Georgia: Russia enters into 'war' in South Ossetia

[Sentenza]

Over 1,300 people are reported dead after Russian forces responded to a Georgian attack on rebels in the breakaway province of South Ossetia by mounting a full scale invasion.



By Adrian Blomfield in Gori

Columns of Russian tanks plunged the two neighbours into war as they filed into South Ossetia, marking the Kremlin's first military assault on foreign soil since the Soviet Union's Afghanistan intevention, which ended in 1989.

Russian tanks rolled towards the capital of South Ossetia and fighters bombed Georgian air bases after Georgia launched attacks on rebels in the breakaway region. South Ossetia won de-facto independence in a war which ended in 1992 but has been a source of tension ever since, along with Abkhazia, another separatist region.

Russian peacekeepers have suffered 12 dead and 150 wounded, the peacekeeping forces were quoted as saying by Russian news agencies, while over 1300 civilians are reported to have been killed.

"Now our peacekeepers are waging a fierce battle with regular forces from the Georgian army in the southern region of Tskhinvali," a representative of the Russian force was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Reports last night claimed that Russia had started to bomb civil and economic infrastructure, including the Black Sea port of Poti and the military base at Senaki. Between 8 and 11 Russian jets reportedly hit container tanks and a shipbuilding plant at the port.

"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia.

"It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

The confrontation between the two countries deepened in April when Nato promised that Georgia would be allowed to join - although no clear timetable was offered.

The European Union was trying to secure a ceasefire in the pro-Russian enclave. The United States and the EU sent a joint delegation to the region in a bid to halt the fighting, while Nato called for an immediate end to the clashes and for direct talks between Russia and Georgia.

Any ceasefire would be unlikely to hold. Hours after President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, a devoutly pro-Western leader, declared a unilateral ceasefire on Thursday night, his forces began an artillery barrage against Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital.

The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games. Many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President George W Bush, were in Beijing watching the opening ceremony.

Mr Putin declared: "War has started." Victor Dolidze, Georgia's ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said: "If this is not war, then I wonder what it is."

Mr Dolidze told the OSCE's permanent council in Vienna that Russian forces had been bombing Georgian territory since the morning, according to a diplomat who attended the 45-minute meeting.

Vladimir Voronkov, Russia's representative, told the assembly that "the true story is very different." He accused the Georgian side of launching a massive attack in defiance of diplomatic efforts.

As the roar of warplanes and the explosion of heavy shells sounded outside Tskhinvali, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, accused the Georgians of driving people from their homes.

"We are receiving reports that a policy of ethnic cleansing was being conducted in villages in South Ossetia, the number of refugees is climbing, the panic is growing, people are trying to save their lives," he said in televised remarks from the ministry.

Georgia, which would be hugely outnumbered in an all-out confrontation with Russia, said that it had control of the capital, but there were reports of Russian tanks on the outskirts and that Georgian forces had started to retreat.

Georgia will withdraw 1,000 soldiers from its military contingent of around 2,000 troops in Iraq to help in the fighting against South Ossetian separatist rebels, a top Georgian official said.

Georgia has asked the US military to provide aircraft to move Georgian troops home from Iraq as fighting rages in Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region, a US military official said Friday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia.

"The United States calls for an immediate ceasefire to the armed conflict in Georgia's region of South Ossetia," Rice said in a statement.

"We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia's territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil," she said.

The United States is working actively with its European allies to launch international mediation to end the crisis and senior US officials have spoken with the parties in the conflict, she added.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana: "We repeat our message to all parties to immediately stop the violence."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said the US was sending an envoy to the region "to engage with the parties in the conflict".

[Sentenza]

my bad for the double posting.

[razbojnik]

This should get interesting...

Or maybe not. Maybe the usual cycle will happen instead of an escalation into an event on a worldwide scale like a World War, maybe the usual cycle will occour again:

Either this thing cools down in a matter of days or turns into an all out war between Georgia and Russia. Russia, of course, wins the war, and the most likely thing that will end the war is a ceasefire instead of the Russians bombing the shit out of Tblitsi. Of course, the international community will respond, the USA will be first, followed by European nations, most likely Britain and maybe France, Germany doesn't really give a shit as I've seen so far which is good, they shouldn't. Tensions rise a bit more between Russia and the USA, and at the same time you saw the EU put more sanctions on Iran.

This continues on for awhile till it gets cold war level of really really hot and proxy wars break out, you see crap like you did at the hottest points of the Cold War, and I wonder if the USA has the guts to invade Russia over it shooting down a bomber airplane flying over Northeastern Siberia.

