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POPS Kremlin: South Ossetia Will Join 'One United Russian State' Georgia announced that it was recalling all diplomatic staff from its embassy in Moscow in protest at the continued Russian occupation of its land in defiance of a ceasefire agreement brokered by President Sarkozy of France. “The regimes of Abkhazia and South Ossetia should think about the fact that if they become part of Russia, they will be assimilated, and in this way they will disappear.” Lado Gurgenidze, the Prime Minister of Georgia, scrapped agreements that had permitted Russian peacekeepers to operate in the two regions after wars in the early 1990s. Russia attacked the G7 after the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan condemned its “excessive use of military force in Georgia”. Having been rebuffed on Thursday by China and four Central Asian states, Russia will seek support next week from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) for its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
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POPSGeorgia breaks ties with Russia Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Moscow regretted Tbilisi's decision. "The possible end of diplomatic relations with Georgia is not the choice of Moscow, and Tbilisi will have to bear the entire responsibility," the state-controlled Tass news agency reported him as saying.
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POPSRussia restricting travel in Georgia French Ambassador Eric Fournier was reportedly stopped on the morning of August 21 near Gori for three hours as he tried to return to Tbilisi from a village further west. Matyas Eorsi, an envoy from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, was initially refused entry to Gori on August 20, before the decision was reversed. In a blow to local sensitivities, the governor of Shida Kartli, Lasha Vardzelashvili, was detained for two hours by Russian forces after trying to secure a humanitarian aid convoy’s passage through a Russian checkpoint.
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POPSOne American Tourist Killed Another Injured In Beijing "Our priority in this hour is to attend to the needs of the family members, the U.S. Olympic men's indoor volleyball team and staff, and the entire U.S. Olympic delegation," according to the statement from the USOC. "In addition, the USOC is working closely with the United States Embassy, United States law enforcement authorities and local law enforcement authorities." President Bush and his wife, Laura, are currently in Beijing to attend the Olympics.
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POPSMy Country, Tis Of Thee, Sweet Land Of Liberty Long before the Hamdan trial, we already knew that we were offered bin Laden in transit from Sudan to Afghanistan. But we did not want him. Our lawyers had no battle, our leaders no mettle. Most of us, though not all, have learned nothing. After thousands smote and seven years of war, we are back to our superior ways, demanding Habeas Corpus and noting in the very first trial that bin Laden’s deputy was read no Miranda rights upon his capture - or was it arrest? They say history repeats itself. Never before has it applied so swiftly, within the same generation and within the same conflict. A selfish society incapable of sacrifice is equally incapable of self-defense. Our greatest concern is not the pursuit of madmen or the states which feed them. It is not even the cost of oil and its affect on our economy and future.
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POPSIs Syrian President Assad Bluffing? something his country has always refused since it considered that Lebanon is just a Syrian province. This was a huge condition for the French who see it a pledge given by Damascus to Lebanese sovereignty. Fifth, Syria has, according to Arab sources, made a big "summer housecleaning" by eliminating dozens of prisoners at the Sidnaya prison. Among them, two leaders of Jund al-Sham, the Islamist organization linked to Syrian services. Sixth, according to the Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah, Syria also asked Hamas leaders based in Damascus to leave the Syrian territory. The latter could move into the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Hezbollah stronghold. Seventh, Syria is allegedly trying to break up Hezbollah. Al-Seyassah believes that Syria has resumed its contacts with the former secretary general of Hezbollah and one of its co-founders, Sobhi Toufaili. Syria wants to strengthen Toufaili's faction to weaken Hassan Nasrallah and divide the party.
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POPSPak-US Ties Vital For Regional Peace About the recent incident of firing across the LoC, he said there had been three such incidents in the Batal sector, including the one that happened on Sunday. About UN probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the spokesman said that modalities were being worked out and an announcement was expected in a couple of weeks. He said Dr Khan had retired a long time ago and has no say in the nuclear programme now. Pakistan's nuclear programme, he added, is fully secure, under maximum security arrangements, which are the best security practices all over the world.
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POPSAbu Khabab al-Masri, Al Qaeda "Master of Terror," Killed... Maybe Furthermore, as the London Times notes, "The attack came just before Yousaf Raza Gilani, Pakistan’s new Prime Minister, was due to meet President Bush in Washington for talks focusing on co-operation in the War on Terror." That raises the possibility of a politically motivated announcement of the death of a senior AQ leader, and that has happened before also. So let's wait for verifiable physical evidence before celebrating. And don't confuse this terrorist with Abu Ubaida al-Masri, another Al Qaeda senior leader who died a few months ago of natural causes.
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POPSSupport Of Obama Shaped By Ahmad Chalabi Advice
security decisions of Iraq's army to forward a Shiite confessional agenda. The role of Mr. Chalabi, whose party failed to gain any seats in the 2005 federal parliamentary elections, should be of interest to close watchers of the Bush administration. While Mr. Chalabi has clashed with both the American embassy and at times with Mr. Maliki, he nonetheless is still regarded among the Shiite political class as knowledgeable of American politics from his days lobbying for the Iraq Liberation Act in Washington. At the time, in the late 1990s, Senator McCain was one of Mr. Chalabi's biggest supporters. Mr. Brooke yesterday pointed out that Mr. Chalabi was appointed in 2007 by Mr. Maliki to chair a special committee aimed at restoring basic services to the citizens of Baghdad. "Maliki was number two in the Debaathification commission from the beginning when it was started in 2003. He has been in constant contact with Dr. Chalabi since that time," Mr. Brooke said.
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POPSUS to Iran in "Diplomacy": Two Weeks to Comply Just as we posted earlier, playing diplomatic "good cop" is just a nicer face with a club in his belt. The exact same tactic was used with Saddam leading up to the Iraq war, even though he could not prove to them he had no WMD, because you cannot disprove a mere suspicion or a lying accusation.
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POPSText of McCain Editorial rejected by the NY Times This editorial was a written response to Obama's editorial. It was rejected. continuing.. "Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City—actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism."
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POPSUS to House Diplomats in Iran, Oil Prices Drop This is the real reason oil prices dropped sharply today, when this news broke overseas, 5 hours ahead of US time. NBC Nightly News tonight had it right (video here) in interview with economist who said oil prices have included an "Iran premium" due to war rhetoric from US and Israel. Immediately the price fell when it looks like diplomacy might open up a bit.
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