'Russia is fighting a war with us': Georgian president

[Praxius]

Czechslovakia, Hungary..........neither had the power to resist, but did anyway, and paid the price. Both were freed when the west (the United States especially) stood up to the bear. Putin is not insane, he will push only as long as there is give, and something to be gained. Not facing him down only whets his appetite.

Poor Czechslovakia was the pawn in that other confrontation where we failed to go nose to nose with the dictator........Munich, 1938. We saw how well appeasement turned out that time.

And yet all your examples are related to the Soviet Union, not Russia and their new government, and once again, just because Putin used to be with the KGB, doesn't mean all those past examples are valid, since he wasn't even born or in power to be responsible for those situations. Overall in comparison to other countries, such as the US, Russia has been quite passive for sometime and in this conflict, they only reacted to Georgian actions.... which to me is still pretty passive.

 

[jimmoyer]

Okay.

Time to split the baby in half.

S.Ossetia and Abkhazia want independence from Georgia.

Georgia was fighting this secession. And Georgia was inflicting great harm.

S.Ossetia and Abkhazia doesn't like Russia or Georgia, but they'll strike a bargain with the Russians to fight off the Georgians.

Then they'll fight the Russians to keep their independence too.

And the Russians are using the Georgian aggression to hide behind.
This is a great excuse, a cover for the Russians to attack Georgia. They needed a reason to hide behind.

The Russians certainly oppose Georgia leaning towards NATO, and the Russians still want to control the Caucasians who certainly aspire to leave Russia: Chechnya, Dagestan, Inuguestian, etc.

Russians nobly defending the South Ossetians ? LOL !!!
What about the breakaway desires of Chechnya for the last 100 years ? Or of Dagestan over the last decade ?

 

[Praxius]

Update in News:

Russian soldiers ride atop an armoured vehicle through a street in Tskhinvali, capital of the Georgian breakaway enclave of South Ossetia on Tuesday. A destroyed tank is seen in the foreground.

Bush backs Georgian government, dispatches Rice to capital
Russian foreign minister says 'peacekeepers' to stay in South Ossetia
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/08/13/russia-georgia.html

U.S. President George W. Bush is calling on Russia to end all military activity in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and withdraw its forces.

He said he plans to send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Paris and the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to help with diplomatic efforts to end hostilities. Speaking at a White House news conference on Wednesday, Bush also announced that a massive U.S. humanitarian effort was already in progress.

"The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said.

Now why would he have to point out they have a "Democratically Elected Government?" Did he feel there was a question about the level of democracy and propaganda within that nation or to try and sway public opinion to the notion that somehow this is all Russia's fault?

Meanwhile, Russian troops have left the Georgian town of Gori near South Ossetia, but are not moving towards Tbilisi, Georgia's deputy interior minister said Wednesday.

"I'd like to calm everybody down. The Russian military is not advancing towards the capital," Ekaterine Zguladze said, according to a report from Reuters. Earlier media accounts spoke of a convoy of Russian vehicles spotted on the road to the capital from Gori.

That was shortly after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of sending 50 tanks into the central Georgian city of Gori despite an agreed-upon ceasefire calling on both sides to retreat to positions they held before fighting began six days ago.

Gori, which sits on Georgia's only significant east-west road, is about 25 kilometres over the South Ossetian border into Georgia and has faced heavy bombardment in recent days.

Human Rights Watch weighed in on Wednesday with its assessment of the conflict, saying it has witnessed South Ossetian fighters looting ethnic Georgians' houses and has recorded multiple accounts of Georgian militias intimidating ethnic Ossetians.

The news of Russian troop movements came less than a day after Georgia accepted a French-brokered ceasefire previously agreed to by Russia to end a conflict that broke out Friday as Georgian forces moved in to retake South Ossetia from Russian-backed separatists.

Moscow responded swiftly and forcefully to the Georgian military action, sending thousands of troops into South Ossetia and the larger separatist province of Abkhazia.

While South Ossetia's independence is not recognized internationally, it has close ties to Russia, and almost all of its 70,000 residents have Russian passports.

Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers debated on Wednesday sending peacekeeping monitors to South Ossetia to help uphold the ceasefire.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters that many of the 27-member European Union states are ready to send monitors to Georgia, but not before the United Nations passes an appropriate resolution.

