I'm somewhat shocked no one has talked about this in here

[autigeremt 6,970]

It was a bit of a shock when Russian began firing on Georgia and their government, but after reading some of the information coming out of there, I'm not so sure Russia did anything wrong.

It could be the begining of a huge European conflict.

OUTSIDE TSKHINVALI, Georgia — Russia and Georgia headed toward a wider war Saturday as Russian tanks rumbled into the contested province of South Ossetia and Russian aircraft bombed a Georgian town, escalating a conflict that already has left hundreds dead.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry said the country was "in a state of war" and accused Russia of beginning a "massive military aggression." The Georgian parliament approved a state of martial law, mobilizing reservists and ordering government authorities to work round-the-clock.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow sent troops into South Ossetia to force Georgia into a cease-fire and prevent Georgia from retaking control of its breakaway region. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Georgia had effectively lost the right to rule it — an indication Moscow could be preparing to fulfill South Ossetians' wish to be absorbed into Russia.

The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war also increased Saturday when Russian-supported separatists in another breakaway region, Abkhazia, also targeted Georgian troops by launching air and artillery strikes to drive them out.

President Bush called for an end to the Russian bombings and an immediate halt to the violence.

"The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis," Bush said in a statement to reporters while attending the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili called it an "unprovoked brutal Russian invasion."

"This is about annihilation of a democracy on their borders," Saakashvili told the British Broadcasting Corp. "We on our own cannot fight with Russia. We want immediate cease-fire, immediate cessation of hostilities, separation of Russia and Georgia and international mediation."

Medvedev's office said Saturday evening that Russia had not received the Georgian cease-fire proposal.

Georgia, a U.S. ally whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, launched a major offensive overnight Friday. Heavy rocket and artillery fire pounded the provincial capital, Tskhinvali, leaving much of the city in ruins.

It was the worst outbreak of hostilities since South Ossetia won de facto independence in a war against Georgia that ended in 1992.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters Saturday in Moscow that some 1,500 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, with the death toll rising. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

But Tskhinvali residents who survived the bombardment by hiding in basements and later fled the city estimated that hundreds of civilians had died. They said bodies were lying everywhere.

Georgia, a country about the size of South Carolina that borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union. Today, Russia has approximately 30 times more people than Georgia and 240 times the area.

Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and have built up ties with Moscow. Russia has granted its passports to most of their residents.

Putin arrived late Saturday in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz to talk to South Ossetian refugees who have fled the fighting. He said there were at least 34,000 refugees.

"The actions of the Georgian powers in South Ossetia are, of course, a crime — first of all against their own people," Putin said. "The territorial integrity of Georgia has suffered a fatal blow."

Russia also laid much of the responsibility for ending the fighting on Washington, which has trained Georgian troops. Washington, in turned, blamed Russia.

"We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops. We call for an end to the Russian bombings, and a return by the parties to the status quo," Bush said in the statement.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Bush had spoken with both Medvedev and Saakashvili. But it was unclear what might persuade either side to stop shooting — both claim the other violated a cease-fire declared Thursday.

Alexander Lomaia, secretary of Georgia's Security Council, estimated that Russia sent 2,500 troops into Georgia. The Russian military would not comment on the number of troops. By late Saturday, Russian military commanders claimed they had driven Georgian forces out of Tskhinvali, a claim that Saakashvili denied.

Russia's ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said "98 percent of Tskhinvali" was in ruins. "Our troops have re-established control over the city," he said.

Smoke rose from the city, and intermittent artillery shelling and sporadic gunfire could still be heard.

Georgian forces knocked out about 40 Russian tanks around Tskhinvali, said Georgia's Deputy Interior Minister Eka Sguladze. "Our units are well-equipped with anti-tank rockets, and they thwarted a Russian tank attack," she told reporters.

Georgia, meanwhile, accused Russia of bombing its air bases and the town of Gori, just outside South Ossetia.

