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Russian-backed paramilitaries are “ethnically cleansing” villages on Georgian soil, refugees and officials told The Times yesterday. South Ossetian militiamen have torched houses, beaten elderly people and even murdered civilians in the lawless buffer zone set up by the Russian Army just north of Gori. The violence, close to the border with the breakaway republic recognised by Russia this week as independent, has prompted a new wave of refugees into Gori, 40 miles north of Tbilisi. People who had started to return to their villages in the area are now fleeing for a second time, joined by many elderly people who...

Both sides had an interest in escalating the conflict, say political analysts. Russia wanted to show that Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, was an irresponsible firebrand who could not be trusted with the responsibilities of Nato membership. Georgia, meanwhile, wanted to paint Russia as the imperial aggressor it has traditionally been in the Caucasus, which would have strengthened Tbilisi’s case for Nato membership. Each can be seen to have acted swiftly, with a great deal of preparation, later trying to make their behaviour appear spontaneous. Mr Saakashvili, despite repeated denials, clearly drew first. But Russia was not far behind, indicating that...

TSKHINVALI, Georgia (AP) — The interior minister of the separatist-held region of South Ossetia says his forces have shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane. Mikhail Mindzayev said the drone was shot down over South Ossetia on Thursday by local forces.

'Anybody who thinks that Moscow didn't plan this invasion, that we in Georgia caused it gratuitously, is severely mistaken," President Mikheil Saakashvili told me during a late night chat in Georgia's presidential palace this weekend. "Our decision to engage was made in the last second as the Russian tanks were rolling -- we had no choice," Mr. Saakashvili explained. "We took the initiative just to buy some time. We knew we were not going to win against the Russian army, but we had to do something to defend ourselves." I had just returned from Gori, which was still under the...

Moscow has issued an extraordinary warning to the West that military assistance to Georgia for use against South Ossetia or Abkhazia would be viewed as a "declaration of war" by Russia. The extreme rhetoric from the Kremlin's envoy to NATO came as President Dmitry Medvedev stressed he will make a military response to US missile defence installations in eastern Europe, sending new shudders across countries whose people were once blighted by the Iron Curtain. And Moscow also emphasised it was closely monitoring what it claims is a build-up of NATO firepower in the Black Sea. Enlarge Russian President Dmitry Medvedev...

The army is about to undergo its biggest organisational shake-up in 35 years as it prepares for a future in which there will be less emphasis on killing people. New Chief of Army, Lieutenant-General Ken Gillespie, has outlined a series of changes to higher command under the ''Adaptive Army'' initiative. He said the army had too many headquarters between units and high command. ''This slows down decision cycles, constricts the passage of information in an age of email and Blackberries, and the sharing of lessons learned,'' he said. General Gillespie said the past decade's high tempo of operations had shown...

Russian-backed paramilitaries are ethnically cleansing villages inside a buffer zone within Georgia, refugees from the area and officials in the nearby town of Gori told The Times today. The South Ossetian militiamen have torched houses, beaten elderly people and even murdered civilians in the lawless zone just north of Gori, set up by the Russian army, close to the border with the breakaway republic whose independence Russia recognised this week, locals said. The violence has triggered a new wave of refugees into Gori, 40 miles north of Tblisi. People who had started to return to their villages in the area...

Military help for Georgia is a 'declaration of war', says Moscow in extraordinary warning to the West Last updated at 16:47pm on 27.08.08 Moscow has issued an extraordinary warning to the West that military assistance to Georgia for use against South Ossetia or Abkhazia would be viewed as a "declaration of war" by Russia. The extreme rhetoric from the Kremlin's envoy to NATO came as President Dmitry Medvedev stressed he will make a military response to US missile defence installations in eastern Europe, sending new shudders across countries whose people were once blighted by the Iron Curtain. And Moscow also...

PARIS (AP) — French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Wednesday accused Russia of breaking international law by recognizing the independence of the Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Kouchner also warned in an interview with Europe 1 radio of signs of ethnic cleansing by Russian forces in South Ossetia. (snip) Asked about his own earlier comments warning of a risk of ethnic cleansing by Russian forces in the territories, Kouchner responded: "I hope that didn't happen overnight. But there has already been evidence that the armies are pushing away the Ossetians who favored Georgia, and in a certain way,...

Bubba dances with Obambi - scalp dance

http://noviny.narod.ru/A0002016.html Are these blown out tanks Russian or Georgian?

