All Posts Tagged With: "Georgia"
Ukraine OKs Linking Its Anri-Missile System With Europe
Ukraine Limits Russian Warship Movements in Black Sea
The BBC reported Saturday that the Ukraine is ready to make its missile early warning systems available to European nations following Russia’s conflict with Georgia. This might include “the integration of Ukrainian elements of missile early warning and space control systems with those of foreign countries that are interested in gathering space data”, Ukraine said. It was not immediately clear if such linkage would include networking with the proposed U. S. supplied systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Last week, Kiev limited the freedom of movement of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet after Several Russian warships, based at Sevastopol in Ukraine’s Crimea’s peninsula, were deployed along the Georgian coastline.
In a related but rather odd pernouncement Moscow denounced the restrictions as anti-Russian and said its military commanders would answer only to the Russian president.
The BBC says the decision is evidence Ukraine is now more desperate to embrace the West as its fear of Russia intensifies and Moscow seemingly becomes more determined to prevent any neighboring states from joining Nato, and its attack on Georgia.
Increasingly, the events of the past 10 days demonstrate Russia has gone back to arm-wrestling with its neighbors and the West after the immediate post-Soviet years, when it felt too weak, and sensing a possible coming weakness in Washington D. C.
In April NATO decided it would not yet offer membership to Georgia or Ukraine after the 26-member alliance was split amid strong objections from Russia.
The BBC also implied the Georgia invasion was partly due to Poland and Czech Republics OK to site U. S. anti-missile missiles and radars in those countries. Last week Russia said it could mean it would use nuclear weapons against Poland. The BBC opined the Russo-Georgian War was the fault of the U. S.
DESINFORMATSIA: Kremlin Jewish Leader Critical of Georgia
Israe
l’s Haaretz News reports that Boris Spiegel, self acclaimed friend of Putin and nominal spiritual leader is accusing the Georgians in the recent Russian power grab.
The word in Russian for this is an English cognate which truly covers the subject : DESINFORMATSIA. The other applicable phrase is “navesti nenavist’ na vraga”–which literally means “aim hatred at the enemy. If you have ever seen Soviet WW II posters, you will be struck by their effectiveness [cf. my post “Georgia : Stalin’s First Break” includes a good example with translation of the text
The integration of all sources in this affair clearly indicates premeditation. Watch out Azerbaijan, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and eventually Ukraine if Putin is allowed his Sudeten like treasure.
I have include the link to the Haaretz article, interpretation that of Marshall Risidin.
Georgia is Peachy!
And the Gold Medal for sheer, unmitigated audacity goes to ….
Russia!
Sometimes you just have to stand back in awe. I’m an editorialist, I’m supposed to have opinions and those opinions are supposed to be informed by my ideas of justice, by my “moral center.”
I yield to no man when it comes to self-righteousness. I think I have the right to judge the world, or else I’d do something else for a living.
But Russia’s invasion of Georgia? All I can do is gasp and applaud.
Where is the outrage, you ask? My outrage is out of order. It blew a fuse.
If there was anyone in Russia named Ruth before this week, they’re dead now. Russia is officially Ruthless. If Babe Ruth was in Russia’s Hall of Fame they’d have to take down his plaque.
While the whole world, including yours truly, got head-faked during the Olympic opening ceremonies by a cute Chinese girl lip-synching a sappy song actually sung by a marginally less cute Chinese girl, the real sap was sitting a few seats away from Vlad “The Impaler” Putin.
Yes, America, George W. Bush, the man who famously looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul, sat there watching the Parade of Nations, gathered in peace on the Bird’s Nest floor, a smile on his face, while Russia’s tanks rolled. Putin was smiling too, and who can blame him? He’d just launched the best-timed invasion since the Yom Kippur War.
But I’m not blaming this one on Bush. Blitzkrieg always takes its victims’ leaders by surprise, even Roosevelt,
even Churchill. And it’s hard to see a man’s eyes when he’s mounting you from behind. You could almost hear Putin’s voice above the crowd noise saying “squeal like a pig, comrade.”
No, what happened to Georgia is not our fault. It’s all Russia. Forget the spin you’ve heard about the stupidity of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvilli and his inept handling of the crisis in South Ossetia. Ignore the “blame the neo-cons” crowd and the “America is soft” bunch. Anyone who tries to tie this into McCain vs. Obama is a lying hypocrite. If anything, Russia did both candidates a favor by making this mess before Jan 20, 2009.
No, this was all Russia. Russia did this. Because Russia could. They got tired of losing, Kosovo was a stick in their eye, NATO expansion gave them gas, missile defense ruffled their fur, they wanted a win and they got one.
