Russia/Georgia Situation News & Updates

reply to post by Regenmacher


I don't know what would happen in that case, I am not good at political analysis, and I have not had the opportunity to talk with my boss (who is an extremely intelligent person, with a good political understanding of what happens in the world) about this situation.

I think this possibility may be the reason for EU observers on the ground, it would be a different case if Georgia tries to attack or just ignore EU observers, its position in Europe would be seen under a completely different light.

NATO says allied ships leaving Black Sea

NATO said a group of four allied warships was leaving the Black Sea on Wednesday after exercises that coincided with Russia's conflict with Georgia and led Moscow to accuse the alliance of mounting a naval build-up.


"The Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG 1) successfully completed its planned visit and is leaving the Black Sea today," NATO said in a statement.

The group consisted of a Spanish, German, U.S. and Polish frigate. They arrived days after the outbreak of hostilities between Georgia and Russia over the South Ossetia region in August, but NATO insisted the deployment had been planned over a year before.

The NATO statement said that Spanish "Juan de Bourbon", German "Lubeck", Polish "Pulaski" and U.S. "Taylor" war ships would continue military exercises in the Mediterranean.

NATO warships paid visits to Romanian and Bulgarian ports and participated in joint operations under the command of Spanish Admiral Juan Rodriguez Garat.

The warships did not stay in the Black Sea for more than 21 days based on the Montreux Convention.

Russia last month criticized what it called "the build-up of NATO forces in the Black Sea area" and said its own fleet there had taken measures to monitor alliance activity.

hurriyet

Yushchenko hatching military coup, says Regions lawmaker Kolesnychenko

“Preparations for toppling the current regime in Ukraine are picking up steam,” Regions lawmaker Vadym Kolesnychenko warns. “Speaking on the sidelines in VR, Our Ukraine lawmakers are openly bragging about Yushchenko’s determination to dissolve parliament if a coalition which does not suit the incumbent is formed,” the lawmaker’s Sept. 10 press service release says.

The media have recently published secret documents by the presidential office instructing oblast governors and leaders of NGOs to request the imposition of a direct presidential rule by Yushchenko. As it is illegal for governors to request a direct rule and for the president to base his actions on such requests, all this amounts to an attempt to dislodge the legal government. And high-ranking officials signing such requests knowingly violate the constitution.

Many facts indicate that the major role in usurping the power will be played by the army, not by the interior ministry troops as has been widely believed.

The incumbent have recently taken steps to tighten his grip on the army. He appointed the supreme commander of the country’s armed forces member of the National Defense and Security Council, a structure turned by Yushchenko into Ukraine’s second cabinet. Sept. 8, Yushchenko met with top military, allegedly, to evaluate combat readiness of Ukraine’s armed forces. Earlier, the incumbent had generously lavished promotions to generals to many military and police officers. As a result, the number of generals in Ukraine’s army has topped the number of generals in the German army that has 245,000 servicemen against Ukraine’s 149,000. All these moves tellingly confirm the existence of a plan to entangle Ukraine military in the power grab.

zik.com.ua...

Russia could target missiles at sites in Central Europe
Czech govt. agrees terms for U.S. forces at missile radar base
Russia says Georgia used weaponry from 14 states in conflict
Russia says Georgia has not yet pledged non-use of force
Russia to test-launch four ICBMs by year-end
U.S. trade secretary cancels Nicaragua trip amid recognition row


Israel temporarily 'halts' arming Georgia

Israel claims it has halted its lucrative weapons sales to Georgia in a bid to dissuade Russia from increasing military ties with Iran.

Israeli defense officials claimed Wednesday that 'businessmen involved in military sales to Georgia' have been urged to cease visits to Tbilisi 'for the time being'.

The businessmen, most of whom are former army officers, should obtain Tel Aviv's approval for their activities in foreign countries. 'Businessmen with ties to Georgia' confirmed the recommendation, the Associated Press reported.

Israel fears that arms deals with Georgia would prompt Moscow to supply Tehran with advanced military equipments.

(Press TV)


Russian army adopts new reconnaissance drones

MOSCOW, September 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Defense Ministry has ordered a large number of new-generation unmanned reconnaissance drones to be put in service in the next few years, a Russian electronics company said on Wednesday.

"Several dozen Tipchak UAV systems will enter service with the Russian army in the next few years," said Vladimir Verba, general director of the Vega Radio Engineering Corp. "The first system will be delivered by the end of 2008."

The new-generation Tipchak mobile aerial system has been designed for reconnaissance and target designation purposes on the battlefield in any weather conditions.

It operates up to six UAVs launched from a pneumatic catapult. Each UAV has a range of 40 kilometers (25 miles) and can provide targeting for artillery and theater-based ballistic missiles at distances up to 350 km (about 220 miles).

The drone is fitted with infrared and video sensors and has a real-time digital data link for communication with artillery units for laser-guided targeting.

"Our next project is the development of an attack drone based on the current design," Verba said.