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2008 – President Bush condemned what he called Russia’s “irresponsible decision” today to recognize the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. “Russia's action only exacerbates tensions and complicates diplomatic negotiations,” Bush, in Crawford, Texas, said in a statement. The president’s response comes after a reported announcement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Moscow intends to formally recognize the two breakaway provinces in Georgia, where Russia continues to maintain troops in defiance of a cease-fire agreement and mounting international pressure to withdrawal. “We expect Russia to live up to its international commitments, reconsider this...

TBILISI, Georgia (AFP) - Cindy McCain, wife of US Republican presidential candidate John McCain, on Tuesday visited refugees in Georgia, insisting the timing of her trip had no link to the Democratic convention. Cindy McCain visited a school and former government building housing hundreds of Georgians forced to leave their homes for the relative safety of Tbilisi in the conflict with Russia. "Each time I see and talk with refugees it breaks my heart," McCain told reporters after visiting the two camps which are supported by the World Food Programme (WFP). "The only place these people want to be is...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2008 – Though “significant Russian movements” have taken place in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Russia still is not living up to the terms of the cease-fire agreement, a senior Defense Department official said here today. “There is still a sizeable Russian presence in Georgia. … They’ve established some self-declared security zones, observation posts and checkpoints and the like,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in a meeting with reporters. “All are a reflection that they are not living up to the agreement.” The mission of the U.S. military in the country now is to provide humanitarian...

Russia has recognized the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent, President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday. Here are the first reactions to Russia's decision. (UPDATED) ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE (OSCE)"The recognition of independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia violates fundamental OSCE principles."Russia should follow OSCE principles by respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. Russia should immediately withdraw all troops from Georgia and implement the ceasefire agreement… The international community could not accept unilaterally established buffer zones.”"Russia should follow OSCE principles by respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. Russia should immediately withdraw...

Just hours before Russia escalated the crisis by recognising the independence of two separatist Georgian provinces, Mr Saakashvili said Russian forces had advanced to the strategic Akhalgori heights 10 miles from Tbilisi. He warned that Georgia would respond with force if its capital was attacked and told the West to act more forcefully against Russian aggression. "They are trying to take the heights of Akhalgori," he told reporters at a briefing this morning. "This is the most worrying thing at the moment. They would be within 20km of Tbilisi. "We are in a very precarious situation." The president said that...

MOSABRUNI, Georgia, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Georgian police withdrew from the disputed village of Mosabruni on the border of South Ossetia after Russian forces moved into it, a Reuters reporter at the scene said on Tuesday. Police, which manned checkpoints in the village where government troops faced South Ossetian separatists in a tense stand-off for several days, left and moved deeper into Georgian territory after Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers rolled into Mosabruni.

Excerpt- KABUL, Afghanistan: President Hamid Karzai's government has demanded a review of the presence of U.S. and NATO troops in the country and their use of airstrikes in civilian areas, following allegations that many civilians died in raids and airstrikes by foreign forces in recent weeks. ~ snip ~

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday that an agreement had been reached in negotiations on a security pact with the United States to end any foreign military presence in Iraq by the end of 2011. "There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date which is the end of 2011 to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil," Maliki said in a speech to tribal leaders in the Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. "Yes, there is major progress on the issue of the negotiations on the security deal,"...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2008 – Russia continues to defy international calls for the country to pull its forces out of Georgia, and humanitarian operations continue, a Pentagon official said here today. Russian troops continue to occupy the breakaway region of South Ossetia, and Russian troops continue to maintain troops in Gori, a Georgian city that is the gateway to South Ossetia, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “It is fair to say they are still not living up to the terms of the cease-fire agreement,” Whitman said during a meeting with reporters. The terms of the cease-fire include monitoring by military...

Eastern Europe Can Defend Itself By MAX BOOT August 25, 2008; Page A13 Eastern Europeans are rightly alarmed about the brazenness and success of the Russian blitzkrieg into Georgia. For many living in Russia's shadow, this is reviving traumatic memories -- of 1968 for Czechs, 1956 for Hungarians, 1939 for Poles. It does not help that senior Russian generals are threatening to rain nuclear annihilation on Ukraine and Poland if they refuse to toe the Kremlin's line. Even those states which, unlike Georgia and Ukraine, are already in NATO can take scant comfort. As Poland's foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, says,...

Russia has information that Georgia is planning a military attack on Abkhazia to seize the capital Sukhumi, the Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, told a media briefing in Moscow on Monday. He said that the military potential of Georgia was being restored for a repeated act of aggression. “We have received serious intelligence information, and we shall discuss in detail the Georgian-Abkhazian direction on Tuesday,” he said. “The information is serious. If many media outlets still see Russia as the aggressor in the South Ossetian direction, the plan for seizing Sukhumi is so clear...

