Russia is now destroying bridges, burning fields, and advancing on Tbilisi. This is several days after Russia claimed to have ceased all hostilities, days after they agreed to a cease-fire. Russia also continues to occupy what remains of Gori and other Georgian villages, despite loud denials from President Medvedev and the Russian ambassador to the UN that Russians are even there. At least there was some pretext for their original assault on Georgia... But at this point, the Russian government is simply lying. Moscow has shown it has no honor. No doubt the truce Medvedev signed today is equally worthless.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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7 comments:
Can't say I'm surprised.
Here is what this is all about...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Baku_pipelines.svg
The cease fire agreement allows "certain security measures" by Russia for six months, which is widely believed to be code word for "this crap Russia is doing right now in Gori and elsewhere" So it's probably not a breach of the ceasefire agreement even if it is offensive.
I wonder what ordinary Russian people thinnk about all this.
If this is not a breach of the cease-fire, then the agreement is meaningless.
My guess is that most Russians are thrilled right now. So long as oil prices stay high, Putin and his proxy Pres, Medvedev, can keep a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage so to speak. And this hasn't really cost Russia much in terms of casualties.
I don't read Russian but I would guess the papers there are heralding this as the greatest victory over evil since the "Great Patriotic War." Of course leaving out that Georgia's government is probably more promising in terms of democratic reforms than theirs is. Certainly a link to a Pravda in English article that Bert Q. Slushbrow posted in a comment earlier would suggest that.
The purpose of the cease-fire agreement was to stop the Russians from taking Tblisi and toppling the Georgian government. That much has been done. It was very vague on other things because nobody has any other leverage there. I suspect this will be sorted out in a few weeks.
Well, if Russia had any high ground, it has sort of lost it. reports this morning are that South Ossetians with Russian passivity, are destroying ethnic Georgian villages, burning homes and bulldozing the remains. That sounds a lot like ethnic cleansing to me. Wasn't that sort of thing what the Russians claim they came in to prevent? Hummmm . . .
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