‘They Want the Whole of Georgia’

What was Saakashvili thinking in deciding to start a war in South Ossetia? The hammering he received at the hands of Russians should be a good lesson for him. Georgians need to get rid of him, quickly. He has caused them enough trouble; they do not need him for any more of the same.
Did we hear Bush complain about a disproportionate response by Russia? When has a proportionate response been successful in ending a conflict quickly? Bush may threaten all he wants. He can do little, if anything. He has little credibility at home and our allies seem to be waiting for his term to end soon. US cannot engage in an armed conflict with Russia in the region. It doesn't have the necessary resources and after more than five years, has little more than a high number of American casulties and big budget deficits to show for its war efforts in other ongoing conflicts. Bush can try to isolate Russia on the world stage but it might not work and could backfire. US needs Russia's support in dealing with Iran and other countries in the UN and other inernational forums.
The conflict seems to be cooling on its own. Now it is upto the two parties to work it out - without outside parties.

Ranjit

A couple of points:
1 In the international media the background to the Russian-Georgian war is given starting from last week and the bombing of Tshinvali. The military conflict has actually been going on for some years with Russian military planes flying over Georgia and ???unidentified??? bombs and rockets falling into Georgia.
2 The cyberattacks on Georgia started a day before the bombing of Tshinvali.
3 The Russian citizens in South Ossetia to whose aid Russia purportedly rushed were manufactured by Russia in the last few years. Russia simply handed out its passports to anyone who wanted them in South Ossetia.
4 The claim that a war is to defend civilians is ridiculous from a logical standpoint alone. Any peace is better than war for civilians. A country whose primary goal was to protect civilians would not go to war or if it was already in one would withdraw as quickly as possible. That applies to all wars, not just the present one in Georgia.
5 Russia claims that the South Ossetians chose independence from Georgia in a referendum in 2004. A fair referendum in Russian-controlled territory is a contradiction in terms but perhaps South Ossetians really prefer to secede. If Russia wants Ossetians to be independent, it should first grant independence to North Ossetia that is currently part of Russia. That would be a very powerful argument in favour of South Ossetian independence. Russia of course just wants to expand its territory and will incorporate South Ossetia into itself, not give it independence.
6 Russia claims Georgia has perpetrated genocide in South Ossetia. Considering the number of international advisers, consultants, monitors and no doubt spies in Georgia now a genocide would have been noticed very quickly. No other sources besides Russian ones have confirmed the genocide allegations however. A genocide can be carried out relatively unnoticed only in remote and isolated territories where a great power is denying access to the international community. That happened for example in Chechenya where Russia strongly discouraged international observation.
7 There are many similarities between the rhetoric and behaviour of Germany in 1938 and Russia in 2008, for example the defending of one???s citizens abroad argument, accusing a smaller country of attacking a larger one, claiming that the world is biased against them, fostering separatism and ethnic conflict in its neighbours??? territories. Carl Bildt drew some good parallels between Russia and Hitler???s Germany in a recent article.
8 On the internet the Russian viewpoint is more widely represented than the Georgian simply because the number of potential commenters and bloggers in Russia is much larger than in Georgia.

PUTIN and MEDVEDIEV are just being good komunists,STALIN would be proud of them.

While trying to gather info on the war Georgia/South Ossetia/Russia, I met two Georgian girls from Tbilisi, capital on www.eva.ru. When I asked them how are they doing they replayed ???we are fine but afraid for our brothers". They could hear the noises coming from Russian, bombing air force base nearby Tbilisi. One girl has some relatives in South Ossetia. What I was shocked of - that those girls didn't show any empathy for the South Ossetians. I still don't understand - why? What I understand is that, while folks in Tbilisi had foods, internet, phone, TV, running water and power services on, their neighbors (about 40 miles. away from them) have been trapped -in order to escape from artillery "Grad"- into their cellars, as big as 9by 9 feet, - all- w/o water, food, light, fresh air and communications, of coarse. The Georgian president didn't send to Tshinvali any humanitarian help, the same time calling the South Ossetians his???citizens". And guess, how those poor citizens would appreciate the Georgia after all?