An Associated Press reporter who visited Gori shortly after the Russian airstrikes Saturday saw several apartment buildings in ruins, some still on fire, and scores of dead bodies and bloodied civilians. The elderly, women and children were among the victims.

The Russian warplanes appeared to have been targeting a military base in Gori's outskirts that also was bombed.

The Interior Ministry said Russian warplanes also bombed the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and struck near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The ministry said two other military bases were hit, and that Russian warplanes also bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility.

Georgia said it has shot down 10 Russian planes, including four brought down Saturday, according to Lomaia. It also claimed to have captured two Russian pilots, who were shown on Georgian television.

Russian Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General Staff, confirmed Saturday that two Russian planes had been shot down, but did not say where or when.

Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said Georgia brought the airstrikes upon itself by bombing civilians and Russian peacekeepers. He warned that the small Caucasus country should expect more attacks.

"Whatever side is used to bomb civilians and the positions of peacekeepers, this side is not safe and they should know this," Lavrov said.

Russian military commanders said 15 peacekeepers have been killed and about 150 wounded in South Ossetia, accusing Georgian troops of killing and wounding Russian peacekeepers when they seized Russian checkpoints. The allegations couldn't be independently confirmed.

In Abkhazia, the separatist government said it intended to push Georgian forces out of the Kodori Gorge. The northern part of the gorge is the only area of Abkhazia that has remained under Georgian government control. Lomaia confirmed that Georgian administrative buildings in the Kodori Gorge were bombed, but he blamed the attack on Russia.

[TexasTiger 13,559]

Most folks here aren't concerned because their boy Bush said of Putin:

“I’ve looked into his eyes, and seen his soul, and I liked what I saw.”

[AURaptor 1,137]

Most folks here aren't concerned because their boy Bush said of Putin:

“I’ve looked into his eyes, and seen his soul, and I liked what I saw.”

Thanks TT. I knew , even before I read your post, that you'd add something to a subject that in no way has anything to do w/ Bush, but you still found a way to bash the President. Regardless of the topic, your first post is almost certainly something which says something negative about Bush.

You truly are a hate filled zealot.

Congrats.

[TexasTiger 13,559]

Most folks here aren't concerned because their boy Bush said of Putin:

“I’ve looked into his eyes, and seen his soul, and I liked what I saw.”

Thanks TT. I knew , even before I read your post, that you'd add something to a subject that in no way has anything to do w/ Bush, but you still found a way to bash the President. Regardless of the topic, your first post is almost certainly something which says something negative about Bush.

You truly are a hate filled zealot.

Congrats.

So says a true hate-filled zealot.

[LegalEagle 22]

We are trying diplomacy. We are at the UN where Russia is saying we are the kettle calling the pot black due to our invasion of Iraq.

Are we going to enter the fray? No.

I think we are doing all we can. This is a European problem, and they should lead the way. They say they don't like our meddling in international affairs, so let them show the way on this one.

It should be clear to all that Russia has reverted back to its old self, and it conducts it's affairs with an iron fist.

Economic sanctions on Russia will likely be the biggest threat to them. I don't believe any nation or group of nations will go to war against them over this.

[CCTAU 3,369]

I don't know. After looking at this a little more, it seems Georgia may be in the wrong. Ossetia was an independent entity and Georgia wanted to bring it back in. Had Georgia left it a lone, this might not be happening. At least I think that is what is being reported. It's hard to get a good report on it.

READ THIS AND SEE

[autigeremt 6,970]

I agree! Georgia shouldn't have been the aggressor. Russia is flexing it's muscle for sure, as they have the upper hand on the ground.

I also see Russia using this as a way to go after Georgia. They want this area back. And other lands:

Meanwhile, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Monday he backed a plan proposed in talks with a European envoy calling for a return to pre-conflict positions in South Ossetia, a joint peacekeeping force and monitoring by Europe's largest security body.

"We signed a plan saying that the status quo ante is to be restored," Saakashvili told reporters after holding talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman says Russian armored vehicles have rolled into a Georgian military base in western Georgia.

