.
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Russian soldiers dug foxholes 30 miles outside of Georgia's capital Saturday while Georgian police milled about, a quietly tense scene reflecting the uncertainty in the troubled region as both sides waited for Russia's president to sign a proposed truce.
The cease-fire agreement, signed by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili the day before, would be a definitive step toward ending the fighting that broke out last week if Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also signs it. The Kremlin says he will do so, but without saying when.
Russian soldiers dug foxholes 30 miles outside of Georgia's capital Saturday... more
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A reluctant Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday he signed a cease-fire agreement with Russia and declared in the presence of the chief U.S. diplomat that the West had behaved in ways that invited the invasion.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had been assured that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign an identical document. The United States says the pact protects the former Soviet republic's interests despite concessions to Moscow.
An emotional Saakashvili said he will "never, ever surrender" in the showdown with much-larger Russia.
"You are dealing with a people who despise anyting human," Saakashvili said of invading Russian forces.
Saakashvili said the West sent a disastrous signal to Russia by denying Georgia a door to NATO membership.
A reluctant Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday he signed a cease-fire... more
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F William Engdahl: The Geopolitics of Georgia (Part 3 of 3)
Russia and Georgia swapped accusations today presenting a huge challenge to the EU-sponsored ceasefire agreement designed to end seven days of fighting. The accord had envisioned Russian and Georgian forces returning to their original positions. These conditions have yet to be met. The United Nations estimates 100-thousand people have been uprooted by the fighting, including 12-thousand South Ossetians who fled north into Russia. F William Engdahl believes that "Russia China and the nations of Eurasia are beginning to cooperate politically and economically and this is a nightmare for Washington."
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89197663_the_geopolitics_of_georgia
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89201649_nuclear_war_by_miscalculationF William Engdahl: The Geopolitics of Georgia (Part 3 of 3)
Russia and Georgia... more
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The three-day war in South Ossetia is settled, and the Georgians have lost. There may be some more shooting yet, but it is now clear that Georgia will never regain control of the rebel territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Also that President Mikhail Saakashvili has handed Russia a major victory, and that Georgia's hopes of joining NATO are gone. Pretty impressive work for one long weekend.
Now Saakashvili is playing on old Cold War stereotypes of the Russian threat in a desperate bid for Western backing: "What Russia is doing in Georgia is open, unhidden aggression and a challenge to the whole world. If the whole world does not stop Russia today, then Russian tanks will be able to reach any other European capital."
Nonsense. It was Georgia that started this war. The chronology tells it all. Skirmishes between Georgian troops and South Ossetian militia were more frequent than usual over the past several months, but on the afternoon of Thursday, August 7, Saakashvili offered the separatist South Ossetian Government "an immediate ceasefire and the immediate beginning of talks," promising that "full autonomy" was on the table.
The same evening, however, he ordered a general offensive.
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The last two paragraphs above are very telling.
More at link.
The three-day war in South Ossetia is settled, and the Georgians have lost. There may... more
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Recent John McCain quotes and videos on the Russia-Georgia conflict which highlight McCain's "expertise".Recent John McCain quotes and videos on the Russia-Georgia conflict which highlight... more
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This goes completely against neoconservative pundits like Robert Kagan and Bill Kristol's plan of trying to frame Russia troops as the invader of Georgia when in fact it was Mikhail Saakashvili, backed by Israel and US who launched the attack against Russia.
Watch the Video
http://mparent7777-1.livejournal.com/1271919.html
This goes completely against neoconservative pundits like Robert Kagan and Bill... more
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F William Engdahl: The geopolitics of Georgia - Part 2 of 3
Russia went into Georgia to essentially deliver a message. There are more than 1,000 US military special forces in Georgia doing exercising, training Georgian troops, before Georgia launched the attack on Ossetia on 8 August. There are 1,000 Israeli troops at least, private security firms and military advisors, including advisors who are upgrading the Georgian air force in an installation near Tbilisi. That's what the Russian airplanes hit, and they essentially made the military strike on South Ossetia militarily impossible by making incursions inside Georgian territory before they announced that they were calling a halt to their military operations.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89197663_the_geopolitics_of_georgia
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89204774_russia_asia_cooperation_a_nightmare_for_us_hawksF William Engdahl: The geopolitics of Georgia - Part 2 of 3
Russia went into... more
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Russian troops have begun handing over control of the area around the town of Gori to Georgian security forces.
A Russian general in the area said Moscow's troops would remain nearby for several days to remove weaponry and help restore law and order in Gori.
