Georgia has attacked South Ossetia, on the opening day of the Olympics no less. Like Iraq, this conflict is about oil and American interests in seeking to secure oil for itself. Specifically, it’s about the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline . The US wants to create an alternative pipeline to the other pipeline which runs through Russian territory and ends in Novorossiysk (in Krasnodar Krai).
Shame on George Bush and Georgian President Saakshavili. Both men have blood on their hands.
The news that most of you will get from CNN, PBS, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The Economist, et al will be only part of the story. Some of this anti-Russian bias is subjective (Where you stand depends on where you sit) and some the bias is due to the fact that very few Western journalists speak Russian or Georgian and know almost nothing about the recent history of South Ossetia, so the questions they ask are rudimentary and uninformed.
A few weeks ago the US held military training exercises with Georgia. Coincidence?
In 2007 alone,
Turkey armed Georgian MoD and the Borderguards as follows:
100 armoured personel carriers;
50 hand held missile complexes ANZA-2 of Pakistani origin;
5 Kylich 2 speed boats;
6 “Dogan” torpedo boats;
2 mine sweepers and 2 troop carrier vessels;
SKY WATCHER Air attack early warning system;
80 ??5 MTS A6 rifles;
1800 M-72 hand grenade launches;
2000 automatic rifle mounted grenade launches;
10 million 5,45 caliber ammo;
160 ??5?3 machine guns;
25,000 uniforms.
Bulgaria supplied:
250 missiles for “Factoria” missile complex;
50,000 122 caliber shells for D30 mortars
Czech Republic supplied:
10 L-159 “Alca” aircraft;
620 tonns of ammunition (primarily for Russian and Ukrainian made weapons);
Since 2004 Georgia received from (primarily East European) NATO member states and Ukraine 175 tanks, 126 armoured personnel carriers, 67 large caliber guns, 4 warplanes, 12 helicopter gunships and 8 military vessels. In September Georgia is scheduled to receive 4 Mirage 2000 fighters and 15 Black Hawk helicopters. In addition to that Turkey, France, Spain and the US have all signed agreements to supply Georgia with 10 more military vessels of different class.
Add to the above 48 Mi24 gunships left from the Soviet period, some 200 T72 tanks, 56 BTR2, 12 Mig21 (almost totally rebuilt by Israel) and you will have the largest airforce in the region.
This makes Georgian armed forces better equipped than any other ex Soviet army.
No surprise Saak is trigger happy…..
The US is using Georgia as a proxy army to create a conflict which it believes will enable it to create an alternative pipeline. This is a bad reason for war. January 2009 CAN’T come fast enough. Let’s hope Barack Obama has more sense than our idiot President Bush. As they say, hope is the last thing to die!! I’m still hoping.
Question, Why is South Ossetia different from Kosovo? It isn’t, the people there already declared their independence. Georgia doesn’t give a damn about South Ossetia but by creating a conflict there they are hoping it will speed-up the process of NATO membership. Most Georgians could care less about NATO membership but Saakshavili knows his Presidency is very weak and that Georgians don’t want him as President but he’s hoping that NATO membership will change Georgians minds.
There’s much more to this conflict than meets the uninformed eye. Stay tuned…..
Update: The Western press is reporting that Ms. Rice is calling for the Russians to stop their “attacks” on “Georgia.” Words matter! The “attacks” Madame Secretary are NOT on Georgia but rather in South Ossetia. Big difference. Don’t forget, Georgia started the military incident by sending its troops into South Ossetia without provocation (i.e. preemptively. The Bush Doctrine is now being applied by others). Georgia is killing civilians. Russia is responding to these aggressive actions.
Bottom-line: The situation was unstable in South Ossetia with many people holding many different opinions about what should happen. Up until Friday, all of disagreements were verbal. Everything changed when Saakshavili preemptively used his military to escalate the disagreement into an armed conflict.
