Webloggin » Russia Continues Demolishing Georgia

The video, news reports and first hand testimony of what is happening in Georgia should be an eye-opener to the West. Georgia, a friend of the United States, is being demolished by Russian military. They are systematically destroying the Georgian military, installations, equipment, navy, ships, and anything else they that gets in their path.

A ceasefire? Please, give me a break. Not only is Russia not ceasing their attacks, they are moving further into Georgia. And even if a cease fire is agreed upon and signed, Russia is demanding on leaving “peace-keeping forces” in Georgia. Does anyone believe that these are peace-keepers? Now another friend of the United States has put herself in the line of fire: “Poland has made itself a nuclear target for Russia’s military by hosting elements of a US anti-missile system, a senior Russian general said as Condoleezza Rice arrived in Georgia to finalize a peace deal.” (Peace and Freedom ‘08)

“By hosting these, Poland is making itself a target. This is 100 percent” certain, Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted General Anatoly Nogovitsyn as saying.

[Fox News reported at 0917 Eastern time in the USA that General Nogovitsyn also said, "This missile defense system in Poland cannot go unpunished."]

“It becomes a target for attack. Such targets are destroyed as a first priority,” Gen Nogovitsy was quoted as saying. Russian Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General …

Above: Russian Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces

It seems that Russia isn’t interested in what Condi Rice, President George W. Bush, or anyone else from the West has to say. It also seems that French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit wasn’t as successful as the news reports indicated. President Saakashvili is a brave man and he needs our strong support.

The Oil Drum says “Russia has won in the conflict in Georgia, and we are in the process of sorting out what happens next. Various ones have written what they see happening.”

GEORGIA-RUSSIA CONFLICT SHOWS EU’S ENERGY VULNERABILITY

But this week’s offensive, during which British Petroleum shut down an oil pipeline and temporarily stopped pumping gas through Georgia, has called into question plans for a Eurasian corridor free from Russian interference.

“The Caspian region is wondering what this means for the future,” says Giorgi Vashakmadze, an energy executive in Georgia. “Russia is showing it controls this corridor.”

Continue reading the above article at The Oil Drum.

BREAKING NEWS
Events in Georgia Escalate Even as Rice Steps in to Mediate
By Ilana Freedman

This morning Gerard Group received a comprehensive report from its multiple sources on the ground in Georgia. The report has brought into high relief the massive force that Russia has brought against this sovereign nation of Georgia, and the reality that Georgia now stands at the brink of destruction.

The attack last week against Georgia by the Russian military was not a spontaneous response to Georgian activities in South Ossetia. According to our sources on the ground in Tblisi, thousands of Russian tanks have been massing on the Russian border with Georgia since the last days of June. They were simply waiting for an excuse to cross the border, and they were armed for conquest.

Their first attack came by air on Friday, August 8, delivered by two SU-44s, whose first bomb hit a cafeteria in the Vasiani Air Force Base, near Georgia’s capital, Tblisi. According to our sources, the base was slated to become a part of the system of US military bases providing support in Central Asia, once Georgia joined NATO.

By Saturday, Russian tanks were pouring into the country and only five days later, President Mikheil Saakashvili reported that Russia currently occupies one-third of his country. He accused the world of standing by and watching the murder of his country on live television.

Today, Georgian dreams are in disarray. Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti has been destroyed, according to our sources. The city of Gori has also been destroyed, and the destruction has been followed by reports of looting and atrocities by irregular soldiers. Tskhinvali, the capital of the Georgian Province of South Ossetia, has also met with heavy damage. Georgia’s newest military base, built to NATO specifications to prepare the country for NATO membership, has been totally destroyed.

Russia is also reported to have dropped cluster bombs in Ossetia. During this past week, there were over 100 jets in the airspace over Georgia, ‘matched’ against Georgia’s meager air force of 7 military planes. For the time being, Tblisi has been spared, although much of the infrastructure around Tblisi has been destroyed. The Russians are currently content to keep their line of tanks about 15 miles outside of Tblisi.

Our source reports that a deal was struck under Russian threat that the capital would be spared if Saakashvili would keep his troops from blowing up the strategic Roki tunnel that runs through the Caucasus Mountain range which marks the border between Russia and Georgia. The Russians are using this tunnel to supply troops and provide ground access to Georgia.

The conflict began ten days ago when Saakashvili sent four brigades of poorly trained troops into South Ossetia on an ill-advised offensive to seize control over the breakaway region, which Georgia claims as part of its territory. Russia was prepared to respond quickly. Their massive over-reaction to Georgia’s poor attempt to secure South Ossetia has demonstrated to the world that Russia’s dreams of world domination go far beyond the country to its south.

Putin’s quest for international power extends beyond political aspirations. Dominance in oil and gas will be greatly enhanced by Russia’s occupation of Georgia, which lies in a corridor between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, that commands distribution pipelines from Azerbaijan, which controls vast oil and gas reserves in the Caspian Sea.

