Breaking Fox news banner only - Georgian official reports shootdown of two Russian aircraft

Fox news ^ | 8/8/08 | na

[McGruff]

The crisis, the first to confront Russian President Dmitry Medvedev since he took office in May, has flared in a region emerging as a key energy transit route, and where Russia and the West are vying for influence.

Medvedev vowed to defend Russian “compatriots” in South Ossetia, where most people have been given Russian passports.

The majority of the roughly 70,000 people living in South Ossetia are ethnically distinct from Georgians. They say they were forcibly absorbed into Georgia under Soviet rule and now want to exercise their right to self-determination.

Like you say I'm sure Russia will grant them autonomy.

[Mac94]

From my understanding of news reports ... and I’m learning today ... S. Ossetia already had autonomy. They won in back in 1992 during a war with Georgia and they have been that way since .. until now. Sounds kind of like the Kosovo situation or the Kurdish region of Iraq in the 1990’s. While still technically part of the country in question ... the region was/is autonomous from the rest of the country. Russia had troops / “peacekeepers” in S. Ossetia as part of an agreement with the Georgia government.

[Mac94]

more stuff from another site ... unconfirmed:

“Saakashvile said that Georgia is controll of all the Ossetia exept Dhaza region. He said that today around 30 Georgian soldiers were killed in the fighting.”

[McGruff]

An interesting article.

The war that Russia wants

Moscow's blatant aggression in South Ossetia, aimed at locking Georgia out of Nato, should be resisted by the EU and US

[patton]

30 my tail.

[Mac94]

you’re right, very interesting article.

[PeterPrinciple]

So far, the West’s reaction has been inadequate. Rather than standing up for their own principles, western leaders think they can improve Russia’s behaviour by appeasement, fearful of threatening relations with an undeniably powerful Russia. But by doing so, western leaders have unwittingly encouraged the most irresponsible elements in Moscow, whetting the hardliners’ imperial appetites by not attaching any costs to their excesses. That in turn inexorably leads to a worsening of Russia’s relations with the West.

---

I think we have been here before............

[patton]

[Plato told]
—e.e. Cummings

plato told

him:he couldn’t
believe it(jesus

told him;he
wouldn’t believe
it)lao

tsze
certainly told
him,and general
(yes

mam)
sherman;
and even
(believe it
or

not)you
told him:i told
him;we told him
(he didn’t believe it,no

sir)it took
a nipponized bit of
the old sixth

avenue
el;in the top of his head:to tell

him
1944

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks.!

[smedley64]

Mark for later reading.

[Mr. Silverback]

But the situation in Georgia is different.

That's the whole point, isn't it?

And again, I see people acting as if we just flew some fighters over two innocent groups and decided to bomb the Christian side. I don't think we should have gotten involved at all, but when a country goes out of its way to commit genocide, I could really care less what "stirred them up."

[livius]

I think Serb “genocide” is a dubious claim and it just happened that “genocide” was a fashionable accusation at the time. But if you’re getting into comparative atrocities, the Muslims certain held up their side well enough, as a little unbiased research will easily reveal. Clinton picked the Serbs because they were an easy target and he thought it made him look macho, at virtually no risk to the US and at the expense of what he considered a reasonable cost in millions of dollars. There really wasn’t any reason for us to be there, and we weren’t rescuing anybody. All we did was turn the land over to Muslims who are now busy every day attempting to expand their territories and drive out any non-Muslims left in the place.

Bush has been pretty good about avoiding “humanitarian” wars, particularly since their causes are always a bit obscure, and I don’t think we’ll get involved in the current situation in Georgia unless other big or reasonably significant countries (Turkey, for example) get involved and it threatens to spread.

[Mac94]

CNN: U.S. is reviewing plans to evacuate the 2,000 Americans that are currently in Georgia

[Mr. Silverback]

I think Serb “genocide” is a dubious claim

Talked to anyone who served a tour in the area after the war?

[Mac94]

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL815674920080808

“TBILISI (Reuters) - Russian bombing killed about 30 Georgians but Georgia’s forces now control the rebel South Ossetian capital and the surrounding area, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in a live television address on Friday.

“Unfortunately as a result of the bombardment about 30 people, mainly military men, are dead,” Saakashvili said in the five minute statement.

“Tskhinvali and the heights around Tskhinvali and the majority of the villages in South Ossetia are under the control of Georgian forces,” he said.

(Reporting by Margartia Antidze and James Kilner)”

[Mac94]

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL768040420080808

“MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian peacekeepers are waging a “fierce” battle with Georgian forces in South Ossetia and have suffered 12 dead and 150 wounded, the peacekeeping forces were quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.”

[Heatseeker]

CNN: U.S. is reviewing plans to evacuate the 2,000 Americans that are currently in Georgia

I sure hope this isn't implying what it seems to, i.e. we are deserting an ally and writing off the whole country.

[Mac94]

http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=86442

“Russian aircraft bombing Tbilisi took off from Armenia”

Interesting, if true ... why not bring Armenia and Azerbaijan in on all of this, too.

[JDoutrider]

Indexing

[Mac94]

From another site:

“The German TV just showed footage of a downed Su-25, it lost altitude and got very low between some trees- then a huge explosion appeared.
It was claimed that it was a Russian Su-25 but its signs and markings weren’t visible on the footage.”