Posted on 08/16/2008 8:36:34 AM PDT by Colorado Doug
The Russian invasion of Georgia was not a spontaneous response to what Moscow called “genocide” in South Ossetia but had been planned in detail since April,
(snip)
It is generally agreed that the spark for the war was the Nato summit in Bucharest in April at which Georgia was promised membership of the western alliance,
(snip)
By the start of August, Russian military engineers repaired the railway linking Russia to Abkhazia, allowing the sudden appearance of heavy military equipment that was later used to attack and loot the Georgian army base at Senaki,
(snip)
The Russian-backed separatists stepped up attacks on Georgian police and military, the Russian army began to bring in some heavy weapons to supplement their lightly armed troops who were there as international peacekeepers.
Russia’s Black Sea fleet, paratroopers and marines, were mobilised in the area for summer exercises titled “Kavkaz-2008”, concluded on Aug 2.
The incursion had to start by the end of August, as the troops could not be kept on full alert endlessly and the pass to South Ossetia would be snowed in by October, leaving only the Roki tunnel,
(snip)
In the end, the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, responded to a series of shooting incidents and roadside bombs with a full-scale assault to recapture the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.
(snip)
The Russian preparations did not pass unnoticed to the Georgians, but – to their increasing frustration – they found little interest abroad in their warnings of an impending Russian assault.
(snip)
The Russians were encouraged when one of their MiG-29 fighters shot down a unmanned Georgian spy plane on April 20, to only muted western reaction. The Russian air force denied shooting down the drone, even though live video showed it was clearly a MiG-29.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenational.ae ...
It really has been chilling, how many seeming Russophiles crawled out of the woodwork to (literally) parrot the Official Party Line.
The bottom line is: For more than a decade, Russia has purposefully destabilized a neighboring sovereign nation, and then using a pretext, with cold pre-meditation and planning, invaded that neighbor for purposes of territorial expansion.
As the saying goes: "I see what you did there."
And of course Kosovo’s declaration of independence on February 18th and our quick recognition of it before the Russians and Serbs could deal with it had absolutely nothing to do with Georgia. /s
I know that am willing to have my opinion on this swayed as additional info comes in, and this is some persuasive info.
“Where the hell was the CIA?”
There appears to have been some failure of intelligence/ analysis here.
>Anybody with a brain knew that the Russians were lying
>about the reasons for this brutal series of war crimes
>they’ve committed.
Agreed. The Russian force projection obviously required 3 to 4 months of preparation.
One of the most interesting aspects of those preparations is the ‘Putin Troll’ offensive. Most of the blogs I follow had Putin-Trolls simultaneously pumping the Putin disinformation immediately after the Russian tanks crossed the Georgian border. Heck, I’m sort of honored that Putin was so worried about my reaction that he personally sent a troll to confuse me.
“Unfortunately, many people on Freeper and in general...many of them die hard conservatives and anti communists have bought the initial Kremlin talking points.Just unbelievable.”
Some. Most of the Russophiles and Serbophiles I really don’t worry about. But there are a few FR’s that either have forgotten about the Soviet/Russian empire or are too young to remember and appreciatel the Cold War.
It amazes me too.
It looks like these Freeprs take the Russians at their word, rather than our democratic allies. And that is the pro america conservative view?
Good article.
Putin hardly needed Putin Trolls...ha. He had the whole western MSM AND the cable news! They all took the Kremlin talking points and just re-ran them.
bump for later read
“Soft power” is meaningless without overwhelming hard power and the iron will to use it.
While some operational field personnel of the CIA continue to perform heroically, the leadership and analytical capabilities of the CIA are irreparably broken. More importantly, at least 90 percent of the State Department is beyond useless and is actually a threat to the United States.
I used to sit in History classes, and I've toured Dachau and repeatedly asked myself how could the people of Germany and the rest of the world could have been so blind and stupid to the rise of Hitler and his obvious intentions.
And then I realize that I am watching history repeat itself.
The most fascinating part of all of this is that any rigorous analysis of risk, gain, and loss, in any historical crisis will cause you to realize that under reaction is far more dangerous than over reaction. Further, decisive, kinetic, action taken as early as possible to take tempo and opportunity away from your opponent is the most certain means to obtain your objective at the lowest possible cost.
The fact that Russian units in Georgia have not been smoking holes in the ground from almost a week now mean that our children and grandchildren will pay the debt for our lack of will and decisiveness compounded at usurious interest rates with their blood.
Not a smart move. Why not wait till the Russians had gone home from their War Games.
The Russian backed South Ossetians were shelling ethnic Georgian villages inside of South Ossetia. South Ossetia's 30,000 ethnic Georgians were in danger.
The goal was to bait the Georgians to defend the ethnic Georgians inside of South Ossetia by kiiling ethnic Georgians inside South Ossetia and eradicating their villages.
Would you have waited until all 30,00 ethnic Georgians inside of South Ossetia were killed?
Surely you must be joking, the Russians were not intending to leave ever, how completely naive a statement. As for bombing the tunnel, that was completely beyond the capabilities of the Georgian forces. This had NOTHING to do with Russian citizens, nothing to do with anything other than securing the two routes South which incidentally lead to the European energy supply and distribution center. Vlad has them now and will not give them up without being forced to. He is also not through, this has only just begun. Look for trouble West of there in the very near future.
I’m wondering if anyone has kept a list of the Russian sympathizers, we need to keep tabs on them.
“The most fascinating part of all of this is that any rigorous analysis of risk, gain, and loss, in any historical crisis will cause you to realize that under reaction is far more dangerous than over reaction. Further, decisive, kinetic, action taken as early as possible to take tempo and opportunity away from your opponent is the most certain means to obtain your objective at the lowest possible cost.”
In other words...
“If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival.
There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory,
because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
Winston Churchill
“The CIA had the data, had the intelligence, but REFUSED to connect the dots because the oh so obvious results clashed with their (and their masters at the State Department) cherished worldview and their fanatical belief in the magical properties of “soft power.””
Nailed.
I have a partial list of 6-7 of the most obviously virulent. Not those with differing opinion but those who totally sided with Russia over America.
Please define a Russian sympathizer so that we can keep our eyes open.
Kosovo is sure being used as a distracting excuse for Russian bullying and misbehavior. Every Russian apologist seems intent on bringing it up.
Langley, Virginia, last time I checked. I don’t recall hearing that they had moved.
Next question ??
OR, are you asking, what was the CIA’s Analysis ??
bump
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