Russia/Georgia Situation News & Updates

Originally posted by johnsky
reply to post by ZeroKnowledge
[more
"Russia does need to stop flexing it's muscles. In the interest of peace.
But so does the west... much more so"

--Why? what has the west done offensively?

"South Ossetia and Abkhazia will join the Federation"

-Doesn't the UN have to vote on this?.

"Georgia threw democracy and freedom out the window, and committed genocide on South Ossetia"

-There is just no proof of this,and about freedom, wasn't it Russia who invaded Georgia?

"Now, Georgia has blood on it's hands"

-They both do,it is what they call a war

"Georgia now has two new enemies"

-i'd bet Georgia has more allies now.

"Disgusting acts by Georgia"

-yes and Russia.

".. and what the heck does NATO think its doing?"

-NATO is protecting Europe,remember, a Euro/asian country got invaded

"They're ripping the rift pretty wide"

-I agree 100%

Excuse me, as i don't quite get how to quote.

yet













[edit on 30-8-2008 by all2human]

Originally posted by all2human
--Why? what has the west done offensively?

You're not serious right?

-Doesn't the UN have to vote on this?.

No, the Russian Federation is not part of the UN.

-There is just no proof of this,and about freedom, wasn't it Russia who invaded Georgia?

We watched the Georgian launchers shell Tshkinvali at the start of this. There is current footage of what is left of Tshkinvali.
So yes, there's about as much proof as is possible to have.

Georgia technically invaded South Ossetia... but that's disputable, as for some reason, Georgia doesn't recognize South Ossetia as even having a border.
South Ossetia requested Russian assistance... and they assisted.

-i'd bet Georgia has more allies now.

Nope. The allies they have are still the allies they had.

-NATO is protecting Europe,remember, a European country got invaded

That European country committed genocide. The province that was targeted by Georgia requested Russian assistance. Russia responded.

I can tell you were only supplied part of the news... I'm hazarding a guess, you're probably either in Britain, the US, or Australia.
... by the information you're missing, I'm leaning more toward the US.
The media there (CNN) flat out lied about some of it, and refused to tell their viewers how it all started. BBC did their share of biasing... FOX went completely nuts with the opinions and next to no facts... the list goes on.

For future information, I suggest watching either Reuters or Sky. They tend to be unbiased... and if there is bias, they make sure they get both sides of it.

As for quoting, it's ["quote"] without the " and ["/quote"] without the " to end the quote.

edited

[edit on 30-8-2008 by all2human]

Some of you need to brush up on your geography. Georgia is in Asia, not Europe.

Location: Southwestern Asia, bordering the Black Sea, between Turkey and Russia

www.cia.gov...

Remember this clucka?



10 or so days ago it seems, telling Russia to leave Georgia. What a dufus. What a giant dufus, America. Woo-hoo, land of the dufi.

My point is, we, because of our public officials, are all in harm's way, something Falafel Boy is supposed to care about.

reply to post by Aries45


That's debatable and the CIA is not void of propaganda and never will be:

Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in Asia or Europe?

reply to post by Regenmacher


Maybe some debate it but the more widely accepted view is that it's in Asia. If you don't trust the CIA world fact book or UN use an atlas if you own one.


[edit on 30-8-2008 by Aries45]

deleted


[edit on 30-8-2008 by all2human]

Originally posted by johnsky



We watched the Georgian launchers shell Tshkinvali at the start of this. There is current footage of what is left of Tshkinvali.
So yes, there's about as much proof as is possible to have.

--No offence,but You must have a lot of faith in your news sources, to call video's and pictures of missiles firing as- evidence, proof or facts of genocide, and the basis for your argument,

perhaps it's not just me that needs a more unbiased news source.

But let me be clear, and I am in no way defending the actions of the Georgian forces of this conflict ,and though limited, it was completely avoidable.
IMO the Russians military is EQUALLY as guilty,i don't need a crystal ball to understand, there are no innocents in war!, It's just a shame we all have to be dragged into/through this.

call me stupid,but i still haven't figured out this Quote thing yet

[edit on 30-8-2008 by all2human]

Originally posted by johnsky
No, the Russian Federation is not part of the UN.

The Russian Federation is a member of the UN, that is why they have veto power on the security council.

Or am I missing something?

OSCE observers fault Georgians in conflict

Aug 30, 2008

Hamburg - European observers have faulted Georgia in this month's Caucasus conflict, saying it made elaborate plans to seize South Ossetia, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday.

In a report to appear in its Monday edition, it said officials of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had said acts by the Georgian government had contributed to the outbreak of the crisis with Russia.

