Russia Today reports: A war of titans seems to be starting, but luckily not a bloody one this time. Die Hard 2 director Renny Harlin to make film about 2008 Georgian war, but another star, Emir Kusturica, seems ready to fire back with a hit. It’s probably the first time Georgia has hosted such big Hollywood stars, and not only hosts, but enjoys taking center stage in a new movie
The BBC reports: Nato ministers have agreed to resume high-level contacts with Russia, making what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called a “fresh start”. Relations conducted through the Nato-Russia Council had been frozen by Nato in protest at the brief war last summer between Russia and Georgia. Mrs Clinton said areas of mutual concern included Afghanistan. translation: NATO sulking at Russia for beating Georgia in 4 days did not
This will appear in the next issue of Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/ Sense is returning to East-West relations, despite the US and NATO, affirms Eric Walberg 2008 will be remembered as a turning point in Russia’s relations with the West. It was a tumultuous year, with Kosovo, missiles in Europe and NATO’s seemingly relentless march eastward like thunderclouds gathering on Russia’s horizon, which finally burst 8 August over South Ossetia, bringing
From the website http://www.war080808.com/: “War 08.08.08. The Art of Betrayal” – is one of the first documentary Internet-films. This is the most outspoken film about the war, that started on the day of opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing, the film about the war, in which tens of Russian peacemaker perished as well as hundreds of peaceful Ossetians; it is the film about the war that turned out to
By SPIEGEL ONLINE Staff Five weeks after the war in the Caucasus the mood is shifting against Georgian President Saakashvili. Some Western intelligence reports have undermined Tbilisi’s version of events, and there are now calls on both sides of the Atlantic for an independent investigation. Hillary Clinton looks tired. It is Tuesday of last week as she sits, exhausted, in the United States Senate. Even her outfit, a beige blazer
The August War between Russia and Georgia http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/3-2008/item3/article1/ Mikhail Barabanov Initially, Georgia’s attack on the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia on August 8, 2008, seemed like it would lead to yet another bloody, drawn out Caucasus war. However, the quick, energetic, and sustained intervention of Russia (the guarantor of peace in South Ossetia since 1992) escalated by August 11 into a powerful blitzkrieg against Georgia proper. Commentators
By Arnaud de Borchgrave for the Middle-East TimesWASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) — NATO guarantees that an attack against one member country is an attack against all are no longer what they used to be. Had Georgia been inside NATO, a number of European countries would no longer be willing to consider it an attack against their own soil. For Russia, the geopolitical stars were in perfect alignment. The United States
So finally the EU got together. After making various threats about “consequences” or even sanctions all the EU could produce was an amazingly asinine resolution which achieved only one thing: showing that the Old Continent has become the Senile Continent. Like an old man with geriatric dementia the EU just barely manages to rehash some vague threats mixed with some empty words (we are at a crossroads). If that is
(This will appear in the next issue of Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/ Republished here by permission of the author to whom I am deeply grateful. VS) Was an independent Ossetia inevitable after Kosovo or is it an US election ruse gone wrong, asks Eric Walberg Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a gritty, straight-talking 30-minute interview with CNN this week in Russian. It was not translated or reported on widely in the
by Lisa Karpova for Pravda.ru In a court of law, once you are caught lying, you are through. The judge is no longer listening to you, for you have ruined your credibility in his eyes and you will never regain his trust again. Case closed, you lose. And so it is with the western corporate media, caught lying once again by trying to pass off film footage of the destroyed
(a big thank you! to Slava for finding this here) CNN interview part 1: CNN interview part 2: CNN interview part 3: ARD interview part 1: ARD interview part 2: ARD interview part 3: UPDATE: I just found this info on the Internet: “Free press” at work in Germany: Only 9 minutes of the 1 hour interview with Putin were broadcasted by German state TV ARD. Also on thier website
By M K Bhadrakumar for the Asia Times If the struggle in the Caucasus was ever over oil and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) agenda towards Central Asia, the United States suffered a colossal setback this week. Kazakhstan, the Caspian energy powerhouse and a key Central Asian player, has decided to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Russia over the conflict with Georgia, and Russia’s de facto control over two major Black
Интервью Председателя Правительства Российской Федерации В.В.Путина американской телекомпании “Си-Эн-Эн” Сочи, 28 августа 2008 г. М.ЧАНС: (как переведено) Спасибо, господин Путин, за то, что согласились дать это интервью. Многие люди в мире считают Вас – хотя Вы уже сейчас не являетесь Президентом, Вы являетесь Премьер-министром – главным руководителем в этой стране и считают, что именно Вы отдали приказ о вводе российских войск в Грузию. Действительно ли это так? В.В.ПУТИН: Это, конечно,
Press TV reports: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the Georgian crisis can be solved by the regional countries without any foreign interference. “The regional countries are able to resolve the issue if countries from outside the region do not interfere in the case,” Ahmadinejad said in a press conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Thursday. “The Islamic Republic enjoys a friendly relation with all the regional nations and has deep
Following the recent meeting of the G7 Russia was hoping to get some support from the SCO conference in Dushanbe. It did hot happen. While the Russian media and Russian politicians did try to put the best spin possible on the declaration adopted at the conference, the fact is that while it did speak about the Russian role in the Caucasus it did not endorse or support the Russian military
Carlos Latuff’s cartoon are, I think, the best ones out there. Check them out here. I mostly find out about them on Tony’s Palestinian Pundit blog (truly a ‘must visit daily’ for anyone interested in the Middle-East). Here is the latest Latuff (click on the image for better resolution):
By Dmitry Medvedev for the Financial Times (via Information Clearing House) On Tuesday Russia recognized the independence of the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It was not a step taken lightly, or without full consideration of the consequences. But all possible outcomes had to be weighed against a sober understanding of the situation – the histories of the Abkhaz and Ossetian peoples, their freely expressed desire for independence, the
(click on image for a better view)
It has begun, the crazies are in full gear. Check it out:Russia’s Aggression Is a Challenge to World OrderBy LINDSEY GRAHAM and JOE LIEBERMAN Russia Is Dangerous But WeakBy BRET STEPHENS
