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THE UN refugee agency says 118,000 people have fled their homes because of the conflict between Georgia and Russia. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres will go to Georgia and Moscow next week and will demand greater access for aid agencies to the conflict zones, his spokesman, Ron Redmond, said today. "The latest estimates of displacement related to the conflict now total more than 118,000, based on figures provided by the governments,'' Redmond said. The UNHCR estimate has risen steadily in recent days. Guterres will spend three or four days in Georgia before going on to the Russian capital,...

Russia's assertions that it was provoked into war by "genocide" in South Ossetia and that it is observing a cease-fire in Georgia came under new challenge Thursday, as the U.S. stepped up diplomatic pressure on Moscow. Washington agreed to base missile interceptors on Polish soil, in a new sign of how Russia's invasion of Georgia is redrawing the geopolitical map. On the ground in South Ossetia -- the contested region where fighting broke out last week between Georgia and Russia -- there was little evidence that Georgian attacks killed thousands of civilians, as Russia has said. Doctors said they had...

THE RUSSIANS ARE BLAMING REPUBLICANS FOR THE START OF THIS WAR: READ BELOW: Kremlin dusts off Cold War lexicon to make US villain in GeorgiaCharles Bremner in Moscow Russians were told over breakfast yesterday what really happened in Georgia: the conflict in South Ossetia was part of a plot by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, to stop Barak Obama being elected president of the United States. The line came on the main news of Vesti FM, a state radio station that — like the Government and much of Russia's media — has reverted to the old habits of Soviet years, in...

Russians were told over breakfast yesterday what really happened in Georgia: the conflict in South Ossetia was part of a plot by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, to stop Barak Obama being elected president of the United States. The line came on the main news of Vesti FM, a state radio station that — like the Government and much of Russia's media — has reverted to the old habits of Soviet years, in which a sinister American hand was held to lie behind every conflict, especially those embarrassing to Moscow. Modern Russia may be plugged into the internet and the global...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press SecretaryMay 10, 2005 President Addresses and Thanks Citizens in Tbilisi, Georgia Freedom Square Tbilisi, Georgia 1:27 P.M. (Local) PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for that introduction. Citizens of a free Georgia, Laura and I were in the neighborhood -- we thought we'd swing by and say gamarjoba. (Applause.) I am proud to stand beside a President who has shown such spirit, determination, and leadership in the cause of freedom. (Applause.) And Laura and I are proud to stand with the courageous people of Georgia, in this place that has earned a...

President takes over in Georgia Mr Zhvania played a prominent role in the Rose Revolution Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has said he is taking charge of the government following the death of his prime minister on Thursday. Zurab Zhvania, 41, was found dead in an apartment in Tbilisi, apparently poisoned by gas from a faulty heater. Officials say security guards found his body after breaking into a flat owned by friends early on Thursday. Mr Saakashvili told a crowd in Tbilisi that he was "taking responsibility for leading the executive". "I am ordering the government to return to work," he...

Kosovo's recent unilateral declaration of independence brought back memories. I publicly opposed NATO's attack on Serbia - carried out in the name of protecting the Kosovars from Serb atrocities - in March 1999. At that time, I was a member of the Opposition Front Bench - or Shadow Government - in Britain's House of Lords. The then Conservative leader, William Hague, immediately expelled me to the "back benches." Thus ended my (minor) political career. Ever since, I have wondered whether I was right or wrong. I opposed military intervention for two reasons. First, I argued that while it might do...

In 2001 two events at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague put the subject of genocide in the former Yugoslavia back on the front pages of newspapers. Firstly, Bosnian Serb General Radislav Krstic was convicted of genocide against the Muslim population of the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, the first conviction at the ICTY for this gravest of crimes. Secondly and more spectacularly, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was indicted and put on trial for genocide against the Muslim and Croat population of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a whole. These events at the ICTY inflamed the bitter...

The leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia believe that Georgia’s botched military assault means they now have a better chance than ever of getting international recognition for their independence. Their respective leaders, Eduard Kokoity and Sergey Bagapsh, said they see no need to hold another referendum on their status, since their nations have already expressed their wills. After the meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the two leaders of the breakaway republics held a news conference in Moscow. (WATCH the media conference) Abkhazian leader Sergey Bagapsh said: “As for our independence and our movement to that goal, no one can...

Monday, January 26th, 2004 Democracy Now! Exclusive: Wesley Clark Admits Targeting Civilians In Yugoslavia In a Democracy Now! exclusive, General Wesley Clark responds for the first time to in-depth questions about his targeting of civilian infrastructure in Yugoslavia, his bombing of Radio Television Serbia, the use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium, the speeding-up of the cockpit video of a bombing of a passenger train to make it appear as though it was an accident and other decisions he made and orders he gave as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander. Since the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, General Wesley Clark has not...

