Posted on 08/21/2008 6:24:36 AM PDT by jhpigott
By AP/BELA SZANDELZSKY (POTI, Georgia) —Russian forces blocked the only land entrance to Georgia's main port city on Thursday, a day before Russia promised to complete a troop pullout from its ex-Soviet neighbor. Armored personnel carriers and troop trucks blocked the bridge to the Black Sea port city of Poti, and Russian forces excavated trenches and set up mortars facing the city. Another group of APCs and trucks were positioned in a nearby wooded area. Although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has promised that his forces would pull back by Friday, Russian troops appear to be digging in, raising concern about whether Moscow is aiming for a lengthy occupation of its small, pro-Western neighbor. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told The Associated Press that Russia was thinning out its presence in some occupied towns but was seizing other strategic spots.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
if anyone has any doubt about evil in the world,
then here it is.
putin is evil.
You just know the Russians can’t bring themselves to withdraw while there are still civilians left alive in the city.
Apparently Putin is the Mini-me.
http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2008/08/20/russia-and-georgia-the-real-story/
Blocking the port while three U.S. relief ships are on the way isn’t smart.
I noticed a copy of things about the Russian military. Drunk troops and an apparent inability of their pilots to hit a non-moving, non-firing oil pipeline, as well as missing military Georgian military targets and hitting civilian targets instead.
Russian has nuclear weapons, it has a large military establishment and brave soldiers. But I doubt if they are the equals of American troops man for man in a combat situation as they appear to be less well disciplined and less technically capable.
If they try to block American relief efforts, we may find out - and I doubt if our pilots will miss their targets.
Apparently Putin is the Mini-me.
http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2008/08/20/russia-and-georgia-the-real-story/
Blocking the port while three U.S. relief ships are on the way isn’t smart.
I noticed a couple of things about the Russian military. Drunk troops and an apparent inability of their pilots to hit a non-moving, non-firing oil pipeline, as well as missing Georgian military targets and hitting civilian targets instead.
Russia has nuclear weapons, it has a large military establishment and brave soldiers. But I doubt if they are the equals of American troops, man for man, in a combat situation,as they appear to be less well disciplined and less technically capable.
If they try to block American relief efforts, we may find out - and I doubt if our pilots will miss their targets.
[GRAMMATIC ERRORS CORRECTED -SORRY]
This is not about that. Putin is trying to bait the Georgians into breaking the cease-fire.
If the Georgians can hold their cool, then Russia will have to leave with tail tucked.
thanks for the dick link.
i agree with this part:
>>>The corporatist leadership of Russia, entirely dependent on oil and gas revenues for its economic viability, has an essential stake in promoting global instability.<<<
but the igor sechin intrigue i can’t evaluate; i do not have have good information about the goings-on in russia.
i tend to simple explanations. complex conspiracies usually are smoke screens for someone.
lol!
“i tend to simple explanations. complex conspiracies usually are smoke screens for someone.”
Nothing simple about the Kremlin. Byzantine is an appropriate description and ironic as Moscow considers itself the Third Rome (like the Third Reich?).
“If the Georgians can hold their cool, then Russia will have to leave with tail tucked.”
Let’s hope so then. But if they can’t - you can’t really fault them considering the circumstances and what these thugs and criminals did to them.
I hope after the Russians leave, we bring Georgia into the NATO umbrella and move quickly to do the same with Ukraine.
Ukraine first. Size does matter. Then Georgia.
True.
Size and strategic significance. Without bases of support in Ukraine, handling problems in Georgia could be more difficult although the Turks would probably cooperate - they hate the Russians.
yeah, you’re probably right.
what was that famous quip by winston churchill?
an enigma wrapped inside...
Neither of those two things were 'misses'.
L
But he Russians thought Georgia was more important then Ukraine.
According to an expert in the AEI briefing, it took the Russians 3 to 4 bombing runs to finally take out the main communication tower for Tbilisi airport.
I recall the quote but only about as much as you posted!!
Maybe - maybe not. We may never know for sure. But then that’s Russia.
Yes, because for an aggressor, size matters in reverse order than for us.
Russia started small. Try to take too big of a prey and you might wind up with the prey owning you, instead of the other way around.
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