It exports these resources to Georgia, Turkey, and Europe through three pipelines – Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan via Georgia to Turkey (which carried 1.2 million barrels of oil to Turkey a day); Baku-Novorossiisk, which links the Azeri capital with the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk; and Baku-Supsa to Georgia. Acquisition of these lines would be a major coup for the Russians.

But as of August 9, two days after the start of the conflict, Azerbaijan halted all of its oil export to Georgia via Baku.

No less important to Putin, is the message that Russian power is now emerging, and that the weakness of the West will have to give way to the dominance of a powerful, new Russia.

The mortifications associated with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 will be redeemed by an emerging Russia as a new global force with which to be reckoned. The Russian Bear is determined to show its claws, and demonstrate to the whole world that the “Paper Tiger” they know as the United States, cannot withstand the power of its military and political forces.

Not insignificantly, there are rumors that Russian Special Forces have been inserted into Georgia with a target hit list. This strategy is not unknown to those who are familiar with Soviet history and have been following Russia’s descent from quasi-democratic process and return to the basic principles of Soviet “might over right”.

It should surprise no one that only last Monday, August 4, Russia’s deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn assured Georgia that, “We are not planning any offensive.” His duplicity is reminiscent of old Soviet policies of disinformation and lies.

Now the world has finally gotten involved. Condoleeza Rice arrived in Tblisi today, for the purpose of, in the words of President Bush, “conferring with President Saakashvili and expressing America’s wholehearted support for Georgia’s democracy”.

She came talking softly and carrying a big stick. But the target of her political thrust was Georgia, not Russia, whose overwhelming military presence in Georgia today continues to pose a monstrous threat to the Georgian people.

Following her arrival, Saakashvili has signed a cease fire, for the second time this week. He signed it under extreme pressure from Rice. The Russians blatantly ignored the first cease fire, and, although Rice has called for total Russian withdrawal, we do not anticipate their cooperation this time either.

America seems determined to replace the big stick with appeasement to every country that raises its voice against us, either directly or indirectly. This has led us to a situation where America is perceived as weak, unable or unwilling to defend its allies. It renders us helpless in the face of agression against our friends and allies.

© Gerard Group International, Inc. 2008 All rights reserved.

From Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs:

The Russian-Georgian War: Implications for the Middle East
Ariel Cohen

* Moscow formulated far-reaching goals when it carefully prepared – over a period of at least two and a half years – for a land invasion of Georgia. These goals included: expelling Georgian troops and effectively terminating Georgian sovereignty in South Ossetia and Abkhazia; bringing down President Mikheil Saakashvili and installing a more pro-Russian leadership in Tbilisi; and preventing Georgia from joining NATO.

* Russia’s long-term strategic goals include increasing its control of the Caucasus, especially over strategic energy pipelines. If a pro-Russian regime is established in Georgia, it will bring the strategic Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Erzurum (Turkey) gas pipeline under Moscow’s control.

* In recent years, Moscow granted the majority of Abkhazs and South Ossetians Russian citizenship. Use of Russian citizenship to create a “protected” population residing in a neighboring state to undermine its sovereignty is a slippery slope which is now leading to a redrawing of the former Soviet borders.

* Russian continental power is on the rise. Israel should understand it and not provoke Moscow unnecessarily, while defending its own national security interests staunchly. Small states need to treat nuclear armed great powers with respect.

* U.S. intelligence-gathering and analysis on the Russian threat to Georgia failed. So did U.S. military assistance to Georgia, worth around $2 billion over the last 15 years. This is something to remember when looking at recent American intelligence assessments of the Iranian nuclear threat or the unsuccessful training of Palestinian Authority security forces against Hamas. The long-term outcomes of the current Russian-Georgian war will be felt far and wide, from Afghanistan to Iran, and from the Caspian to the Mediterranean. The war is a mid-sized earthquake which indicates that the geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting, and nations in the Middle East, including Israel, need to take notice.

What would Obama do about Russia and Georgia? (Stop the ACLU and Powerline)

How about…disarm the U.S.? Check out this disaster video of Obama’s nuclear philosophy.

I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems… …

I will not weaponize space… …

I will slow development of future combat systems… …and I will institute an independent “Defense Priorities Board” to ensure the quadrennial defense review is not used to justify unnecessary spending… …

I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons… …and to seek that goal, I will not develop nuclear weapons… …

I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material… …and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert… …and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals…

It MATTERS WHO IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE my friends. It matters what the leader of the free world thinks, says and how he acts and how quickly he acts when disaster strikes in the world. A leader doesn’t have time to lick his finger, stick it in the air and see which way the wind is blowing. Nor does he have time to take a poll of his campaign supporters to see what they want him to do.

A President of the United States must have moral clarity, he must be knowledgeable of world events, history, current political situation around the world. And he must be able to make decisions. Barack Obama is ,,, NOT. THAT. MAN.

In other news: Al-Qaeda Training Terrorists For New Attacks On The West

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