FORMER MEMBER OF NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY TESTIFIES THAT NATO DELIBERATELY TARGETED CIVILIANS DURING KOSOVO WARwww.slobodan-milosevic.org – February 28 - March 1, 2006 Written by: Andy Wilcoxson The trial of Slobodan Milosevic continued on Wednesday with the conclusion of former RSK foreign minister Slobodan Jarcevic’s testimony. Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff cross-examined Jarcevic on behalf of the prosecution on Tuesday. During the witness's re-examination, Jarcevic testified that Milosevic had nothing to do with the appointment or dismissal of Krajina-Serb officials. He said that officials were either elected directly by the people or appointed by the RSK assembly. He underlined that Belgrade never intervened in...

On June 28, 1389, the Serbs lost to the Ottomans at Kosovo Field in the Battle of Kosovo. This began a 500-plus year dominance by the Ottoman Turks in Central Europe, and particularly in that powder keg known as the Balkans. It also meant that Islam—the faith of the Ottoman Empire—now had a door into Christian Europe. The Serbs, a proud people, never forgave themselves for that loss and that foot in the door. They would harbor a 600-year guilt, as evidenced by a June 28, 1989, speech by Slobodan Milosevic at that infamous battlefield site at Kosovo; it was...

KOSOVO: THE WAR DEMOCRATS LOVED By Don Feder The Democrats have been characterized as a party of peace marchers and flag-burners -- a Neville Chamberlain cadre chattering away on cable TV, knee-jerk internationalists who’ve mistaken the United Nations for the United States Marines. I must protest this calumny. Under the right circumstances, the Democrats can be Sgt. York and Audie Murphy times Rambo. There was a little war of which Democrats are exceedingly fond – so much so that they’re still bragging about it five years later. It’s a conflict that didn’t involve allegations of weapons of mass destruction. The...

West haunted by Balkans blunder © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com As the war in Afghanistan goes on, the ghost of interventions past sits in a courtroom in The Hague. America can drop tons of explosives and send in the Marines to fight Taliban terrorism. But when the Serbs confronted a similar menace, they were demonized and bombed for 78 days, and had a province wrested from them and presented to Osama bin Laden's Balkan brigade. Slobodan Milosevic has been charged with complicity to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. Before the travesty is over, he will doubtless be convicted of running ...

Russian troops are indiscriminately murdering civilians and interning them in concentration camps, the embattled Georgian president charged yesterday, as he begged the West not to "appease" Moscow as it did with Nazi Germany. The startling accusations came as Russian troops blatantly violated a cease-fire by sending an armored convoy through the strategic city of Gori. The invaders first poured into Georgia five days ago - ostensibly in defense of a pro-Moscow breakaway region, South Ossetia. "What they are doing is exactly what Stalin did to Finland, what they've done to Afghanistan, what in the Second World War Germany was doing...

Reports of a hundred tanks or vehicles headed toward Georgia's interior, breaking per Shep Smith.

One minute we were driving past a column of Russian armour that, according to Moscow, wasn't supposed to be there. The next we were being held up at gunpoint and plunged into that moment when it flashes in your mind that your life is in real danger. A Lada car had suddenly cut us off and three militia brandishing Kalashnikov rifles were dragging us out of our car. Actually our Georgian driver was dragged from the car; I was in the passenger seat and was shoved out by the butt of a rifle in the arms of a wild-eyed bandit...

President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia said Thursday that Russia would act as an international guarantor of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two pro-Russian enclaves at the center of the crisis that have long desired separation from Georgia. As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to the region for discussions on the crisis and to show support for President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, the Russian position seemed to be a direct challenge to President George W. Bush, who had said the day before that he "insists that the sovereign and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected." In Georgia, meanwhile, Russian forces...

South Ossetia: The perfect wrong war By Walid Phares By now, days after Georgian forces stormed the capital of south Ossetia and Russian units counter attacked across the breaking away province and beyond; a devastating war has spread across the Caucasus causing death, destruction and displacement of populations. All wars are terrible -- even the legitimate ones where country, freedom and survival at are at stake. But this war is particularly unnecessary, could have been avoided and above all is wrong; in fact I call it the perfect wrong war. Unfortunately, when battles are raging with tanks, artillery, bombs and...

Moscow’s Sinister Brilliance   By Victor Davis HansonVictorHanson.com | Thursday, August 14, 2008 Lost amid all the controversies surrounding the Georgian tragedy is the sheer diabolic brilliance of the long-planned Russia invasion. Let us count the ways in which it is a win/win situation for Russia. The Home Front The long-suffering Russian people resent the loss of global influence and empire, but not necessarily the Soviet Union and its gulags that once ensured such stature. The invasion restores a sense of Russian nationalism and power to its populace without the stink of Stalinism, and is indeed cloaked as a...