Spiegel said OSCE military observers in the Caucasus had described preparations by Georgia to move into South Ossetia.

The onslaught had begun before Russian armoured vehicles entered a southbound tunnel under the Caucasus Mountains to South Ossetia.

It said the OSCE report also described suspected war crimes by the Georgians, including the Georgians ordering attacks on sleeping South Ossetian civilians.

OSCE Observers

Not too sure on this one yet, not till it's in Spiegel on monday anyway .

[edit on 30-8-2008 by Gun Totin Gerbil]

WRAPUP 1-Georgia says Russia troops blocking refugee return

Russian troops deep inside Georgian territory are stopping thousands of refugees from returning to their homes, a Georgian official said on Saturday.

Russian troops were still manning checkpoints in Georgia and patrolling a Black Sea port even after Moscow pulled back much of the force it deployed to crush Georgia's attempt to take back two separatist provinces.

Reuters

Russia reaches out to EU as Georgia calls for sanctions

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged the European Union to ignore calls to punish Moscow over the Georgia conflict as Tbilisi appealed Saturday for targeted punishment of the Russian leadership.

The former Kremlin leader also renewed accusations of US involvement in the fighting this month between Russian and Georgian forces over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Putin spoke after Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Russia and Moscow hit back at the West for condemning its decision to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia.

AFP

[edit on 30-8-2008 by -Rugged Shark-]

Bildt rejects Georgia-Kosovo comparison

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday rejected Russian comparisons between its recognition of two Georgian breakaway provinces from the West's recognition of Kosovo earlier this year.

The decision to grant Kosovo independence was taken "after nine years of an international UN-led process," said Bildt, who helped mediate the Balkans conflict.

He added that "there is no other place in the world where there's been this sort of mechanism within the framework of the United Nations."

In the case of Russia's unilateral recognition this week of the Georgian provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on the other hand, "we have a situation where Russia launches a military attack just like that," Bildt told a joint press conference in Stockholm with his Georgian counterpart Eka Tkeshelashvili.

thelocal.se

Georgia quits Moscow 1994 ceasefire agreement

Georgia's reintegration minister said on Saturday that Tbilisi was formally pulling out of a 1994 UN-approved agreement signed in Moscow by Abkhazia and Georgia following a bloody conflict.

"The Secretariat of Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Yakobashvili has declared the Moscow agreement on a ceasefire and separation of forces of May 14, 1994 as void," a statement said on Saturday.

RIA Novosti

reply to post by -Rugged Shark-


The Russian troops patroling Poti apparently are behaving themselves as they should, Saakashvili went there this night and was received by some people there (although it looks like a very small group).

Pressure mounts ahead of EU's Georgia-Russia summit

Georgia says Russia troops blocking refugee return

* Georgia says Russian troops stop refugees returning home

* U.S. 6th fleet flagship carrying aid to Georgia

* Putin says U.S. military advisers involved in conflict

* Russia's Medvedev, UK's Brown discuss crisis

By Mark Trevelyan

GORI, Georgia, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Russian troops deep inside Georgian territory are stopping thousands of refugees from returning to their homes, a Georgian official said on Saturday.

Russian troops were still manning checkpoints in Georgia and patrolling a Black Sea port even after Moscow pulled back much of the force it deployed to crush Georgia's attempt to take back two separatist provinces.

Moscow has since recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, drawing a storm of criticism from Western governments. They say the Russian presence in Georgia's heartland amounts to a partial occupation.

Russia sent in troops and armour three weeks ago after its pro-Western neighbour Georgia sent in troops in a failed attempt to retake South Ossetia. Moscow said the move was needed to prevent a "genocide" of civilians by Georgia.

The governor of Gori, a Georgian city occupied by Russian forces during the brief conflict, said Russian soldiers still occupied nearby Georgian villages and preventing residents from returning home.

"The Russians have checkpoints and we still cannot bring these people back home. The threat of paramilitary, irregulars, looting and robbing is still very high," Governor Lado Vardzelashvili said.

"Apparently the Russian military are not willing to prevent these kind of cases."

(AlertNet)

OSCE: Georgia to blame for war.



Spiegel: OSCE observers fault Georgians in conflict



Related Link/source:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: OSZE-Beobachter machen Georgien schwere Vorwürfe (in german)

Would be in Russia's interest to let EU threats go on but to never cut off the gas /oil . Then .. not only will Georgia look unsafe to the oil companies .. but Russia will look a whole lot more reliable .. when they look back to 8.8 08 in the future and say , look ...even during that period they never cut us off . Why bother investing in troubled regions when the safe cheapest route is Russia.