Spokeswoman Nana Intskerveli told the Associated Press that Russian armored vehicles seized the Georgian military base in the town of Senaki.

The statement indicates Russian troops have entered Georgia beyond the disputed territories and that they arrived from separatist province of Abkhazia.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The world's seven largest economic powers on Monday urged Russia to accept an immediate cease-fire with Georgia and agree to international mediation over the growing crisis in Georgia's separatist areas that is verging on all-out war.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her colleagues from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations spoke by telephone and pledged their support for a negotiated solution to the conflict that has been raging since Friday between the former Soviet state and Russia, a State Department official said.

Rice and the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan called on Russia to respect Georgia's borders and expressed deep concern for civilian casualties that have occurred, the official said.

Georgia had already signed a cease-fire agreement and "called on Russia to accept an immediate cease-fire," according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call had not yet been formally announced.

The ministers gave their backing to mediation efforts led by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, whose country now holds the chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The call came as swarms of Russian jets launched new raids on Georgian territory and Georgia faced the threat of a second front of fighting as Russia demanded that Georgia disarm troops near the breakaway province of Abkhazia.

[arnaldoabru 11]

Reports today says were are flying 2,000 Georgia troops from Iraq back to Georgia

[autigeremt 6,970]

Yep.....this thing is on the brink of all out war. Georgia has no chance by themselves.

Mother Russia is back to take her lands.

[CCTAU 3,369]

Sometimes you piss off the big dog, you get bit.

But as Georgia is a new nation trying to get into NATO, their troops are more important to them at home. And where are the Russian troops in Iraq? So I would say we have to assist Georgia out in the area of returning their troops. I guess we would have helped Russian troops get back if they needed it too. If only there were any to assist.

[Tigermike 3,427]

The Loony Left has broken the code.

Georgia Started the War to Help McCain [Greg Pollowitz]

Is this just a bad parody or is HuffPo blogger Blake Fleetwood serious about this? (I'm betting on serious.)

In classic "Wag The Dog" scenario there is a neat little war brewing between American and Russian proxies, and real Russian troops, in the Caucacus Mountains on the Russian border.

It couldn't come at a better time for the Republicans.

McCain gets to act and talk tough against the Russians, while Obama is on vacation in Hawaii, issuing "can't we all get along statements."

It perfectly augments Republican campaign points: Obama is not ready. He is not tough, experienced enough to deal with a dangerous world.

McCain knows he can't win the election on Iraq or Iran or the economy. Republicans need a real boogeyman —-the Russian bear —- armed with nuclear weapons —- to really scare the bijous out of the American voters.

link

[CircleDrill 178]

No doubt this hurts Obama and helps McCain. The timing may be coincidental, or it may not. Maybe our election had something to do with it. Maybe the Olympics did. Maybe none of the above. Who knows? But I highly doubt that McCain had anything to do with it, but he sure is going to capitalize on it if he is smart.

[Justin5 20]

Ugh, this could get dicey.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle4500362.ece

We helped in Iraq - now help us, beg Georgians

As Russia forces its neighbour to retreat from South Ossetia, the people of Gori tell our correspondent of betrayal by the West

As a Russian jet bombed fields around his village, Djimali Avago, a Georgian farmer, asked me: “Why won’t America and Nato help us? If they won’t help us now, why did we help them in Iraq?”

A similar sense of betrayal coursed through the conversations of many Georgians here yesterday as their troops retreated under shellfire and the Russian Army pressed forward to take full control of South Ossetia.

Smoke rose as Russian artillery fire exploded less than half a mile from the bridge marking South Ossetia’s border with Georgia. A group of Georgian soldiers hastily abandoned their lorry after its wheels were shot out and ran across the border.

Georgian troops looked disheartened as they regrouped around tank lines about 2km from the border. Many said that they had been fighting in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, until the early hours when they were suddenly ordered to withdraw from the breakaway region.

