Georgia forced to accept a Russian occupation (Vladimir Putin Checkmates the West)

Times Online ^ | 08-15-2008 | Tony Halpin

[82ndABNOfficer]

President Saakashvili was forced to accept defeat yesterday as he signed a peace agreement that gives the Russian Army the right to patrol on Georgian soil.

[82ndABNOfficer]

Seems this is what we do best, appeasement. If I remember correctly, Condi Rice went to Israel and forced them into defeat as well. What a shame.

[82ndABNOfficer]

Seems this is what we do best, appeasement. If I remember correctly, Condi Rice went to Israel and forced them into defeat as well. What a shame.

[Iron Munro]

Condi The Hapless is legacy building again!

[piytar]

“Vladimir Putin Checkmates the West”

No, Putin just took a pawn. Maybe a knight. Awful for Georgia and her people, but Putin has overextended his pieces, and many of the West’s are now moving into stronger defensive positions.

The game is far from over.

[clamper1797]

Ukraine will be next ... then Poland

[padre35]

It is much better to win a war then lose it 82nd, the Georgians have lost, there is nothing they can do now.

[82ndABNOfficer]

I agree. Ukraine has a pretty hefty military force though, IMHO they could hold off the Russians a lot longer than the Georgians did.

[sport]

That she did. History has shown that nothing ever good comes from appeasing an aggressor.

That Putin is going to move again, you can take to the bank.

[padre35]

In a chess metaphos sense, I’d disagree, Putin would have taken the Knight if Tblisi had fallen and a Russian Puppet had been installed.

At the end of the day, a sadder and wiser Democratic Georgia survives with the right to elect whomever they will.

[82ndABNOfficer]

Yeah well, we all know that if it wasn’t for Russia’s willingness to run and hit the big red “nuke” button if they were to fight anyone bigger than a 10 man army, we could have kicked their ass in a heart beat. Serbia showed us this. Russia is nothing without nuclear weapons. We could have made a real mess out of them if it wasn’t for them running to their ICBM’s... Russians are the biggest cowards on the planet and will only pick on those weaker than themselves.

[McGruff]

the Kremlin forced Mr Saakashvili to accept that Russian troops could control a buffer zone of Georgian territory up to 10km beyond the border of the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Misleading Headline Alert?

[bereanway]

The Russians aren’t through here. One can see how they view agreements as to how they handled the Sarkozy cease fire. They now have a staging area south of the Caucases and a beach head on the Black Sea. Running through Georgia on the way to Iran will be a piece of cake.

[JasonC]

I doubt it. 85% of the Ukrainian force are short service conscripts, and their annual military budget is only $2 billion, 1% of GDP. That isn't remotely enough to maintain an air force of 600 planes if you actually fly any of them, or an army of a million reservists if they actual train. They are hollow, unfunded, poorly trained, unprofessional. They are not serious about being able to resist Russia conventionally. They just hope for diplomacy to do it for them. Not a safe bet.

[padre35]

We could have stomped them IAF during the 7 days war style.

However, 81 days to an election, and a war weary US public will not let that happen and that is just a fact of life.

Georgia needs financial aid badly, they need infrastructure rebuilding ASAP, at leas the Euros can be counted on to do that much...maybe...

[Repeal The 17th]

From the article:
“Russian troops could control a buffer zone of Georgian territory up to 10km beyond the border of the breakaway region of South Ossetia.”
Further down is this:
“The revised document states that Russian peacekeepers who were in South Ossetia before the war started could stay and extend their patrols temporarily for up to 10km into Georgia. Officials say that these additional powers would expire as soon as a team of international monitors arrived to observe the ceasefire.”
- - -
That’s not good, but it is also not as bad as some would make it out to be.

[LiberalsSpendYourMoney]

If it’s not stopped

[clamper1797]

That Putin is going to move again, you can take to the bank.

I predict that soon ... very soon .. we will regret our in-action in Georgia. from here it will become harder and harder to confront the Russians. it is my opinion the Putin has a plan to reinstate and re-vitalize the old Soviet Union in all it's cold war glory. It is also my prediction that soon the Russians will try once again to place missiles in Cuba. And if the magic negro is elected .. we won't stop them ... and then ... Lord help us.

America is going to wake up soon ... one way or the other

[82ndABNOfficer]

Putin said he wanted to start flying strategic bombers back into Cuba, and to position military forces there. He said this before the war with Georgia started!

[awaken2spirit]

“In a chess metaphos sense, I’d disagree, Putin would have taken the Knight if Tblisi had fallen and a Russian Puppet had been installed.”

You are right. But Putin is not done with Georgia yet. I can guarantee you that. He’s only taken a pawn so far. Evaluating the West’s response before he makes his next move. There will be a next move. He has gotten the West to capitulate and accept Russian troops remaining on Georgian soil. Putin intends to reabsorb Georgia and it is only a matter of time and opportunity before he accomplishes this. Russia has been rebuilding and modernizing its military from all the petro dollars it is now taking in. The West talks big but carries a small stick.