[GWConservative]

Ok, this is Russian PR and an interview with a former Georgian official regarding their civil war last year which apparently was launched as the Olympics were starting up in Beijing. Russia entered Ossetia and Georgia a day or so later or so they say.

[cranked]

Your right, Russian PR bluster.

Furthermore, the EU Report is about as valid as the UN’s Goldstone Report. =.=

[marron]

They’re right. Georgia started the war when they returned fire.

[americanophile]

Yes, and David started the war with Goliath too...

[Bogey78O]

Russia’s in full court pres with this because all their other claims have been found to be less than accurate. Essentially it’s a technical foul. Georgia took the first shot but Russia set it up to be an inevitability by stoking separatism and refusing to pull their peacekeepers.

[ETL]

From SkyNews, August 10, 2008

"The crisis was sparked earlier this week when Georgia sent troops into the breakaway province of South Ossetia to quell a Russian-backed separatist uprising."
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Russia-On-Verge-Of-All-Out-War-As-Troops-Clash-In-Georgias-South-Ossetia/Article/200808215074261?lpos=World%2BNews_4&lid=ARTICLE_15074261_Russia%2BOn%2BVerge%2BOf%2BAll-Out%2BWar%2BAs%2BTroops%2BClash%2BIn%2BGeo
____________________________________________________________

From the New York Times, September 15, 2008
Georgia Offers Fresh Evidence on War’s Start

Russia has not disputed the veracity of the phone calls, which were apparently made by Ossetian border guards on a private Georgian cellphone network. “Listen, has the armor arrived or what?” a supervisor at the South Ossetian border guard headquarters asked a guard at the tunnel with the surname Gassiev, according to a call that Georgia and the cellphone provider said was intercepted at 3:52 a.m. on Aug. 7.

“The armor and people,” the guard replied. Asked if they had gone through, he said, “Yes, 20 minutes ago; when I called you, they had already arrived.”

Shota Utiashvili, the director of the intelligence analysis team at Georgia’s Interior Ministry, said the calls pointed to a Russian incursion. “This whole conflict has been overshadowed by the debate over who started this war,” he said. “These intercepted recordings show that Russia moved first and that we were defending ourselves.”

The recordings, however, do not explicitly describe the quantity of armor or indicate that Russian forces were engaged in fighting at that time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/world/europe/16georgia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Nikas777]

Georgian claims of intercepting Russian movements was proven false. Georgian claims they invaded to stem a Russian invasion have been proven false. Saakashivili invaded because he thought the Russians would not react because just a few months before Georgia attacked and took back - without blood shed - two small separatist regions and Russia did nothing then either so Saakashivili thought he could move in and dislodge the separatists there during the Olympics. The problem/miscalculation he had was that Russia did not care about those other regions that Georgia took back.

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-42816620091001

Georgia started war with Russia - EU-backed report

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An independent report blamed Georgia on Wednesday for starting last year's five-day war with Russia, but said Moscow's military response went beyond reasonable limits and violated international law.

[Clemenza]

Ah, I long to see the day where Russophiles are treated like pedophiles on this site...