Russia/Georgia Situation News & Updates

reply to post by AceWombat04

I can only hope that this was a characteristic slip of the tongue

Unfortunately not. I've just seen the press conference in Crawford and he said it about 3 times. It was the most prominent thing that came out of it, for me.

Expect the Russians to draw back from Igoeti and redeploy to somewhere else.

UK SAYS RUSSIAN "AGGRESSION" AGAINST GEORGIA AND THREATS TO NEIGHBOURING STATES ARE UNACCEPTABLE

(AlertNet)

reply to post by maloy


Yes, I did spot that earlier on.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili have now both signed the French-brokered peace deal, but Lavrov said the document signed by the Georgian leader was missing a key introductory part.

"The document signed by the Georgian president differs from the one which was agreed," he said. "It totally omits the introductory part saying that these principles are supported by Russia and France and calling on all sides to sign them."
(AlertNet)

This also doesn't make any sense. Russia had earlier said that the document was identical.

And what of the latest development? Bush has just said that there can be no debate about Abkhazia and South Ossetia being part of Georgia.

I'm not getting all the pieces of the puzzle , the document was changed in between Saakashvili signing it and it taken to moscow ?

reply to post by chips



THe PM Brown has been strangely quiet over this . Only to put his head above the parapet once to give his tacit approval to washington with the usual invading sovereign nation rhetoric . Maybe he knows the lies that have surrounded this debacle of blaming russia will soon be exposed and he is already on shaky grounds to keep his job ?

reply to post by Dronetek



Great site thanks for the link to Military photos

I heard that the shrub decided what to do about the conflict. He wants to sent Sherman to Atlanta but he can't find Peabody and the Wayback Machine

I hope the US just stays out of it and lets the rest of NATO handle it. USA does not need more reason to rip our rep to shreds and I can not see the US being of help.

reply to post by Gun Totin Gerbil


Yeah, I think you could be on to something there, GTG. With an already shaky Prime Ministership, I doubt Brown would want to get himself fully embroiled in this debacle. Maybe he really does know what's at the very heart of it all.

I'm still perplexed as to why Saakashvili would attempt to alter a document that would've guaranteed the removal of Russian forces from Georgian territory. And now we have Bush saying that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are indisputably Georgian territories, too - that will surely infuriate the Kremlin.

Something doesn't quite add up here.

Timeline by 16th of August 16:00


Provided data is operational and may be subject to verification.

16 August

16:00 Russian military denies Turkish and Ukranian airplanes permission to enter Georgian airspace in order to take part in putting down the fires in the Borjomi district forests. The fires started as a result of dropping of fire setting engines in the area by Russian aviation.

14:40 Numerous fires have been noticed in the town of Kaspi and surrounding villages after Russian aviation dropped fire setting engines in the area.

source

Maloy, any comments from the Russian leadership to the Bush speech?

Medvedev said that he would support any decision SO and Abkhazia would take... that makes the US and Russia on a colision course.

And the Bush speech is so hypocritical... on one hand he believe in international law only when it fits his agenda and on the other hand, he doesn't support auto-determination of all people, which he precisely did with Kosovo.

That is just comedy gold... if it wasn't so serious.

[edit on 16-8-2008 by Vitchilo]

NATO to review dialogue with Russia

The future of NATO-Russia dialogue and cooperation forums established after the Cold War will be up for review due to the Russian intervention in Georgia, the U.S. ambassador to NATO said on Saturday.

source

Russian troops in Georgia await president's orders

"When my president calls me on this mobile and orders me to start the withdrawal, I will carry out his order," Russian Major-General Vyacheslav Borisov told Reuters in Gori.

source

And now some words from the President...

Originally posted by -Rugged Shark-

16:00 Russian military denies Turkish and Ukranian airplanes permission to enter Georgian airspace in order to take part in putting down the fires in the Borjomi district forests.

That is not really Russia's call. It is still Georgian airspace. It would be in Russia's best interest not to shoot at unarmed planes.

If Russia is telling the truth about their humanitarian role in this conflict why restrict fire planes?

Lol.... I find it somewhat funny that they call the devices "fire setting engines" When all they are are flares meant to protect from anti air missiles.

I think a good reason why Russia is so . Aggressive is because of recent calls for impeachment of bush. It would make some sense .. If putin believed that bush is about to get kicked out of the Whitehouse (We can only hope) It would explain a few things about why the Russians are taking such a strong stance.

Anyone else have the same thought ?

[edit on 16-8-2008 by wolfmanjack]

No, impeachment is so remote a possibility, the Russians must know this too.

On a side note, the OP has gotten something around a quarter million ATS points for this mega thread. He is like the Halliburton of this conflict.

Georgian rail bridge blast hits Azeri oil exports

BAKU, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan suspended oil exports through ports in western Georgia on Sunday after an explosion damaged a key rail bridge there.

Georgia accused Russian troops of blowing up a railway bridge west of the capital Tbilisi earlier in the day, saying its main east-west train link had been severed. Russia strongly denied any involvement.

"Transportation of oil and oil products in the western direction by railway has been suspended," Azerbaijan's state railway company said in a statement read out on television.

(AlertNet)

Originally posted by Mainer
No, impeachment is so remote a possibility, the Russians must know this too.

On a side note, the OP has gotten something around a quarter million ATS points for this mega thread. He is like the Halliburton of this conflict.

ATS Points: 249121
BTS Points: -3095

To be precise lol...wow...thats a lot!

Sarkozy says Russia must withdraw in Georgia deal

PARIS, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Russia must withdraw from all major towns in Georgia under a peace accord it has signed, despite conditions authorising "additional security measures," according to a letter sent by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili.

"As I specified at our joint press conference in Tbilisi, these 'additional security measures' can only be implemented in the immediate proximity of South Ossetia to the exclusion of any other part of Georgian territory," read the letter, made public by Sarkozy's office on Sunday.

(AlertNet)

Chips beat me to it

Here's some other news:

Timeline by 16th of August 21:30


Provided data is operational and may be subject to verification.

Timeline by 16th of August 21:30

16 August

21:15 About 60 Russian military cars have been deployed at the entrance of town Akhalgori 40 km north-west of Tbilisi.

20:00 According to the reports from Akhalgori district, Russian troops have started proposing Russian passports to the local population.

19:30 The houses in village Gamdlistskaro, Kaspi district are being put to fire by Russian soldiers.

18:30 Russian aviation has dropped fire setting engines in the area of the town of Surami, Khashuri district. The forests around Surami are burning.

source

[edit on 16-8-2008 by -Rugged Shark-]

reply to post by wolfmanjack


Why would Russian jets/helicopters be dropping flares? There's a ceasefire in place. And Georgia has alot to loose of they break that ceasefire.

Georgians doing forced labor in S. Ossetia
TSKHINVALI, Georgia (AP) - Teams of ethnic Georgians, some under armed guard, were being forced to clean the streets of South Ossetia's capital on Saturday. It was the first apparent evidence of humiliation or abuse of Georgians in the Russian-controlled breakaway republic.

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