Now I'm really confused again
Could someone please explain to me what happened? Didn't Georgia start an offensive that Russia was prepared for and and then Russia made sure Georgia couldn't wage war for some time?
Déja vu, all over again ...
at Moscow Defense Brief.
Quote:
Implications of the Georgia-Russia War for Global Politics
Fedor Lukyanov, Editor in Chief, Russia in Global Affairs
#3 (13), 2008
.......
Neighboring states now face the issue of how to guarantee their own security. Their dilemma is clear. One path is to seek the patronage of a strong state from outside of the region, finding support that goes beyond political one, to include real security guarantees. The other path is to conclude an agreement with Russia for the same type of guarantees against external threats, which also hedges against a possible worsening of relations with Russia itself.
http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/3-2008/item2/article2/
Ah ..., back to the Treaties of Friendship.
If you remember Breakfast at Tiffany's: "Do they still put trinkets in Crackerjack boxes ?" "Yes" "Ah.. That is comforting."
Quote:
same source
The reemergence of deterrence recalls not so much the Cold War (in the absence of real ideological conflict) but the type of competition typical of the 19th century. Ideological and political confusion only deepens the various imbalances that have accumulated in the world.
Perhaps, some evidence of the theory (which I think has some credence) that Vladimir Putin and Sergei Ivanov are very much influenced by the 19th century Russian nationalists. Small comfort for small countries in its path - that bear was very willing to devour.
It is interesting that to MDB, we have a "Stalinist North Korea" - so, Uncle Joe is not quite rehabilitated.
Anyway, a slick site (still under construction) - brings back memories.
Ivanov .. in the Black Sea somewhere
A while back, I asked (rhetorical question) where Sergei Ivanov was ca. 7 Aug. Now, I know, sorta ...
Quote:
(from Times article, p.2)
Gen. Lt. Nikolai Uvarov of Russia ... said President Dmitri A. Medvedev had been on a cruise on the Volga River. Mr. Putin was at the Olympics in Beijing.
“The minister of defense, by the way, was on vacation in the Black Sea somewhere,” he said.
Not the worst place in the world to be for a Georgian operation - wonder where in the Black Sea. Maybe, the good general protested too loudly.
PS - Stan. I know three is a troika. If we add your buddy Lavrov, we get a fourka - is that the Russian version of a FORD.
Isolated Incident or Harbinger ?
Quote:
Blast kills 7 Russian soldiers in South Ossetia
7 Russian soldiers killed when car explodes outside military headquarters in South Ossetia
MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI
AP News
Oct 03, 2008 15:57 EST
A car exploded Friday, killing seven soldiers outside Russia's military headquarters in South Ossetia, and Russian authorities charged it was a terrorist bombing meant to wreck the tense cease-fire that ended their war with Georgia.
Georgia's Interior Ministry blamed Russia, accusing it of arranging the blast to provide a pretext for delaying next week's scheduled withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory around South Ossetia and another Kremlin-backed separatist region, Abkhazia.....
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=406557
Before you draw any conclusions from the headlines, read the whole article.
Competence of Russian EOD ?
Thanks for the insight ...
It was interesting reading the article just discussed, and others in the popular press and spin sites, after reading through (and being a bit involved in) the threads here on Georgia.
Let us say that I was able to be much more fact-critical than I would have been without the knowledge gained from SWC. That applies to many other areas as well.
and, as to this:
Quote:
Sorry, can't do much more with the Obama and McCain syndromes (don't even want to).
agreed, agreed & agreed - oh well, less than a month left. Deo Gratias.
From a friend in the Buffer Zone
A quick email sitrep from an (ahem) observer in the buffer zone:
Quote:
Overall, life in Georgia is slowly returning to normalcy with locals going about their daily routines. Interesting to note are those locals that typically cross the buffer zones and Russian checkpoints without giving it another thought. It appears that it will only be a matter of time before everything is back to normal. There are even signs of the previous infrastructure returning to normal at schools, stores and government institutions.
NGO HALO Trust is spooling up for their first month working on the UXO problems. Their initial task will be to control areas and declare those either free of UXO, or in need of additional clearance operations. HALO thinks 6 to 9 months.
Departing Russians
05 OCT planned departures actually began on the morning of the 8th !
The initial plan called for Russian units to depart in unison beginning at 0800. However, some fruity MG Kulakhmetovi ordered that each checkpoint would depart only when at least 3 EUMM members were present. If that wasn’t already confusing for the Russian troops, the good general decided that each checkpoint could depart as individuals. This only led to a further delay with some of the checkpoints deserted and “Engineering” equipment left behind. (Trust me when I say their equipment is stone age Bravo Sierra).
The Georgian locals are convinced this was intentional with Russians returning throughout the night to recover their equipment. On a side note, don’t the Russians give their peacekeepers port-a-poties when deployed? I mean seriously, they like took dumps everywhere. The Russian troops are still hanging around Akhalgori as if it was strategic (it is after all real friggin close to Tbilisi).
Say, does that Colonel you worked with in Africa still do Ace hardware? Holy Moses, he could make a killing here.