Meanwhile, the US has reiterated its support for Georgia, sending the first shipments of humanitarian aid into the country. A US envoy to the region said the initial consignment of bedding and other vital supplies was the first of many that would be arriving by sea and air.
Moscow insists that the purpose of its continuing presence in Georgia proper is to hand over security to the Georgian police and to remove abandoned weapons and ammunition.
The Russian general co-ordinating the return of Georgian police and security forces to Gori urged residents - many of whom left town as the Georgian army retreated on Monday - to return to their homes and re-open their shops, our correspondent adds. Russian troops have begun handing over control of the area around the town of Gori to... more
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brad62
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added this
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3 years ago
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The US has strongly criticised Russian military action against Georgia, in the bitter conflict over South Ossetia.
In a telephone call to Georgia's leader Mikhail Saakashvili, the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, said Russian aggression "must not go unanswered". President Bush said he had expressed his grave concern to Moscow at the military's "disproportionate" response. Meanwhile, Georgia said Russian planes had bombed targets near its capital, despite Tbilisi declaring a ceasefire.
The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says Dick Cheney's telephone call appears to have been an effort to send a message not just of solidarity but also of readiness for action. Mr Cheney said the continuation of violence against Georgia would have serious consequences for Russia's relations with the US, as well as the international community. But White House officials refused to speculate on what America might do if the Russian military action continued.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is in Georgia, and will meet President Saakashvili to discuss a European Union-backed peace plan aimed at defusing the crisis.
Read more...The US has strongly criticised Russian military action against Georgia, in the bitter... more
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The world is looking to the Caucasus region with dismay. President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia has sent his country's forces into the breakaway region of South Ossetia, and its protector, Russia, has retaliated by sending in tanks and aircraft. Is a region that is home to all of 75,000 people about to become the scene of a hot war?
The South Ossetian coat of arms depicts a snow leopard raising its paw in a threatening gesture, against a backdrop of impregnable mountains. The warlike South Ossetians' most famous son was a man whose name alone instills fear: Josef Stalin.
But none of this was enough to deter Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili when he ordered his army to invade Tskhinvali, the capital of separatist South Ossetia, a region in the center of Georgia, on Thursday night. Skirmishes had been going on for weeks, and on Thursday evening Saakashvili had even announced a ceasefire. But then, at around midnight, Georgian forces attacked in an effort "to reestablish constitutional order," as a high-ranking Georgian general described it.
Within hours Georgian units, using rockets and fighter jets, had apparently demolished entire streets of Tskhinvali. The "president" of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, a former freestyle wrestler, said on Friday evening that an estimated 1,400 people had died and characterized the Georgian invasion as ethnic cleansing. Saakashvili, however, announced the mobilization of 100,000 reservists.
Read more...The world is looking to the Caucasus region with dismay. President Mikhail Saakashvili... more
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Georgian forces began bombarding the South Ossetian capital on Thursday night and are now closing in on the city. Russia has warned of unspecified consequences, but may have begun bombing Georgian villages.
For months, tension has been rising in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia on Russia's southern border. Late Thursday, the tension erupted into war, when Georgian ground forces, reinforced from the air, attacked separatist troops in an effort to re-establish control of the tiny region. Intense fighting has continued into Friday and there are reports of 15 civilian deaths, along with casualties among Russian peacekeepers stationed in the region.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday that his army had "freed" parts of the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali. His prime minister, Lado Gurgenidze, said the offensive would continue until a "durable peace" had been established. A Georgian military leader said on TV that the operation aimed at "establishing a constitutional order in the region."
With Russia backing the South Ossetians, however, the violence threatens to become a larger regional war. Georgia has long said Russian "peacekeepers" stationed in South Ossetia were unwelcome. On Friday the Interior Ministry in Tbilisi claimed that three Russian jets flew into Georgian airspace and dropped bombs on the Georgian side of South Ossetia's border. Saakashvili said that several Georgian villages had been hit.
"A full-scale aggression has been launched against Georgia," Saakashvili said in a televised address. "Georgia will not yield its territory or renounce its freedom."
Read more...Georgian forces began bombarding the South Ossetian capital on Thursday night and are... more
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U.S.-allied President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a state of emergency Wednesday in the capital of Georgia, where six days of demonstrations have fueled a worsening crisis.
Saakashvili has blamed Russia for fomenting the unrest in the former Soviet nation. His prime minister, Zurab Nogaideli, said in a televised statement that there had been an effort to overthrow the pro-Western government.U.S.-allied President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a state of emergency Wednesday in... more
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