Also on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country's "peacekeepers" will remain in South Ossetia, an apparent violation of the ceasefire terms.

Well somebody's gotta be there to maintain peace.... how the heck do they expect stability if they remove any form of peacekeeping in the area and allow an open door for Georgia to attack again? I thought that was the whole point of having them there in the first place.

Both sides back French plan

On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered a halt to his country's military action in Georgia and gave his support to the provisional ceasefire, saying the plan "points the way towards gradual normalization" in the wartorn region.

Following his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Saakashvili announced that he would accept a slightly altered version of the plan.

The changes — approved by Medvedev — included removing a reference to talks on the future status of South Ossetia, Saakashvili and Sarkozy said during a joint news conference early Wednesday.

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda announced Tuesday that Canada is contributing as much as $1 million in aid to provide Georgians affected by the conflict with emergency medical care, safe water and other basic items, such as blankets and clothing.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia

 

[jimmoyer]

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 ​

Project HOPE ships medicine to region
By Jason Kane
The Winchester Star in Virginia
Winchester — As military tensions calm between Russia and its former republic of Georgia, a local nonprofit agency is sending a $400,000 shipment of antibiotics to help heal some of the battle wounds.

Project HOPE, a health-aid organization based in Millwood, completed its agreement to donate the medication to Georgia Tuesday after discussions with the State Department.

The organization prepared boxes containing nearly 4,000 bottles of liquid antibiotics at Project HOPE’s storage facility near the Winchester Regional Airport Tuesday afternoon. Employee Tony Hileman then loaded them onto a truck bound for Washington Dulles International Airport.

The pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb donated the medicine to Project HOPE as “part of an inventory to be made available when a humanitarian initiative arose,” said Rand Walton, director of communications for the organization.

The antibiotics will be combined with supplies from other non-governmental agencies before being flown to Germany, then to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, on a military aircraft this week.

The main objective of Project HOPE — Health Opportunities for People Everywhere — is to help citizens around the world attain health care. Walton said the shipment of antibiotics met one of the initial needs of Georgia “as laid out by the Department of State.”

“This medication will help prevent some of the infections that people would be receiving in a war-like environment,” he said.

Another shipment of medical supplies from Project HOPE arrived in Georgia shortly before hostilities broke out Friday. Those supplies — worth $1.4 million — are sitting in a town now occupied by Russian soldiers.

It is unclear whether that shipment is safe or if it was looted or stolen, Walton said.

American Friends of Georgia, one of Project HOPE’s peer organizations with staff members on the ground, is investigating the situation, he said.
Project HOPE has no direct operations in Georgia, though it contributed $8 million toward a medical shipment to Tbilisi in 2007. Sandra E. Roelofs, Georgia’s first lady, traveled to the organization’s headquarters in Millwood to deliver a personal thank-you.

Walton said he hopes the relationship will grow, possibly to include a full-scale Project HOPE project in Georgia.

“We will continue to look at other opportunities,” he said, “particularly as the dust begins to settle.”

...www.projecthope.org

 

[darkbeaver]

It's going to be a long cold winter, I would not be surprized if some of us did not survive the institution of the NWO. Kiss the old world goodbye, nothing will be the same on the bankers planet, nothing and no one will be safe. The end of the Olympics will herald the obvious beginning of total war, there are two sides the capitalist pigs and the socialists, you better hope the socialists win.

 

[Praxius]

Additional News:

U.S. President Bush makes a statement, backdropped by the U.S. presidential flag, on the conflict between Georgia and Russia in the Rose Garden of the White House on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008.

A Georgian woman cries in front of her destroyed apartment building in the city of Gori, Georgia, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008.

South Ossetians who were driven from their homes by Georgia, settle into a tented living facility at a refugee camp in the town of Alagir, 40 km south of Vladikavkaz, in the Russian province of North Ossetia, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008.

Soldiers ride atop military vehicles in a Russian military convoy near Gori, Georgia, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008. Russian tanks rolled into the strategic Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday then pressed deeper into Georgia territory.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080812/russia_truce_080813/20080813?hub=World

U.S. President George W. Bush says Russia's actions in Georgia are putting its integration in the wider world community at risk.

