Posted on 08/09/2008 1:30:46 AM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
GORI, Georgia, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Russia said it had driven Georgian forces from the capital of South Ossetia on Saturday as part of an operation to force Georgia to accept peace in its breakaway region."Tactical groups have fully liberated Tskhinvali from the Georgian military and have started pushing Georgian units beyond the zone of peacekeepers responsibility," Tass quoted Ground Forces commander Vladimir Boldyrev as saying.
~ snip ~
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
Exactly, and as I understand it Russian citizenship was granted after Georgia's independence. For this reason.
South Ossetia is NOT part of Georgia-—Georgia think it is because their own boy Stalin said so in the 1930s.
And this is crucial to understand the south ossetians themselves want nothing to do with Georgia
from wiki-—
According to the Tskhinvali election authorities, the referendum turned out a majority for independence from Georgia where 99% of South Ossetian voters supported independence and the turnout for the vote was 95%[8] and the referendum was monitored by a team of 34 international observers from Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden and other countries at 78 polling stations[9].
Why? Because they want to take all of Georgia and make it part of Russia.
Why should we care? There is a gas pipeline in Georgia that is the only gas pipeline feeding Europe that does not go through Russia.
By the way, just because they conduct a poll does not give Russia the right to invade another country. That isn't how you establish and maintain international borders.
“they have done nothing but hinder our efforts”
this is delusional?
Russia has been fighting jihad for hundreds of years before there was ever a US. Most recently Chechnya.
From a joint meeting:
Q Mr. Bush, the G-8 was supposed to carry out the six points having to do with terrorism. What is the relationship of the United States and Russia vis-a-vis this battle against terrorism, jointly? I only ask the Russian translation when you’re speaking. Thank you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: It sounds like you speak better English than some of us. (Laughter.)
Q Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Fournier included. (Laughter.)
First of all, President Putin has been a stalwart in the fight against terror. He understands the threat of terror, because he has lived through terror. He’s seen terror firsthand and he knows the threat of terrorism. One of the first — go ahead, do you want to translate?
He understands what I understand, that there won’t be peace if terrorists are allowed to kill and take innocent life. And, therefore, I view President Putin as an ally, strong ally in the war against terror. And his actions are more than — speak louder than his words. He has been a man of action when it comes to fighting terror, and I appreciate that very much.
Thank you all. We’ve got to have our bilateral. Thank you.
Q (Asked in Russian, not translated.)
PRESIDENT PUTIN: What I would like to say that the military of our nations and special services of our countries are built up in a way so that they carry this global nature. And, unfortunately, terrorism is of a global nature, as well, today. And, therefore, we have repeatedly mentioned that joint efforts are essential if you want to be a success in this fight.
Therefore, we welcome the firm position of the U.S. President in this regard. And, therefore, we welcome his courage and consistency with which he persists his policies, in spite of any elements that interfere with that. And we expect that our interaction will have — will make a significant and decisive contribution to the elimination of terrorism worldwide.
END 8:07 A.M. (Local)
Oh, by the way, in that poll you referenced, you forgot to mention that the pro-Georgians didn’t vote in it.
99% turnout.
Stop with the fantasies.
The so-called South Ossetian independence referendum, of 2006 was held in areas of So. Ossetia that were controlled by the Russian backed secessionist government. The above so-called results that you give which does not include ethnic Georgians is from this so-called Russian backed secessionist referendum.
At a time shortly after a So. Ossetian opposition group called the Salvation Union of Ossetians (possibly backed by the Gergian government) held a similar so-called referendum in areas not controlled by the so-called secessionists. Voters in that so-called referendum it is reported elected to launch talks with Tbilisi to create a unified federal state with Georgia.
Objectively, those are the sequence of events as best can be determined.
How gullible, "superficial" and not very objective your comment is.
Russia says it is part of Russia
No it doesn’t.
Show your source or take it back.
Instead it is the South Ossetians who would like to federate with Russia.
They would probably like to mimic their well to do neighbors in North Ossetia.
Wishing and hoping don’t make it so.
Excerpt from wiki: “After agreeing to a ceasefire, on 7 August Georgia launched a surprise military operation to take the unrecognised Republic of South Ossetia (a breakaway region of Georgia), saying that the action is a response to separatist attacks on Georgian villages. South Ossetia denies that these attacks have occurred... On 8 August, Russia, which had troops in South Ossetia, responded by moving its troops across the border, bringing tanks and artillery into South Ossetia
You excerpt from wiki would suggest to the objective person that the beginning of offensive activities is NOT clear.
It's more like, he said -- she said, who started it.
It’s English...try reading again
“on 7 August Georgia launched a surprise military operation to take the unrecognised Republic of South Ossetia “
The United Nations, European Union, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Council of the European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and all other countries in the world recognize South Ossetia as part of Georgia. However, the de facto independent republic governed by the secessionist government held a second independence referendum[6] on November 12, 2006, after its first referendum in 1992 was not recognized by the international community as valid.[7] According to the Tskhinvali election authorities, the referendum turned out a majority for independence from Georgia where 99% of South Ossetian voters supported independence and the turnout for the vote was 95%[8] and the referendum was monitored by a team of 34 international observers from Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden and other countries at 78 polling stations[9]. However, it was not recognized internationally by the UN, European Union, OSCE, NATO and the Russian Federation, given the lack of ethnic Georgian participation and the legality of such referendum without recognition from the central government in Tbilisi.[10] The European Union, OSCE and NATO condemned the referendum. Parallel to the secessionist held referendum and elections, the Ossetian opposition movement (The Salvation Union of South Ossetia) to Kokoity, organized their own elections in which both Georgian and some Ossetian inhabitants of the region voted in favour of Dmitri Sanakoev as the alternative President of South Ossetia.[11] The alternative elections of Sanakoev claimed full support of the ethnic Georgian population. In 2007, Dmitri Sanakoev became the head of the Provisional Administration of South Ossetia.They had a vote to secede, which nobody recognizes.
It's part of Georgia, the issue will be settled by force of arms, thus they can look forward to being a defacto part of Russia.
Perhaps they'll be pleased with Russian domination.
note post 271 re Wiki
LOL. Read the entire excerpt.
As I said, and a point you clearly miss, the excerpt from wiki would suggest to the objective person that the beginning of offensive activities is NOT clear. It's more like, he said -- she said, who started it.
...not to you however.
BTW, speaking of "English", since you brought it up, it would seem your spelling of the word "favour" is chiefly Bristish isn't it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetian_independence_referendum,_2006
Council of Europe Secretary General on the vote in South Ossetia, The Council of Europe press release, November 13, 2006.
Georgia's Breakaway South Ossetia Region Backs Independence, The Voice of America, November 13, 2006.
Exactly right.
However, Eleni won't "get" the significance of your comment.
Everyone should remember that Wikipedia is hardly an objective source for much of anything, and has been proven frequently inaccurate.
There were not voting on reunification with Russia.
No they were not, the separatists, who were the only ones who voted, voted for independence. What Putin is doing is creating a Russian empire and trying to absorb Georgia by force.
And, IMHO, he will succeed.
But this is clear imperialism.
Not just frequently, but imo intentionally. They’re as good as their footnotes.
Your statement is misleading.
The So. Ossetian capitol city of Tskhinvali was only 11% ethnic Ossetian back in the early nineteen hundreds. It was the Russians who moved ethnic Ossetians into and chased ethnic Georgians out of Tskhinvali.
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