I don’t even have a TV. Much less so one tuned to American stations. And even much less so one tuned to FOX TV. And sometimes, very rarely, I regret that. Like today. But one of my long time readers helped me out (thanks LH!) and send me this hilarious video of FOX TV reporters being shot at being their Georgian darlings. Before watching it, notice a couple of things.
The first segment shows Russian troops who have clearly arrested a couple of Georgian men (infiltrated special ops, irregulars, whatever – they are not in uniform and so they could be summarily executed as mercenaries, terrorists or spies under the laws of war). Notice that these guys were caught with at least one assault weapon and a large demolition grenade. Clearly, they were not going hunting or skeet shooting. Then notice that the Russians order one of the caught Georgians to take off his shirt. The Russians clearly suspect that he might be hiding more weapons or even a bomb.
Now remember the peace plan which was agreed upon by all parties? Point #5 said:
Russian troops return to the lines they held before the start of the military operation. Before an international solution is worked out Russian peacekeepers are taking up an additional security role.
That ‘additional peacekeeping role’ clearly includes disarming un-uniformed combatants with military weapons, does it not?
And how does FOX TV react to these images? With utter outrage, of course. How dare these Russian not just withdraw at warp speed and how dare they disarm Georgians?! Clearly this is yet another manifestation of Grand-Russian revanchism, militarism, and imperialism – or so these doubleplusgoodthinking reporters think.
There is a profound beauty then to the fact that these same reporters go shot at by the very Georgians they seem to love so much. Watching them run (from a single guy with a pistol, it appears) just reminds how utterly full of shit the Western press is and how totally devoid of any courage – or common sense – these informational-prostitutes are. What a pity indeed that the “fat Georgian with the pistol” missed them.
Next time, maybe?
Anyway – this short video is the perfect allegory about this war. About the Russians, the Georgians and the Americans. The only ones missing from it are the 2000+ murdered Ossetians.
What this thing about running in a panic when not a single gunshot is heard?! That’s exactly what Saakashvili did the other day. Weird…
Too bad no one can yet find 2,000 murdered Ossetian civilians. Even Russian TV is having a hard time coming up with more than 50 confirmed.
But, the death toll of mudered Georgians by S. Ossetian thugs continues to rise.
BL
Nevermind HRW and NYT. Think for yourself:
Take a city with what, about 30’000 people and bomb it for, say, only one night with Grad MRL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OypbLJxfCCY
Then add some street fighting involving thanks and APCs and then ask yourself:
50 confirmed killed?!
Also, and that is really interesting. When did the HRW folks get to Tskhinvali? Where they surveying the damage while it was being done? Hardly. So they got there *after*. When was this? Maybe Tuesday, right? So they do their survey, collect the data, interview people, compare lists if missing people with registered wounded in the hospitals, check with the list of refugees 20’000 people in Northern Ossetia, then centralize the data and produce it, when, yesterday evening, right on time for the NYT to publish it.
If you believe that is possible, then I got a bridge to sell to you.
And if not, then think for yourself of what this all says…
You should have signed “BS” and not “BL” – it just would be more fitting :-)
there we have it:
“When Human Rights Watch entered Tskhinvali on August 13”
this from your second article.
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/08/13/russia19620.htm
So they ENTERED TSKHINVALI *YESTERDAY*.
QED.
“Anna Neistat, one of the researchers, said by telephone from Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, that they had found no evidence to substantiate Russian assertions of widespread brutality by Georgian troops. Human Rights Watch has been able to confirm fewer than 100 deaths.”
Article
You’re right, Human Rights Watch is probably “in the tank” with the State Dept.
It seems HRW is now more concerned with the Georgians who are currently fleeing Ossetian irregulars. Maybe those murders are easier to see than the others.
But it’s pretty hard to hide 2,000 bodies in a city of (questionably) 30,000.
BS
Look, the point is that when you open fire on a city with MRLs you are going to kill a lot of people. Ditto if you are having a tank battle. Unless HRW begins denying that MRLs and MBTs were used the Russian figures are far more plausible.
Which is not to say that they are correct. In fact, I don’t even know how the Russians ever came up with this nice, rounded figure of 2000. It is most likely their guesstimate and little more.
The really interesting topic is why HRW is in such a hurry to dispute the Russian figures. cui bono, you know?
The Russians, who are undeniably a party to the conflict benefit from inflating the figures of Ossetian casualties, concealing their own, and minimizing the Georgian ones. Makes sense.
The Georgians have exactly the opposite goals. Makes sense too, their are also a party to the conflict.
But HRW?!
Their urge to dispute the Russian figures can only lead to one inescapable conclusion: they also are a party to this conflict – on the US payroll.
Sad, disgusting, but predictable.
I worked for a major and well-known “humanitarian” organization once. I can tell you that they make the UN look principled and honest…
That’s fine.
I just grow weary of people throwing around the 2,000 number as a fact when the Russians have been saying it since arrival in Tskhinvali (as if they had time to count), and when, if it’s anywhere near close to accurate, reporters and HRW can’t come up with a guesstimate above 3 digits.