Some commentators are writing that the invasion of Georgia was Russia’s way of saying The Bear is Back. But that’s not right because The Bear never went away. What Russia was reminding us was that The Bear has Claws.
And boy, do they know how to use them! A total disregard for world opinion for the few days necessary to spank the Georgians, then a sudden reasonableness when a scared-spitless world Sarkosied to their door, begging for mercy. Then a “truce” that leaves Georgia with a couple of testicle-sized chunks missing from its territory.
And, best of all, no expensive clean-up like America got stuck with in Iraq. It’s pure genius, “We broke it, you bought it.” Russia says,” and you’ll buy it again if you piss us off.”
Meanwhile American C-17s are winging into Tblisi with humanitarian supplies and American hospital ship USNS Comfort is building steam, ready to go. How can you not admire that stunning bit of leverage? Russia writes the check and America cashes it!
I don’t know how this is going to play out and no one else does either. But we all owe a debt of thanks to the Russians. Suddenly, Iraq is old news. Now they get to play the bad guy on the world stage for a while.
So, during this week of peace, brotherhood and naked aggression, what have we learned, children, if nothing else?
That’s right, class. When push comes to shove, he who shoves the hardest wins.
Georgian Crisis Focuses Foreign Policy Issue On McCain and Obama
The majority of Americans (59%) regard Russia’s ongoing invasion of neighboring Georgia as a threat to U.S. national security, but less than a third (31%) believe the United States should take any diplomatic action against Russia.
A similar number (33%) say the United States should not take diplomatic action against Russia, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Monday night. A plurality (36%) remain undecided.
Just over half (51%) also believe that John McCain is the best equipped of the two major presidential candidates to handle a similar crisis in the future, while 36% believe Barack Obama is the better of the two to deal with this kind of situation. The two men are locked in a 48-46% race a statistical dead heat.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of Americans say they have been following news stories on Russia attacking Georgia. Russia launched a massive military offensive against its southern neighbor on Friday after Georgia sent troops into the province of South Ossetia to seize control of it. The two countries have been bickering over ownership of South Ossetia since it broke from Georgia in the early 1990s.
World leaders have been increasingly critical of Russia, particularly once its forces began moving into Georgia proper and since the president of the embattled country agreed to a cease-fire. President Bush late Monday demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from Georgia and accept international mediation to end the crisis, although White House officials admitted privately there was little the United States could do to back up the demand.
Shortly after Bush’s comments France’s Sarkosy thought he’d negotiated a truce. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered a halt to military actions in Georgia but the military isn’t taking it orders from Medvedev and continues operation to consolidate gains and move deeper into Georgia.
Georgia is a former Soviet republic which has had increasingly strained relations with Russia over the years since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Georgia has aggressively sought ties to the West, including membership in NATO, and to the United States in particular.
While some have suggested that the Georgia conflict signals a potential return to the tensions of the Cold War, Americans are fairly evenly divided over whether Russia is a growing national security problem. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say Russia is a growing problem, but 36% say it is not.
Women are more concerned than men over the Russia-Georgia situation. Sixty-three percent (63%) of women regard it as at least a somewhat serious threat to U.S. national security versus 54% of men who feel that way. Women also have more confidence in Obama to deal with a similar crisis than men do. Men prefer McCain to Obama in such a situation 56% to 30%, but 40% of women think Obama could handle it best. More women (46%), however, still think McCain is the man for the job.
Forty-percent (40%) of men believe the United States should take diplomatic action against Russia, although 35% disagree. Among women, only 23% think diplomatic action is called for, while 31% do not. For 39% of men and women, Russia is a growing national security problem, but 45% of men do not agree, compared to only 28% of women who feel that way.
Half of Republicans (50%) say Russia is a growing national security problem versus 33% of Democrats and 35% of unaffiliated voters. Twenty percent (20%) of both Republicans and Democrats agree Russia is a Very Serious threat to U.S. national security, a view shared by only 9% of unaffiliateds.
While 35% of Republicans think diplomatic action is necessary, only 29% of both Democrats and moderates agree. Thirty percent (30%) of GOP voters, 33% of Democrats and 35% of unaffiliateds feel no action is needed.
Although 85% of Republicans believe McCain is the better of the two presidential candidates to handle a similar crisis in the future, only 61% of Democrats feel that way about Obama. More than one-out-of-five Democrats (22%) think the Republican presidential candidate would handle it better than the prospective candidate of their own party. Only 8% of GOP voters favor Obama over McCain in such a situation. Among unaffiliated voters, 56% prefer McCain while 28% like Obama better.
