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POPSRussia Invading Georgia! Someone in a chatroom named Jessica B has gotten the US state of Georgia confused with the country of Georgia! Priceless government education at work!
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POPSEXTREME X-RAYS COULD THEY THE EXTREME FUTURE FOR AIRPORTS ? While reading this a scene in the movie "RUNNING MAN" came to mind and a few question one being, how has Nick Veasey made it this long with all that exposure ? next can this process by made to work on a large scale and could the exposure time be cut to match someone passing by it ?
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POPSHistory of Western Civilization lost in Iraq "It was there, in what the Greeks called Mesopotamia, that life as we know it today began: there people first began to speculate on philosophy and religion, developed concepts of international trade, made ideas of beauty into tangible forms, and, above all developed the skill of writing." And US invaders stood by and watched as irreplaceable world history was hauled off by unarmed looters.
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POPSWaPo: 'Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit' -- "It's not unreasonable to say, 'We're inheriting a budget that's going to have substantial deficits into the future'....But after we've been saying, 'Bush has irresponsible policies we can't afford,' he will be asking us to replace them with different policies we can't afford,' " said a Democratic congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity so he could speak candidly. -- "Leaving some of the tax cuts in place would cost us a small fortune," said Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), a member of a group of conservative House Democrats known as the Blue Dogs who have been adamant about following pay-as-you-go rules. "I don't know that any Blue Dog has a good way to pay for that." Perhaps we should recommend closing the deficit a bit by imposing a tax on newsprint paper, just to see how comfortable the Washington Post and other tax-hiking newspapers are with raising taxes on everyone and everything.
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POPSBaku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Back to Normal Operations, BP Says continued...... backing out of the BTC pipeline and diverting its oil through Russia amid the military conflict in Georgia. Now, Erlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to the U.S., has written in to say that his country plans to continue with the pipeline project. The crux of his letter: I would like to make clear that the allegations made in the article with reference to the Turkish “Referans” newspaper that Kazakhstan is pulling out of the BTC project are very far from likelihood. The article questions Kazakhstan’s commitment to the existing resource transportation agreements saying that “some countries seem to be bailing out of the existing ”. I would like to address here the core of the issue. First of all, Kazakhstan has declared and more than once proved its unwavering commitment to the principle of diversification of the routes of hydrocarbons transportation to the world markets.
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POPSJuan Cole on Biden: he reads journals!! "It struck me as the sort of thing that should happen in our democracy every day-- you write something in your specialty, and your elected representative calls you to talk about it. No lobbies, think tanks, etc. involved." That's high praise! Imagine having a VP informed by people who've given their lives to studying these issues, rather than people trying to angle for more money. Contrast it, for instance, with Cheney's energy policy crew of rich industry insiders.
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POPSGeorgian blunders lead to quick defeat "In light of the combination of fundamental tactical shortcomings and serious strategic blunders in the Georgian campaign to retake South Ossetia, it seems clear that the flaws in Georgian military planning were based on two key factors: an over-confident assumption of its own combat readiness and capabilities, as well as by a serious underestimation of the scale and scope of the Russian response."
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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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POPSRussians Defy Cease-Fire: Troops In Georgia Digging In Elsewhere in Georgia, it appeared very clear that Russian troops were staying put, building ramparts around tanks and posting sentries on a hill near Igoeti, a central Georgia town only 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tbilisi. Russian troops still effectively control the main artery running through the western half of Georgia because they surround the strategic central city of Gori and additionally the city and air base of Senaki in the west. Both cities are on the main east-west highway that slices through two Georgian mountain ranges. Russia also confirmed Sunday that it had taken over a major power plant in western Georgia. Rice noted that the text of the cease-fire, negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current leader of the European Union, outlined a very limited mandate for the soldiers that Russia calls peacekeepers who were in Georgia when hostilities escalated. She said these soldiers can go on limited patrols within the two separatist areas but in Georgia
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POPSAfter Russia's Invasion Of Georgia, What's Next? – and in precarious regions such as the Middle East – will remain. Obviously, not all former Soviet states are as critical to Nato as Ukraine, because of its size and strategic location, or Georgia, because of its importance to our access to the Caspian Basin’s oil and natural gas reserves. By its actions in Georgia, Russia has made clear that its long-range objective is to fill that “gap” if we do not. Accordingly, we should have a foreign-minister-level meeting of Nato to reverse the spring capitulation at Bucharest, and to decide that Georgia and Ukraine will be Nato’s next members. Second, the United States needs some straight talk with our friends in Europe, which ideally should have taken place long before the assault on Georgia. To be sure, American inaction gave French President Sarkozy and the EU the chance to seize the diplomatic initiative. However, Russia did not invade Georgia with diplomats or roubles, but with tanks.
