President Bush to Make Statement on Georgia-Russia Crisis at 5:15 p.m. EDT

[Scythian]

Headline only so far on fox news ...

[nikos1121]

Five Aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf will make PUTIN stand up, I assure you.

[mkjessup]

mkjessup: “There is nothing Bush can do to force Russia to back down short of launching a pre-emptive nuclear strike.” - - -

mkjessup: “Don’t twist my words. I did not say that we would use nuclear weapons. And I did not say that we would ‘do nothing’.” - - -

Uhhh, perhaps you could ‘splain that to me again... exactly which one of your words did I twist?

With pleasure FRiend. When I stated "there is nothing Bush can do", the qualifier to that was "to force Russia to back down", I wasn't saying Bush would NOT do anything, but I was saying that short of a nuclear strike, I did not believe that Bush would be able to take ANY action that would induce Putin to back down. Sure, Bush is going to "do something" but I predict that "something" is going to be woefully inadequate. He practically had to be pulled kicking and screaming into denouncing Russia, due to John McCain stepping up first to call Putin's aggression what it is. And unless Bush is prepared for all out war with Russia, he needs to start considering the fact that Georgia's pro-Western government just might be a thing of the past.

Hope this clarifies things.

[mkjessup]

Jeff I think the party is over...Georgia will fall before Friday....Tbilisi probably falls Tuesday or Wednesday.

I sadly must agree with you Dog. The cavalry is NOT going to be riding to the rescue this time.

[Enchante]

By the time we have 5 carriers in the Persian Gulf, Putin will have already settled the situation in his favor.... just a matter of a few more days now for Putin. But we could occupy our carrier air wings well with obliterating Iran’s military and nuke programs......

[mnehring]

If we are making predictions, I believe that we all will be shocked at what will happen. I believe there are some chess moves to be played that none of us can predict. I don’t believe Georgia will fall. This is just a gut feeling, but there is just something about this that doesn’t seem good for Russia and I don’t believe the world will let a new Soviet-esque superpower rise again.

[mkjessup]

BTW, I meant early in the sense that this is the first move (the Georgia Operation) in a much larger chess game. If he is successful here, basically uncontested, I expect there are many other moves Putin has in store.

First of all Jeff, I admire your creative thinking about this. Just want to say that first.

Unfortunately, I do not see our President flying into Georgian air space under these or any future forseeable conditions. This military operation by the Russians is going to be wrapped up by the weekend, and while it is laudable for other former Soviet bloc nations to send their leaders into Georgia to show their solidarity, you can be sure that Putin's only reaction will be to advise his general staff that they are to be blessed with a 'target rich environment', bet on that.

And you are correct: Georgia IS the first move, and Putin has all but captured a knight using his pawns. Everyone knows about the skill of Russians when it comes to chess, and the question to be asked is:

When, in past years have we seen Putin make a fatal mistake, a move which resulted in him being checkmated?

Answer?

He hasn't. And he won't now. Every move he makes from this point forward has already been scoped out, and every possible response from the West has been planned for.

That too, you can bet on and I take no pleasure in saying that. This operation in Georgia was not a spur of the moment decision.

[Sal]

You’re reminding me of Yeltsin climbing up on that tank...

[Toadman]

"Resistance to tyrants is obediance to God." TJ

A little melodramatic I know. I'm not sure if President Bush going and standing side by side with the other leaders would do much but it I don't see how it could hurt. If they kill him then it's on. But do you think for a second they want to deal with President Cheney?

[Sal]

But the game is over....the next move is to protect Eastern Europe....the Bear is making noises about that missile shield. We got to be ready for him to make a move in that direction next.

Scummy little Putin pretty much proved the absolute need for such a missile shield to protect against barbaric little butchers like himself. Actually not "like" himself. From him and his fellow barbaric butchers.

[mkjessup]

We probably agree 98% on all of this For us to argue amongst ourselves is the enemies joy. Freep on, brother.

Oh we probably do FRiend, I'm no friend of the Ruskies, not now, not ever, I remember all too well how they sought to undermine and destroy the West if at all possible, and I grew up understanding that at any given moment, Soviet nukes could be detonating anywhere in my vicinity.

I don't see us as arguing so much as hashing and thrashing out the possible outcomes of what has honestly been a surprise sneak attack by Moscow on a neighboring state.

I think we should all be digging out those old Civil Defense pamphlets and taking inventory of our supplies because this thing might not go 'hot' in the next day or so, but there is a great potential for disaster in the making, and as I see it, that disaster could be caused by either Bush or Putin miscalculating or misinterpreting the way our respective military forces are deployed, configured, and/or engaged.

I'm hoping that we are still notifying each other of upcoming missile tests.

We're not at the point of the Cuban Missile Crisis yet, but on the comparative timeline?

The missiles are figuratively already on the ships, and enroute to Cuba, to employ a metaphor.

[MarMema]

Russia wants him dead, that is why the other presidents are going to stand with him.

[mkjessup]

If we are making predictions, I believe that we all will be shocked at what will happen. I believe there are some chess moves to be played that none of us can predict. I don’t believe Georgia will fall. This is just a gut feeling, but there is just something about this that doesn’t seem good for Russia and I don’t believe the world will let a new Soviet-esque superpower rise again.

I hope and pray you are right FRiend.

[nikos1121]

Our carriers are there now already en route to pressure Iran. W can’t back down from Putin.

Geogia attacked South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia wants those annexed to them.

So be it. Let the people vote then. But Russia must exit the rest of Georgia.

[nikos1121]

I think you’re wrong. There is MUCH we can do,and we will do. This is Bush’s finest moment coming up...

[mnehring]

Me too.. I have no idea why I thought this, but some of my first predictions would be this triggers a power struggle in Russia, maybe triggered behind the scenes by us. Their people have to be sick of ex-Soviet KGB running it like a criminal enterprise. Heck, the real criminal enterprise(sic) there must be sick of what is happening with these Stalin-wannabes.

[cmsgop]

Hey Mar Mema the minute this started I was looking for you to post, you know this area and know it well.......

[DoughtyOne]

I agree. I am surprised that the folks who don’t see the value in letting Georgia know we care.

Check this out if you have the stomach for it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2059630/posts?page=24#24

[mkjessup]

I think you’re wrong. There is MUCH we can do,and we will do. This is Bush’s finest moment coming up...

You might want to ask the North Korean people what they think about it.

[DoughtyOne]

I would back the plan to make the capital off limits to the Russians, and encourage them to back off. If they wouldn’t, and tried to be aggressive, I’d expand that. I don’t want to jump in with both guns blazing.

I understand where you’re coming from, but I’m not convinced it would be the best way to handle it.

[Brian S. Fitzgerald]

Putin's take on the Georgian troops returning from Iraq:

http://www.watoday.com.au/world/russia-pushes-into-georgia-20080812-3tt9.html

"...Late last night, foreign ministers from the G7 countries urged Russia to accept an immediate ceasefire called by Georgia, the US State Department said.

The ministers said that they believed Georgia, which has withdrawn its troops from South Ossetia, had signed a ceasefire agreement and called on Russia to accept. But Georgia has angered Russia by preparing to bring home 2000 troops from Iraq to bolster its military position in the face of Russia's overwhelming superiority.

This has angered Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "I regret that some of our partners are not helping us, but in fact are trying to impede us," Mr Putin said. "I am referring to the US transfer, aboard its military transport planes and directly into the conflict zone, of the Georgian military contingent from Iraq..."