Posts Tagged ‘South Ossetia’

Paul Krugman in the NY Times
The war in Georgia isn’t that big a deal economically. But it does mark the end of the Pax Americana — the era in which the United States more or less maintained a monopoly on the use of military force. And that raises some real questions about the future of [...]

“Condoleezza Rice forces deal on Georgia to end the war” says the headline. Except, she hasn’t forced anything because the Russians have no intention of leaving nor are they signatories on the deal.
Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, warned Russia that it must withdraw its troops behind the boundaries of two disputed Georgian enclaves [...]

The Americans are threatening to have Russia expelled from the WTO and G8. But this may be a serious overestimation of the American’s own influence over these bodies.
What the Americans seem unable to detect is that the wind is changing.

Georgian Villages in South Ossetia burnt, looted
Russian forces sink Georgian ships
US forces to be sent to Georgia
Talk about an escalation: Bush is sending in the navy and the airforce. You would have to be dead from the neck up to think that this is just about ‘delivering humanitarian aid’. You don’t need hawk airjets and [...]

This is a Grad launcher. Georgia used them in their initial assault in an urban area against a province they claim as their own. Madness.

This is not some faux-conflict that was ginned up by John McCain and the neoconservatives as some kind of electoral season strategy. And, even if it was (and it’s not) it’s gone far beyond that now.
I can hear the Left now laughing at Asmus and Holbrooke’s audacity in accusing Russia of neo-imperial policies. Isn’t this [...]

BBC News was fired on while reporting from the front lines in Georgia. The image is from the same report.
From DealBreaker, a serious, non-snarky (and for them, being non-snarky is quite unusual!) discussion of what’s happening in Georgia.
Who started it?
JR: “De jure, the Georgians. De facto, the Russians.
No, really — Who started it? Who can [...]

Just noticed this in Wordpress.com fastest growing blogs
http://southosetia.wordpress.com/
Do you know the truth of war in South Ossetia?
The real people, real histories, real events…
The Georgian murderers!
Apparent on the scene blogging from those in South Ossetia whose homes have been destroyed, lives shattered, friends and family killed by Georgian troops.

First, from the comments on Lawyers, Guns, and Money
I have this nagging feeling that Rice and Cheney – and by extension, McCain – knew full well that the Georgians were going to get crushed but wished them luck regardless. That’s exactly what they wanted: A credible boogeyman to scare the Beltway crowd and the other [...]

Says Craig Murray
An immediate ceasefire is required now and a de facto Russian annexation of South Ossetia must not be permitted, unless we eventually want a war for East Ukraine. Sadly, the West will learn the wrong long-term lesson. The answer is not to strengthen NATO. NATO is part of the cause of the problem, [...]

An [Georgia] interior ministry spokesman told the BBC it was not a military defeat but a necessary step to protect civilians from a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

Right. Not a defeat at all. Why would anyone think that after attacking your own breakaway province then retreating rapidly in the face of a vastly larger and better equipped army [...]