Epimenides Lives With CNN and Putin in Georgia
Epimenides was the king of Crete, a nation of fabulous liars. When asked by the Greeks if it were true, he responded ,“All Cretans are liars”—creating the famous “Epimenides Paradox“.
I have inserted a Novosti news clip allegedly from a Russian cameraman claiming CNN, the Epimenides of news, lied about the location of a news video clip. It appears Tsinhvali in South Ossetia was misidentified as Gori Georgia during a bombing. What is disingenuos is that although true, the misidentification was a slip and not a deliberate CNN lie [unlike their deal with Saddam in 1991]. This slip is used to trash all Western news coverage.http://www.vesti.ru/videos?cid=2&vid=143916
When GW Bush said “I looked into Putin’s eyes and saw a friend,” McCain said “I saw pure KGB” which by the way is highlighted WITH PRIDE on the Russian SPETSNAZ website for their version of the green berets. Disinformation is part and parcel of reinvigorated Russian hegemony.
Ten Post Round-Up: Georgia On My Mind Edition
For some reason, I woke up this morning and as I traveled the blogosphere, began having visions of Ray Charles sitting down at his grand piano, playing “Georgia On My Mind” as rockets and bombs went off in the background.
I’m sure after perusing today’s Ten Post Round-Up, you may begin having the same visions…
- Truthdig has a primer on the conflict in Georgia, in case you are interested. Ezra Klein informs us that everyone in the region is blaming US and by “US”, I mean, “the you-ess-of-ay”. Putin thinks we are taking sides by airlifting Georgian troops from Iraq back home (meanwhile, Georgians are upset that the US isn’t sending troops when, after all, they “are” helping us in Iraq). Adding insult to injury, oil prices are heading back upwards after almost a month of a trickling downward AND this conflict could catapult us to war with Iran (I’ll bet Cheney is doing the “happy dance” about now!).
- Speaking of Iraq (and Afghanistan), Homefront Six blogs about a new program being implemented by a judge in Buffalo, NY called the Veteran Treatment Court. It’s meant to help divert troubled troops to help when their crimes are non-violent and its counselors are other war veterans, including those who served in Vietnam. It’s nice to see somebody stepping up to the plate and offering our brave men and women the help and support they need.
- Former christian singing sensation and Top 40 hottie, Katy Perry makes me wonder just what “Fundie Kids” are playing on their iPods, these days!
- Maybe Ben Stiller can benefit from controversy more than Ben Stein did?
- All you Applebee’s fans can now get a side of lizard with your salad!
- Pelosi admits she hasn’t read the articles of impeachment against Herr Bush put forth by Dennis Kucinich. That’s too bad. Because of that (rather, the fact that she took impeachment off the table), now she has to read articles about her political rival, Cindy Sheehan, until November.
- California home educators can breath a sigh of relief, for the time being.
- The Brilliant cafe reminds me why I will likely never fly, again. I’m also reminded why I will probably stay away from buses, as well.
- Lest you forget, please pay your taxes, so that the state does not have to arrest you for that $10 you stole from them…
- And, in case you missed these: Obama is a technological elitist, Isaac Hayes was a Scientologist, Former “American Idol”, Clay Aikens, is a new daddy, and John Edwards…well, you know…
(originally posted at: Hypocrisy)
Where the Hell and What is Georgia Anyhow?
Since Russia’s attack an estimated 3,000 have been killed or wounded and more than 20,000 displaced. The fighting continues at this writing.
Georgia is a South Carolina sized Republic strategically located east of the Black Sea; Georgia controls much of the Caucasus Mountains and the routes through them, and separates Turkey from Russia. It is populated by 4.6 million people including: Georgian 83.8%, Azeri 6.5%, Armenian 5.7%, Russian 1.5%, other 2.5%.
Religiously it is Orthodox Christian 83.9%, Muslim 9.9%, Armenian-Gregorian 3.9%, Catholic 0.8%, other 0.8%, none 0.7%. Languages spoken there include: Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7%. Well educated almost everyone over aged 15 read and write.
It gained its independence 9 April 1991 (from Soviet Union) having been forced into the Soviet orbit in 1921 following a brief period of independence following the end of Tsarist Russia in the communist takeover in 1918.
Following democratic elections in 2004 the government has moved to reform and open the country. It sent 3,000 troops to Iraq that it recalled last week after Russia attacked.
Georgia’s economy has sustained robust GDP growth of close to 10% in 2006 and 12% in 2007, based on strong inflows of foreign investment and robust government spending.