“They told us to come out – I don’t know why – but some of our guys are still out there in the fields,” one soldier told The Times. “I want to go back. If we lose South Ossetia now, it won’t be for ever because we will never surrender our land.”

President Saakashvili of Georgia has ordered a complete ceasefire and offered talks to the Russians. Despite this, the sound of gunfire and shelling could be clearly heard along the border zone last night.

Terrified civilians have fled in their thousands, convinced that Russia will not stop at the border but sweep into Georgia. Some fear that the Kremlin is intent on establishing a buffer zone to guard South Ossetia against future incursions.

Gori, normally a bustling city of 50,000 people, is largely deserted after Russian airstrikes at the weekend. Scores of people were abandoning their homes and loading possessions into vehicles or carrying what they could on foot. “There is a lot of panic. Many people have left and I am thinking of joining them. My bags are already packed,” Georgi, a 56-year-old resident of Tirdznisi, said. “We are afraid that the Russians will come here and kill us. People would not go if we had a strong army but they don’t believe in our army any more.”

Iago Jokhadze abandoned his village of Ergneti, close to Tskhinvali, after it was bombed by Russian jets yesterday. Fighting back tears, he said: “I have left everything, I don’t even have another shirt. If the Russians stay, then I can never return. We’re afraid of what the Russians can do.”

Miriyan Gogolashvili, of Tkviav, said: “The Russians will be here tomorrow. They want to show us and the world how powerful they are. Tomorrow it will be Ukraine and nobody in the West is doing anything to stop them. Why were our soldiers in Kosovo and Iraq if we don’t get any help from the West now?” he asked.

The Georgian Government is recalling its 2,000 troops serving in Iraq to confront the threat at home. Many Georgians will be reluctant to send them back after this war ends. Their despair was in sharp contrast to the confidence on the other side. At a base near the border, Russian peacekeepers appeared sure they would soon be joined by comrades from the regular army. “We are operating normally; nobody has disturbed us at all,” said one.

In Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, refugees from the fighting told how Russian helicopters bombed homes in Tshkinvali and neighbouring villages. Some spent days in basements before emerging to discover that their communities had been obliterated. Mzia Sabashvili, who hid for three days, said: “I know that lots of my neighbours are dead. I have no idea who is left.”

The Russians paid little heed to those in their way. A vehicle carrying observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe was shot at by a sniper near Tskhinvali. The bullet cracked the toughened glass of the passenger window, where a British officer had been sitting.

In Gori, where a statue of Stalin, the city’s most famous son, still stands in the main square, relatives scoured lists of the wounded put up outside the main hospital. More than 120 people were admitted yesterday in addition to the 456 treated since fighting erupted on Friday. The chief surgeon said that three civilians, including a pregnant woman, had died of their injuries.

Scores of soldiers milled around on the road outside. One said that they had all been in Tskhinvali but were now preparing to pull out of Gori. “The situation was very bad there but we were ready to stay. Russia is the enemy of the world,” he said.

[AURaptor 1,137]

So says a true hate-filled zealot.

Where's your proof ?

In a thread about the USSR and Georgia, you show your vitriol by ,once again, making taking a pointless jab at the President.

Thus, you earn your reputation.

[AUBURNJAC 53]

This situation is obviously no good. I understand the Georgians feeling betrayed by us, but there is no way we should intervene at this time. I'm not sure who is to blame here, Russia or Georgia. If we intervene, then we are at war with Russia. Something like that would most assuredly become WWIII. The entire world needs to watch this conflict with a microscope, b/c it has the potential to be very bad. You can bet your bisquits that the next World War will have some fighting on American soil.

[CircleDrill 178]

Well, Georgia may be saying they don't understand, but they understand. If the shoe was on the other foot, they would not jump into the fray either. If Russia invaded England or Germany that would be another story.

Unfortunately for Georgia, a war-weary US population is not in any rush to start another long-term conflict because a little country is getting beat up by a former superpower.

