‘The Cold War Is Long Over’

Newsweek has done a great disservice to the free people of the world by publishing this tripe.

Russia laid a "strategic ambush" for Georgia. It incited anti-government attacks in South Ossetia and then responding to the measured Georgian response, attacked with a well-planned and rehearsed offensive. The combined-arms attacks Russia staged in the opening hours of the war were far from spontaneous. A retrospective on Nazi Germany's offensive to "protect" the Sudaten Czechs shows a striking similarity of purpose and method.

Russia planed for months to prepare its invasion. It???s huge ground, air, sea, and cyber offensive proves this. Before the ???conflict,??? Russian mercenaries in South Ossetia brutally attacked until Georgia was finally forced defend its people. Russia then sent in almost two divisions, a squadron of warships, launched hundreds of air strikes against preplanned targets; and every one of these things requires weeks of preparation.

Newsweek's editor should be forced to resign for this unethical regurgitation of Russian propaganda.

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 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. They bombed their own cities to elect their own candidate, They inserted "peacekeepers" and later invaded Georgia to stop a gas pipeline. They attempted the assasination of the Ukrainian President. They murdered a former collegue using of all things radiation with its complete visibility and traceability as a demonstration of their utter contempt for the west, they jailed their nation's richest man and 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 report back to your embassy.

Only persons with strong knowledge on the subject they are commenting should be let their ideas published.. A magazine such as Newsweek should therefore conduct a test to such individuals before publishing their ideas. Media is a strong weapon and missleading information can cause serious damage.
The commenters amdi and limejuncktion fall within this catagory or willingly they are falsifying the truth.

A magazine of Newsweek caliber should test the degree of the knowledge of individuals who want to comment on certain issues before publishing their comments. Both epeyton and amid are falling in the category who don't know history or they have an agenda to falsify the facts. Media is a serious business and when it is used by inappropriate people it's becoming dangerous.

Mr. Lavrov's article is another attempt to falsify the facts. I do not think anyone would believe what Mr. Lavrov said.

We have heard numerous reports of looting by Russian military on Georgia proper and International human rights groups have already accused Russian military of looting and ethnic cleansing.

You simply can not invade a sovereign country, bombing civilian areas, destroying the infrastructure and pretend you are restoring a peace. Indeed, the Cold War is Long Over and Russia will have to pay for its actions.

And this is not about Russian people but about the Government who think they can disregard its neighbors and fully disrespect international law.

Accusing Georgia of ethnic profiling is pretty stupid as many people know Georgia has a tradition of being the most welcoming and tolerant country in the world, celebrating its multi ethnic and multi religious population.

There are millions of ethnic Russians living in Brooklyn, NY (and most of them do not even hold a proper visa, remaining Russian citizens). And it is needless to say the United States has been very welcoming. What would we say if one day Russia announced that the millions of Russian citizens who reside in New York are in dire need of protection and started bombing civilian targets of New York, blocked the sea ports in Florida, sent tens of thousands of troops on U.S. proper and started terrorizing the population? Because this is exactly what seems to have happened in Georgia.

And the population in the South Ossetia region have not even been Russian - they are ethnic Georgians and ethnic Ossetians - and Russia simply started giving out Russian passports a few years ago.

It is pure and simple: It is time for Russia to stop military aggression and start concentrating on its own population, internal problems and protect its cultural values - something that will be of utmost importance to the future of world order.

To many people have failed to look at S. Ossetian history. S. Ossetia was Russian, under the Czars. They have a long history of ¨being Russian¨. Joseph Stalin gave the disputed areas to his home country, Georgia. Just gave that land away.
Ossetians are ethnically Russian, not Armenian.

Dear Mr. Lavrov,
"A nation must defend its people when they are attacked." Does a person become part of Russia just because a passport is able to be bought at a local bazaar? Or is it because a person speaks Russian, a result of centuries of harsh and forced russification throughtout the former empire and USSR? A South Ossetian is exactly that, a South Ossetian. The quick and lethal response, shows that Russian forces had already been transferred near the front, ready to bring "peace" after supplying and supporting South Ossetia. Your government's hypocritical actions and words have no place in a region trying to escape the grasp of authoritarism, a glorious reform, with its apex as the arrest of Khodorkovsky. Mr Lavrov, reexamine Russia before going around and dictating the fate of another country.

Andrey Mykolayovich Drozd

Mr. Lavrov lies well. He cries that poor Russians peacekeepers were attacked. But who asked Russian peacekeepers to be in a foreign country anyway? Who began issueing the citizens of that country their own Russian Passports. Mr. Lavrov is a sociopath who along with his sick pals in the FSB and Prime Ministers office have nothing less than reclaiming Russian regional hegemeny in mind. 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 Svoiet Central Committee. In today's conflct these Chekist scum have bombed there own cities to elect their own candidate, inserted "peacekeepers" and later invaded a sovereign nation to stop a gas pipeline that would give two other countries the freedom to set their own prices for natural gas, killed a former collegue with of all things radiation as a demonstration of their utter contempt, and trashed the constitution of their nation. Yes it is not a cold war, it is hot and the only way one deals with psychopaths is to go for their throats.