Posted on 08/23/2008 8:44:45 AM PDT by BGHater
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 did not prepare for this kind of eventuality.”
The Georgian military felt there was only a low probability of a massive Russian counter-attack, despite the bloody way in which Russia destroyed Chechnya, on the other side of the Caucasus mountains, in two wars during the 1990s and the fact that separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia had Russian backing.
Georgian forces were unprepared when the Russian counter-strike came, Mr Kutelia said. “I didn’t think it likely that a member of the UN Security Council and the OSCE would react like this,” Mr Kutelia said.
His amazement that Russia would use force against a smaller neighbour was echoed by David Darchiashvili, head of the parliamentary European integration committee. “No one expected Russia would mobilise and invade,” he said
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Sorry, just... LOL.
Never AssUMe anything.
These folks seem as dumb as an empty vodka bottle. Too bad people had to die because of it.
Not really so dumb. They sucked us into a new Sarajevo waiting to happen.
According to all the computer-chair warriors here at FR, it was the evil Russians who started the war.
How can we provoke the commies into a war with us with idiots like this spouting off with the truth?
So how smart are we for being sucked in?
The Russians goaded Georgia into attacking. Their ‘peacekeepers’ in South Ossetia were anything but. How would you react if the Mexican Army aided and abetted attacks by separatists in Texas?
Not smart at all. We should have cut the Russians into that pipeline years ago and expanding Nato into the former Warsaw pact countries was a bone-headed move.
The Georgian deputy defense minister DIDN'T say that Georgia started the war.
Read much?
Yea, and I comprehend the meaning of "its (georgia's) offensive" too.
Better analogy:
Mexican separatists in Coahuila along the Texas border are being issued US passports.
Mexico, with military equipment provided by Iran and Russia, starts shelling the separatists inside the Coahuila border.
US Army rolls from Ft Hood into Mexico to push the Mexican Army back out of shelling range, destroys the Russian equipment, and rolls far enough into Mexico to force retreat into Mexico City.
Kinda sounds like what’s actually happened before, except that it was a naval landing at Veracruz.
The Russians can be evil without having 'started' this particular incident. The two are not mutually exclusive. Besides, 'who started it' is a children's game; in the reality of geopolitics you can trace these things back forever and get nowhere (see also: Israelis/Arabs). Russia had troops in these regions, weaponry and tanks and invasion plans at the ready, but the Georgians 'started it'. Ok.
Who 'started it' is less important than what the respective sides are actually doing and what ends they seek. What ends does Russia seek here, by your estimation?
I find it absurd that posters think Georgia should have just ignored separatist attacks. Russia was working to provoke Georgia into attacking.
Which is no different than how I and others interpret Russian motives here.
Since it's South Ossetia in question, how about we ask the South Ossetians if the Russians were protecting their peace?
How would you react if the Mexican Army aided and abetted attacks by separatists in Texas?
As long as they were aiding Confederate seperatists, it wouldn't bother me.
FreeReign: The Georgian deputy defense minister DIDN'T say that Georgia started the war. Read much?
The Georgian defense minister didn't say that. That was the stupid writer of this report who said that.
As I said, The Georgian deputy defense minister DIDN'T say that Georgia started the war. Read much?
South Ossetia is not and has never been a recognized country. This is still a diplomatically-recognized part of Georgia we are talking about.
So let's imagine that the Mexican Army sent 'peacekeepers' into Southern California. Would you ask the 'Southern Californians' whether they approved of this, or would you ask the Americans?
As long as they were aiding Confederate seperatists, it wouldn't bother me.
Which part of that would require or entail giving them U.S. passports and stationing U.S. soldiers there?
South Ossetia is only slightly less wary Russian intentions than they are of Georgia trying to reclaim the sessionists. And Russian 'peacekeepers' were allowing South Ossetian thugs to attack Georgians outside of South Ossetia.
As long as they were aiding Confederate seperatists, it wouldn't bother me.
Posting guidelines prohibit me from saying what I think of you after that comment.
30% of South Ossetia is ethnic Georgians. So why don't we start by asking them if the Russians were protecting their peace.
Oh wait we can't. Ethnic Georgians have been ethnically cleansed from their villages in South Ossetia.
In an AP Interview with, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity spoke of the ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia. He said, "There is nothing left anymore".
I think the answer to your question is very simple... the Russians have had enough of US/NATO encroachment into their neighborhood. Additionally, I think that the Russians have a legitimate concern that this encroachment poses a direct military threat to their nation.
For the same reason that I would oppose a hostile military power putting forces on the mexican or Canadian borders, I agree and support the Russian efforts, up to and including military response, to keep both the Russian border and the "near abroad" free of foreign military forces.
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