Insurgencies since World War II have worn down their enemies and then prevailed -- with one major exception: Malaya (communist insurgency 1948-1960) before it became Malaysia. Iraq, where the final results will not be known until after U.S. troops leave everything to Iraqi security forces, may become the second. In 1946 the French in Indochina were up against a communist insurgency in decolonization disguise -- and after eight years of guerrilla warfare were defeated at Dienbienphu in 1954, which clinched victory for North Vietnam's Marxist republic. Six months after Dienbienphu the French army faced a nationalist insurgency in Algeria, which...

TSKHINVALI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgian and South Ossetian forces were in a tense stand-off on Monday over control of a disputed village on the edge of the breakaway region, according to Georgian and separatist officials. Georgian and Russian troops fought a brief war in the region earlier this month and are now observing a fragile ceasefire. Georgian officials said the village of Mosabruni was not part of separatist-controlled territory and alleged the separatists were planning a provocation against Georgian special forces who had been deployed there. The separatist administration said the village was within South Ossetia and the Georgian forces...

WASHINGTON —  President Bush is dispatching Vice President Dick Cheney to Georgia, setting up a high-ranking diplomatic mission to an ally reeling from a short, intense war. The White House announced Monday that Cheney will head abroad on Sept. 2 for stops in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Italy. The vice president's office described Cheney's trip only in the broadest terms, saying Bush wants his No. 2 to consult with key partners on matters of mutual interest. The dominant attention will likely fall on Georgia, where conflict with Russia has reignited Cold War tensions. Cheney will hold talks in Georgia with President...

This is a post that I meant to do several weeks ago, when the Public Editor of the New York Times, Clark Hoyt, wrote a column titled "The Painful Images of War". The column addressed the issue of whether news outlets like the Times should publish pictures of dead or wounded American soldiers, even over the objections of the military and the soldiers' families. Hoyt quoted a Times photographer whose graphic images of a dead U.S. serviceman were controversial: "Looking at photographs of the gravely wounded or dead is a profoundly affecting and emotional experience,” she said. “However, I do...

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has dismissed former Vostok battalion leader Sulim Yamadayev, a powerful former Chechen rebel at odds with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, after he fought Georgian troops in South Ossetia, a source in the Chechen administration said Friday. Serdyukov signed an order discharging Yamadayev, who had a federal warrant out for his arrest on murder charges but, in murky circumstances, ended up fighting with Russian troops in their defeat of Georgian forces over control of Tskhinvali, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue with the media. The order...

German military attache found Russian response in Georgia 'appropriate' IANS Sunday 24th August, 2008 The German military attache in Moscow described the Russian military response in Georgia as 'appropriate' in an internal document, according to a report in the Sunday edition of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). 'The extent of the use of military force by the Russian side appears - seen from here and despite reports to the contrary from Georgia and the picture conveyed by the media - not inappropriately high,' Brigadier General Heinz G. Wagner wrote Aug 11. According to the report, the general said...

Georgia conflict: Russian troops accused of selling loot Russian soldiers have been accused of establishing a market in a rebel region of Georgia to sell clothes and electronic goods they looted during the invasion and occupation of the country's western regions. y Adrian Blomfield on the Inguri River bridge Last Updated: 9:36PM BST 24 Aug 2008 Georgian civilians leaving Gali, a predominantly Georgian town within the breakaway province of Abkhazia, spoke with wonder of a bazaar bristling with everything from US army boots to plasma televisions and even sophisticated radar equipment. The men peddling the goods were all Russian soldiers,...

The Russian troops who occupied Georgia's military base of Senaki have gone. But they didn't forget to leave a parting message to the United States graffitied on the wall. "Thank you Uncle Sam for the uniforms you presented to the Russian paratroopers!" The Georgian flag Saturday was flying from the mast of the base for the first time since Russian troops poured into Georgia after it launched a bid to regain control of the breakaway province of South Ossetia on August 8. But Georgian troops came back to their base opened just in 2006 in the west of the former...

The store of arms and shells, which the Russians took away from Georgian military bases, exploded in Tskhinvali this morning. As it was reported, over 200 shells exploded today. The Russian occupants were keeping the stolen armament on the territory of the Tskhinvali Auto Transport facilities. Russian NTV Channel reports one Russian soldier was injured as the result of the blast.