I'll turn on CNN after I go take a crap then a shower...

[Azure9920]

The US won't invade Russia. If anything the US will side with Russia against the Georgians, who've been bombing civilians.

[whiskeyjack]

dam im going to russia on monday, but only to the eastern side of the country thank god!!!!!

[razbojnik]

The US won't invade Russia. If anything the US will side with Russia against the Georgians, who've been bombing civilians.

Your right, best forget ideological differences for economic reasons. However, it would be interesting to see today's major powers duke it out, and of course, I find that no longer nessecery and will do anything to prevent it. It can make me rich by the time it ends or it can fuck up everything I've ever worked for, an all out war...

Also, from what I've been hearing from Georgia on CNN, it seems as if...the Georgians insist that Russians are bombing civilians. This afternoon the death count overall was over 2,000. By tommorow we'll either see this number rise by another thousand, or either double or even triple or quadrouple. The US should side with Russia, I agree with you on that, even if it comes to war I'd perfer Russia be against the US and win because in the end the US will take all the glory and the Russians all the casulaties if they both side just like in World War 2 and I can't just let to see that happen...

But for economic reasons, there is a pleothora of routes that can be taken from the Western Hemisphere(North and South America) to the Eastern Hemisphere(Europe, Africa, Asia) that can strengthen the world economy. Georgia already took that route, so did Azerbajan. The route besides geographically speaking is everything or nothing. I think you'd agree with me on this..

I knew this Georgian kid from Grade 7... Poor kid... Me and him = only two white boys in our class of 30+ kids...

Now back to the war. The war's turnout is pretty predictable. It will be easier than Chechenya. Chechenya had rebels, not a regular military. Georgia is a country. First the Georgian military goes down then an insurgency ensues. But there's still a difference between a Georgian and Chechenyan insurgency --- the mentality...

The war will be over within a few days at most. I can't guarentee you this but don't take my words into doubt just for the sake of immorality...

[razbojnik]

dam im going to russia on monday, but only to the eastern side of the country thank god!!!!!

Um.. Family routes in Siberia? Russia is huge. What goes on in Georgia does not have anything to do with Moscow. A war could break out in Macedonia, and it should in the West where the Albanians are because they are the only ones that make noise, but in the East, we having nothing to worry about. There are only a couple of Albanians in town, a family. They are good, we don't bother them. When the war started in 2001, their shop or house got burnt down... They came back recently, I don't know how that turned out I'm guessing good.........

Don't worry. What the hell are you doing in that part of Siberia anyhow? Military based? Family? Business? Oil? Podstava? Hmm??

[whiskeyjack]

business

[razbojnik]

business

Hehehe... There are several industries you could infiltrate there. Oil/natural gas, fishing, metals/mining... You shouldn't worry about the war it's on the other side of the whole country, that's about 10,000 miles. What's happening in Toronto can't affect Buffalo, if you know what I mean... Same goes with Stip and Skopje.

[Babmuk]

Georgians are insolent mutherfuckers,invaded Osetia and God damn Ssakashvili talking about RUssia invading their country,who the fuck needs Georgia?Only USA,that's about it.And Ossetians they dont want to be part of Georgia they want to be independant country,so let it be...NOO Georgians bombed with airplanes and high artillery their cities and their capital Tchinvali,plus to that georgians shooting at peacemakers and ambulances and so on..and what do u have on your tv overthere in USA?I know what.i've seen it RUSSIA INVADED GEORGIA!!!What a freaking BS!!!well for the last time fuck georgians....

[razbojnik]

Georgians are insolent mutherfuckers,invaded Osetia and God damn Ssakashvili talking about RUssia invading their country,who the fu-- needs Georgia?Only USA,that's about it.And Ossetians they dont want to be part of Georgia they want to be independant country,so let it be...NOO Georgians bombed with airplanes and high artillery their cities and their capital Tchinvali,plus to that georgians shooting at peacemakers and ambulances and so on..and what do u have on your tv overthere in USA?I know what.i've seen it RUSSIA INVADED GEORGIA!!!What a freaking BS!!!well for the last time fu-- georgians....

Ethnic tensions, there you go!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_South_Ossetia_(2008)

[Azure9920]

Georgians are insolent mutherfuckers,invaded Osetia and God damn Ssakashvili talking about RUssia invading their country,who the fu-- needs Georgia?Only USA,that's about it.And Ossetians they dont want to be part of Georgia they want to be independant country,so let it be...NOO Georgians bombed with airplanes and high artillery their cities and their capital Tchinvali,plus to that georgians shooting at peacemakers and ambulances and so on..and what do u have on your tv overthere in USA?I know what.i've seen it RUSSIA INVADED GEORGIA!!!What a freaking BS!!!well for the last time fu-- georgians....