The problem in Georgia is all about Western power and money. We in America promote freedom and self determination only when it promotes our business interests. Georgia is a path for pipelines to the Causcus region which doesn't pass through Russia. Bush, Cheney and friends now view Russia as big disappointment since they can no longer exploit Russia'v vast resources for big profits. The government in Georgia is nothing but a paid off puppet goverment who is willing to assist western busines interests. The fact is parts of Georgia want be part of Russia. They have democratically voted for this. It is hypocritical for the West to endorse Kosovo as independent nation and then say to these break away republics your wishes are irrelevent because you believe in Russia. Why the double standard. Reason: The West badly wants Russia to be a weak nation so it can be exploited. Since this is no langer the case, any country or potential who is willing to promote American power and profit egardless of principle is considered an ally. Georgia is such a country. Freedon, self determination, equality and so on are nothing but rhetoric used to cover up the truth and convince ignorant Americans we are a just and righteous nation while behind the scenes we are factually a country out to exploit weaker nations on this planet for a profit. Look around. Why dd we invade Iraq? Why do we support an Isreali regime which has completely trashes the rights of non-Jews in the iddleast. Why are we so hostile to Iran? Could it be we lost our Shah puppet 40 years ago and they are now a nation which shun American business interests. The truth is the governmentof Iran treats its average citizens far better than our good friends the Saudis. Why do we now want point missiles at Russia? Could it be a statement to them; your now a bad boy because you won't let us make some easy money off your resources. The government in Georgia is nothing more than a pawn of the West being used as a tool to insult Russia. The fact is Russia is a resource rich country returning to the world stage as a truly independent nation the West cannot exploit. Sorry, Bush, Cheney, and elitist friends. Putin's Russia is no longer a nation you can victimize. Unfortunately, you can still victimize ignorant Americans and people in the Middle Eastern countries, but not for long!!!!

Suckass vili is doing everything that he can to get Cowboy George to take on the Russians,,,,,The most ridiculous was his planned performance in front of cameras of being thrown to the ground and having his body guards bury him in armored vests.,,,,,,,,,,,The man's a clown,,,

And his saying, no, Russia doesn't want Gerogia they want the United States and NATO is another of his desperate paragraphs of words and phrases to humiliate and cause Cowboy George to come to his rescue,

He's also kind of stupid,,,for he may indeed humiliate and make Cowboy George come riding over the hill but it wont be on a rescue mission.

Russia will act like Germany in the 30s. It's their cultural heritage to push until someone pushes back. It's time for America, NATO and the EU to step up and put Russia in it's place over this unprovoked invasion of a democratically elected government. Period.

Marylander and nicky1142... They must be on PUTIN's PAYROLL. Everyone know's about Russia building it's troops in the area. It wasn't a matter of if but a matter of when. Don't think that Russia will not pay a price for it's OPEN attacks. Funny that we see so many Russian's on a US webpage defending the actions of the country they're from. REALLY... Ask yourself, by the comments they've made are they really on PUTIN's PAYROLL. I would love to fight AGAINEST your mother Russia standing side by side with Georgia. This is also what I am telling to my congress. It is CLEAR THAT RUSSIA STARTED THIS and GEORGIA WILL MAKE RUSSIA PAY. Maybe I'll have to knock the dust off my passport as I would sure like to see the beating that Russia's about to get for myself. If Georgians start dialing up IED's it'll put a crippling effect on Russia's ground forces.

Certainly; we must know that George and Condi Rice were behind the whole deal; why else was she in Georgia last month. lmht was right below; this whole thing was the arrogance of Saashkalivi looking for a fast track to NATO. Have we not yet learned the USA is no longer free; actually never really was. We are just living the dream they tell us to live. The media and the politicians are singing from the same hymnal!!

Russia has demonstrated this type of behavior through the years, acting as though they have no regard for life or the rules. This goes back all the way to the 1800's with the genocide commited against the circassian nation. see for yourselves. http://www.circassianworld.com/circassiangenocide.html

I suspect this blog is being used as a propaganda tool by one or another's side. Read the comments carefully, and if you have followed this situation even somewhat you will see what I mean. Welcome the new technology, the Internet, to proaganda warfare.