Lavrov throws “thousands” out there every broadcast, it gets old and is likely untrue. Will the world still care if/when the true number is known?
Few people (besides Saakashvili) are talking about the Georgian casualties currently. Are the S. Ossetian irregulars justified in their actions because Georgia supposedly attacked first?
BL
Few people (besides Saakashvili) are talking about the Georgian casualties currently. Are the S. Ossetian irregulars justified in their actions because Georgia supposedly attacked first?
Georgia *did* attack first. If you are disputing that then we are both wasting our time.
I do believe that the Russians did the absolutely correct thing at least when seen on a macro level: expelling the Georgians from S, Ossetia and Abkhazia and eviscerating the Georgian military. Now, what the Russians and the South Ossetians did when seen on a micro level, at the local battle level, I simply don’t know. I personally believe that there are *no* circumstances which can justify violations of the laws of war, international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions and, to a possibly lesser degree, the other relevant bodies of international law applicable in armed conflicts. The key concept here is proportionality. And I have no way of knowing whether that principle has been adequately applied by the Russian or South Ossetian forces. I simply do not know.
But let me be clear here: Georgia did commit an act of aggression, they killed Russian peacekeepers which were there legally and they used heavy artillery to hammer a city.
Saakashvili is war criminal and I hope that the Russians thoroughly destroy every bit of military hardware this maniac was given by his Imperial patrons and I hope that the Russians gave such a whopping to the Georgians military that they – or anyone else for that matter – will never even think of trying something like that again.
“I hope that the Russians thoroughly destroy every bit of military hardware this maniac was given”
Even though they signed a ceasefire and ordered a halt to all operations?
Well, you’re getting your wish as that appears to be exactly what they’re doing.
BL
Since I believe that the Russian *already* destroyed the bulk of the Georgian military my hopes were, in fact, realized by the time the ceasefire was signed.
Besides, you are overlooking the key sentence here:
Before an international solution is worked out Russian peacekeepers are taking up an additional security role.
I really cannot help it if Russians are not only better soldiers, but also better negotiators then Saak and his bosses :-)
Disarming the Georgians SOBs is *exactly* my idea of a good “additional security role” for the Russians :-))
oh, and here is what HRW seems to be not seeing:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20509.htm
50 people confirmed dead? Oh come on!
This report reminds me of one I saw some time ago where a Fox News crew in Gaza was apparently targeted by the very Israel Defense “occupation” Forces they often like to praise…
For comparison purposes, I wish I knew where to find it…
The opening photos are:
Russian soldiers detain a man who carried a weapon in his car at a checkpoint in the Georgian city of Gori, near South Ossetia, August 14, 2008.
Same man? Certainly looks like it to me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theatrum-belli/2761947075/
Russia Blog posts the official casualty count to date.
VS,
What kind of a “punch” do these rockets pack? I remember reading that the Katyusha rockets of World War II were more noisy than deadly, at least compared with more conventional artillery of the day.
In any case, does it really surprise you that our puppets and mercs pussied out like they did? These guys are just NOT that ideologically committed. Who wants to die in a war for Irving and Bill Kristol anyway? Other than some gullible Americans I mean.
One final comment…I promise! I know you are fatigued with this coverage.
F***ING AWESOME ANALYSES AND SYNTHESIS OF EVENTS.
Really, VS, I wish you had a wider platform. You put the pieces together in a way that makes sense. I heard NPR broadcast an interview yesterday morning with Georgian victims of Russia’s counterattack, and I was reminded of your essays about our media and its very selective presentation. Alot of deceit by omission basically, like all the S. Ossetian casualties and the Russian soldiers’ deaths…which started the whole thing.
I don’t know, VS, it’s hard to explain, but you make a lot of sense and things seem to fit together. When I was younger, I had little interest in politics but whenever I did pay attention, I had this vague sense that things were not as they seemed. There was no internet. The mainstream publications which is all I had access to pretty much repeated one another. It has been quite liberating, refreshing to find voices like yours.
Thanks.
@qwerty: you are very, very kind. Thank you so much for your encouragements. It means a lot to me that you and a few others really seem to care. As for the wider platform, you know, I used to be pretty high up in the “bad old days” when I was part of the system. I don’t miss that one bit. At least now I can write what I want and not have to worry about some politician getting pissed off.
I was taught that one soul is more precious than the entire universe and, in the same spirit, one person who finds some value in my modest efforts makes it all worthwhile for me.
It is I who thanks you.
As for Grad, they pack a *huge* punch. These are not the most powerful multiple rocket launchers in the Russian arsenal, but depending on the warheads used they are an terribly effective weapon: each rocket can deliver a 50 pounds fragmentation high explosive warhead (and the firing rate is 40 rockets in 20 sec) at a distance of 20 clicks. Although the Russians have two far more powerful MRL (the Uragan and amazing Smerch) the Grad is still a highly effective weapon. Used on a city filled with civilians, it is a weapon of mass murder, literally.
