Article

2008-08-11 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

U.S. Assails Russian 'Escalation' Of Crisis

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Posted by Fred 2008-08-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 What was good for a Serbian goose is good for a Georgian gander as well.

Anybody remembers Belgrade 1999,eh?

Posted by Matt K. 2008-08-11 01:23|| 2008-08-11 01:23|| Front Page Top

#2 Fly their troops who were helping us in Iraq back in US transports under US escort.

And the Balkans are not comparable to that degree.

This was a setup by the Russians. They even had the hackers and protesters banners ready.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-08-11 02:04|| 2008-08-11 02:04|| Front Page Top

#3 Matt K. - You buy the direct analogy to the balkans? How many separatist movements exist around the USSR? Does Putin really want to play this game? Does China? Does Turkey?

Posted by Halliburton - Asymmetrical Reply Division 2008-08-11 02:14|| 2008-08-11 02:14|| Front Page Top

#4 I'm not seeing a sensible endgame here. Russia obviously knew that that taking the area would be relatively easy, but they also have to know that it's going to be a continual headache and yet another issue for the west to beat them over the head with. There must be another shoe with some altitude yet.

Posted by Mike N. 2008-08-11 02:47|| 2008-08-11 02:47|| Front Page Top

#5 It may even be Russa intends to crush Georgia militarily and believes it will not incur any consequences. The euros, notably Germany, has shown that they generally fold at the slightest hint of a threat, and have yet to show the guts to act in a concerted manner against Russia's prvocation with anything other than diplomatic doublespeak and inaction.

Again, the Sudetenland anschluss and the reoccupaton of the Ruhr by Hitler and the Nazis comes to mind.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-08-11 02:57|| 2008-08-11 02:57|| Front Page Top

#6 It appears at present that Russia is moving to isolate Tbilisi from Western Georgia, where they are amassing a large troop build-up. They are already advancing on and shelling Gori, cutting the East-West corridor. If they dislodge Georgian forces in Kodori, then they will spearhead to Zugdidi, the first major city outside Abkhazia. The goal right now is probably a reduction of Georgias military capabilites, through force, to an acceptable level which will not be able to challenge the large military presences Russia will leave behind under the auspices of "peacekeeping forces". An internally unstable Georgia will no longer be a MEP candidate and Russia can then focus on siezing the Government of a wekeend Georgian state through a proxy presidential candidate. Thereby monopilizing the North-South Energy corridor and all East-West Energy transit. As Lavrov said "Saakashvili's gotta go".

Posted by jefe101 2008-08-11 03:10|| 2008-08-11 03:10|| Front Page Top

#7 MK: What was good for a Serbian goose is good for a Georgian gander as well.

Anybody remembers Belgrade 1999,eh?

You mean the US forced the Serbs to break up Yugoslavia so that the pieces could become American territory? Kind of like the way the Russians are hacking off chunks of Georgian territory to annex to Russia? That's an excellent analogy. (Although it has to be said that I had no idea Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians, Kosovars, Montenegrins and Macedonians held US passports).

Posted by Zhang Fei 2008-08-11 08:04|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2008-08-11 08:04|| Front Page Top

#8 We spent months trying to get a deal with Serbia. Georgia has been much more compromising than Serbia ever was, and its Russia that rejected neutral peacekeepers. This is NOT at all comparable to the Kosovo situation.

Also that theres NO evidence of an ethnic cleansing campaign by the georgians. This is the big lie, repeat enough times till people give it some credence.

Posted by superstitiousGalitizianer 2008-08-11 10:05|| 2008-08-11 10:05|| Front Page Top

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