Georgia has overcome the chronic energy shortages of the past by renovating hydropower plants and by bringing newly available natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan. It also has an increased ability to pay for more expensive gas imports from Russia. The country is pinning its hopes for long-term growth on a determined effort to reduce regulation, taxes and corruption in order to attract foreign investment.
Meet Georgia’s ‘Aggressive Progressive’
I first learned about Georgia State Senator Regina Thomas when I received a communication from Democrats.com. In their email, they targeted Democratic Congressman John Barrow, of Georgia’s 12th District (whom they call a ‘Bush Democrat’), for removal and endorsed current State Senator Regina Thomas, an ‘Aggressive Progressive,’ as his replacement. Out of 17 substantive bills, Barrow has voted with his Republican counterparts 12 times, including “yes” votes on continuing to fund the war in Iraq ($163 billion to Bush), the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which granted retroactive immunity to the telecom companies and significantly broadened George Bush’s spying powers, and habeas corpus. In a district that is 45% black, Barrow votes like a southern right-wing Republican.
Regina Thomas was elected state senator via special election on January 11, 2000. She has served in that capacity since that time and is known as ‘a voice for the voiceless,’ and a tireless champion for those in need. She is committed to moving Georgia forward in education, health care, the environment, energy and security. Prior to serving as state senator, Regina served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1995 through 1998, where her efforts were focused on education, children’s issues and welfare reform. She also served as assistant majority whip in 1997-1998. I recently caught up with Regina for a quick interview.
D: So, Regina, I know you’ve been busy. It’s nice to finally catch up with you.
R: Nice to finally speak with you also! Well, I’ve been on the road. I’m sorry you couldn’t reach me the other day when we planned to talk , but I was traveling and I guess I didn’t hear the phone!
D: Oh, that’s absolutely no problem. I understand you’re busy. So, tell me about John Barrow’s votes, and why he’s being targeted for removal from office by his own party.
R: Well, you know he voted in favor of continued funding of the Iraq war as well as the new FISA bill, which is an affront to our rights, a violation of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. However, it doesn’t end there. Barrow also voted against the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and taxing the oil companies’ windfall profits. As I travel around the state, what I’m hearing is that the 12th district has been neglected; he is not in touch with his constituents, 45% of whom are black. He will not be going back to Washington in the fall!
D: How is it that Barack Obama came to support Barrow, even to the point of producing a radio ad with him which, I might add, resulted in some outrage against Obama?
R: It’s called politics. Barrow is a superdelegate who threw his support to Barack Obama early on. That’s the way it works.
D: Can you give me some history of how Barrow even got elected in this district to begin with?
R: Well, in 2004, there really wasn’t a choice. Barrow was involved in a run-off against a Republican. At the time, we really didn’t know much about John Barrow, but he was a Democrat, so we voted for him. In 2006, nobody ran against him on the Democratic side, but the Republicans fielded a candidate, so Barrow was supported by the Democrats and was returned to office.
D: Ah, so now there’s a real choice for Democrats, and her name is Regina Thomas.
R: Exactly. I work for the homeless and disadvantaged children. I’ve campaigned for the environment, for an improved school system, all the things that matter to the people in John Barrow’s district. I’ve been there and I’ve heard their concerns and what they want their Congressional representative to champion, and John Barrow is not paying attention to the needs of his constituents.
D: When I spoke with Shirley Golub, who ran against Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco’s 8th District primary, she was lamenting the fact that the media coverage was dismal, even the progressive media didn’t cover her campaign. How is it going with you?
R: It’s the exact opposite with me. I’m getting a lot of press down here. I’ve been in the local paper almost every day, I’ve been on the radio and on television. The New York Times even called!
D: What does your day look like today? Is this a typical day in your campaign?
R: Well, Comcast has set up a forum for all the 12th District candidates, Republican and Democrat. However, I received a message from Comcast saying it was postponed.”
D: Better be careful with Comcast.
R: Well, I called some of the other candidates and they say it’s still on. I might just show up.”
D: I would. You know Comcast has been in hot water lately on many issues.
R: Yeah, well since I cannot confirm this and since I have some material to drop off up that way anyway, I’ll just show up.
D: Well, good luck. The next time I speak with you, I hope to hear how the forum went! And I hope to be speaking with you after your victory on July 15th!
R: Thanks very much. Talk to you soon!
Postscript: I spoke with Regina yesterday about the Comcast forum. She told me that John Barrow chose to pass on the forum. Therefore, her participation was cancelled by Comcast. The Republicans running in Georgia’s 12th District were allowed to go on. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Comcast must give Thomas equal time because she is running in the same Congressional race as the Republicans who participated in the forum. John Barrow, however, has elected not to participate.