Georgia's South Ossetia Conflict - Political Commentary

[Norfolk]

I'd like to see some links to the other sources making the Grenada comparison if possible.

You've sort of made my point in your next few sentences. It took the the 82d's DRB and the 22d MAU/MEU about 3 days to disarm a bunch of Cuban construction workers on a 132 Sq. mi. island. It took less than a division-sized force of the Russian Army about the same time to slash through a breakaway province of 1500 sq. mi.
I recognize differences in the force composition (light infantry/airborne vs mech infantry/armor) and the terrain of the two AO(an island versus versus a single mountain road through a tunnel) but I see the point of the two ops as being rather similar--a need to squirt a little testosterone after some period of feeling emasculated by other events in the world (Beirut Marine Barracks bombing for the US and Bosnia, among other recent events, for Russia.)

Here be, wm (I'll just add my disclaimer here that I don't recommend some of them, for obvious reasons):

http://atlanticreview.org/archives/1...n-Georgia.html

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarp...7-46d900ce3973

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDispla...%20WORTHINGTON

http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2.../16/georgia-5/

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-13.asp

http://www.deanesmay.com/2008/08/10/...-on-our-minds/

Edited to Add:

No disagreement on your take, Wayne, especially in the Grenada-Georgia comparison.

Besides the traditional Russian penchant for brute force at the tactical level, the thing that stands out most about the Russian invasion is the also traditional Russian emphasis on the Operational level of war; wielding a sledgehammer at the tactical level, while playing a cello (or at least a respectable violin) at the operational level. The Russians still know how to wire and channel all that brute force into an effective campaign - even if the Georgian Government remains in place, at least for the time being.

[jmm99]

Russia Stages a Substantial Withdrawal
Georgian, Foreign Officials Dispute Assertion of Compliance With Cease-Fire
By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 23, 2008; A01
GORI, Georgia, Aug. 22 -- Russia pulled troops and armored vehicles out of vast swaths of seized territory and ended its 10-day occupation of this Georgian city Friday, but Georgian and foreign officials disputed Russia's claim that it had complied with the terms of a recent cease-fire agreement. .....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...200580_pf.html

Georgia buffer checkpoints "permanent" - Russia
REUTERS
Reuters North American News Service
Aug 22, 2008 04:58 EST
MOSCOW, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Russian military checkpoints being built in the area adjacent to Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia will be permanent, a senior Russian military official said on Friday. .....

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=310168

US: Russia has not complied with Georgia ceasefire
Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters North American News Service
Aug 22, 2008 15:21 EST
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - Russia has not pulled its troops out of Georgia, the United States said Friday, rejecting Moscow's declaration that it has fulfilled a pledge to withdraw under a French-brokered ceasefire agreement. ...

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=311017

Russia's first Georgia move legitimate: U.S. envoy
Reuters
August 22, 2008 at 6:33 AM EDT
MOSCOW — The U.S. ambassador to Moscow, in a rare U.S. comment endorsing Russia's initial moves in Georgia, described the Kremlin's first military response as legitimate after Russian troops came under attack. .....

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../International

----------------------------------------
Some decent Turkish coverage

Zaman
Aug 23, 2008
US warship sails through straits, Russia suspicious
The guided missile destroyer USS McFaul passed through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus on Friday.
In a move likely to heat up tensions between the United States and Russia over a conflict in the troubled Caucasus, a US Navy warship sailed through the Turkish Straits yesterday to take relief supplies to Georgia. .....

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/de...1006&bolum=102

Turkish Daily News
Turkey insists US did not seek authorization
Friday, August 22, 2008
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Turkey insists that the United States had not sought authorization for the passage of two U.S. military hospital ships “Mercy” and “Comfort” through the straits to dispatch humanitarian aid to war-hit Georgia. ...

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/a...enewsid=113355

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Still would like a graphic (or full text) of the as-signed Russian-Georgian agreement, but here is the AP update....

Provisions of the Georgia-Russia truce agreement
By The Associated Press
Fri Aug 22, 3:46 PM ET
Provisions of the agreement reached between Georgia and Russia to end fighting in Georgia. Text is according to the Kremlin following the Aug. 13 announcement of the agreement. Below the text is explanation of Russian plans for a withdrawal and "additional security measures" allowed under point 5. .....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080822/...a_truce_glance

[Stan]

Remember the 3 fat pigs -- Russian gas, electricity and rail ? Estonia's rail connections were also mysteriously "turned off" following a bout with the Motherland, but thankfully not mined with UXO

... a train carrying fuel has exploded after hitting a mine near Gori, Georgia's interior ministry said.

Interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said there had been several explosions near an abandoned Georgian military base where the Russian troops, on leaving Gori, had left a stockpile of munitions taken from the Georgian army.

[wm]

Remember the 3 fat pigs -- Russian gas, electricity and rail ? Estonia's rail connections were also mysteriously "turned off" following a bout with the Motherland, but thankfully not mined with UXO

Given that the USS McFaul had just made port at Poti, the western terminus for this rail line and the port for oil transshipment from that rail line, should we conclude that someone is trying to make a statement that merely gaining access to the port is not enough to guarantee the flow of oil?

[Stan]

Given that the USS McFaul had just made port at Poti, the western terminus for this rail line and the port for oil transshipment from that rail line, should we conclude that someone is trying to make a statement that merely gaining access to the port is not enough to guarantee the flow of oil?

Hey Wayne !
Oh Yeah, intrigue and espionage at sea... glad I joined the Army

From Mcfaul's site - Mission: To conduct prompt and sustained combat operations at sea in support of national interests

Is the the whole kit and caboodle just about oil and pipelines ? Could someone - theoretically speaking - turn off the pipes at the harbor

Jeez, talk about sand paperin' a tiger's Alpha

[jmm99]

in the evolving story. Poti has a long history, which included the presence of significant Russian Black Sea Fleet elements until late 1998.

On October 9, 1993, a war-torn Georgia had to legalize the Russian military presence in the country, and lease, among other military facilities, the Poti base to the Russian navy. However, Georgia continued, though fruitlessly, to claim the vessels formerly stationed at Poti as a part of a tripartite Russo-Ukrainian-Georgian dispute over the Soviet Black Sea Fleet shares.[14] By September 1998, the Russian military personnel had been withdrawn from Poti to then-Russian base at Batumi under a Russo-Georgian agreement signed earlier that year.[15]
[14] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Newsline. Vol. 1, No. 42, Part I, 30 May 1997.
[15] Georgian Border Guards pressure Russian counterparts to leave. RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 172 Part I, 7 (September 1998).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poti

While Poti became a depressed area post-1991, cracking an UAE invesrtment deal in May 2008 (hmm....) gave some future promise.

Arab Times, Kuwait
Georgia lures Arab investors to build 'Black Sea Dubai'
POTI, Georgia, May 18, 2008 (AFP) - The port city of Poti has long symbolised Georgia's collapse, but President Mikheil Saakashvili sees potential for a Black Sea Dubai in its crumbling buildings and pot-holed streets -- and Arab investors are listening. ....

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/clien...=17042&ccid=18

Re: Poti, Abkhazia's proximity makes that area more important to Russia's Black Sea policy than South Ossetia (whose major import is as a salient to cut Georgia in two).

One might also keep in mind that Batumi to the south also has an autonomous history with Russian military links.

Batumi was also host to the Russian 12th Military Base. Following the Rose Revolution, the central government pushed for the removal of these forces, and in 2005 an agreement with Moscow was reached. According to the agreement, the process of withdrawal was planned to be completed in a course of 2008, but the Batumi base was officially handed over to Georgia on November 13, 2007, ahead of planned schedule.[2]
[2] Russia Hands Over Batumi Military Base to Georgia. Civil Georgia, Tbilisi. 2007-11-13.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batumi

Finally, despite its limited lead, the following article from Bloomberg updates a number of different facets in the on-going Georgian political story.

Protesters Chant `Russians Go Home' at Georgian Port (Update5)
By Helena Bedwell and Maria Levitov
Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of Georgians chanted ``Russians go home'' at the Black Sea port of Poti today to protest checkpoints set up by Russian troops manning armored personnel carriers. ....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...o&refer=europe

PS: Had problems with Arab Times link from this page (works fine from Google). Same story at

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.co...&news_id=33994

[kaur]

The day before Georgia introduced forces into its breakaway region of South Ossetia, there were 48 Russian journalists there, one of the clearest indications yet that Moscow not only knew Tbilisi was planning to introduce forces into that breakaway region but also was planning its own military response and wanted to ensure both were extensively covered.
Said Tsarnayev, a Chechen freelance photographer with Reuters, told RFE/RL’s North Caucasus Service that he had gone to South Ossetia to take nature pictures and that he was surprised to find what RFE/RL’s Brian Whitmore yesterday said was “a virtual army of Russian journalists at his hotel”

http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/...ositioned.html