Dear friends, As per Murphy’s law my Internet connection is mostly down. Brighthouse will send a tech on Monday. I will try to post here in the short moments when it is back up but I cannot promise to maintain coverage of the war in Ossetia for the next three days. Ditto for answering emails. I apologize for this. Kind regards, The Saker
Georgian army may be tough nut for Russia to crack By Stefan Korshak for Deutsche Presse-Agentur via Monsters and Critics The war in the Caucasian province Ossetia may seem like an uneven contest between giant Russia and tiny Georgia – but on the battlefront things are a bit different. Georgia’s President President Mikheil Saakashvili, coming to office in the 2003 pro-democracy Rose Revolution, has with some help from the United
According to several sources Georgian tanks have re-entered the city of Tskhinvali and are now being engaged by Russian armored forces from the 58th Army contingent in South Ossetia.
Georgian TV has just shown footage of one dead Russian pilot and one wounded one. Georgian journalists were allowed inside the hospital where there Russian POW was treated and asked him what his mission had been. The Russian could barely speak, but he repeated twice “reconnaissance”. Some Georgian sources claim that not two, but five Russian aircraft were shot down. It could well be that the pilot was saying the
The Georgian war – minute by minute 13:16 GMT – Russia considers bringing the killing of peacekeepers to the international court – Foreign Ministry. 13:03 GMT – Tbilisi may ask the West for military aid – head of Georgia’s national security council. 12:53 GMT – Bush assures Medvedev he will help return the situation in South Ossetia to the sphere of diplomacy. 12:53 GMT – Georgian troops block 2,000 refugees
Georgian authorities have shut down the broadcast of Russian TV stations. They have also blocked the access to any website with the domain name ending in .ru Not coincidentally, the US government propaganda radio Voice of America has doubled its broadcasts in Georgian.
Click on the maps for detailed view
Here are some of the developments which I have learned so far: 1) Russia did admit that two of its military aircraft had been lost yesterday. This is rather baffling since the Georgian air defense capabilities are, according to Wikipedia, officially rather minimal: * 15 SA-11 * 38 SA-3 * 18 SA-8 * 35 ZSU-23-4 * 15 S-60 * 40 MT-LB with towed ZU-23-2 2) Abkhazian authorities have declared that
According to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Condi Rice had three telephone conversations just today. Its pretty clear who the real parties to the conflict are, isn’t it?
Appeal to the Governments and peoples of the world! Please, help us stop genocide of the small people of the South Ossetia! The small country, which has been constantly destroying for 19 years by Georgian fascists.And the world community conceal all the atrocities of Georgia for the sake of geopolitical interest of the USA. Conflict resolution is completely in international law. However, the Georgian side skillfully uses methods of historical
Anti Georgian crackers have defaced the website of the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs leaving only some photos of Georgian President Saakashvili and Adolf Hitler. Click on the photo for a better view:
AP reports: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: “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.” You gotta be kiddin, Condi?!
By Silvia Cattori via Information Clearing House Standing straight and tall, an impressive and deeply introspective man, Sami El Haj walks with a limp and the help of a walking stick. Neither laughter nor smiles light up the refined face of this man, old before his time. A deep sadness pervades him. He was 32 years old when, in December 2001, his life, like that of tens of thousands of
By Scott Ritter for Truth Dig The war between the United States and Iran is on. American taxpayer dollars are being used, with the permission of Congress, to fund activities which result in Iranians being killed and wounded, and Iranian property destroyed. This wanton violation of a nation’s sovereignty would not be tolerated if the tables were turned and Americans were being subjected to Iranian-funded covert actions which took the
by Gilad Atzmon for Palestine Think Tank Back in 2003 I wrote, “If ‘world peace’ is our main concern, we must achieve a balance of power, we must let the oppressed people of this world have access to the most advanced weaponry…. Balance of power is the only key to peace.” Nowadays, when Israel and its supportive lobbies are doing everything within their powers to drag us all into a
By Mike Whitney for InformationClearingHouse It was a perfectly executed rescue mission and they pulled it off without a hitch. A small group of Columbian military-intelligence agents, posing as aid workers on a humanitarian mission, touched-down in the heart of rebel territory, gathered up Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages, and whisked them away to safety while a small army of rifle-toting Marxist guerrillas looked on dumbfounded. The tale of
By Jonathan Turley, Lead Counsel to Dr. Sami Al-Arian In a set back for the government, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was granted bail by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema today. Over the objections of the government and the pre-trial services, Judge Brinkema agreed that Dr. Al-Arian was not a flight risk and no danger to the community. The government has suggested that it may now block release by having Immigration officials hold
By Paul Craig Roberts for Information Clearinghouse Which country is the rogue nation? Iraq? Iran? Or the United States? Syndicated columnist Charley Reese asks this question in a recently published article. Reese notes that it is the US that routinely commits “acts of aggression around the globe.” The US government has no qualms about dropping bombs on civilians whether they be in Serbia, the Middle East, or Africa. It is
Press TV reports: An Iranian navy commander leading a unit that arrested 15 UK sailors in the Persian Gulf last year survives an assassination attempt. The attack on Colonel Abolqasem Amangah, the commander of the Arvand Rud Navy Base in southern Iran, occurred while he was driving in the eastern Sorkh Hesar district of Tehran on Monday. Two groups of unidentified assailants, a group on a motorbike and the other
These are just some of the articles found on the Internet this morning: France will confront those who calling for Israel’s destruction (the two countries have “honeymoon like relations) Iran considers an attack by Israel “impossible” IAEA chief el-Baradei warns that the Middle-East will turn into a “ball of fire” if Iran is attacked (and says he will resign if Iran is attacked) The commander of the Iranian IRCG says
