Commentary: WOW! I did not see that coming at all. Sure, I did notice that both chambers of the Russian parliament passed a resolution calling on President Medvedev to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia *unanimously*, but then, considering that by now all the parties in the Russian parliament were basically ‘anti-Western’ (bad expression, but you know what I mean) I was not too surprised. My guess was that Medvedev would
(Thanks to fkd for this video!)
I ended my previous article about The real meaning of the South Ossetian war with the words: historians will probably look back at the month of August 2008 as the moment when Russia decided to strike back at the Empire for the first time. Today, I want to pick up this conclusion and take a look at what might happen next. But before looking into the future, I want to
Press TV reports: Russia has halted cooperation with NATO as tension is running high between Moscow and the West after the Georgia conflict. NATO announced on Thursday that it had received notification from Russia that the country was halting military cooperation with the alliance. “We have received the notification from the Russians through military channels and they say that they have decided to halt international military cooperation events between Russia
Press conference of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Anatolii Nagovitsyn:
By Noah Shachtman for Wired MagazineThis is the second post from naval blogger Galrahn. Go check out his site, Information Dissemination, when you’re done here. While most of the world has focused primarily on the ground conflict in Georgia, the Russian Black Sea Fleet has been active off the coast. By now, you may have heard some isolated reports — 4000 troops landed by sea at Ochamchire, a battle resulting
Here is an interesting excerpt of an al-Manar summary of a recent speech made by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah: Sayyed Nasrallah asserted that “the results of the war are evident even today, in both the military and political fields in Israel.” He said Israel is facing the worst leadership crisis in its history. “The entire front line of the army’s brass stepped down because of the war. Gal Hirsch, who
I don’t even have a TV. Much less so one tuned to American stations. And even much less so one tuned to FOX TV. And sometimes, very rarely, I regret that. Like today. But one of my long time readers helped me out (thanks LH!) and send me this hilarious video of FOX TV reporters being shot at being their Georgian darlings. Before watching it, notice a couple of things.
Janet McBride for the Reuters Blog Ever since Russia launched a massive counter-offensive in response to Georgia’s attempt to retake the pro-Russian, breakaway region of South Ossetia, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been omnipresent in Western media. He has appeared on CBS, CNN, BBC and pretty much every other English-language TV channel to accuse Russia of penetrating Georgia far beyond Ossetia, planning an assault on the capital and plotting his
Russia Today reports: The United States has been providing military and technical support to independent Georgia for almost 15 years. During this period, the overall amount of annual aid from Washington has increased by more than several hundred times, and reached its peak in the financial year till 2006. It has meant that Georgia’s army was well prepared for an attack on South Ossetia. RT offers a brief history of
By Robert Scheer for Truthdig (thanks to CJ for this article) Is it possible that this time the October surprise was tried in August, and that the garbage issue of brave little Georgia struggling for its survival from the grasp of the Russian bear was stoked to influence the U.S. presidential election? Before you dismiss that possibility, consider the role of one Randy Scheunemann, for four years a paid lobbyist
by Stephen Lendman for Global Research (via The People’s Voice) After the Soviet Union’s 1991 dissolution, Georgia’s South Ossetia province broke away and declared its independence. So far it remains undiplomatically recognized by UN member states. It’s been traditionally allied with Russia and wishes to reunite with Northern Ossetes in the North Ossetia-Alania Russian republic. Nothing so far is in prospect, but Russia appears receptive to the idea. And for
Press TV reports: The US military has been taken aback by the speed the Russian military managed to dispatch forces to South Ossetia, official says. According to US defense sources, Russia has deployed 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers in South Ossetia. The Russian military has also flown SU-25, SU-24, SU-27 and TU-22 fighters and bombers during the campaign. “We were tracking it earlier in that week and we knew that things
Russia Today reports: Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy have drawn up a six point peace plan for settling the conflict in South Ossetia. Non-use of force and stopping all military action are among the conditions which must be met if the proposal is to succeed. At a meeting in Moscow, the Russian and French presidents called for the sides to sign up to the following
A very good commentary by Pepe Escobar: Pepe Escobar, born in Brazil is the roving correspondent for Asia Times and an analyst for The Real News Network. He’s been a foreign correspondent since 1985, based in London, Milan, Los Angeles, Paris, Singapore, and Bangkok. Since the late 1990s, he has specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central Asia, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He
Russia Today reports: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered an end to the military operation in Georgia. He said the objective – “to compel Georgia to peace” – has been achieved. Meanwhile, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has announced his country is to leave the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), an alliance of former Soviet republics.
In one of its news bulletins CNN has shown Russian tanks and ruined buildings which they claimed are in the Georgian town of Gori. Russian cameraman of the Russian TV channel, who did the footage in reality in South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali says CNN aired footage of Tskhinvali district close to former Russian peacekeepers headquarters, nearly all of them were killed by Georgians after the footage was made.
“Of course, Saddam Hussein ought to have been hanged for destroying several Shiite villages, and the incumbent Georgian leaders who razed ten Ossetian villages at once, who ran elderly people and children with tanks, who burned civilian alive in their sheds — these leaders must be taken under protection.” Vladimir Putin, source: AP
The amazing and tragic events in South Ossetia seem to baffle most Western experts. While a majority of them fall back on the ‘safe’ position of blaming Russia for everything others, in particularly on the Left, appear to be rather unsure of what to think of all this; many basically ignore the issue altogether. In contrast to the Leftist blogosphere or to the free and independent press, the corporate media
Press TV reports: Georgia says Russian forces have occupied the Georgian city of Gori amid an armed conflict in the breakaway region of South Ossetia. “Russian forces are occupying Gori”, 76 kilometers west of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, the secretary of Georgia’s security council, Alexander Lomaia, told AFP Monday. Lomaia said “Georgian armed forces received an order to leave Gori and to fortify positions near Mtskheta to defend the capital. This