The blast deals a serious blow to Georgia’s efforts to recover from its ten-day war over South Ossetia in the face of the continuing Russian military presence.

TBILISI, Georgia - A train carrying oil products hit a land mine near Georgia's strategic central city of Gori on Sunday, causing at least two tanker cars to burst into flames, a government official said. A television report however said 10 tanker cars were on fire about 6 miles east of Gori. Television footage showed large clouds of black smoke billowing from the site. There were no immediate reports casualties, though a television report said two houses were damaged and windows were blown out. Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili blamed Russia for the blast.

A fuel train exploded today on Georgia’s main east-west rail line and police said it appeared to have hit a landmine. Officials said that the train was on the main track of the line linking eastern and western Georgia, a vital trade route for oil exports from Azerbaijan to European markets. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear but a Reuters correspondent saw huge plumes of black smoke pouring from the wreckage of the train in the village of Skra, 5 km (3 miles) west of Gori. Russian troops left Gori, a key town in the Russia-Georgia conflict...

Is the world drifting towards a new global war? From this week the dominant super-power, America, will for three months pass through the valley of the shadow of democracy, a presidential election. This is always a moment of self-absorption and paranoia. Barack Obama and John McCain will not act as statesmen but as politicians. They will grandstand and look over their shoulders. Their eye will stray from the ball. (snip) Any student of McCain or Obama, of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, or of the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, might conclude that these are not people likely...

Georgia did not believe Russia would respond to its offensive in South Ossetia and was completely unprepared for the counter-attack, the deputy defence minister has admitted. Batu Kutelia told the Financial Times that Georgia had made the decision to seize the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali despite the fact that its forces did not have enough anti-tank and air defences to protect themselves against the possibility of serious resistance. “Unfortunately, we attached a low priority to this,” he said, sitting at a desk with the flags of Georgia and Nato (to which Georgia does not belong) crossed behind him. “We...

GORI, Georgia (AP) — A top Russian general on Saturday said his country's forces will continue to patrol a main Georgian Black Sea port city even though it lies outside the 'security zones" where Russia claims it has the right to station soldiers on Georgian territory. The statement by deputy head of the general staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, reported by Russian news agencies, came a day after Russia said it had pulled back forces from Georgia in accordance with a cease-fire agreement that Russia interprets as allowing it a substantial military presence. On Saturday afternoon, several thousand protesters waving Georgian...

GORI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgian troops were back in control of the country's main East-West highway on Saturday after Russian forces pulled back, but Washington slammed the Kremlin for keeping a force in Georgia's heartland. Russia says it will permanently station what it calls peacekeeping troops deep inside Georgia -- a step it says is to prevent new bloodshed and which the United States has branded a violation of a ceasefire deal. A Reuters reporter on Saturday saw Russian soldiers manning a checkpoint in the village of Karaleti, six km (four miles) north of the Georgian town of Gori and...

ABC News' Teddy Davis, Arnab Datta, and Rigel Anderson Report: The GOP is planning to step up its attacks on Barack Obama's war funding record if the presumptive Democratic nominee taps Joe Biden to be his running mate. "Our argument will be that the Biden pick only underscores how inexperienced Barack Obama knows he is," a Republican official told ABC News, previewing the GOP's possible line of attack. "Obama's vote against funding our troops was an example of inexperience and poor judgment. The fact that his more experienced running mate made the right call highlights Obama's mistake." "Whereas to date...

Senator Joe Biden Admits That Iraq War Vote Was a MistakeSunday, November 27th, 2005 NBC News From 'Meet the Press' - November 27th, 2005 [...] MR. RUSSERT: And yet it's important that we put things in historical context. Senator Biden, you were on the show in August of 2002 talking about Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction. You concluded your statement by saying, "I think Saddam either has to be separated from his weapons or taken out of power." A month later you voted for a resolution authorizing just that. In hindsight, knowing everything you know now about...

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart … Alexandr Solzhenitsyn Western Europe can accept at least part of the blame for Vladimir Putin’s strategic ruthlessness. Nearly a year ago Western Europe dragged its feet in allowing Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, partly as a result of Putin applying oil-supply-related pressure to the Germans. No surprise there. Western Europe prefers incessant bureaucratic quibbling to action, or even real diplomacy, anymore. So Putin rightly figured that, having been denied current membership in NATO, Georgia’s chance of...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2008 – Although some movement of Russian troops in Georgia has occurred, it’s difficult to determine whether it’s an indication of withdrawal or just a repositioning of forces, a Defense Department official said today. “There have been some movements around [the town of] Gory, but it’s unclear whether that is the beginning of a significant withdrawal,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “The only movements we’ve seen are relatively minor.” The Defense Department remains steadfast in its support to Georgia as officials work to determine whether Russia is commencing with the drawdown terms it agreed to or is...