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POPSRussian Offensive in Georgia Jeopardizes Ties With U.S. Condoleezza Rice rushed to the former Soviet republic with a new cease-fire plan offering concessions to Moscow. The new document would allow Russian peacekeepers who were in the disputed South Ossetia region before the fighting broke out a week ago to stay, and they would now be permitted to patrol in a strip up to six miles outside the area, the officials said. "The United States spent 45 years working very hard to avoid a military confrontation with Russia. I see no reason to change that approach today," Gates said at the Pentagon. Standing alongside, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James Cartwright, said it appeared Russia was "generally complying" with the truce. But then Georgian leaders said a convoy of more than 100 Russian tanks and other vehicles had moved from the western city of Zugdidi deeper into their nation before stopping. Cartwright had said Russian forces appeared to be forming up in Georgia in preparation for withdrawal.
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POPS'Where Was God?' - Refugees Ask the family found a military convoy that helped get them to the convent, which has provided food and medicine to refugees. Thirty tons of supplies have poured into the convent from the Russian Orthodox Church alone. "We are working around the clock," Mother Nonna said. "We drowned in the flood of refugees." Recently washed children's clothing is strewn across the railings outside the convent, which functioned as a summer camp for the Communist youth group during the Soviet era and now includes a special rehabilitation center for children who survived the 2004 terrorist siege of a school in nearby Beslan. Dzara Kumeritova, an assistant at the convent, said that the refugees from South Ossetia all arrived terrified, most of the children too scared to eat for the first day or two. "Somebody slammed the door and the crowd shivered," she said. The article continues... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26206516/
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POPS Poland Signs On! Glorious News! So much for the idea that Russia could intimidate and cower Eastern Europe with this show of criminal violance. The bravery of the proud and mighty people of Poland shines through. Bravo Poles! You will not regret your decision.
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POPSHey Congress! Georgia Attacked South Ossetia First!
Let Congress know who is being overlooked in the US-Russia-Georgia conflict--the people of South Ossetia who want and prefer Russian rule since their declaration of independence from Georgia years ago--whom Georgia attacked and invaded, killing civilians! Russia responded. Congress needs to stop listening to White House propagandists and see the real story, before they start a new Iraq conflict, with Russia, and even towards world war (i.e. NATO versus Russia and allies)! And Congress needs informed people to help wake them up to these documented facts: The Ossetians, a divided people with one section living within Russia on the north side of the Caucasus mountains, and the other in Georgia, generally felt more comfortable with Russian rule than as part of the new, post-Soviet Georgian state. A small and nasty war with Tbilisi in 1990-92 led to a declaration of independence Is it not the Ossetians that have the stake in all this, who will govern and rule them?
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POPSIsrael Backs Georgia in Caspian Oil Pipeline Battle with Russia until a "durable peace" is reached. "As soon as a durable peace takes hold we need to move forward with dialogue and peaceful negotiations." DEBKAfile’s geopolitical experts note that on the surface level, the Russians are backing the separatists of S. Ossetia and neighboring Abkhazia as payback for the strengthening of American influence in tiny Georgia and its 4.5 million inhabitants. However, more immediately, the conflict has been sparked by the race for control over the pipelines carrying oil and gas out of the Caspian region. The Russians may just bear with the pro-US Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s ambition to bring his country into NATO. But they draw a heavy line against his plans and those of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route the oil routes from Azerbaijan and the gas lines from Turkmenistan, which transit Georgia, through Turkey instead of hooking them up to Russian pipelines.
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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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