"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States and Europe and other nations ... Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," Bush said Wednesday in Washington.

He announced two steps by the U.S.:

• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel first to Paris for a meeting with France's President Nicholas Sarkozy, then Georgia, to express "America's unwavering support" for the democratically-elected government of President Mikhail Saakashvili
• The U.S. military has dispatched a C-17 cargo aircraft, loaded with humanitarian supplies, to Georgia

"This mission will be vigorous and ongoing," Bush said, adding naval forces will be also be used to deliver aid.

"We expect Russia to honour its commitment to let in all forms of humanitarian assistance," he said.

"We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces who have entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country."

The statement came after looting had been reported in the Georgian city of Gori. Russian troops have entered there. The incursion led Georgia to accuse Russia of violating a freshly-brokered truce. Sarkozy played a major role in the negotiations. He holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Gori is 24 kilometres from South Ossetia, the breakaway province at the heart of the dispute. Russian troops had not been in Gori when the truce was announced, Georgian officials said Wednesday.

"Russia has treacherously broken its word," said Alexander Lomaia, chief of Georgia's National Security Council. He claimed Russia had moved 50 tanks into the city.

A top Russian general denied there were any tanks in Gori. Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of general staff, said Russia went into the city to find Georgian officials to discuss implementing the truce. However, journalists reported seeing some armoured vehicles there.

Georgia said the Russians seized a military base outside of Gori.

There were reports a Russian convoy headed out of Gori, but there is no word on its destination, although a Georgian official said it wasn't advancing on the capital of Tbilisi.

Bush said Russia's position outside Gori would allow it to block Georgia's main east-west highway, divide the country and threaten Tbilisi.

"We're concerned about reports that Russian forces have entered and taken positions in the port city of Poti, that Russian armoured vehicles are blocking access to that port, and that Russian forces are blowing up Georgian vessels," he said.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said it has documented South Ossetian fighters looting the homes of ethnic Georgians. However, the international human rights group has also received multiple stories about Georgian militias intimidating ethnic Ossetians.

Both sides have accused the other of engaging in actions that could be considered war crimes.

Abkhazia

Georgia also said Wednesday its troops have withdrawn from Abkhazia, the second breakaway province. They had been in an area known as the Kodori Gorge.

Some Abkhazian fighters had planted a flag on a bridge over the Inguri River, outside their existing territory.

"The border has been along this river for 1,000 years,'' separatist official Ruslan Kishmaria said.

Georgia would have to accept the new border, he said, adding the Georgian army had received "American training in running away."

HA HA HA HA HA.... he he....

Wednesday's accusations of Russian violations came about 12 hours after Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili said he accepted a ceasefire plan put forward by France.

Last Thursday, Georgian troops entered South Ossetia, which broke with Georgia in 1992 and has run its own affairs ever since -- albeit without international recognition. A majority of South Ossetians have Russian passports.

A day later, Russian troops entered the fray. Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people in South Ossetia, mostly civilians. That number can't be independently verified, but interviews with witnesses indicate that a death toll in the hundreds is probable.

Georgia's pro-western president wants to join NATO. Saakashvili said Russia's goal all along has been to destroy his country, a former state in the Soviet Union and one annexed by Russia in the 19th century.

Georgia is slightly smaller in land mass than New Brunswick and sits between Russia and Turkey, putting it at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.

Humanitarian crisis

Georgia estimates that Russian ground and air attacks have killed 175 Georgians (the country's population was 4.4 million as of 2007). At least 55,000 people have crowded into the capital of Tbilisi to flee the fighting.

"Most of the affected people have fled their homes with only the clothes on their back," David Gazashvili of CARE's emergency humanitarian unit told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.

Immediate needs include:

• Food
• Water
• Sleeping mattresses and blankets
• Shelter items

A major humanitarian challenge is access to the conflict areas, he said. "So we don't know what is the condition of people who stayed in the conflict area."

In Canada, the federal government has pledged up to $1 million in humanitarian relief.

Stephen Cornish of Care Canada told Canada AM from Ottawa that up to 30,000 people have fled South Ossetia.

"Right now, the access problem is a largely a political one," he said, and both sides must agree to allow unfettered access to humanitarian aid.