[rexbo 104]

I don't know. After looking at this a little more, it seems Georgia may be in the wrong. Ossetia was an independent entity and Georgia wanted to bring it back in. Had Georgia left it a lone, this might not be happening. At least I think that is what is being reported. It's hard to get a good report on it.

READ THIS AND SEE

Ossetia was just an excuse for Putin to bring Georgia back into Moscow's fold; just like the Sudetenland was Hitler's excuse to go into Czechoslovakia. Putin should have waited a few months; then he could have had Obama over there to sign a 'Munich Agreement' and Obama could have made a grand return to the States holding up the agreement and saying "Peace for our time!"

[ProgRock 0]

So do you think we may be sitting in a bomb shelter?It's scaring the poop out of me.

[pensacola tiger 0]

The Loony Left has broken the code.

Georgia Started the War to Help McCain [Greg Pollowitz]

Is this just a bad parody or is HuffPo blogger Blake Fleetwood serious about this? (I'm betting on serious.)

In classic "Wag The Dog" scenario there is a neat little war brewing between American and Russian proxies, and real Russian troops, in the Caucacus Mountains on the Russian border.

It couldn't come at a better time for the Republicans.

McCain gets to act and talk tough against the Russians, while Obama is on vacation in Hawaii, issuing "can't we all get along statements."

It perfectly augments Republican campaign points: Obama is not ready. He is not tough, experienced enough to deal with a dangerous world.

McCain knows he can't win the election on Iraq or Iran or the economy. Republicans need a real boogeyman —-the Russian bear —- armed with nuclear weapons —- to really scare the bijous out of the American voters.

link

I believe that's the most idiotic thing I've heard relating to this election.

[autigeremt 6,970]

NEW YORK — Russian tanks roared deep into Georgia on Monday, launching a new western front in the conflict, and Russian planes staged air raids that sent people screaming and fleeing for cover in some towns.

The escalating warfare brought sharp words from President Bush, who pressed Moscow to accept an immediate cease-fire and pull its troops out to avert a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence in the former Soviet republic.

Russian forces for the first time moved well outside the two restive, pro-Russian provinces claimed by Georgia that lie at the heart of the dispute. An Associated Press reporter saw Russian troops in control of government buildings in this town just miles from the frontier and Russian troops were reported in nearby Senaki.

Georgia's president said his country had been sliced in half with the capture of a critical highway crossroads near the central city of Gori, and Russian warplanes launched new air raids across the country.

The Russian Defense Ministry, through news agencies, denied it had captured Gori and also denied any intentions to advance on the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

The western assault expanded the days-old war beyond the central breakaway region of South Ossetia, where a crackdown by Georgia last week drew a military response from Russia.

RelatedStories

U.N. Security Council Calls for Emergency Session to Resolve Georgia-Russia Crisis; Russian Troops Near Tbilisi Photo Essays

Violence in Georgia While most Georgian forces were still busy fighting there, Russian troops opened the western attack by invading from a second separatist province, Abkhazia, that occupies Georgia's coastal northwest arm.

Russian forces moved into Senaki, 20 miles inland from the Black Sea, and seized police stations in Zugdidi, just outside the southern fringe of Abkhazia. Abkhazian allies took control of the nearby village of Kurga, according to witnesses and Georgian officials.

U.N. officials B. Lynn Pascoe and Edmond Mulet in New York, speaking at an emergency Security Council meeting asked for by Georgia, also confirmed that Russian troops have driven well beyond South Ossetia and Abkhazia, U.N. diplomats said on condition of anonymity because it was a closed session. They said Russian airborne troops were not meeting any resistance while taking control of Georgia's Senaki army base.

"A full military invasion of Georgia is going on," Georgian Ambassador Irakli Alasania told reporters later. "Now I think Security Council has to act."

The Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, told CNN late Monday that Russian forces were cleansing Abkhazia of ethnic Georgians.

"I directly accuse Russia of ethnic cleansing," he said. At the U.N. on Friday, each side accused the other of ethnic cleansing.

By late Monday, Russian news agencies, citing the Defense Ministry, said troops had left Senaki "after liquidating the danger," but did not give details.