What does the US need from Georgia? They're the size of a large city, I doubt there's anything they could actually offer the United States or Russia.

[Sentenza]

Georgians are insolent mutherfuckers,invaded Osetia and God damn Ssakashvili talking about RUssia invading their country,who the fu-- needs Georgia?Only USA,that's about it.And Ossetians they dont want to be part of Georgia they want to be independant country,so let it be...NOO Georgians bombed with airplanes and high artillery their cities and their capital Tchinvali,plus to that georgians shooting at peacemakers and ambulances and so on..and what do u have on your tv overthere in USA?I know what.i've seen it RUSSIA INVADED GEORGIA!!!What a freaking BS!!!well for the last time fu-- georgians....

What does the US need from Georgia? They're the size of a large city, I doubt there's anything they could actually offer the United States or Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku-Tbili ... n_pipeline

[Babmuk]

What does the US need from Georgia? They're the size of a large city, I doubt there's anything they could actually offer the United States

Well,it's politics..like y Poland went under wing of US or Ukraine..?It's going on for a long time now US vs Russia.

[Kyo]

Russia listed Serbia as one of the countries that helped Georgia with weapons.They found Serbian AK 47's,Anti aircraft missile launchers and bunch of ammunition that came directly from Serbia.

[Sentenza]

Heres an Article that sheds an interesting light on the issue...

Georgia: Russia demands to be regarded as number one

Why has Russia reverted to traditional means of controlling its former satellite states? At the heart of Vladimir Putin's aggressive nationalism is his firm belief that the power of the West is on the wane, says James Sherr.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... r-one.html

[whiskeyjack]

here where iam working the russians are saying the georgians killed many southern ossetians, and the russians are protecting the southern ossetians.... They say also before in the 1920's or back then that the georgians did something similar were they killed many southern ossetians.

But i agree this is a very fucked up situation

[Babmuk]

here where iam working the russians are saying the georgians killed many southern ossetians, and the russians are protecting the southern ossetians.... They say also before in the 1920's or back then that the georgians did something similar were they killed many southern ossetians.

But i agree this is a very #%@& up situation

YES,THATS TRUE!!!!
and the reason why I have bad thoughts and really negotive thinking about all those mofos from Kavkaz is that couple hundreds years before they were freaking running from turkish ppl that were killing them..and they came to the king or queen.i don't remember exactly and WERE BEGGING FOR PROTECTION ON THEIR KNEES!!!FOR REAL!!!So russia took them under it's wing and kicked turk's asses..and in the last century in the 50's russia builded in goergia 4-5 level buildings when the whole russia was only homes..no buildings..and right now Georgia is pro american,,they got their rockets for GRAD from Israel and alot of different types of weapons from USA...Russians told americans loong time ago don't do this,it's can cause trouble in the future,but no,america gave them weapons,taught them war tactics and shit..and what those fucking "churki" did?They invaded South Ossetia were bombing it in the night time and struck it with heavy artillery..and that fucking bastard SSakashvili knows that alot of Ossetians has russian passports..so how would Russia should react?It was nothing from RUssian side!!!If i would be president of Russia i would do the same freaking thing..kome with high artillery to Georgias' capital and threw rockets in the middle of the night...

[razbojnik]

here where iam working the russians are saying the georgians killed many southern ossetians, and the russians are protecting the southern ossetians.... They say also before in the 1920's or back then that the georgians did something similar were they killed many southern ossetians.

But i agree this is a very #%@& up situation

YES,THATS TRUE!!!!
and the reason why I have bad thoughts and really negotive thinking about all those mofos from Kavkaz is that couple hundreds years before they were freaking running from turkish ppl that were killing them..and they came to the king or queen.i don't remember exactly and WERE BEGGING FOR PROTECTION ON THEIR KNEES!!!FOR REAL!!!So russia took them under it's wing and kicked turk's asses..and in the last century in the 50's russia builded in goergia 4-5 level buildings when the whole russia was only homes..no buildings..and right now Georgia is pro american,,they got their rockets for GRAD from Israel and alot of different types of weapons from USA...Russians told americans loong time ago don't do this,it's can cause trouble in the future,but no,america gave them weapons,taught them war tactics and shit..and what those #%@&#%@ "churki" did?They invaded South Ossetia were bombing it in the night time and struck it with heavy artillery..and that #%@&#%@ bastard SSakashvili knows that alot of Ossetians has russian passports..so how would Russia should react?It was nothing from RUssian side!!!If i would be president of Russia i would do the same freaking thing..kome with high artillery to Georgias' capital and threw rockets in the middle of the night...