Again, I am deeply grateful for your kindness. Take care,
The Saker
HRW, why gosh, they are a SOROS creature.
Hrw – [ Translate this page ]
Human Rights Watch. Executive Committee Robert L. Bernstein, Chair; …. Jerome J. Shestack, Sanford Solender, George Soros, Susan Weber Soros, …
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Hrw-10.htm – 19k – Cached – Similar pages
Who is behind Human Rights Watch?
Cynically summarised, Human Rights Watch is a joint venture of George Soros and the State Department. HRW is an almost exclusively US-American organisation. …
http://www.antiwar.com/rep/treanor1.html – 69k – Cached – Similar pages
Katyusha of WWII was DEADLY, if you read the memoirs of germans and russians you will probably know why russians have developed GRAD systems after all.
With the death toll in South-Ossetia – HRW is considered an “NGO” under USA payroll.
Here, in Kyrgyzstan, we have a number of these “NGO”‘s (HRW, Peace-Co, OSCE run programs… etc.). And you know, what people think and see of the work of these “NGO”s?!
– OSCE every now and then presents a munition or equipment to local police forces (usually rubber sticks, plastic shields, and “wasser-puffer wagens” to disperse crowds). So, OSCE considers locals as a threat to the current administration – if you know the fact that NATO has a military avia-base in its major international airport.
– Other “NGO”‘s do some crazy work like – educate some people for USA’s money of course (ACCELS, MUSKIE/FSA) to raise a “5th-column” so that they can make works such this:
Kyrgyz-NATO briefing in NATO HQ in Brussels – http://kg-nato.blogspot.com/
The author of the mentioned blog – is a USA educated Askarbek Mambetaliev (http://www.umass.edu/cie/off_campus/the_2000s.htm#mambetaliev)
They claim that “NATO – is a friendly organization” – how sarcastic this could ever be, if you know that Kyrgyzstan is a Russias’ ally and NATO is still “alive”?!
So, I have no doubt this “NGO”‘s are just a tool for USA!
Look here:
Defender with Georgian troops Before:
http://img1.imageshost.ru/imgs/083392f693cd6306c27502e3425902af/de54db939b8e6073275e37dd34f02e3e.jpg
Defender with Russian troops After
http://img1.imageshost.ru/imgs/083392f693cd6306c27502e3425902af/de54db939b8e6073275e37dd34f02e3e.jpg
About HRW, you can read today’s Justin Raimondo’s article, here: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13304
Here’s the excerpt about HRW (without links and unformatted):
alex
***
“The blatant media bias displayed by the “mainstream” news organizations is more than matched by the shameful cover-up of Georgian atrocities by the mainline “human rights” organizations, first and foremost Human Rights Watch. In the most brazen display of willful ignorance since Walter Duranty overlooked the Soviet gulags, HRW spokeswoman Anna Neistat told the Guardian that Ossetian claims of Georgian atrocities were “suspicious”:
“The figure of 2,000 people killed is very doubtful. Our findings so far do not in any way confirm the Russian statistics. On the contrary, they suggest the numbers are exaggerated.”
Neistat avers that no more than 44 were killed and around 200 were wounded in the Georgian attack on Tskhinvali. Perhaps she should talk to International Red Cross spokeswoman Anna Nelson, who reports area hospitals “overflowing” with the dead and the wounded.
The voices of the Ossetians are barely reaching the West, but when they do – as in this Australian Broadcasting Corp. news report – they underscore the sheer ugliness of HRW’s appalling apologetics:
“One woman told how a family of four including two children tried to flee from a Georgian tank but it ‘fired on their car and they were all burned’ to death, said Angela, who like all the refugees only gave her first name. In another incident, a woman eight months pregnant and two family members fleeing from the city under attack were hit by tank fire and ‘nothing remained of them,’ Angela said.
“She saw the Georgian tanks roll into Tskhinvali, the soldiers shouting ‘Hail Saakashvili,’ who is the president of Georgia. ‘They destroyed the city,’ added Inna, 33, who said she could not understand how the Georgian troops ‘could do that to civilians.’
“‘You see your friend’s home burning and there’s nothing you can do. You just watch and cry, it’s a genocide,’ Inna said. An old woman among the refugees said all she had left was the dress she was wearing. ‘My house is destroyed,’ she said.”
The Red Cross isn’t disputing HRW’s numbers. Other news outlets are putting out similar numbers.
The Russians are letting Ossetians steal UN vehicles and equipment in Gori, so that’s not really helpful.
Russia is also possibly in violation of the Geneva Convention, which prohibits indiscriminate force, in their use of cluster munitions.
BL
more FOX/georgia stuff:
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/08/14/american-girl-interviewed-on-fox-news-we-were-running-from-georgian-troops-thank-you-to-russian-troops/
don’t know if this has been already linked above, i didn’t read all the comments (*blush*)
(sorry VS, i know you’ve had your issues with antiwar but that’s where i saw it)