Russian jets have bombarded the Georgian town of Gori as a conflict between the two countries continues to escalate. Georgia has reportedly called its entire contingent of 2000 troops back from Iraq and its Foreign Ministry claimed that Russian bombers had destroyed the Black Sea port of Poti. A senior Russian commander also confirmed that two of their warplanes were shot down over Georgia. Speaking from near Gori, Sky News Moscow correspondent Alex Rossi said: "We've heard Russian jets flying overhead, accompanied by the loud boom of those bombs hitting Georgian targets below. "The situation here is pretty toxic - it is a really ugly stand-off brewing. "And we should make no mistake: these two countries, Russia and Georgia, are now at war." Hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed in since initial fighting broke out between Georgia and separatists. A spokeswoman for the separatists has put the number of dead in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali at 1600. The conflict stems from a long-running dispute between Georgia and rebels in the province, which is loyal to Russia and proclaimed itself independent in the 1990s. On Friday, Moscow sent troops into the region to defend Russians under fire from a Tbilisi offensive to regain control over the province. The United Nations has been holding an emergency meeting after the Georgian government asked the west for help. Georgian forces today launched the latest in a series of artillery attacks on Tskhinvali, a South Ossetian government spokeswoman said. Russian forces said they had counter-attacked. Georgia said it was under Russian aerial bombardment in what the country's UN Ambassador Irakli Alasania described as "a full-scale military invasion". The United States, the European Union and the OSCE were preparing to send a joint delegation to Georgia to try to broker a ceasefire, the EU said. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said 30 people had died on the Georgian side, but separatist leader Eduard Kokoity put the overall death toll from Friday far higher. "Slightly more than 1,400 people have died," Mr Kokoity said. In a claim that Moscow denied, Georgia's interior ministry said five Russian aircraft had been shot down. The Russian military said ithat more than 10 Russian peacekeepers had been killed in Tskhinvali, as Georgian ordnance slammed into their barracks.
I'm watching this on the news, I find it strangely fascinating. But it is a terrible tragedy, my thoughts go out to the poor people of South Osettia. War is an awfull thing.
Has anyone else noticed that Russia is becoming increasingly expansionist of late? What with this, and the bombers they keep sending our way...
Mabey all those sci-fi stories from my dad's time got it right when they always showed Russia as the bad guy in the future.
*shrugs* To be completely honest, there's a lot of similarities between Russian and American activities in foreign countries...
The whole issue is stained in my eyes with the actions I have watched "my" government commit so far. I heard about it on the night of the 8th and was researching it all night. Here is my opinion on the whole situation, it is something I wrote up and sent to all my contacts at other venues. --- There is something that the world must know about and learn all they can about. It will most likely not be covered extensively, the war erupting in Georgia. What lil coverage I have seen purports this to be instigated by Russia; these are the articles I read on the night of 8/8 and it looks to me as if Georgia is the aggressor in the whole thing. Why are our tax dollars causing the deaths of citizens, CIVILIANS, of Tskhinvali? This must be known by all, please keep yourselves updated. As of 8/8/08 Georgia and Russia are at war, and it looks as if Georgia initiated all this violence This is the latest article Ive read about bombings going on saterday morning. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/08/georgia.ossetia/index.html#cnnSTCVideo And on the suface we see Russia dealing some hard blows to the Georgian infrastructure, but in the whole scheme it I see a small nation, Georgia, trying to force itself upon a autonomous peoples and getting stung by the hornets nest that is Russia. Also it seems very odd to me that 500 or so American troops have been in Georgia for some time training their military, and now all the sudden Georgia attacks and then falls back crying for us to step in. Thanks to crazations for bringing this to my attention. Here are a few articles I have been reading on it: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/georgia/2524550/Russia-invades-Georgia-as-South-Ossetia-descends-towards-war.html http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amqPrh9oTJws&refer=home http://www. guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/08/georgia. russia2?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront "World leaders have appealed for a ceasefire in the conflict, which erupted after Georgia launched a huge offensive aimed at imposing its control over the rebel province with its large Russian population" [It is so hard to know who is the true aggressor.. anyone with more info please hit me up. This seems very important as a catalyst of sorts.] "The Russian incursion began after Georgia launched a major military offensive to retake control of South Ossetia, which has enjoyed de facto autonomy since the early 1990s but officially remains part of the country" "Only Russia has recognised its self-declared independence" [Just keep your eyes on this new developments in our world, it all has to do with the BIG PICTURE.] "I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," Lyudmila Ostayeva, a resident of the South Ossetia capital, Tskhinvali, told The Associated Press on Friday. "It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged," she said after fleeing to a village near the Russian border, AP reported. "They are killing civilians, women and children, with heavy artillery and rockets," Sarmat Laliyev, 28, told AP. “Hundreds of people, possibly thousands, are fleeing South Ossetia to the Russian region of North Ossetia-Alania, the United Nations reported Friday, citing Russian officials. ” Funny how the civilians are running for their lives from Georgian Tanks and are being protected by the Russian army. "The Novosti news agency, citing the South Ossetian government, said Georgian tanks and infantry attacked Tskhinvali, and "a large part of the city has been destroyed. Over 15 civilians have been killed, several buildings are on fire in the city center, and the local parliament building has burned down." WTF does all this mean? And when the Faux/CNN media doesnt cover something you can know the NWO agenda has its fingers in it.
