Posted on 09/15/2008 8:52:01 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Georgia has released intercepted telephone calls purporting to show that part of a Russian armored regiment crossed into the separatist enclave of South Ossetia nearly a full day before Georgia’s attack on the capital, Tskhinvali, late on Aug. 7. ...
The back and forth over who started the war is already an issue in the American presidential race, with Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican vice presidential candidate, contending that Russia’s incursion into Georgia was “unprovoked,” while others argue that Georgia’s shelling of Tskhinvali was provocation. Georgia claims that its main evidence — two of several calls secretly recorded by its intelligence service on Aug. 7 and 8 — shows that Russian tanks and fighting vehicles were already passing through the Roki Tunnel linking Russia to South Ossetia before dawn on Aug. 7. ...
Russia has not disputed the veracity of the phone calls, which were apparently made by Ossetian border guards on a private Georgian cellphone network. “Listen, has the armor arrived or what?” a supervisor at the South Ossetian border guard headquarters asked a guard at the tunnel with the surname Gassiev, according to a call that Georgia and the cellphone provider said was intercepted at 3:52 a.m. on Aug. 7.
“The armor and people,” the guard replied. Asked if they had gone through, he said, “Yes, 20 minutes ago; when I called you, they had already arrived.” ...
Georgia’s claims about Russian movements appear to be at least partly supported by other information that emerged recently. Western intelligence determined independently that two battalions of the 135th Regiment moved through the tunnel to South Ossetia either on the night of Aug. 7 or the early morning of Aug. 8, according to a senior American official.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You cannot “provoke” an invasion by firing artillery at YOUR OWN country. Other nations do not have a right to invade you because of military actions within your own borders.
Ping
Hey ..that’s not fair! You are using logic and common sense. ha.
I did a double take and saw it really was the times.
Thanks for this info which I can show to my liberal friend who said it was Georgia’s own fault.
Yes that person gets their news from NPR, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC.
Enough said.
But I could not stand hearing this person’s support for Putin’s Russian attacks on Georgia. SUPPORT!
More support for Russia’s actions than this person has ever given the US for our actions in Iraq!
here’s a bold move from the german foreign minister, frank-walter steinmeier, as reported in the current “economist”, p. 61:
mr steinmeier is leading an inquiry into the causes of the recent georgian war. he believes that russia is being held “unreasonably” responsible.
thanks, bfl
Not usually, though in the case of Darfur, I would suggest a different standard: Invasion to halt genocide is a right of the strong on behalf of the weak.
mark for later
You might want to print this out for your friend:
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/08/the-truth-about-1.php
What should/would we do?
That isn’t much of a surprise given the size of the force that was already moving during the Georgian “provocation.” You don’t start armored divisions on a dime and you don’t just point them in a direction. Anyone who believes the Russian version of this one has probably already bought the Brooklyn bridge from someone.
Most certainly, yes.
The advisability of doing that in the face of the Russian presence may be questioned, but not their right to do the same in their won country, within their own borders that the Russians themselves had internationally recognized to that point.
The only real "provocation" was on the part of the Russians and their South Ossetian proxies, and everyone knows it. The rest is just political posturing and smoke and mirrors to justify or obscure the actions and stances that the true agressors took, and have taken sicne that time.
The Democrats aren’t going to like this. They’ve firmly aligned with mob boss Putin.
Sadly the same is true for the anti-war right. Instead of saying “this is none of our business” most took Moscow’s side. WE even had Pat Buchanan getting his 30 pieces of silver to denounce the US and Georgia before Russian Television.
Good article thanks.
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