 

[darkbeaver]

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 ​

Project HOPE ships medicine to region
By Jason Kane
The Winchester Star in Virginia
Winchester — As military tensions calm between Russia and its former republic of Georgia, a local nonprofit agency is sending a $400,000 shipment of antibiotics to help heal some of the battle wounds.

Project HOPE, a health-aid organization based in Millwood, completed its agreement to donate the medication to Georgia Tuesday after discussions with the State Department.

The organization prepared boxes containing nearly 4,000 bottles of liquid antibiotics at Project HOPE’s storage facility near the Winchester Regional Airport Tuesday afternoon. Employee Tony Hileman then loaded them onto a truck bound for Washington Dulles International Airport.

The pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb donated the medicine to Project HOPE as “part of an inventory to be made available when a humanitarian initiative arose,” said Rand Walton, director of communications for the organization.

The antibiotics will be combined with supplies from other non-governmental agencies before being flown to Germany, then to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, on a military aircraft this week.

The main objective of Project HOPE — Health Opportunities for People Everywhere — is to help citizens around the world attain health care. Walton said the shipment of antibiotics met one of the initial needs of Georgia “as laid out by the Department of State.”

“This medication will help prevent some of the infections that people would be receiving in a war-like environment,” he said.

Another shipment of medical supplies from Project HOPE arrived in Georgia shortly before hostilities broke out Friday. Those supplies — worth $1.4 million — are sitting in a town now occupied by Russian soldiers.

It is unclear whether that shipment is safe or if it was looted or stolen, Walton said.

American Friends of Georgia, one of Project HOPE’s peer organizations with staff members on the ground, is investigating the situation, he said.
Project HOPE has no direct operations in Georgia, though it contributed $8 million toward a medical shipment to Tbilisi in 2007. Sandra E. Roelofs, Georgia’s first lady, traveled to the organization’s headquarters in Millwood to deliver a personal thank-you.

Walton said he hopes the relationship will grow, possibly to include a full-scale Project HOPE project in Georgia.

“We will continue to look at other opportunities,” he said, “particularly as the dust begins to settle.”

...www.projecthope.org

Jesus Jim is there no bottom to the tripe you'll hock , "Project Hope" christ it has a distinct neo-liberal stench to it eh, Project Hype Jim and that's all it is, I expect next you'll be raving about a phonix of Georgian freedom rising from the liberating embrace of the US cluster bombs dropped by the mercenary scum hired by USrael and it's London banker bum-boys.

 

[jimmoyer]

Jesus Jim is there no bottom to the tripe you'll hock , "Project Hope" christ it has a distinct neo-liberal stench to it eh, Project Hype Jim and that's all it is, I expect next you'll be raving about a phonix of Georgian freedom rising from the liberating embrace of the US cluster bombs dropped by the mercenary scum hired by USrael and it's London banker bum-boys.
---------------------------------------------Darkbeaver---------------------------------------------

Remember the big white ship Project Hope had to travel around the world ?

Um, Darkbeaver, I detect a distinct turn in mood here. You've been very cranky lately.

Normally I don't suggest meds, so perhaps a little transcendental meditation ?

 

[darkbeaver]

Jesus Jim is there no bottom to the tripe you'll hock , "Project Hope" christ it has a distinct neo-liberal stench to it eh, Project Hype Jim and that's all it is, I expect next you'll be raving about a phonix of Georgian freedom rising from the liberating embrace of the US cluster bombs dropped by the mercenary scum hired by USrael and it's London banker bum-boys.
---------------------------------------------Darkbeaver---------------------------------------------

Remember the big white ship Project Hope had to travel around the world ?

Um, Darkbeaver, I detect a distinct turn in mood here. You've been very cranky lately.

Normally I don't suggest meds, so perhaps a little transcendental meditation ?

