Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/08/20080809-2.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 9, 2008
President Bush Concerned by Escalation of Violence in Georgia
Westin Beijing Chaoyang
Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Video (Windows)
Presidential Remarks
Audio
Photos
7:20 P.M. (Local)
THE PRESIDENT: I’m deeply concerned about the situation in Georgia. The United States takes this matter very seriously.
The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis. The violence is endangering regional peace. Civilian lives have been lost, and others are endangered.
This situation can be resolved peacefully. We’ve been in contact with leaders in both Georgia and Russia at all levels of government. Georgia is a sovereign nation and its territorial integrity must be respected. We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops. We call for an end to the Russian bombings, and a return by the parties to the status quo of August the 6th.
The United States is working with our European partners to launch international mediation, and with the parties to restart their dialogue. Russia needs to support these efforts so that peace can be restored as quickly as possible.
Laura and I were also saddened by the attack on an American family and their Chinese tour guide today in Beijing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. And the United States government has offered to provide any assistance the family needs.
Thank you very much.
END 7:22 P.M. (Local)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2059064/posts?page=5#5
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Thanks to Ernest at the Beach for pointing to this thread.
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2059064/posts
Spy Case Casts Light on Hezbollah Recruitment in Germany
Spiegel ^ | 08/07/2008 | Ulrike Putz in Beirut
Posted on August 9, 2008 8:30:07 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A young Israeli man who studied in Germany has been arrested on espionage charges in Israel. Khaled K., of Palestinian descent, allegedly spied for the Hezbollah Shiite militia. His case is expected to highlight Hezbollah recruiting activities in Germany.
When Khaled K. stepped off the plane from Germany to start his summer vacation, it wasn’t his family that awaited him at the gate. Instead Shin Bet agents and police greeted the 29-year-old Israeli man of Palestinian descent when he arrived on July 16 at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. He was arrested and disappeared into custody for two weeks until Israeli officials filed charges against him on Wednesday and lifted a gag order on coverage of his arrest.
AFP
Hezbollah might be more active in Germany than officials thought.
The charges filed by state prosecutors are serious. They allege the man, who comes from the Israeli-Arab town of Kalanswa, sought contact with an agent with connections to Hezbollah in an effort to pass on information.
The indictment alleges he also supplied names of potential recruits to the Shiite militia and that he had expressed his preparedness to take a job at the Rambam Hospital in the Israeli city of Haifa after completing his studies in Germany, where he is enrolled as a student at the University of Göttingen near Hanover. Israeli soldiers in the 2006 war against Hezbollah are still being treated at the Rambam Hospital, and K. was apparently supposed to sound them out in order to obtain information that could be useful to Hezbollah.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
ADDING TO post no. 280:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5253.htm
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http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_georgia.html
Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520
This information is current as of today, Sat Aug 09 2008 16:04:28 GMT-0700 (PDT).
GEORGIA
August 9, 2008
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/08/20080809-2.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 9, 2008
“President Bush Concerned by Escalation of Violence in Georgia”
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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50737
“Pentagon, U.S. State Department Monitoring Georgian Situation”
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2008
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50751
Bush Calls for End of Hostilities in South Ossetia Conflict
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2008 – President Bush today called for an end to hostilities in South Ossetia that’s pitting Georgian forces against Russian troops and regional separatists.
In Beijing to view the start of the Summer Olympic Games hosted by China, Bush said the conflict in South Ossetia, a part of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, threatens peace across the region.
“We have urged an immediate halt to the violence,” Bush told reporters in Beijing. He also called for an end to Russian air strikes that reportedly have bombed targets in South Ossetia and Georgia.
Bush reportedly has discussed events in South Ossetia with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who was also in Beijing.
Georgia declared its independence from the then-Soviet Union in 1991. However, many South Ossetia residents continued to profess Russian allegiance.
Yesterday, Russian tanks and troops crossed the border into South Ossetia. Fighting escalated in and around Tskhinvali, South Ossetia’s capital city and reportedly has reached into parts of Georgia.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters yesterday the Pentagon was closely monitoring the situation in South Ossetia. Whitman said about 130 U.S. military and civilian personnel were located near the Georgian capital of Tbilisi helping to train Georgian troops for an upcoming deployment to Iraq. All of the Americans have been accounted for, and none had been injured, he said.
The U.S. State Department is the lead U.S. agency regarding the situation in South Ossetia, Whitman said yesterday.
“The United States calls for an immediate ceasefire to the armed conflict in Georgia’s region of South Ossetia,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement released yesterday. “We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia’s territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil.”
Rice said she and other senior U.S. officials “have spoken with the parties and continue to work with them to seek an end to hostilities.” The United States, she continued, is working with its European partners to launch international mediation to end the conflict.
“We urgently seek Russia’s support of these efforts,” Rice said in her statement.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department reportedly has dispatched a senior envoy, deputy assistant secretary of state Matthew Bryza, to the region to try to arrange a peace agreement.
Senior UN and NATO leaders have also called to end the fighting in South Ossetia and urged that a peaceful settlement be found.