(RIA Novosti)


U.S. warplanes to patrol Baltic airspace from October

RIGA, September 10 (RIA Novosti) - The U.S. Air Force will patrol the airspace over the Baltic states from October, the Latvian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

A group of U.S. F-16 fighter jets will replace the current German planes on a rotation basis.

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia reached an agreement with NATO on the lease of fighters to patrol their airspace in 2004. Patrols have since been conducted by Belgian, Spanish, Norwegian, German and Danish aircraft.

The patrols cost the Latvian taxpayers $4 million a year.

The Baltic States have virtually no fighter planes. They said earlier that they would be unable to acquire their own fighter planes before 2018.

The Baltic skies are presently secured by the so-called NATO air police, which in addition to fighter planes also provide air defense systems and manpower.

(RIA Novosti)

reply to post by chips



Russia ought to deploy an extra few air squadrons up by the Latvian border as a precautionary measure , and up the price of gas to Latvia to pay for it . Then their taxpayers get to pay both sides . See how long they'll like that.

They could call it a perceived threat to their pipeline infrastructure, and necessary but unavoidable measures have to been taken . Unfortunately of course, all extra cost incurred in the maintainance of a safe system of delivery have to passed on to the end consumer.

And Americans too! .. we seen how they hit the wrong people and the wrong targets all the time , could easily hit a pipeline by mistake. Definitely an extra insurance premium now their jets are in the locality.

[edit on 10-9-2008 by Gun Totin Gerbil]

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Russia warns Ukraine it will retaliate over Nato

Russia has given its most explicit warning to date of the kind of punishment that Ukraine can expect if the former Soviet republic continues along the path towards membership of Nato.

"The expansion of Nato is seen in Russia as a hostile action. We will never accept this. We cannot block expansion of Nato but we can take measures to ensure our security," the Russian ambassador to Britain, Yuri Fedotov, said in an interview.

Ukraine's pro-Western government of President Viktor Yushchenko is campaigning to take his country into the EU and Nato. Russia's fierce opposition to Nato expansion on its borders has prompted fears of a possible military conflict with Ukraine that would dwarf the war in Georgia.

The envoy pointed out that Ukraine – a country of 46 million people – and neighbouring Russia were tightly linked historically, culturally and economically. "The borders are virtually open," he said.

"Should this country become a Nato member... it means that we should take some measures to protect ourselves, and this may have an impact on this multitude of relations, ties and connections. It might not only affect trade and economic relations but also people-to-people contacts," he said. The ambassador would not go into further details but said: "I hope that common sense will prevail and that Nato countries will think twice."

(Rest of the article: The Independent)

They won't go in NATO, Germany and Italy won't allow it. They understand that this would be crazy.

Until the leadership of those countries change for more bought and paid for neo-cons, no way in hell.

Russia shouldn't be making threats at this stage. They should only try to push the others movements in Ukraine to topple Yushenko, and establish good relations with Ukraine when the new leadership comes in. If you have good relations with Ukraine, they won't let you down and go see NATO... Russia is more important to them than a bunch of ``let's invade the middle-east and dominate the world`` nutjobs.

[edit on 10-9-2008 by Vitchilo]

reply to post by Vitchilo


Mm, well let's see. Let's see what will actually happen. Let's see what Cheney, Saakashvili, Yushchenko and the others have in store.


Crazier things have happened.

We'll be remembering one of them today.

Yuschenko may no longer have the ability to approve Ukraine's entrance into NATO, without Parliament's support. At this point the Parliament will vote down any decision regarding NATO. The only way Ukraine may still join NATO is if Timoshenko supports the decision - but this does not appear likely, at least for now.

as an outside spectator i can only say:

that the swedish defence force has had its hands full with getting new reqruits to fill the spots ,

finland is buying new gear for hornets

iran getting the new defence missile shield ,

things are thigth,

but as hoagland sais , dont read the headlines of the media watch what they are doing.

if you want references i have to dive and dig , but trust me , its the truth,

BREAKING - SKY TV - AP: Reports claim South Ossetian leader says Breakaway region intends to become part of Russia.

Vladimir Putin warns UK, US over relations

Russia's relations with Britain will remain in deep freeze for as long as the UK harbours Russians violently opposed to the regime, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

In his first meeting with foreign journalists since military conflict erupted in Georgia, Mr Putin portrayed his country as embattled and encircled by an aggressive west, particularly the US and UK.

Mr Putin issued a plea to the US not to build a missile defence shield in Europe. "Our targeting will begin as soon as the missiles are deployed in these countries. Please do not do so. Please do not instigate again an arms race in Europe."

Mr Putin said the newly-installed president, Dmitry Medvedev, had taken all the decisions about sending in Russian forces into Georgia last month and then recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

"What did you expect us to do? To defend ourselves with catapults? If an aggressor comes into your territory you would hunt him in the face and be right to do so. Should we have wiped the bloody snot away and bowed our heads?"

(telegraph.co.uk)

The nutjob Palin...

Sarah Palin Defends Experience, Takes Hard Line Approach on National Security

On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, Gov. Sarah Palin took a hard-line approach on national security and said that war with Russia may be necessary if Georgia were to join NATO and be invaded by Russia.

