Appeasing Russia

I am glad I don't subscribe to Newsweek -- I can get a gut full of these bombastic right wing opinions masquerading as facts from Fox "news". Bush's little toad Mikheil Saakashvili ordered the genocidal invasion in much the same way Japan made a sneak attack on the U.S. and the U.S. responded to the murderous aggression ending in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am certain that the Russians will not take it that far but history does demonstrate a certain "Karma" for underhanded genocidal sneak attacks. I pray that we (USA) are not a secret partner to this mess.

John Barry, get real!

The US is not going to send in the 82nd Airborne. The Georgian President made a mistake and his country is paying for it. I don't believe the Russian are all that interested in taking over the whole country. If they do, they know that many here in the West will look at this as a major step towards the return of the cold war. This will not benefit the US nor Russia. Russia will back their forces out. Now, if I'm wrong, I still don't believe the US will commit combat forces to the area. If we do, we're no longer seeing straight -- the neo-cons are out of control, not that they are not already. For all you gun-ho guys out there, please try to remember that the Georgia we are talking about is in Russia's backyard not ours, that's right, Atlanta is safe, for now anyways. In addition, Russia is no Iraq; they're a super power like us. No, nothing will hapen here and I think in the end Georgia will lose the 2 break-away provinces, that quite frankly, don't want to be a part of Georgia. I also think the US government knew about the attack in advance and did nothing to stop it -- perhaps we even goated Georgia towards it. Nope, we don't have any reason to hold our heads up on this one boys -- let's hope the fighting will end tomorrow.

No. We must not get involved in the Georgian thing. How do you think Russia felt when we invaded Iraq. Did they get involved in our invasion? We've got to mind our own busines,.
We're going to send our young men to fight in Georgia?????? No. A thousand times no.
There is a scarcity of young men in American; not to mention the scarcity of money.

Is Russia still on time to intervene on behalf of the Confederate States in the United States...? Historical reasons and end results are a tricky thing!

Is Russia still on time to intervene on behalf of the Confederate States in the United States... Historical reasons and end results are a tricky thing!

Big Note: Canada remained the Largest Exporter of total petroleum in April, exporting 2.476 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (2.542 thousand barrels per day).

Note: The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.462 million barrels per day.


Total Imports of Petroleum (Top 15 Countries)

(Thousand Barrels per Day)

Drill all You want, You can`t produce the Oil these Countries provide, nor will you see a drop in price at the gas pumps.

CANADA 1,952 1,795 1,902 1,909 1,846

SAUDI ARABIA 1,453 1,535 1,519 1,458 1,358

MEXICO 1,259 1,232 1,230 1,460 1,471

NIGERIA 1,115 1,154 1,105 891 1,089

VENEZUELA 1,019 858 990 1,182 1,070

IRAQ 679 773 693 562 488

ANGOLA 579 384 469 514 556

ALGERIA 393 247 300 530 495

BRAZIL 201 188 182 175 174

KUWAIT 176 199 218 126 187

ECUADOR 160 231 203 159 200

COLOMBIA 149 135 168 79 100

CHAD 133 101 110 80 76

RUSSIA 106 108 77 269 137

LIBYA 85 75 68 45 56


Country Apr-08 Mar-08 YTD 2008 Apr-07 YTD 2007

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http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=295660d1-e33d-402a-8bdd-ee4e0a95b06a

MOSCOW - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Monday that Russia wanted to replace his government and to control energy routes through the Caucasus.

Saakashvili, speaking to reporters on a conference call, said 90 percent of Georgian casualties in the conflict with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia were civilian. Georgia has previously said 80 percent of casualties were military.

Russia "wants to replace the government in Tbilisi," Saakashvili said. "It wasn't for them about South Ossetia ... it's about controlling energy routes."


Georgian soldiers read a list of victims at a hospital in Gori, some 80 kilometres from Tbilisi.
Gleb Garanich/Reuters

A major pipeline through Georgia carries oil from Asia to the West.

The Georgian president said Russian tanks were repelled five kilometres from the Georgian city of Gori, which is about 50 km from the South Ossetian capital Tshkinvali.

"They were five kilometres from Gori. They were repelled and now they are 20 kilometres away," he said, before the conference call was abruptly cut short.

A Reuters correspondent said he had not seen any Russian tanks advancing on Gori.

"Our losses are mainly civilian. Ninety percent of our casualties are civilian," Saakashvili said.

Russia's military said on Monday it would not extend its action beyond South Ossetia after sending troops and tanks to push Georgian forces out of the breakaway region.

"We are not crossing the (de facto) border, that's our key principle," Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of Russia's general staff, told reporters in Moscow at a daily briefing.

"Russian peacekeeping troops have received no orders to invade Georgian territory," he said.

READ PLEASE: The simmering conflict between Russia and its small, former Soviet neighbor Georgia erupted late on Thursday when Georgia sent forces into South Ossetia, a Small Pro-Russian Province which threw Off (Georgian Rule in the 1990s).

Russia, which had Provided Support to the Separatists and had PeaceKeepers Stationed in the Province, responded by Pouring Troops and Heavy Amour south through the Caucasus mountains into South Ossetia to Drive back the Georgians.

The conflict alarmed the West, which views Georgia as a Valuable, if VOLATILE ALLY, because of its Strategic Location on an Energy Transit Route Carrying OIL from the Caspian to Europe.

Georgia was (Wrong) and Russia was (Right),as We were,when we 1st Kicked Out, then Invading & Rading (Iraq Military) when they sought to Overtake (Kuwait)...

