South Ossetia // Current

Saakashvili called McCain, Obama his friends

Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili said the victory of either Barack Obama or John McCain would satisfy him, Interfax... more

Vierotchka
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No Refuge in Georgia

As the recent war between Russia and Georgia shows, the aftershocks of the collapse of the Soviet Union are still being felt... more

Future_America
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Police in South Ossetia ordered to open fire

MOSCOW: Police in South Ossetia have been ordered to shoot back if they come under fire — a directive that increases the... more

Eat_Disco
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I survived the Georgian war. Here's what I saw.

"In a speech before the United Nations last month, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili implored world leaders to set up an... more

nkeg87
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US losing ground in Eastern Europe

William Engdahl: Russia's response to Georgia's offensive sends shock-waves throughout the region. Part 1 of 2 Russia... more

Vierotchka
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McCain and The Evil Empire

Pepe Escobar: McCain insists on demonizing Russia - he's not even listening to his own heroes. At the second US... more

Vierotchka
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South Ossetia car bomb blast kills 7

By Charles Clover A powerful car bomb exploded yesterday near a military base used by Russian peacekeeping troops in... more

Vierotchka
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Provoking Russian nationalism

Gareth Porter: The state of the empire. Part 3 Gareth Porter discusses US hawkishness in the Caucasus with Real News Network... more

Vierotchka
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Russian drone 'hit over Georgia'

Georgia says its military has shot down a Russian reconnaissance drone that was flying over Georgian territory - a claim denied by... more

riffhard98
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Russia warns of new Iron Curtain

President Dmitri Medvedev has accused the West of trying to push Russia behind a new "Iron Curtain". "This is... more

Moopak
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IMF approves loan to help Georgia

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a loan for Georgia, amounting to $750m (£418m). It is aimed at... more

Moopak
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Did Saakashvili Lie? - The West Begins to Doubt Georgian Leader

Five weeks after the war in the Caucasus the mood is shifting against Georgian President Saakashvili. Some Western intelligence... more

unclepete
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Saakashvili "planned S. Ossetia invasion" says ex-minister

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili had long planned a military strike to seize back the breakaway region of South Ossetia but... more

Vierotchka
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Chomsky on Ossetia-Russia-Georgia

In August 2008 during the Russia-Georgia-Ossetia war. George Bush, Condoleezza Rica and other dignitaries solemnly invoked the... more

lecoke
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Documents: Russia impeding South Ossetia monitors

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Russian forces and their separatist militia allies are keeping international monitors out of South... more

ivxx
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McCain's neocon foreign policy adviser has been a lobbyist for arms companies & Saakashvili's Georgia.

Randy Scheunemann, John McCain’s Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, Lobbyist, and a former director of the neo conservative Project for a New American Century. A group which advocates global strategic and ideological predominance of the United States through military force. He has been a Republican political insider In Washington since 1986. He served on the staffs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and as National Security Adviser to Senate Republican and Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Trent Lott from 1993-99. He was also McCain’s defense and foreign policy advisor during the bid for the White House in 2000. About his relationship with McCain the web site RIGHT WEB reports: He introduced the senator to the foreign ministers of Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia as they tried to win admission to NATO, and a representative of Taiwan as it lobbied for free trade, records show.

Mr. Scheunemann also accompanied Mr. McCain to Latvia in 2001 and Georgia in 2006. He has led 3 lobbying firms, SCHEUNEMANN & ASSOCIATES, ORION STRATEGIES and the MERCURY GROUP. He has lobbied for among others: Arms manufacturers and gun associations, Oil Firms, And represented foreign governments Including Georgia. The Wall Street Journal reported that “Mr. Scheunemann's firm (Orion Strategies) has earned more than $2 million since 2004 lobbying U.S. officials, including Sen. McCain and his staff, on behalf of various clients including Georgia, records show. His lobbying for Saakashvili has led to the inference by Journalist Robert Scheer on TruthDig, Conservative Columnist Pat Buchanan on Creators Syndicate, and indirectly Vladimir Putin of Russia, to suggest that he had something to do with Georgia’s attack on the breakaway region of South Ossetia in early August. Randy Scheunemann has been described as John McCain’s Henry Kissinger or Zbignew Brzeniski.

Senior Analyst at Political Research Associates, Chip Berlet is a veteran freelance writer and photographer who specializes in investigating right-wing social movements, apocalyptic scapegoating and conspiracism, and authoritarianism. A PRA staffer since 1982, he has written, edited and co-authored numerous articles on right-wing activity and government repression for publications as varied as the The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Progressive, The Nation, The Humanist, and The St. Louis Journalism Review. Mr. Berlet edited Eyes Right! Challenging the Right-wing Backlash, co-published by PRA and South End Press (1995), a popular primer on the right. He is also co-author with Matthew N. Lyons of Right-wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, published by Guilford Press (2000).McCain's neocon foreign policy adviser has been a lobbyist for arms companies & Saakashvili's Georgia. Randy... more