The people of Macedonia and Serbia are with you.

We know how you feel.

[Sentenza]

Lets face it people, Georgia isnt what this is about again. No one gives a shit about them and they are neither good or bad. This is between the Nato/USA and Russia. Georgia is just the dummie and i think it is unfair to the Georgians to blame everything on them cause we all know Russia doesnt play for Human Rights either. Putin has proven that over and over.
If you ask the Russian government, its ALWAYS Americas fault, Chechnyas fault, Ukrainias fault, Georgias fault, the CIAs fault....Come on please....We all know the truth is somewhere in between 99% of the times and i have a very hard time trusting governments and that counts for the Russian one too.
Read the article i posted.

[whiskeyjack]

personally ive been reading alot of the georgians killing innocent people, and NATO backs the georgians in this situation.... If i were russia of course i would blow the shit out of the georgians because the southern ossetians do in fact need help....

Georgia attacked souther ossetia, The UN should hold georgia to blame for there actions

I think america is trying to force russia to intervene so the republicans can score more votes in the upcoming election...

[razbojnik]

Politics are complicated...

[MiChuhSuh]

What's up SG?

I see some of you figure this out already, but the American media lied to everyone about this:
The news has only been reporting about the invasion, making Russia look like bullies and making the Georgians looking like either innocent or helpless victims.

What they don't tell you is the South Ossetia region was rescued by Russia from a Georgian genocide and they have been in the region as peacekeepers to prevent further ethnic cleansing.

Not only that, the some part of the regions Russia is claiming was originally Russian land that was illegally occupied by Georgia AFTER they signed a peace treaty.

Russia is NOT the bully here. Georgia was trying to be the bully thinking that they could get away with it with US and EU support, but they didn't.

On top of that the region has been de facto autonomous since then and the majority of the residents of those areas would rather be either under Russian protection and would even prefer to be part of Russia. I saw some interviews where they called the Russians saviors.

IN THIS CASE RUSSIA HAS THE MORAL UPPER HAND.

I know a historical and political expert and this is what he enlightened me with (spelling issues because he's from Norway), I checked all the facts and looked around more and it all checks out, but the MEDIA here has IGNORED ALL OF THESE FACTS:

It is not as simple as one would make it to be all about russian agression. Few facts

1. The georgians started it and attacked russian peacekeepers when they cancelled the truce.

2. The russian peacekeepers have been in southern osseatia, a de facto free state since 1992 when they intervened in 1992 saving the southern osseatioans from at best ethnic cleansing at worst a genocide.

3. Several of the areas that the russians have taken over that the georgians claim as their own, the georgians stole in 1992 after the peacetreaty was started.

4.There is a big oil pipeline going through southern osseatia. I bet gazprom would love to influence that. THe russians have gone to far in some cases, and they are pressing the matter of humiliating the georgians a bi much, but there is many lies on both sides. I will be taking a class on eastern european history later on, and I hope we will touch on the subject.

The russians are going a little far, but as long as they only go back into southern osseatia then the situation will calm down. Do not worry though, this war was expected(just look at how fast the russians moved) and no western country will go to war over georgia (which is why they were not allowed to join NATO amongst other things)

as i see it, it was nothing but an attempt at a land grab in the region with the georgians attempting to use their western support to keep the russians at bay. The russians were prepared however and the support from the west did not materialise. I think the russians will try to scare the georgian populace so that they will ellect someone that is not as pro american as the current president in the next round of elections.

^And that's coming from someone who hates the leaders in the Russian government, he wouldn't normally say anything that could defend them.

[MiChuhSuh]

Look how Fox News first tries to lead the audience to believe they were being attacked by the Russia and gets confused when they said the Russians saved them from the Georgians

follow-up by Russian channel



The Georgians were killing Ossetians randomly and they had to flee to Russia! The bombings and attacks on civilians were done by Georgia who used their media pull to say it was the Russians

Look at another American who was caught up in Georgia:

You have to listen close because the translator starts talking in Russian over him, but you can hear him say in English that the Western media is lying and that he saw with his own eyes that Georgia started it, and that they cut off his communications and even their power and water so they can attack civilians!

[razbojnik]

This is the beauty of being Russia. You can invade a country and NATO can't invade you, of course not just any country but...