In her first of three interviews with ABC News' Charles Gibson and the only interview since being picked by Sen. John McCain as his Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin categorized the Russian invasion of Georgia as "unacceptable" and warned of the threats from Islamic terrorists and a nuclear Iran.

The governor advocated for the admittance of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO.

When Gibson said if under the NATO treaty, the United States would have to go to war if Russia again invaded Georgia, Palin responded: "Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help.

That's farking crazy. If McCain is elected, it's gonna need a coup d'état to get us out of there, or moving in the wilderness to avoid nuclear fallout.

"And we've got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable," she told Gibson.

Unprovoked? HELL GEORGIA STARTED IT!!!

[edit on 11-9-2008 by Vitchilo]

reply to post by Vitchilo


Hold on, let's go over that one more time:

'...war with Russia may be necessary if Georgia were to join NATO and be invaded by Russia.'


You know what I think? McCain-Palin will win on November 4. The next global war won't be too far away either.



[edit on 11-9-2008 by chips]

reply to post by Vitchilo


Inflammatory words indeed.

Not too sure how this news item will be taken by anyone, American or not.


Here's the same story in The Globe amd Mail (Canadian Press)

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called Thursday for Georgia and Ukraine to be admitted into NATO, even at the price of being called to defend them as alliance partners in the event of any Russian invasion.

[snip]

Mr. Gibson then asked if the result of Georgia and Ukraine being in the western alliance could lead to armed conflict with Russia.

“Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help.”

www.theglobeandmail.com...

reply to post by masqua


I expect this could have real, immediate effects, actually. Not only do the Russians think the war was orchestrated by the U.S. to help McCain's chances in November, but they also know there's a very real possibility of him being elected in a few months time (with the same person who's just said there may be war with Russia).


The ante has been upped again.

We could make a deal with Russia. Please nuke only Washington DC with your subs, and we won't respond.

Or Russia launch an ultimatum to the US people to overthrow their leaders before they end the world.

Or something like that.

Seriously. McCain and Palin are much more crazier than Obama and Biden. McCain is the extremist branch of the globalists... kind of like Cheney... without Rice and Gates to counter him... at least now you have Bush deciding between the two. In the Bush adminitration, there's the extremist branch (Cheney) VS Rice/Gates the ``moderate`` branch... and that's what stopped an attack on Iran since now.

Both are bad, but Rice/Gates are not totally wreckless.... like Hitler/Cheney... they are like the germans generals saying to Hitler to wait before invading Russia.


On a sidenote for Maloy, what do you think of Anna Politkovskaya? Was she ``neutral``, sold to the west or what?

Thanks

[edit on 11-9-2008 by Vitchilo]

Is this Palin character completely nuts, or is she just towing McCain's line? Possibility of an actual war with Russia over what - a stinking third world puppet in the middle of nowhere? Seriously - what the fark? Any politician that talks of any such possibility should realistically be labeled a complete dumbass, but I guess not in the U.S. I am just hoping McCain and Palin are all talk, because if they seriously want to escalate this, I sincerely feel sorry for Americans.


Look at what is happening - America is making a hordes of fresh allies (to compliment the hordes of new enemies), and is immediately growing closely attached to these allies. I understand U.S. willing to wage war to back up Britain or France - their alliance stretches many decades and centuries. But in reality what is Georgia to the U.S.? The two have been friends for half a decade, and already they are supposed to be best friends forever? Where does the emotional attachment arise from? I see such tight attachment as very threatening - especially considering that countries like Georgia are very unstable and reckless politically.


U.S. politicians are becoming more and more reckless. Tough talk and sabre rattling are one thing, but for a vice-presidential candidate to explore a possibility of what would amount to a World War with such enthusiasm - is truly mind boggling. We are not talking about some bat-shat crazy fanatics in Iran - this is happening in a civilized and mature democracy. What the hell is going on here? Is U.S. turning into a military state - where the Presidential candidates' main arguing points is who has the balls to wage war?


Now I don't live in U.S., and I understand that statements like Palin made are meant for domestic consumption. But to start out their campaign on a rhetoric of a military face-off against Russia, McCain and Palin are going to be perceived as highly threatining from abroad. This will only hurt the U.S.-Russia relations even more. I seriously hope the U.S. political debates touch on this issue. but then I am not sure the majority of the people will see the hypocricy and danger in McCain's statements.

reply to post by maloy


That's the point I was making earlier, Maloy. Does anyone seriously believe that the U.S. and NATO would have gone to war with Russia — even if Georgia was actually a member of NATO? Thermonuclear war over a country with a population the sixth of Texas? No. Chance.

But, make no mistake: I expect a McCain-Palin victory in a few months time. Some other things I expect to happen soon:

- War with Iran (either via Israel or via McCain).

- Worsening relations with Russia after the election.


It's still not too late; it will be soon, though.

Palin: "When you are a NATO ally,if another country is attacked,you're going to be expected to be called upon and help."

I personally dislike the lady but, Am i missing something, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this statement.
or are you guys just hell-bent on demonizing the USA,no matter what


[edit on 11-9-2008 by all2human]