No Jim I'm not caught up in media hyped propaganda why would I remember it what the hell did it do that has any bearing on the probeing incursion/diversion of the capitalist war machine in the puppet province of Georgia? By the way Jim the conflict was initiated in Telaviv and ordered commenced from there.Soon as those carriers get in place and the sanctions begin to be imposed we'll see some real destruction and you'll no doubt remind us of the heroic liberating manouvers of the imperial forces. You need the meditation more than me Jim, I had thought you were showing signs of comprhensive regeneration of your criticle thought processes but you've obviously recieved a flyer from the republicans and you're off saving Georgia now before you've saved Darfur or Iraq or Afghanistan. What perplexis me Jim is you don't seem to mind the ground being swept out from under your feet at home in the USSA. Who will save America if you don't care enough to fix the **** in your own goddamn nieghbourhood. I'm very much afraid we'll meet on the battle field some day soon, I'll be the guy with the disrupter beam gun sawing highrises in half in what's left of New Yuck.:lol:

 

[jimmoyer]

Whew !!

Darkbeaver, you and Joe Bageant need to be friends !!!

http://www.joebageant.com/

You're sounding more and more like him every day !

Awright... now you got to me.

Time to let out a secret.

There's um, a transmitter on Mars. Only a few of us have receivers implanted.

 

[darkbeaver]

Whew !!

Darkbeaver, you and Joe Bageant need to be friends !!!

http://www.joebageant.com/

You're sounding more and more like him every day !

Awright... now you got to me.

Time to let out a secret.

There's um, a transmitter on Mars. Only a few of us have receivers implanted.

Ok now we're getting somewhere, why didn't you just come clean with that info earlier? It would have negated the need for my speil .

 

[jimmoyer]

Wait...

transmission coming in...

-vrarbg;ag;alkeaga;lwg;qghqa;a;gaagg;aigr;ag;;a

Something about the 3rd rock being a billiard ball...

 

[jimmoyer]

If I were a neighbor of Russia and I saw what Russia had done in Georgia, I would be very nervous," Mendelson said. "I think those countries that are leaning toward the West are very nervous today."

Source

 

[Praxius]

If I were a neighbor of Russia and I saw what Russia had done in Georgia, I would be very nervous," Mendelson said. "I think those countries that are leaning toward the West are very nervous today."

Source

And once again.... somehow it's all Russia's fault for the situation created. Georgia started this, Russia responded..... Georgia pulled back to where it should be, case closed in my view, and with any luck, Georgia won't pull this kind of stunt again for a while.

Just because they're buddy buddies with the US and are a so-called democracy, doesn't give them a blank cheque to let them do whatever they feel like.

 

[Praxius]

Related Update:

Russians begin Georgia handover
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7560100.stm

Russian troops have begun handing over control of the area around the town of Gori to Georgian security forces.


A top Russian general refused to say when troops would withdraw - they would remain for days to remove weaponry and help restore law and order in Gori.

And a BBC correspondent said a series of explosions was heard coming from hills around the town on Thursday.

Georgia attacked the rebel region of South Ossetia from Gori a week ago, prompting Russian retaliation.
In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - Georgia's other separatist region - and pledged to support any decision the regions made about their borders.


"Not only do we support it but we will guarantee them both in the Caucasus and throughout the world," Mr Medvedev said.

The Georgian parliament voted unanimously on Thursday to withdraw Georgia from a Russia-dominated regional bloc, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Meanwhile, the US has reiterated its support for Georgia, sending the first shipments of humanitarian aid into the country. A US envoy to the region said the initial consignment of bedding and other vital supplies was the first of many that would be arriving by sea and air.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in France for talks with French and current EU President Nicolas Sarkozy.

She is expected to go on to Tbilisi on Friday, to express US support for Georgia's government.

No pull-out timetable

Russian troops occupied Gori after pushing Georgian forces out of South Ossetia, leading to a mass retreat from the city by Georgian troops and civilians.

Gori has also come under air attack, with reports of Russian planes bombing the town after Moscow declared an end to its military operation on Tuesday.

Gori, which lies some 15km (10 miles) from the South Ossetian border and is a key link to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, had been reported calm earlier on Thursday.
The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse, in the town, said local residents reported feeling safe and secure on Wednesday night, with Russian troops clearly in charge of the town.


But the situation appeared to change on Thursday as a series of blasts were heard around Gori. Journalists, including the BBC's correspondent, were forced to leave their positions quickly.

Russia's continued deployment of troops in Gori has raised concerns that the Kremlin will not make a quick withdrawal from Georgian territory, despite agreeing to a European peace plan.

