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| Europe |
| Russia invades Georgia - Baltic response |
| 2008-08-10 |
| SOUTH OSSETIA- Following an invasion of Russian troops in Southern Ossetia in Georgia, a state of war has been declared by the Georgian Foreign Ministry. The Baltics, having worked closely with Georgiain international matters have much to say on the situation. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Petras Vaitiekunas is currently in Georgia assessing the situation. “Having arrived in Georgia and observing the situation on the spot, I agree with the assessments of the situation by the international community, that Russian military forces have crossed all red lines by crossing an internationally-recognized border into the sovereign territory of Georgia,” said Vaitiekunas. He also called for an immediate ceasefire in the region. “This is a clear act with visible elements of aggression and an outrageous violation of international law with grave consequences to regional and Euro-Atlantic stability and security as well as to Euroatlantic relations with Russia,” stated the minister. Latvia also took a formal stance in condemning the invasive action taken by Russia. In response to the repeated appeals by the Georgian side to revert to negotiations in order to reduce the tension and to resolve the conflict, I am calling upon the Russian side to cease all military action, which could even more destabilize the situation in the region," said Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins. The National Bank of Georgiawebsite was also hit by a series of attacks and hackers placed photos of Hitler and other dictators on the homepage. Many other sites including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website were hacked as well. Reports are likening the events to the 2007 cyber attacks carried out on Estonian sites. It is estimated that hundreds of civilians and many peacekeepers are dead and many more wounded. The area of South Ossetia with a one-fifth Georgian minority, broke away from Georgia in the early 90s, wanting to reunite with North Ossetia, now a part of Russia. The situation was settled as 500 peacekeepers from Russiaand Georgiaensured a truce in the region. However, many say that Russiasided with South Ossetian separatists wanting to reunite, resulting in small clashes. Many South Ossetian citizens have Russian passports and reports from Moscow state that Russia will fight to protect those estimated 70+ percent that hold them. Following a Georgian operation to retake the town of Tskhinvali,Russiamoved its troops across the border and fighting continued into the night of August 9. The international community has taken a united stance in calling for an end to the hostilities. The three Baltic presidents signed a joint declaration stating “we will use all means available to us as Presidents to ensure that aggression against a small country in Europe will not be passed over in silence or with meaningless statements equating the victims with the victimizers." |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #13 The Russian propaganda is pretty rich. The old Russian enemy the USA is back on the front burner as Russia sees us are weak and know most of our weapons are broken or worn out and not being replaced and our fighting military is occupied. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2008-08-10 23:35 |
| #12 Stay safe, Mizzou Mafia, both you and yours. May God watch over all those facing the Russians until this is over. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-10 22:58 |
| #11 Georgia made it's own bed. Regardless of what the Russians were prepared to do. This is how WAR is waged, the "humanitarian" aspects are not a consideration if you decide you want to win for the long term and send a message. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2008-08-10 22:38 |
| #10 I miss Yeltsin. |
| Posted by: Cromoter Platypus6907 2008-08-10 21:34 |
| #9 It's pretty much become SOP since 1948. |
| Posted by: Fred 2008-08-10 20:19 |
| #8 SPoD, the evidence to-date makes it pretty clear that the Russians were primed and ready to move. Any pretext, or none at all, would have sufficed. |
| Posted by: mrp 2008-08-10 19:00 |
| #7 OS,the current US ambassador to the UN is Zalmay Khalilzad, but you're right - the US rhetoric is certainly Boltanesque :) Here are two links reporting on the US-Russian exchange at the UN Security Council session held today: Voice of America Reuters The Reuters article includes this blast from US Khalilzad: Khalilzad said Russia was waging "terror" in Georgia. "We must condemn Russia's military assault on the sovereign state of Georgia ... including the targeting of civilians and the campaign of terror against the Georgian population," he said. [emphasis added] Khalilzad also accused Russia of preventing the withdrawal of Georgian forces from South Ossetia to prolong the conflict and prevent Georgia from laying down its arms. "Since Russia is impeding Georgian forces from withdrawing, rejecting a cease-fire and continuing to carry out military attacks against civilian centers, its claims of a humanitarian purpose clearly are not credible," Khalilzad said. Churkin was furious that Khalilzad used the word "terror". That back-and-forth took place at a UN Security Council meeting. |
| Posted by: mrp 2008-08-10 18:57 |
| #6 Russia reacted as one would expect them to react. Georgia screwed up and pulled the Bear's tail. The US gets heaped with indignation and Russia seems to get a free pass. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2008-08-10 18:31 |
| #5 Th US Ambassador to the UN started channeling The Moustache (Bolton) and really laid into the Russians, calling their bombin of civilian targetsin Georgia "terroristic", and condemning their actions as thuggery and illegal, and thier claims of "peacekeeping" as "lies" (yes he accused the Russians directly of lying). I think the Georgian president underesimated th Russian response - but I think the Russians greatly underestimated the US response. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-08-10 18:14 |
| #4 Us ex-pats living in Estonia are having that conversation again, the same one that we had last year when the Russians rioted over moving a WW2 statue - what will you do if the balloon goes up? Listing to the Russian ambassador today made me want to vomit. |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2008-08-10 17:36 |
| #3 Its time to play our hand there. |
| Posted by: Bugs Clese9380 2008-08-10 17:33 |
| #2 Its the Sudetenland all over again - and the issuance of Russian passports was a deliberate move by Russian to set up an annexation that would weaken and destabilize Georgia, both politically and economically. This would discourage a natural gas pipeline trhu Georgia that would be an alternative - breaking the Russian stranglehold on pipelined gas to Europe. Russia is simply the Mafia writ large. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-08-10 17:24 |
| #1 seeing as Russia claims a right to come to defense of its citizens, whereever they are, I suggest that if any ethnic Russian living in the Baltics still hold Russian citizenship, any decision the Baltic states to expell those Russian citizens be viewed with sympathy. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2008-08-10 17:12 |