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POPSRussia Nullifies French-Brokered Armistice With Georgia 
-- are implemented by Russia only in the sense that it no longer shoots or bombards Georgian troops and civilians. Russian troops, however, are blowing up bridges and other infrastructure on Georgian highways and railways, destroying Georgian military bases deep inside the country, and looting local Georgian civilian administrations at gunpoint -- all of this under the Sarkozy-brokered armistice. Point 3 in the agreement, “free access for humanitarian assistance and permission for refugees to return,” has also been torn apart. Access is impeded by Russia’s de facto naval blockade of Georgia’s coast and interdiction of cross-country transport in Georgia, continuing under this “armistice.” The few U.S. Air Force humanitarian assistance flights can not possibly cope with the magnitude of the task. The agreement’s 4th point, “Georgian troops are to return to the places of their regular stationing,” seems largely compromised by the devastation of those bases deep inside Georgia.......
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POPSRussia's Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin Brands Saakashvili a "Nazi" The ministry cited new operations by Russia, including the re-occupation of a military base in Senaki in the west of the country where explosions were heard by AFP. US officials said Russia had moved short-range SS-21 missile launchers into South Ossetia since fighting there halted last week, and has yet to give any sign of a significant pullback of its troops from Georgia. Instead, there were indications that Russia was adding troops and equipment to its force in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, strengthening its hold over the breakaway Georgian regions, the officials said. Russia denies deploying the SS-21s. The withdrawal will not be implemented "very swiftly", a defence ministry official was quoted as saying Tuesday in the Russian daily Kommersant. "Nobody is planning to withdraw the Russian contingent very swiftly, as there is no such necessity," he said.
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POPSRussian Journalist Watchs Russian Forces Move Toward Tbilisi pointing in the direction of Tbilisi. “Everyone went that way, both recognizance and the infantry. Now the equipment is tagging along behind.” The soldiers do not know why the army is moving forward after the signing of the ceasefire. They do not even know about the ceasefire. They find it unexpectedly upsetting when I tell them. “Medvedev betrayed us. There, in Ossetia, they mowed down 2000 of our guys, and he made peace. This is a political war,” a soldier said. That was all there was to say about politics. “So did we win a lot of gold at the Olympics?” “Some gold,” I answer. “But no one is talking about the Olympics now. You are in all the news.” The soldiers look around and laugh. When we try to catch up to the column of equipment, we find that it has already been spread out through the fields and hills along both sides of the road around Igoeti, about 36 km. from Tbilisi. Near the village, we are stopped by a soldier in full uniform.
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POPSIs Georgia a democracy? You wouldn't recognize it as one. Its standout characteristics are suppression of dissent and manipulation of the West
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POPSGerman Chancellor Says That Georgia Can Join NATO Any Time It Wants Pounding Georgia, with a small military that isn’t set up for battle with a larger adversary, into submission is one thing. Trying to bluff NATO with a second rate military (and despite its size, it’s not a top shelf force) won’t be so easy. The Russians, of course, were steaming over Georgia’s desire to join NATO in the first place: Moscow is furious at Georgia’s attempt to join NATO. The Western military alliance is divided over how fast to accept Georgia, but has indicated that membership is a matter of when, not if. Hoo, boy, are they gonna hit the roof over this one.
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POPSInvading Georgia Was Easy, Mr. Putin Will Pay A Political Price The Russians said their General Prosecutor's Office would undertake a "genocide probe" in South Ossetia, and they called for putting President Saakashvili on trial at the Hague for "war crimes." As it happens, Chapter 1, Article II of the U.N. Charter, signed amid the smashed borders of World War II, forbids Members from the "use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state." The U.S. and France should force Mr. Putin's U.N. ambassador to veto a Security Council resolution describing his week-long mockery of those words. Additionally, a genuinely independent prosecutor investigating war crimes might examine the Russian bombing runs over Georgia and the looting of Georgian villages by Ossetian militias. An intriguing article by Pavel Felgengauer in Novaya Gazeta, the Russian newspaper, argues that an examination of the movement of the ground equipment and ships used in the strike against Georgia required planning that predated August
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POPSThe Dangers of Having a "Maverick" as POTUS
McCain’s top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was until recently a paid lobbyist for Georgia’s government. McCain also announced this week that two of his closest allies, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), would travel to Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi on his behalf, after a similar journey by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The extent of McCain’s involvement in the military conflict in Georgia appears remarkable among presidential candidates, who traditionally have kept some distance from unfolding crises out of deference to whoever is occupying the White House. The episode also follows months of sustained GOP criticism of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who was accused of acting too presidential for, among other things, briefly adopting a campaign seal and taking a trip abroad that included a huge rally in Berlin. Obama made a speech and shook hands w/ people. He was criticized for meddling in foreign policy.
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POPSWar is absurd, says Russian pilot shot down over Georgia Surely he was tortured or waterboarded and forced to say this. And these guys seem kinda' old and I read that the planes were also. Maybe Russia is using up it's antiques and saving their prime pilots and weaponry for some other more serious take-overs.