General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of staff of Russia's armed forces, told a news conference that Russian forces in the region were not ready to withdraw yet.

He said they were protecting abandoned weapons and ammunition, preventing looting and clearing mines left by Georgian forces. They were also liaising with local Georgian authorities and would ensure the security of humanitarian operations, he said.

Elsewhere, eyewitnesses in the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti said that Russian troops had entered the town in armoured vehicles. Moscow has denied the reports.

Nato debate rekindled

The Georgian government says that 175 people, mainly civilians, were killed during the conflict with Russia and South Ossetian separatist forces.
Russia, which says that 74 of its troops were killed, reports that more than 2,000 people died in South Ossetia, the vast majority civilians allegedly killed in the Georgian attack.


While none of the casualty figures have been verified independently, the UN refugee agency estimates that some 100,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, both from South Ossetia and Georgia proper.

Both sides have accused each other of committing atrocities during the conflict, although little conclusive evidence has been found.

The US special envoy to the region, Matthew Bryza, told the BBC that the outbreak of violence in the Caucasus strengthened Georgia's case to join the Nato alliance.
"Russia, a country with 30 times the population [of Georgia] decided to roll into its much smaller neighbour and tried to roll over it. It failed to roll over Georgia, but it would never have even thought of doing this if Georgia were already a member of Nato," he said.

Oh what a crock of shiat.... Oh big Russia rolled over little Georgia..... like Big US rolled over Little Iraq and Afghanistan..... oh yeah, but they had some justification so I guess that's alright :roll:

And Russia didn't "fail to roll over Georgia" ~ They just didn't..... as I don't see anything that would have made them fail.... if they wanted to, they would have.

 

[normbc9]

Lets sit back and see just how the UN handles this situation. I'll bet the podium will be full of speakers but nothing effective will be accompklished except for another roud of committees and non-produtive talks. NATO, the UN and others will fret and sit on their hands nervously hoping the Russian war machine doesn't look their way next. Regardless of what brought this about the Russians have been poised for an opportunity like this for the last year or so. They want those independent Republics back under their control.

 

[Kreskin]

The timing does look well planned to coincide with a lame duck US President. Not sure the UN can do much when the big 5 are the ones who control it and never see eye to eye.

 

[jimmoyer]

Regardless of what brought this about the Russians have been poised for an opportunity like this for the last year or so. They want those independent Republics back under their control.
------------------------------------------------Normbc9-----------------------------------------------------

True.

 

[gopher]

"300,000 is an exaggeration"

No it isn't. I have already given you more than adequate proof of it.

 

[dancing-loon]

Could it be that....
Putin Walks into a Trap?
The American-armed and trained Georgian army swarmed into South Ossetia last Thursday, killing an estimated 2,000 civilians, sending 40,000 South Ossetians fleeing over the Russian border, and destroying much of the capital, Tskhinvali. The attack was unprovoked and took place a full 24 hours before even ONE Russian soldier set foot in South Ossetia.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of Americans still believe that the Russian army invaded Georgian territory first.
........
The real aim was to lure the Russian army into a trap.
US planners hope to do what they did so skillfully in Afghanistan; lure their Russian prey into a long and bloody Chechnya-type fiasco that will pit the Russian troops against guerrilla forces armed and trained by US military and intelligence agencies.

The war will be waged in the name of liberating Georgia from Russian imperialism and stopping Putin from achieving his alleged ambition to control critical western-owned pipelines around the Caspian Basin.

Meanwhile, the fighting in the Caucasus has drawn attention away from the US carrier groups located in or around the Persian Gulf presumably awaiting orders for the long-anticipated confrontation with Iran.

Was that the real motive behind the invasion in South Ossetia; to create a strategic diversion for a larger war in the Middle East?

South Ossetia was a trap and Putin took the bait. Unfortunately for Bush, the wily Russian prime minister is considerably brighter than anyone in the current administration. Bush's plan will undoubtedly backfire and disrupt the geopolitical balance of power. The world might get that breather from the US after all.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9827
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please, read the above link to get the full understanding and logic of this article.
Remember, things are never what they appear to be. Always look behind the scenes, if possible.
The world has become a chess game for the big powers at which our children are used as mere pawns.