The new assault came despite a claim earlier in the day by a top Russian general that Russia had no plans to enter undisputed Georgian territory.

Saakashvili earlier told a national security meeting Russia had also taken central Gori, which its on Georgia's only east-west highway, cutting off the eastern half of the nation from the western Black Sea coast.

But the news agency Interfax cited a Russian Defense Ministry official as denying Gori was captured. Attempts to reach Gori residents by telephone late Monday did not go through.

Fighting also raged Monday around Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist province of South Ossetia.

Even as Saakashvili signed a cease-fire pledge Monday with European mediators, Russia flexed its military muscle and appeared determined to subdue the small U.S. ally, which has been pressing for NATO membership.

"The bombs that are falling on us, they have an inscription on them: This is for NATO. This is for the U.S.," Saakashvili told CNN.

Russia's massive and multi-pronged offensive has drawn wide criticism from the West, but Russia has rejected calls for a cease-fire and said it was acted to protect its citizens. Most residents of the separatist regions have Russian passports.

In Zugdidi, an AP reporter saw five or six Russian soldiers posted outside an Interior Ministry building. Several tanks and other armored vehicles were moving through the town but the streets were nearly deserted. Shops, restaurants and banks were shut down.

In the city of Gori, an AP reporter heard artillery fire and Georgian soldiers warned locals to get out because Russian tanks were approaching. Hundreds of terrified residents fled toward Tbilisi, many trying to flag down passing cars.

An AP film crew saw Georgian tanks and military vehicles speeding along the road from Gori to Tbilisi. Firing began and people ran for cover. Cars could be seen in flames along the side of the road.

Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

Both provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990, and both have close ties with Moscow.

When Georgia began its offensive to regain control over South Ossetia, the Russian response was swift and overpowering — thousands of troops and tanks poured in.

Georgia had pledged a cease-fire, but it rang hollow Monday. An AP reporter saw a small group of Georgian fighters open fire on a column of Russian and Ossetian military vehicles outside Tskhinvali, triggering a 30-minute battle. The Russians later said all the Georgians were killed.

Another AP reporter was in the village of Tkviavi, 7 1/2 miles south of Tskhinvali inside undisputed Georgian territory, when a bomb from a Russian warplane struck a house. The walls of neighboring buildings fell as screaming residents ran for cover. Eighteen people were wounded.

Hundreds of Georgian troops headed north Monday along the road toward Tskhinvali, pocked with tank regiments creeping up the highway into South Ossetia. Hundreds of other soldiers traveled in trucks in the opposite direction, towing light artillery weapons.

In a statement in the Rose Garden, Bush said there was an apparent attempt by Russia to unseat the pro-Western Saakashvili. He said further Russian action would conflict with Russian assurance its actions were meant to restore peace in the pro-Russian separatist areas.

Bush and other Western leaders have also complained that Russian warplanes — buzzing over Georgia since Friday — have bombed Georgian oil sites and factories far from the conflict zone.

The world's seven largest economic powers urged Russia to accept an immediate cease-fire agree to international mediation. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her colleagues from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations spoke by telephone and pledged their support for a negotiated solution to the conflict.

"I've expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia and that we strongly condemn the bombing outside of South Ossetia," Bush told NBC Sports.

Putin criticized the United States for viewing Georgia as the victim instead of the aggressor, and for airlifting Georgian troops back home from Iraq on Sunday.

"Of course, Saddam Hussein ought to have been hanged for destroying several Shiite villages," Putin said in Moscow. "And the incumbent Georgian leaders who razed ten Ossetian villages at once, who ran elderly people and children with tanks, who burned civilian alive in their sheds — these leaders must be taken under protection."

The U.S. military was informing Russia about the flights from Iraq to avoid mishaps, one military official said Monday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the subject on the record.

A Defense Department spokesman said the U.S. expected to have all Georgian troops out of Iraq by day's end.