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POPSPat Buchanan:'Georgia Started This Fight, Russia Finished It' Pat Buchanan has it right! Conservatives and republicans in particular should note what he says, instead of Bush. Georgia started this fight -- Russia finished it. Contrary to Bush, McCain, and yes Obama and the parroting MSM, Georgia was the aggressor. Georgia attacked and invaded first, and Russia responded to roll their aggression back. Read the article, he also shows the hypocrisy of Bush's condemnation and propaganda, as even the Democrats follow his false official story again. He also mentions the neocons are behind this agenda against Russia. (Buchanan vindicates my clipmarks on this subject precisely as I commented). Time to wake everyone up to this before the anti-Russia campaign foments more wars.
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POPS US blamed over S Ossetia crisis The invasion of Iraq, the "ring of confidence" missile bases, the training of Georgian troops would have been enough to upset Russia. Add to this the nearby oil pipeline and the reason for the Bush should become apparent. Too many nuclear powers now to be playing stupid games such as this. Bush backers would have salivated to dehydration if Russia did the same in Cuba again, or South American countries.
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POPSHow To Stop Putin What we can do is alter Putin's cost-benefit calculations. We are not without resources. There are a range of measures to be deployed if Russia does not live up to its cease-fire commitments: 1. Suspend the NATO-Russia Council established in 2002 2. Bar Russian entry to the World Trade Organization. 3. Dissolve the G-8. Putin's dictatorship long made Russia's presence in this group of industrial democracies a farce, but no one wanted to upset the bear by expelling it. No need to. The seven democracies simply withdraw. (And if Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, who has been sympathetic to Putin's Georgia adventure, wants to stay, he can have an annual G-2 dinner with Putin.) Then immediately announce the reconstitution of the original G-7. 4. Announce a U.S.-European boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. The most crucial and unconditional measure, however, is this: Reaffirm support for the Saakashvili government:
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POPSWelcome Back to the 19th Century Apologists for Russia can point to lots of mitigating circumstances, starting with the biggest one of Christmas Day 1991, when the hammer-and-sickle flag over the Kremlin went down for the last time, and up went the Russian tricolor. Poof, and a whole empire from the Baltic to Kazakhstan was suddenly gone. Yes, that chilled the Russian soul, and so did Georgia's love affair with the United States. How dare Georgia, the birthplace of Stalin, sidle up to the EU and NATO? In the greater scheme of things, though, Georgia's geopolitical crimes pale against a simple historical truth: 8/8 is payback for 12/25, when the Soviet Empire expired. That, as Mr. Putin has told us, was the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century," and ever since he was anointed neo-czar in 2000, he has been working hard, and as time went by ever more ham-handedly, to reverse the verdict of the Cold War -- to regain what Russia had lost. By JOSEF JOFFE WSJ Europe
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POPSRussia's response to Georgia was right Georgia made the first act of aggression knowing that Russian peacekeepers were present in Ossetia. Western media is misrepresenting Georgia as the poor innocent victim. Georgia is trying to use the U.S. as a pawn in order to get into NATO. President Mikheil Saakashvili is a contemptible and opportunistic toad and we need to distance ourselves from him immediately.
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POPSGeorgian Villages Being Burned and Looted, Children Kidnapped! "Behind them (say eyewitnesses) is a whole column of irregulars who locals say are Chechens, Cossacks and Ossetians. "Eyewitnesses say they are looting, killing and burning. These irregulars have killed three people and set fire to villages. They have been taking away young boys and girls," said Harding, watching smoke rise from another village, Karaleti. Earlier, Georgia said its troops had pulled out of the separatist region of Abkhazia today after the Kremlin laid down humiliating peace terms as the price for halting the Russian invasion and its four-day rout of Georgian forces. Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, signalled his partial assent to the terms, announcing with Sarkozy that he accepted the ceasefire. But Saakashvili raised questions about a continuing Russian military presence in Georgia and the prospects for any durable settlement looked uncertain.
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POPSMcCain is Rapidly Emerging as the 3 A.M. President In contrast, Barack Obama was all over the map, first equivocating Georgia and Russia as equally at fault and calling like a tired parent for all sides to just stop,making no moral distinction between an invader state and a nation invaded. "Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint and avoid escalation into a full scale war," he said. It was a call for peace at any price, and implied that if Georgia should take exception to a foreign invasion, its self-defense was culpable. Jimmy Carter would be so proud. Obama then lazily called on the U.N. to take care of the problem, which ignores the U.N.'s long record of inaction. All the same, turning it over to the U.N. conveniently extricates the U.S. from any responsibility to an ally and shields Obama from peace lobby criticism. Obviously, one candidate has a superior sense of America's strategic interests and the emerging threats over the other, and Russia's invasion of Georgia has laid it out starkly.
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POPSPeace In Georgia- For Now The conflict is going to continue- It will take generations to heal the past. From Stalin's birthplace and the cooperation of the southern region with the Stalinists to undermine Georgia's place 100 years ago
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POPSLeading the Way He was right from the start, and he has been forceful, unequivocal and presidential material.
