It would appear that our gov't is perfectly happy to see the Georgians "martyred". It somewhat reinforces our position that the Russians remain the "bad guys", and no doubt we'll milk it for all it's worth, which admittedly isn't very much.

I wonder how happy the Georgians are with their "martyrdom", though? I rather suspect that they have some reservations.

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...If you want to continue to be the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit.

Sir Josiah Stamp, Director of the Bank of England, 1927

you do not believe that war has started because of water, do you?

Ossetians did exactly same to Georgian villages last year, their president announced himself that they had turned off water channels, so people couldn't irrigate lands.

only few weeks ago they fired on car of Georgian policemen, one died, five were injured.

if you want to see whole picture, you have to put together

Russia's goal to keep it's dominance in Caucasus,
Georgia's goal to join NATO,
development of oil/gas supply to Europe through Georgia/Turkey what leaves Russia out of game in this region,
Upcoming olympic games in Sochi, which is only few hours away from three places, where whole world can see how Russia helps to bring peace over there - Ankhazia, south ossetia, chechnya. So, the order is clear - everything HAS TO BE solved (in any way) for 2012.

there are overwhelming evidences that Russian troops behave well in daytime, they have strict order to avoid any conflict with civilians, but at night drunk solders (or Cossacks) loot, steal, burn houses in Gori (this city is NOT in S. Ossetia) and georgian villages in south Ossetia.

I know that Georgian side was very much provoked, but Russians are not only side to be punished. Soon Georgian president will have to answer MANY questions.

Just thought some of you might be interested in this article:

Vladimir Putin's mastery checkmates the West | Michael Binyon - Times Online

Good analysis, Hafke.

Saakashvili is the rankest of amateurs compared to Shevardnadze. Once again we see evidence of the US's willingness to support anyone or thing that is against our old nemesis. Proxies that run amok don't have a great deal of value but try telling that to Washington. They're playing the exact same game in Iran, and I suspect that the consequence there are going to prove more disastrous than what we did in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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...If you want to continue to be the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit.

Sir Josiah Stamp, Director of the Bank of England, 1927

this article is so damn right, US was not only side who knew about Georgian plan, Russia also knew, they knew it from US, and they gave green light!

before, if Georgia would move one truck in this region, Russia would send 2-3 jets to fly around in 20 minutes, sometimes they would even drop bombs.

But not now, there was so strange silence for almost 18 hours!

does that mean that Russia deliberately sacrificed Ossetians?

That doesn’t make any sense. The only ones who got a political win out of this were the Russians, who sent a rather loud signal to Ukraine, and the rest of the states in it’s periphery.

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“Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.” - Lord Palmerston

Does it really need to be asked whether Ossetians are pawns?

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...If you want to continue to be the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit.

Sir Josiah Stamp, Director of the Bank of England, 1927

I heard same idea from from Russian journalists before.

Show me that the Bush admin made a concerted effort to keep Georgia from going off the deep end and I'll concede that "martyrdom" wasn't something they considered useful. Fair enough?

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...If you want to continue to be the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit.

Sir Josiah Stamp, Director of the Bank of England, 1927

Sure the Russians are no angels, but the show Saakashvilli has put up during the past days is just ridiculus. He made so many statements, which were totaly wrong and unfounded, that one wonders how he ever got to power.

Anyway we often hear about movie/music stars on drugs, but this hyperactive, no sense talking joke of a politican just must taking something and a hell lot of it.

The sad thing is, that no matter whom will win the US election, the support for this guy will continue.

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"Homo Homini Lupus"
Thomas Hobbes

More allegations lacking evidence. I tell you what, I’ll look for evidence after you present some. Fair enough?

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“Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.” - Lord Palmerston

C'mon, Cyd. We arm them but don't keep them on a leash. That, IMO, shows that we're OK with them running amok.

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...If you want to continue to be the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit.

Sir Josiah Stamp, Director of the Bank of England, 1927

Honestly I'm not prepared to share your opinion.

The Georgians might be a usefull tool for the US in the region, but when it comes down to it, they are a thinny little state of no real importance and thus they are not in the prime focus all the time.

It just comes down to the fact, that not everything which happens in the world is controlled by Washington.

Well looking at the record of another close US allie ( Israel), one can find enough examples of a rather US depended country doing stupid things, which are from time to time against US interests ( e.g. arms/technology deals with China).

Can you proof that Georgia didn't acted on its own and just took a giant gamble, which I believe giving the somewhat "confused" character of Saakashvili?

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"Homo Homini Lupus"
Thomas Hobbes

So, whats the UN doing about this?

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"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father has acquired too much, in order to spare to others who (or whose fathers) have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, "to guarantee to everyone a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

-Thomas Jefferson

We armed them, with what; their T-72’s and T-55’s? MiG’s and Su’s? Hind’s? Or maybe it was those boats that were donated by Ukraine and Greece? We provided some small arms and some small arms training and small unit tactics. That doesn’t equate to a leash.

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“Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.” - Lord Palmerston