[Sentenza]

I think it is as they stated in that article i posted. The former countries of the Soviet Union are mostly against Russia, with exceptions like Lukaschenko in Belo-Russia and they try to move towards the Nato/West. Georgia tried that too and Russia showed what will happen if neighbouring countries will try to cooperate with the US instead of Russia. They will crush them. And whats even better for Russia is, that no one can really complain because the Us set an example with the Iraq war, that it is justified to aggresively invade another country to protect your own countries national security.
We will see more of these things happen, i am sure.
Again, its not about Human rights or protection of Ossetians. Does anyone really think that Russia gives a shit about them?
Does anyone really think the US invaded Iraq because they love the Iraqis so much that they had to bring them democracy?
These things are ALWAYS just cover ups to conceal the bigger political moves intended.

[razbojnik]

I think it is as they stated in that article i posted. The former countries of the Soviet Union are mostly against Russia, with exceptions like Lukaschenko in Belo-Russia and they try to move towards the Nato/West. Georgia tried that too and Russia showed what will happen if neighbouring countries will try to cooperate with the US instead of Russia. They will crush them. And whats even better for Russia is, that no one can really complain because the Us set an example with the Iraq war, that it is justified to aggresively invade another country to protect your own countries national security.
We will see more of these things happen, i am sure.
Again, its not about Human rights or protection of Ossetians. Does anyone really think that Russia gives a shit about them?
Does anyone really think the US invaded Iraq because they love the Iraqis so much that they had to bring them democracy?
These things are ALWAYS just cover ups to conceal the bigger political moves intended.

Bingo. You nailed it right there.

But not most... 6(according to CNN) are for Russia out of 14 total republics excluding Russia. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Uzbekistan are for Russia, I'm guessing Turkmenistan might be the sixth one. I know Georgia and Ukraine are together on the Georgia thing, and I'm pretty sure Armenia and Azerbajan aren't so fond of Russia invading their neighbourhing country so...

I read somewhere the Baltic countries, so this being Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia aren't so fond of Russia's activities either...

Moldova is left over. I'm pretty sure they are pro US being the poorest country in Europe......

[Babmuk]

armanians and azery mind they own buissness,before they were coming at each other

[BandeR]

http://www.russia.ru/video/war080808en/

~english vershion

http://www.russia.ru/video/war080808espanol/

~hispanic version

http://www.russia.ru/video/war080808/

~russian version






...just saw & think about this shit ...

[Basta]

WoW,WoW what's going here? many people are say really fukin things about Georgia,and they should fuck themselves and shut up,it's eazy to talk about facts from computer and from Tv, i am 20 years old and i had to go there if i don't they would sent me to jail,so i went there..for the first 2 days we fucked up russian's,but for 3-4 they came with many technique and etc. Osetian's are just fukin apes,and what about russian's they were more then 30k-40k,but most important they were like virgin rabbits,hanging "Kalashnikovs" in their hands and trambling. they are Just Fukin Co$% suk#@$,so many people should not talk about things what they don't know..What About Gangs,Cripz and Bloodz it's just fun for us,Come in Georgia or Chechyna,and you'll see what is real Gun shooting:

[Babmuk]

First of all do not compare Georgia(ns) to Chechens..secind if u was so brave and smart go to russian forum and tell them how it REALLY WAS here's the source http://www.rusarmy.com/forum/index.php? ... aaa9962fb1

I don't give a damn about Ossetians,northern or southern but u wanna tell ME that russian troops were scared of georgians?COMEEE ONNNN...
I would really like to c how russian troops striking Tbilisi with Grad and other artilerry with the same argument coz georgians are "apes" and would like to c your reaction on the falling rockets one after another kinda non stop...

But u have right to tell that russians are really bad ass motherfuckers and should mind their own buissness while Ssakashvili is your idol N1.

[VostokSila]

I dont know why you bother analyzing a situation like this over the comp. You, me or anyone except for maybe the military commanders know what's realy going on and what the motives are.
Russian rabbit soldiers? if I can only find this youtube link I seen where a bunch of Russian soldiers in a field take away georgian soldiers guns away with their hands lol.
Georgia and Chechnya aint the same by faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr saying something like this makes u look dumb but so did much of your comment so..
I saw this Chechen say to a Georgian... transleted "волк не можит дружить с шакалом" translation "a wolf cannot be friends with a jackal".

I seen on perviy kanal this unit of Chechens called "Vostok" or something... lol they are georgians worst nightmare lmao.