Pentagon officials said Monday that U.S. military was assessing the fighting every day to determine whether to pull the fewer than 100 remaining American trainers out of the country.

Saakashvili's cease-fire pledge had been proposed by the French and Finnish foreign ministers. The EU envoys headed to Moscow to try to persuade Russia to accept it.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he will meet Tuesday in Moscow with President Dmitri Medvedev and then travel to Tbilisi for a meeting with Saakashvili.

Saakashvili voiced concern Russia's true goal was to undermine his pro-Western government. "It's all about the independence and democracy of Georgia," he said.

The Georgian president said Russia had sent 20,000 troops and 500 tanks into Georgia. He said Russian warplanes were bombing roads and bridges, destroying radar systems and targeting Tbilisi's civilian airport. One Russian bombing raid struck the Tbilisi airport area only a half-hour before EU envoys arrived, he said.

Another hit near key Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which carries Caspian crude to the West. No supply interruptions have been reported.

At least 9,000 Russian troops and 350 armored vehicles were in Abkhazia, according to a Russian military commander.

Abkhazia's separatists declared Sunday they would push Georgian forces out of the northern part of the Kodori Gorge, the only area of Abkhazia still under Georgian control.

Before invading western Georgia, Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn demanded Monday that Georgia disarm its police in Zugdidi, a town just outside Abkhazia. Still he insisted "We are not planning any offensive."

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said more than 2,000 people have been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of them Ossetians with Russian passports. The figures could not be independently confirmed, but refugees who fled Tskhinvali over the weekend said hundreds had been killed.

Many found shelter in the Russian province of North Ossetia.

"The Georgians burned all of our homes," said one elderly woman, as she sat on a bench under a tree with three other white-haired survivors. "The Georgians say it is their land. Where is our land, then?"

[Tiger Al 0]

Well, Georgia may be saying they don't understand, but they understand. If the shoe was on the other foot, they would not jump into the fray either. If Russia invaded England or Germany that would be another story.

Unfortunately for Georgia, a war-weary US population is not in any rush to start another long-term conflict because a little country is getting beat up by a former superpower.

I think the shoe was on the other foot when they sent troops to Iraq, wasn't it?

[arnaldoabru 11]

I don't know. After looking at this a little more, it seems Georgia may be in the wrong. Ossetia was an independent entity and Georgia wanted to bring it back in. Had Georgia left it a lone, this might not be happening. At least I think that is what is being reported. It's hard to get a good report on it.

READ THIS AND SEE

Ossetia was just an excuse for Putin to bring Georgia back into Moscow's fold; just like the Sudetenland was Hitler's excuse to go into Czechoslovakia. Putin should have waited a few months; then he could have had Obama over there to sign a 'Munich Agreement' and Obama could have made a grand return to the States holding up the agreement and saying "Peace for our time!"

'I've looked into his eyes and seen his soul"

Shrub

Even his own advisors tried to tell him, Putin was former KGB and a damn good spy

[autigeremt 6,970]

Just like McCain has said before......when he looks into Putins eyes, he see's K.G.B.

Russia is trying to revive it's old self. It would not surprise me to see the old hammer and sickle flying soon.

[TexasTiger 13,559]

So says a true hate-filled zealot.

Where's your proof ?

In a thread about the USSR and Georgia, you show your vitriol by ,once again, making taking a pointless jab at the President.

Thus, you earn your reputation.

You miss the point. I'm not surprised.

In regard to you, here's the proof:

http://www.aunation.net/forums/index.php?a...sult_type=posts

[CircleDrill 178]

I think the shoe was on the other foot when they sent troops to Iraq, wasn't it?

If you are suggesting that we should go to war with Russia because they sent troops to Iraq, I disagree.

If they had attacked Iraq, we sent troops to help them, and then Russia invaded us, I do not think they would be attacking Russian positions today. That's what "shoe on the other foot" meant.

We are sending humanitarian flights starting on Thursday of this week. If one of these flights is shot down, then there will be some escalation. Let's hope that is not the case, though.