I've been watching the situation in Georgia with concern. Even though I'm not old enough to remember the "bad ol' days" of the Soviet Empire, the fall of the Empire in 1989 somehow had a profound and memorable impact on me.
Now, under Putin (as if he really stepped down) and the former KGB, Russia is stretching its muscles once again.
Some people have said that Georgia provoked Russia but that is NOT the case. Georgian troops entered THEIR OWN territory (yes, it is still Georgian territory even while it is disputed by the Southern Ossetians) after being fired upon the day before by Russian sympathizers (militia) in South Ossetia.
Georgia didn't start it on August 7, nor on any other date. The South Ossetian militia started it on August 6 when its fighters fired on Georgian peacekeepers and Georgian villages with weapons banned by the agreement hammered out between the two sides in 1994. At the same time, the Russian military sent its invasion force bearing down on Georgia from the north side of the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian side of the border through the Roki tunnel and into Georgia. This happened before Saakashvili sent additional troops to South Ossetia and allegedly started the war.I am 25% Ukrainian by birth and would love to know more about that side of my genealogy. The Ukraine is watching the Russian conflict with fear and trepidation.
“On the evening of the 7th, the Ossetians launch an all-out barrage focused on Georgian villages, not on Georgian positions. Remember, these Georgian villages inside South Ossetia – the Georgians have mostly evacuated those villages, and three of them are completely pulverized. That evening, the 7th, the president gets information that a large Russian column is on the move. Later that evening, somebody sees those vehicles emerging from the Roki tunnel [into Georgia from Russia]. Then a little bit later, somebody else sees them. That's three confirmations. It was time to act.
“What they had in the area was peacekeeping stuff, not stuff for fighting a war. They had to stop that column, and they had to stop it for two reasons. It's a pretty steep valley. If they could stop the Russians there, they would be stuck in the tunnel and they couldn't send the rest of their army through. So they did two things. The first thing they did, and it happened at roughly the same time, they tried to get through [South Ossetian capital] Tskhinvali, and that's when everybody says Saakashvili started the war. It wasn't about taking Ossetia back, it was about fighting their way through that town to get onto that road to slow the Russian advance. The second thing they did, they dropped a team of paratroopers to destroy a bridge. They got wiped out, but first they managed to destroy the bridge and about 15 Russian vehicles.
The peacekeepers had a military objective, and the first rule of warfare when you're talking to the media is not to reveal to your enemy what you're going to do. So they weren't going to blather into a microphone and say well, actually, I'm trying to go through Tskhinvali in order to stop the Russians. So what did he say instead? I'm here to restore constitutional order in South Ossetia. And that's it. With that, Georgia lost the propaganda war and the world believes Saakashvili started it. And the rest of the story...you know.”
Let us not forget the cruelty and brutality of Soviet inspired actions...
Many Western camera crews were robbed at gunpoint ten meters from Russian tanks while Russian commanders just stood there smoking their cigarettes while the irregulars...that happened to a Turkish TV crew. They're lucky to still be alive. Some of the Georgians were picked up by the irregulars. If they happened to be female, they got raped. If they happened to be male, they got shot immediately, sometimes tortured. Injured people we have in hospitals who managed to get out have had arms chopped off, eyes gouged out, and their tongues ripped out.
Michael Totten deserves our support and that includes monetary donations. He does not work for any mainstream news outlet. He works for himself and his readers and is solely supported by reader donations. He does AMAZING work.
2 comments:
Gerogia started it by killing ethnic russians
I dont care if it was in Stalins old bed.
Did ya read the article Nick? The whole point is that the Ossetian militia was firing on GEORGIAN peace keepers. Who were NOT killing ethnic Russians.
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