Since world war ii international relations specialists have debated two main traditions or schools of American foreign policy, realism and liberal internationalism. Realism identifies with Richard Nixon and looks to the balance of power to defend stability among ideologically diverse nations. Liberal internationalism identifies with Franklin Roosevelt and looks to international institutions to reduce the role of the balance of power and gradually spread democracy by talk and tolerance. Generally speaking, conservatives or Republicans were considered realists — Eisenhower and Ford — while liberals or Democrats were seen as liberal internationalists — Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter.This debate broke down with...

US demands Russia return seized Humvees WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has formally demanded the return of five US military vehicles seized by Russian forces in Georgia but Moscow has not indicated it will do so, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday. "The United States did demarche the government of Russia with respect to the handful of Humvees," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, referring to the military's all-purpose, four wheel vehicles. "That has not been resolved satisfactorily for us at this point," he said. Whitman said the Russians responded to the demarche, which is a formal diplomatic representation of a...

Assault rifles, rocket launchers, tanks, uniforms... All that stuff the Russians have taken from the Georgian soldiers during the conflict, that lasted several days. Now they're boasting, showing the results of their looting to the tourists. The Russian army have organised an exhibition in Sukhumi (Abkhazia), where they're showing what they've taken from the Georgians. The weapons - mainly from the USA, Germany and Israel - looks, like it's brand new, straight from the factory. Probably its Western origins was the reason, why the Russians wanted to show it - to prove, that the Georgians have been supported by other...

Russia said on Friday it had completed its pullout of troops from Georgia proper, but the White House swiftly rejected Moscow's claim that it was now in compliance with a French-brokered ceasefire. Russia said it had left peacekeepers manning checkpoints inside Georgia, stoking Western fears that Moscow aims to keep a stranglehold on the ex-Soviet republic's economy and to annex additional territory to breakaway South Ossetia by stealth. Earlier, Reuters reporters saw convoys of tanks and trucks heading northwards into rebel-held parts of Georgia. There was no sign of Russian forces moving on into Russia from South Ossetia, underlining Tbilisi's...

POTI, Georgia, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Russian troops on Friday were digging trenches at a checkpoint on the main road just outside the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, a Reuters photographer said. The Reuters photographer saw about 30 Russian troops and four armoured personnel carriers at the checkpoint on the road which leads to the town of Senaki. Soldiers were digging a trench with an excavator, the photographer said. Russia has promised to complete a partial pullback of troops from Georgia by the end of Friday but said an unspecified number of "peacekeeping forces" would stay inside the country,...

TBILISI (Thomson Financial) - Russian forces have begun withdrawing from the flashpoint Georgian city of Gori and have promised to leave there by 5:00 pm, (1300 GMT), a senior Georgian official told AFP Friday. "Russian General (Vyacheslav) Borisov told me that the Russians will leave Gori today by 5:00 pm and that by 8:00 pm they will be in Java (in South Ossetia)," Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia said by telephone from Gori. "I can confirm that the Russians have already abolished two checkpoints in Gori and that 13 Russian armoured vehicles have left the city," he said.

Defense Strategy – Counterinsurgency – Southern Afghanistan – August 2008Counterinsurgency – Count on it : Future Forces Require Agile, Manoeuvre Warfare against Non-State CombatantsEdited excerpts from the Defense Strategy paper by US Secretary Robert Gates [1] Introduction : The New Strategic Environment facing the US Department of DefenseOver the next twenty years, physical pressures such as population growth, rivalry over resources, a race for energy reserves, chaotic climate change, and continuing environmental degradation [ will likely ] combine with social, cultural, geo - political, and technological changes, to create a growing sense of uncertainty. It will be exacerbated by the...

So for Democrats, the war on terrorism is over. Not the terrorism part, mind you. Just the war part. In 2004, the party's platform used the phrase "war against terror" or its equivalent ("war against Al Qaeda"; "war against a global terrorist movement") 12 times--beginning on page one, paragraph three. Typical language: "As Democrats and Americans, we yield to no one in our commitment to do everything necessary to win the war on terror." Foreign policy, led by "Defeating Terrorism," dominated the document. The economy was relegated to a sheepish second place. Four years ago, the war against terrorism was...