POINT OF VIEW

‘The Cold War Is Long Over’

By Sergey Lavrov | NEWSWEEK
Published Aug 23, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Sep 1, 2008

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  • Posted By: lovejusticepeace @ 08/28/2008 1:17:42 PM

    Dear earthens !
    Now Abkhazia and Ossetia is FREE.
    Tommorow all Oppressed & Suppresed nations and peoples will be FREE.
    Quebec,FalklandIslands,Basque,NorthernIreland and the rest.

  • Posted By: Emilda @ 08/25/2008 3:39:48 PM

    There is an interesting suggestion from Steve Levine. The Russians have a big weakness. The West should keep in mind Russia's Achilles Heel while dealing with Putin and Medvedev. Levine knows this area, having covered wars in Chechnya, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan as well as the Soviet-Afghan war: http://oilandglory.com/2008/08/russias-achilles-heel.html

    • Posted By: System7 @ 08/26/2008 10:51:15 PM

      I think you have definitely bought some stocks of oil companies and try to heat the situation to take profit. Let's build peace.

  • Posted By: diderotvoltaire @ 08/25/2008 4:18:32 PM

    Vladimir Putin is a well known war criminal particularly by his crmes in Chechnya. Lavrov is a close ally of Putin - it means that he is , at least, complice of this war criminal. Now Putin will be charged for his crimes in Georgia: ethnic cleansing, war crimes, crime against peace, genocide in South Osetia. Nobody believes that Russia has not prepared since months , even years, to invade, to occuppy Georgia. The pretext of this invasion was the same used by Hitler in 1938 with the Sudeths : to portect his citizens. Nobocy could beleive one word of this criminal Putin and his friends, leaders of a totall corrupted state

    • Posted By: System7 @ 08/26/2008 8:12:34 AM

      Don't forget that the genocide in South Ossetia was executed by Saakashvili.

  • Posted By: diderotvoltaire @ 08/25/2008 4:58:19 PM

    Putin and Lavrov have violated two of the main principals of peace and of security in Europe : 1)- the international borders are sacred - it means sovereignty and territorial integrity are sacred; 2)- there is no zone of influences. In violating the both by invading and occupying Georgia, Putin is becoming an outlaw. The West will make it pay because Putin is a threat of security and of peace in Europe. The West will say to the World how much dangerous this criminal Putin is - no leass than Htller in 1930's.

    • Posted By: System7 @ 08/26/2008 8:09:14 AM

      The West did the same in Serbia and has no problem. Why do you want problems for Putin?

  • Posted By: Svkiril @ 08/26/2008 2:06:07 AM

    Hey ! Have you been there? Have you seen the war with your own eyes???
    OPEN your eyes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we are shocked! Making the conflict between Georgia and Ossetia useful for the States you want to start WWIII??? Is this the goal of this conflict? Ok, blame Putin and Russia.. covering by this your sins... You are becoming not the country of Liberty.. but of Devil!!!!!!!!!

  • Posted By: Svkiril @ 08/26/2008 2:05:13 AM

    Hey ! Have you been there? Have you seen the war with your own eyes???
    OPEN your eyes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we are shocked! Making the conflict between Georgia and Ossetia useful for the States you want to start WWIII??? Is this the goal of this conflict? Ok, blame Putin and Russia.. covering by this your sins... You are becoming not the country of Liberty.. but of Devil!!!!!!!!!

  • Posted By: Loona @ 08/25/2008 6:06:27 AM

    For those who are still in the anti-russian pripoganda - just look here:
    http://www.nebog.com/truthaboutwar.htm

  • Posted By: Glenno @ 08/24/2008 7:08:11 PM

    90% of the residents in Ossetia are Russian ethinc, and with Russian passports. That the US still claim that they have the last saying in this area and this being a "sphere of national interest" is just another example of US arrogoance. A ceasefire aggreement was in place, prohibiting Georgia from using military force in Ossetia, this includes US sponsored genocide and the truce was broken by Georgia

  • Posted By: limejunction @ 08/24/2008 5:39:40 PM

    Comment: Mr. Lavrov lies well. He cries that poor Russians peacekeepers were attacked. But who asked Russian peacekeepers to be in Georgia, why Russia did! Who began issueing Georgian citizens Russian passports, why Russia did! Mr. Lavrov is a sociopath Siloviki who along with his sick pals in the FSB and Prime Ministers office are intent on reclaiming Russian regional hegemeny. Mr. Lavrov is correct about one thing. This is not a cold war. In the cold war the psychopaths of the KGB were held in check by the Soviet Central Committee. Today the Checkists are in charge of every part of the government and most of the economy. To return to power they bombed their own cities, blaming it on Chechens, so Mr. Putin would be elected, They inserted "peacekeepers" and later invaded Georgia to stop a natural gas pipeline that if installed would free the "stans" from accepting low Russian prices for their natural gas.. They attempted the assasination of the Ukrainian President. They murdered a former collegue, using of all things radiation with its high visibility and traceability, as a demonstration of their utter contempt for the west. They jailed their nation's richest man, sent his allies into exile and took over their media empires. They have killed any free press, trashed the constitution of their nation. Yes it is not a cold war, it is hot one and the only way one deals with psychopaths is to go for their throats. Finally, Mike3335 & rosebud2008 & D. Anderson report back to your embassy.

