The Russian stock market did not approve but there are bigger problems looming this morning:
The ruble dropped the most in 3 1/2 years and Russia’s 30-stock Micex Index fell to a 22-month low after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said “war has started” in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.
Pro-Western and Pro-NATO Georgia is appealing to the United States for assistance:
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Russia, which has close ties to the separatists, of bombing Georgian territory.
Saakashvili also said it was in the United States’ interest to help his country.
But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the Georgian attack will draw retaliation and the Defense Ministry pledged to protect South Ossetians, most of whom have Russian citizenship.
It’s difficult to imagine that we’d do anything but work towards cessation of hostilities. That is, in fact, exactly what the President appears to be doing. Bush and Putin have discussed the flare up:
“The president of the United States and Putin discussed the situation,” Johndroe said. He gave no further information about the discussion or its timing, but the two leaders were seen chatting before a luncheon hosted by China for foreign leaders attending the Olympics.
We don’t know what was said but Putin’s comments offer some hope:
Putin said he had discussed the crisis with Chinese leaders and with US President George W. Bush. “Everybody agrees — nobody wants to see a war.”
Putin might actually want a war but he’ll face considerable diplomatic pressure from the West if he persists. There is some hope that this will be resolved without a dramatic military escalation. Despite the talk, and the casualties, this incident still falls far short of a full-scale war.
Related:
Military of Georgia (Wikipedia)
History of Georgia (Wikipedia)
4 Responses
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August 8th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
It is no coincidence that the conflict erupted on the night of the Olympics, when everyones’ heads are turned away. While the conflict has obviously not escalated to a full-scale war, the actions undertaken are despicable. One can only hope that the United States government is not as dumb as Georgia hopes for it to be, and does not get involved. Although, recent comments by Condoleezza Rice do not seem very promising, and, as always, immensely hypocritical. This affair will have a very serious impact on international relations, whether for the best or for the worst.
August 10th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Saakashvili is a criminal beyond belief. His forces staged a full-fledged genocide of South Ossetian people. They were killing women and children by running them over with their tanks! A number of women were killed by holding their heads and shooting at their necks before the head separeted. These saddists also killed a number of journalists covering the situation. They didn’t stage warfare (warfare has rules) – they staged atrocities and ethnic clensing. Only cowards can do this, they are not men. I am not sure if targeting civilians was part of US-based training of Georgian forces just a few weeks ago but all the evidence suggests that US has intimate interests in destabilizing situation around the strong countries of the world that were its historical opponents. This way all the world’s resources can be appropriated or shipped in the “right” direction. US also wishes to engulf post-Soviet Republics into NATO. That way it could have its forces surrounding Russia. The building of anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe is not against Iran as they claim – it’s clearly against Russia. Even after all the evidence of ethnic clensing is clearly presented to the US, they still call it Russian “occupation”. They think people are stupid and can be easily brain-washed. In fact the news is twisted every possible way to conseal the attrocities. For example, they mention “the number of people killed” but not even once have they mentioned that the Georgians killed 2000 people. Every psychological trick is used to give a twisted view of reality. In my 10 years in North America I have yet to read one positive piece of news about Russia!
For the US, Georgia is a bit similar to Iraq when it comes to its search for oil supplies. The only difference it is also trying to be its “friend” so that NATO forces can be placed there at the Russian border. It is trying to kill these two birds with one rock, which comes at Russia’s expense.
Also, make no mistake about Saakashvili. He is friends with Borish Berezovsky who once needless to say, illegally, controlled 10% of Russians money in early 90′s (Read Paul Khlebnikov’s book “The Godfather of Kremlin”; it’s no surprize the authour is no longer with us). Berezovsky is also interested in destabilizing Russia as it convicted to life in prison their for his criminal activities. In fact he himself stated that, one cannot get that rich in Russia without having to commit something illegal. Some of the personal financial transactions involved in Berezovsky’s and Saakashvili’s business endeavors were done with Chechen separatists. So both of them have places to hide where nobody in this world would dare to find them. Berezovsky has proved to be a powerful mastermind when it comes to impacting countries’ leaders and gaining control in difficult situations. He might have a small hand to play in this situation considering how close the two are.
It should come as no surprize that the situation in South Ossetia was so much needed by parties external to Russia. Russia was left with no option but to protect its sitizens.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:46 am
http://war.georgia.su/genocide.htm
georgian president is a bullshitter! dont trust him
August 24th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
History is already recorded in the Bible.
So WWWII will happen in this generation. So be prepared!