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POPSBackground on Georgia President Saakashvili The Bush administration, with its broad assurances of support for Georgia, has come in for strong criticism in Georgia for having emboldened Mr. Saakashvili to challenge Russia. But Mr. Saakashvili has resisted the notion that he was somehow taken in. Asked in a recent interview on CNN if he believed Georgia could win against Russia militarily, Mr. Saakashvili said, “I am not crazy.”
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POPSRussia Conducts Cyber-Attack On Georgian Government Websites Last April the computer systems of the Estonian Government came under attack in a co-ordinated three-week assault widely credited to state-sponsored Russian hackers. The wave of attacks came after a row erupted over the removal of the Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in Tallinn, the Estonian capital. The websites of government departments, political parties, banks and newspapers were all targeted. Analysts have immediately accused the Russian Business Network (RBN), a network of criminal hackers with close links to the Russian mafia and government, of the Georgian attacks. Jart Armin, a researcher who runs a website tracking the activity of the RBN, has released data claiming to show that visits to Georgian sites had been re-routed through servers in Russia and Turkey, where the traffic was blocked. Armin said the servers "are well known to be under the control of RBN and influenced by the Russian Government."
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POPSCIA FactBook: Brief History Of Georgia Progress on market reforms and democratization has been made in the years since independence, but this progress has been complicated by two ethnic conflicts in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These two territories remain outside the control of the central government and are ruled by de facto, unrecognized governments, supported by Russia. Russian-led peacekeeping operations continue in both regions.
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POPSRussian Tanks And Troops Move Into South Ossetia Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said last night Georgian troops would observe a three-hour ceasefire beginning at 3pm local time (9pm AEST) to allow civilians to leave Tskhinvali. The International Committee of the Red Cross appealed for a safe passage for the wounded. The European Union, US, NATO and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe called for a halt to the fighting in South Ossetia, which broke away from Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s. Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili said: ``Most of South Ossetia's territory is liberated and is controlled by Georgia.'' Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin condemned Georgia's ``aggressive actions'' and said his country would have to retaliate.
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POPSIn photos: 'Georgia South Ossetia Conflict August 8th' The Georgian government and separatists in its region of South Ossetia deployed fighter jets to carry out bombings on one another on 08 August after a ceasefire declared by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was broken after a few hours, a news report said. Many civilians were killed in the airstrikes, Russia‘s Interfaxnews agency reported, citing South Ossetia‘s Health Ministry. The South Ossetia side for the first time deployed two Suchoi SU-25 fighter jets to bomb Georgian positions, and a short timelater, Georgia sent five of the same jets to carry out attacks in South Ossetia, Interfax said.
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POPSSaakashvili Orders Full Mobilization Against Rebel Region At least 15 people, primarily civilians, were killed in heavy shelling and airstrikes of the capital Tskhinvali, news agency Interfax cited South Ossetian officials as saying. Georgia accused three Russian Sukoi SU-24 aircrafts of bombing Georgian villages, and a short time later, sent out five of the same jet to carry out attacks on South Ossetia. Russia denied it had sent out bombers Friday. 'A full-scale military aggression has been launched against Georgia,' Saakashvili said in his speech, calling on Russia to 'immediately stop bombardment of the Georgian towns.' But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin blamed Georgia with initiating the 'aggressive action' in televised comments from Beijing and said that Russia would be compelled to retaliate. But the United States is a close ally of the pro-Western Saakashvili, and it is its backing of Georgia's bid to join NATO in April that is seen to have escalated tension in the region.
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POPSGeorgia president pleads for peace talks with South Ossetia Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Yakobashvili reiterated that Georgia would like to avoid military clashes. "We will temporarily and unilaterally cease fire in the conflict zone. This is our last attempt to avoid large-scale military operations," the minister said, without disclosing a timeframe for the ceasefire.
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POPSMikheil Saakashvili:"Rose Revolution" Of The Republic Of Georgia The task of rebuilding a country plagued by two wars with neighboring regions and a limping economy during his first year in office has been anything but easy. Mr. Saakashvili studied law at Kiev University and the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg before earning his LL.M. from the Law School. After a year as an intern for New York City-based Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, Mr. Saakashvili's superior intellect and energy won him a job offer with the firm. He declined, choosing instead to return to Georgia to take up a political career. By 2000, President Shevardnadze had appointed him justice minister, but the young Columbia graduate resigned two years later in a remonstration of what he perceived to be widespread corruption and cronyism among the Georgian leadership. Mr. Saakashvili was soon mounting daily protests - drawing tens of thousands of discontented supporters - against parliamentary elections marred by fraudulent practices.
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POPS Saakashvili Declares State of Emergency Violence erupted in the capital, Tbilisi, where anti- government demonstrations have been staged daily in almost a week. Emergency rule will run for 15 days, restricting public gatherings and closing all television channels except the state broadcaster, Agence France-Presse reported. Georgia's government and opposition should ``refrain from violence'' and engage in a ``constructive dialog,'' Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said in Washington yesterday. Thousands of protesters skirmished with police in an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim the square in front of Parliament where rallies have been held daily since Nov. 2. Riot police held protesters at bay using water cannons and tear gas before dispersing the crowd with rubber bullets and nightsticks. Many protesters fought back.
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