  • Posted By: D. Anderssen @ 08/24/2008 1:09:10 PM

    Well said Mr. Lavrov. But I don't think that anyone with a fair amount of intelligence has had any doubts about the legality of the overall Russian response in Georgia. And that seems to be the point of your article, indicating along that Georgia's pres. Saakashvili has been waging a "dirty" media war.
    An undeniable fact remains that Russia has received a "bloody nose" in this (media) war, for the Washington backed Georgian government in unison with the current US Administration have steamrolled across the world's public opinion in the same fashion the Russian tanks did across Georgia. Russian government has done literally nothing to defend itself in this arena. Is it because the Russian government never foresaw this or never thought it mattered, still remains a mystery to me.
    The result is that (in the world's public opinion) Russia has been equated with the Soviet Union of the past, a brute totalitarian, anti-democracy military force that is "coming to your neighborhood". Whether we want to believe it or not, this is de facto the start of the Cold War II.

  • Posted By: D. Anderssen @ 08/24/2008 1:08:28 PM

    Well said Mr. Lavrov. But I don't think that anyone with a fair amount of intelligence has had any doubts about the legality of the overall Russian response in Georgia. And that seems to be the point of your article, indicating along that Georgia's pres. Saakashvili has been waging a "dirty" media war.
    An undeniable fact remains that Russia has received a "bloody nose" in this (media) war, for the Washington backed Georgian government in unison with the current US Administration have steamrolled across the world's public opinion in the same fashion the Russian tanks did across Georgia. Russian government has done literally nothing to defend itself in this arena. Is it because the Russian government never foresaw this or never thought it mattered, still remains a mystery to me.
    The result is that (in the world's public opinion) Russia has been equated with the Soviet Union of the past, a brute totalitarian, anti-democracy military force that is "coming to your neighborhood". Whether we want to believe it or not, this is de facto the start of the Cold War II.

  • Posted By: limejunction @ 08/24/2008 12:23:26 AM

    Mr. Lavrov lies well. He cries that poor Russians peacekeepers were attacked. But who asked Russian peacekeepers to be in Georgia, why Russia did! Who began issueing Georgian citizens Russian passports, why Russia did! Mr. Lavrov is a sociopath Siloviki who along with his sick pals in the FSB and Prime Ministers office are intent on reclaiming Russian regional hegemeny. Mr. Lavrov is correct about one thing. This is not a cold war. In the cold war the psychopaths of the KGB were held in check by the Soviet Central Committee. Today the Chekist scum are in charge of every part of the government and most of the economy. To return to power they bombed their own cities, blaming it on Chechens, so Mr. Putin would be elected, They inserted "peacekeepers" and later invaded Georgia to stop a natural gas pipeline that if installed would free the "stans" from accepting low Russian prices for their natural gas.. They attempted the assasination of the Ukrainian President. They murdered a former collegue, using of all things radiation with its high visibility and traceability, as a demonstration of their utter contempt for the west. They jailed their nation's richest man sent his allies into exile and took over their media empires. They have trashed the constitution of their nation. Yes it is not a cold war, it is hot one and the only way one deals with psychopaths is to go for their throats. Finally, Mike3335 & rosebud2008 report back to your embassy.

  • Posted By: rosebud2008 @ 08/23/2008 8:33:02 PM

    Do we Americans really want another cold war? NAW!! I have had enough of the hot wars too. It is time to turn our AMERICAN tax dollars to alternative energy sources and health care for OUR citizens. Not foreign freaking aid for countries like Georgia or Ukraine or Poland or Thailand or anyplace else. I know folks with cancer in the USA who have no insurance and no way to get vital life saving surgery or even Chemo.

  • Posted By: rosebud2008 @ 08/23/2008 8:25:11 PM

    Russia has oil, lots of oil. Russia has natural gas, lots of it. The west wants it all. The only way they would ever get it all, is to have the kind of war that would result in a world where nobody who survived would even KNOW what to do with oil or gas anymore. They would be too busy looking for a new cave shelter, some animal skins for clothing and wondering what is FIRE?

  • Posted By: rosebud2008 @ 08/23/2008 8:19:07 PM

    Another point is that the President of Georgia was acting on behalf of his NATO pals. He failed and failed miserably and I promise you that those same pals will find a replacement for him very soon. Oh, he is going and he knows it!! He is a liar and a poor excuse for a man. I saw him lying on the ground covered by his bodyguards while a bunch of calm civilians near by just stood there looking like "What's wrong with him?"

  • Posted By: rosebud2008 @ 08/23/2008 8:13:39 PM

    The Russian forces could have blown up that oil pipeline so dear to the western countries, but it did not. For that reason I think the Russians are telling the truth about their part in this operation. I mean WHY not hurt the west and the main money money maker for the Georgians? The reason is that the Russians were on a mission to force Georgian aggressors back, way back, to stop them from stealing territory. Thmsimp.reasidents are not Georgians nor do they want to be.

  • Posted By: rosebud2008 @ 08/23/2008 8:02:26 PM

    Russia is the hero in this operation!! That silly looking Georgian President started the whole mess at the instigation of the USA. IF the Russians really were so bad they would have blown up that big oil pipeline so beloved by the USA and the English . The fact that they did not even touch it, when they so easily could have done so, proves to me that the Russians were the BEST FOLKS in the whole situation.

  • Posted By: togobeyond @ 08/23/2008 5:49:51 PM

    Russian claimed that 2,000 people had died, which led the Kremlin to accuse Georgia of genocide.Now weeks later after the invasion we find out the true number. Putin planned this invasion.
    Russian prosecutors announced a sharply reduced figure on Wednesday, saying that the bodies of 133 civilians had been found in South Ossetia, while Georgia placed the number of its dead in the conflict at 215. "

  • Posted By: togobeyond @ 08/23/2008 5:46:21 PM

    Russia claimed that 2,000 people had died in South Ossetia, which led the Kremlin to accuse Georgia of genocide. Now the truth comes out weeks later.
    "Russian prosecutors announced a sharply reduced figure on Wednesday, saying that the bodies of 133
    civilians had been found in South Ossetia, while Georgia placed the number of its dead in the conflict at 215."

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