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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| War in Georgia: Yawns and Kneejerks in America |
| 2008-08-09 |
| Predictably, in the wake of Russia sending reinforcements to back up its peacekeepers under seige by the Georgian army in the tiny disputed territory of South Ossetia, Arizona Senator and Republican Presidential candidate John McCain is denouncing the move as "Russian aggression" against Georgia. Nevermind that it was the Georgian army which launched the offensive that ignited the present round of fighting, and thousands of refugees have been streaming out of South Ossetia into Russia. The reported death toll of over 1,400 is the worst the region has seen since 1992. In that year, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved, and South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both regions with strong ethnic ties to compatriots in Russia, were ceded to Georgia within their Soviet-drawn borders. After the U.S. and NATO countries recognized the independence of Kosovo in early 2008, the South Ossetians and Abkhazians decided they could also declare their independence from Georgia, which has sparked the recent round of fighting. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #18 Receiving reports that Ivan bombed the airport in Tbilisi. US Embassy evacuating family members overland to Yerevan tomorrow. 2000 Goergian tropps returning fron Iraq. |
| Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2008-08-09 23:53 |
| #17 Send in the 82nd. No wait a minute the 3rd. bgd. just back from a 15 month tour in Iraq. Send in the 173rd Sky soldiers. Wait a minute they are deployed in Afganistan. |
| Posted by: bman 2008-08-09 23:30 |
| #16 LOTP, you're not saying the US military can't deploy and sustain any more forces? There seems to be several airborne units in Europe, Marines and Navy in the Med for immediate deployment. Putting US peacekeepers in place, at Georgia's request, freezes the situation and checks any advance the Russians hope to gain by stirring up the Ossetians and Abkhazians. Right now, all the former Warsaw Pact and FSU states are watching the US and wondering if relying on the US is wise. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-09 20:55 |
| #15 Telegraph: Georgia conflict: Screams of the injured rise from residential streets |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-08-09 20:42 |
| #14 The Army is still completing the shift from organizing at the division level to developing deployable brigades whose soldiers all rotate at once. If you look at the announced plans for unit rotations, you'll see that this is being accomplished in part through gradual drawdowns / shifts in Germany and Korea. A whole hell of a lot of planning has gone into when and how to make that happen. Remember the big fuss over the wretched state of a barracks stateside? Those soldiers were only assigned to that old building because the delicate ballet of moving people and equipment got off schedule when a unit was held in Iraq longer than expected. In other words, gross numbers don't necessarily indicate that there are units that can easily or casually be re-deployed overnight. And if there are, there's a good chance they are scheduled to relieve some other units that have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan multiple times since 2003. And then of course there's the minor issue of logistics, staging supplies and equipment and having access to accomplish that staging .... I'm not saying it can't be done. But it sure as hell isn't obvious that it could be -- at a minimum, not without screwing up a whole lot of progress in Iraq, not without huge airlift costs etc. etc. And maybe not even then. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-08-09 20:13 |
| #13 Wiki sez: As of December 2007, U.S. Forces were stationed... Germany 57,155 Japan (United States Forces Japan) 33,164 South Korea (United States Forces Korea) 26,076 Italy 9,701 United Kingdom 9,655 V Corps is the main land force in Germany: › 1st Armored Div › 2nd Stryker Cavalry › 12th Combat Aviation › 18th Engineers › 172nd Infantry › 357th Air & Missile Defense 1st AD will move to Ft Bliss TX in a few years and its units do rotate into Iraq. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-09 19:47 |
| #12 I must ad a caveat. What is the status of the troops in Germany? Are they mainly support, or are they mainly combat units? |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-08-09 19:32 |
| #11 ed wins the kupie doll. The remaining question is, will the US get involved? |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-08-09 19:26 |
| #10 And peacekeepers in Georgia would feel a hell of a more welcome than in any of the aforementioned countries. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-09 19:06 |
| #9 Oops, forgot about the 70,000 in Korea and Japan. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-09 19:04 |
| #8 There are 50,000 US troops in Germany. There are thousands in Italy. America needs to decide where it's future interests lie and then pursue them, not garrisoning the corpses of defeated empires. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-09 19:01 |
| #7 Nothing except our need to cover the Brits' failure in Basra plus the resurgent and newly re-financed Taliban+al Qaeda in Afghanistan, plus support a potential strike on Iran plus keep enough in reserve to keep Chavez and crew from attempting a provocation ..... |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-08-09 18:48 |
| #6 The Russians are the instigators. There has been fighting for several weeks. The Georgians took the bait instead of taking the long view and moving settlers into S. Ossetia (w/ police and Army) and demographically overwhelming the 50-70,000 in S. Ossetia. The Russians upped the ante beyond Georgians' means. Nothing says the US can't call and raise by sending a brigade of "peacekeepers" to Georgia. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-09 18:44 |
| #5 They apparently had irregulars initiating the shelling into the main areas of Georgia which triggered Tblisi's move into S. Ossetia |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-08-09 18:27 |
| #4 It's hard to believe the Russians weren't the instigators. They've been whining over their "lost empire"; now Putin is starting the rebuilding process. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2008-08-09 18:26 |
| #3 It's not just about Russia and Georgia in any case. Russia's protecting Iran against a potential strike by opening this front, which threatens to draw in a lot of Western time, energy and maybe troops (at worst) or to recover control of Georgia, that's great too -- and also defends Iran by proximity. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-08-09 18:24 |
| #2 Also nevermind that everyone seems to recognize this is all in Georgian territory. Just wait for the asymmetric responses to start. May not be anywhere near Georgia. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Asymmetrical Reply Division 2008-08-09 17:41 |
| #1 Nevermind that it was the Georgian army which launched the offensive that ignited the present round of fighting, and thousands of refugees have been streaming out of South Ossetia into Russia. Never mind that the Russian Army did basically the same thing in Chechnya to those inhabitants and the world yawned too. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-08-09 17:31 |