What happened to russia was it got a new leader, and on his second day on the job he had a huge military parade as such that hasn't been seen since the cold war days. Then he began with the cold war type bomber patrols and such. He obviusly is looking to put the fear of russia back into the american hearts. Though he should realize that russian tech levels are no were near capable of handling the US anymore. Though their NUKE levels could still wipe us off the map. Lets hope something happens and he gets thrown out of power. (PS: The US generally loses more than it gains during it's freedom campains, while russia will just gain things.)
That's rubbish. The president may have changed, but Putin is still the man in charge. He's been set on making himself Czar, or whatever, for a long, long time now.
Why the sudden change in political activities after the new president was put in charge? Possibly to make anyone besides him look bad? I don't know the polotics of how russia is run so I can't comment on that.
Does anyone else think the timing is a little too suspicious? The news is dominated by the olympics, and most of the heads of state of the most powerful nations in the world are in China. Russia clearly wants to take this territory from Georgia before the rest of the world can muster a response. Once they're in, they'll dig in deep, and be very hard to remove.
Georgia was the antagonist here, not Russia. Bush demands an immediate cease fire, though we seemingly preemptively have troops stationed there for "war games"? Seems like an orchestration on some level to me. Iran and Russia are pretty good pals. We're upping our presence in the Persian Gulf. Russia attacks Georgia in response to Georgia's antagonizing, we attack Iran, Russia helps Iran, we help Georgia; China gets mad; we call in allies like GB- We've got something bigger than a little squabble on our hands. We could have a potential WWIII? Just a theory.
Lets keep this civil, and refrain from inflammatory remarks about other countries. The thread will be closed if necessary to keep the peace.
I understand that this is a touchy subject and people shouldnt say unwarranted things, but this topic is one that must be discussed. I try to stay on an observant level and not jump to assumtions about either side of this mess, I personally think both are being played; and I pray every day for the innocent civilians that have fallen underfoot to this machine of war that has appeared over night without any major coverage. In the end I just hope the ceasefire orders are effective. But please allow this thread to remain as long as it is the only thread on the forum with the topic. This stuff must be figured out.
Only if it does not become disruptive. There are plenty of other places on the Internet to debate heatedly. Whether a thread remains open here depends entirely on whether people can keep the discussion respectful of other points of view, and also whether they stay on topic. If it cannot be discussed in that manner here, the world will not end because the discussion gets closed.
looks like the cold war redux, t'me!... putin's never successfully hidden his stalin complex and seems like he's doing his best to reacquire joe's homeland for 'mother russia'... can't see it being the end, but just the start of another putsch, tartar style... i'll bet all in eastern europe are suffering sleepless nights about now, expecting to be abandoned again, like we did to our supposed then-'friends' the hungarians! russia has always been a bully and shows no sign of reforming, as long as kgb-er putin is still holding the troika's reins...
Thank you maia. I don't see why everyone thinks that because Putin has moved jobs, he's no longer the guy in charge. All he's done is sidestepped the constitution.
How goes the old phrase/curse? “May you live during interesting times.” We are living during quite interesting times. We call things by different names; wars are now police actions, coups are now changes of paradigm. But it all stays the same. What concerns me most is that we do seem to be at a point where the big boys are trying to get back in their corners, lick their wounds, and come out for another go of it. That’s a frightening thought because just what will constitute this next go of it? America’s not on anyone’s Christmas gift list. Russia looks to reestablish itself. China has gone a different route and come fighting economically. And who knows who else will throw their hat in the ring for World Super Power? Interesting times, indeed.