Russia did the same thing, like it or not.

The Georgian Governments knew what they were doing, in Attacking Osettia and Knew what Time to do it, as if Nothing would be done about it...

They were WRONG !!!

What is George W. Bush, Dick cheney and Condoleeza Rice, going to do about this...

Ask to Mediate along with NATO, The European Union, The United Nations and World Leaders to ...

Mediate, otherthan that...Nothing

They'd be Foolish to do anything, otherthan that !!!

After all is said an done Georgians will Retreat, sign an Agreement to Never Enter Ossetia again.

BIG NOTE: Kuwait was Once a part of (Iraq) Kuwait became a Nation and based on it's Oil Richness and Big Output of OIL, this TINY Nation called Kuwait, became the USA's Oil PlayBox and so we put Kuwait under our Protection is Oil Rich Kuwait..a Democracy ?
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Yawn. People grow tired of warmongering propaganda. When will the mainstream media learn that no one is listening to them anymore?

Rooskie UN ambassador sez Russia don't want refugee from Abkhazia and South Ossetia. West Georgians are to flee to East Georgia and East Georgians are to flee to West Georgia. Oil, natural gas, pipelines; it's the energy crisis. http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-08-11-voa65.cfm

Pay Back Time..... The United States invaded a a sovereign nation Iraq...Whatever the reasons they may put for this they did invade. now Russia is flexing its muscle to let the world know that it is capable of kicking ass when it needs to? So far the U.S. has been showing its flagrant disregard for international law so why not Russia do the same. Now all said and done did I not hear from the western press that the Georgians invaded the poor hapless Ossettians and ravaged the few buildings they possessed and slaughtered 1,500 Ossettian people sort of a Ethnic cleansing so Big brother Russia had every right to intervene and teach the Georgian president to never play Russian Roulette unless he is prepared to die!!!

The world is watching,the world been watching the Republican destroy what six U S Presidents did to Russia.But since the last seven years this admin. did nothing .Except fatten their wallets for the few,and let the Bear Out well fed. This time the Bear accumulated gold,to back up his currency. What if decides to trade in Euro.since he sell most of the energy to Europe.Georgia blew it,by attacking first.Russia won't stop now.

Hey, what's an exchange of a few nukes between friends if we tried to put our troops there for peacekeeping? We're screwed, and there's not much we can do for the moment. Putin's going to have his way, thanks to our trusting leader, George Bush, who looked him in the eye and fell in love with the charismatic Russian leader. Bush is too smitten to do anything but pout!

As a student and teacher of Russian History and Culture, I have been discussing this quite a bit of late. These historical analogies seem pretty banal and out of context. This country lies between the Caspian and the Black Sea. Peter and Catherine the Great sought to establish a warm water port in this region. Russia laid claim to the land about the time of Alexander I, and established a presence here after turning back Napoleon in 1812. Pushkin wrote Prisoner of the Caucausus, and Tolstoy served as an officer here while beginning his literary journey. The Crimean War took place just to the West of here, and for nearly 200 years Russia and the Soviet Union had hegemony over the area. So in 1991 Georgia bolted and claimed independence. Shevardnadze moved from Moscow and for 15 years the Georgians have had a good go. Their reach overstepped their grasp of reality. As a veteran of the Cold War and post Cold War era, I fail to see how by any realistic standard, we could not have expected the Empire to strike back. Try to explain to Russians how our misadventure in Iraq--also in the neighborhood--is much different from this. Do you really think intervention and brinksmanship will result in a better solution?

Well, those are some interesting thoughts. Somehow, though, you forgot to mention oil even once in your column.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050526/news_1b26pipeline.html

This (above) was published in May, 2005. This whole thing has been simmering to a boil since then. The takeaway:

The U.S.-backed pipeline realizes several crucial goals for Washington, including reducing dependence on Russian pipelines and avoiding Iran. While the pipeline crosses areas plagued by separatist conflicts, raising security concerns, the countries hope it will be a catalyst for calm and prosperity as well.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, or BTC, pipeline aims to boost access by the energy-hungry West to the rich Caspian fields, estimated to hold the world's third-largest reserves. Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan all claim shares of the undersea wealth.

Standing in front of a transparent section of pipe with Bodman and BP PLC Chief Executive John Brown, whose company leads the consortium that built the pipeline, the presidents pulled the levers that allowed the oil to flow through.

The pipeline "can be called the Silk Road of the 21st century," Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said during the ceremony at the Sangachal oil terminal, 25 miles south of Baku.

But the plan to circumvent Russian pipelines has angered the Kremlin. Most Caspian oil exports go through Russian pipelines to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, where the oil is loaded onto tankers that squeeze through the busy Bosporus strait. Russian officials tried to persuade Azerbaijan not to sign on to the project.
But none of this has anything to do with the oil.

To all and sundry who can read a map, the folly of the United States intervening in an ethnic conflict should be readily apparent. The US to Mexico is pretty much analogous as Russia is to Georgia. If Mexico should try to reassert sovereignty over part of Texas which was Hispanic dominated, does anyone think the reaction of the US over the use of military would be different than Russia???s protecting of ethnic Russian???s.

If Russia called for a cease-fire does anyone think the US would pay any heed? If they tried military intervention would the US just stand by, I think not. A nuclear stand off would surely ensue.

The present situation is not the time for B and C to inject their faulty judgment into the mix.

It is not in our Vital National Interest.