Saturday - August 09, 2008
Georgia Declares War !! (almost)
not our Georgia, the other one.
TBLISI, Georgia (CNN)—Georgia’s parliament Saturday approved a request by President Mikhail Saakashvili’s to impose a “state of war,” as the conflict between Georgia and Russia escalated, Georgian officials said.
Saakashvili accused Russia of launching an unprovoked full-scale military attack against his country, including targeting civilian homes, while Russian officials insist their troops were protecting people from Georgia’s attacks on South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian region that borders Russia.
Russia’s Interfax news agency said the death toll was at least 2,000 killed in the capital of South Ossetia and claimed the city has been destroyed.
Separatist-backed South Ossetian sources reported that about 1,600 people have died and 90 have been wounded in provincial capital Tskhinvali since Russian forces entered the territory Thursday.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived Saturday in Vladikavkaz, near Russia’s border with Georgia, Russia’s Interfax reported. Meanwhile, President George Bush, speaking from Beijing, called for an immediate halt to the violence, a stand-down by all troops, and an end to the Russian bombings.
The Georgian “state of war” order is not a formal declaration of war, and stops short of declaring martial law, according to Georgian officials who described it to CNN.
It gives Saakashvili powers he would not ordinarily have, such as issuing curfews, restricting the movement of people, or limiting commercial activities, those officials said.
It places the government on a 24-hour alert, said Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia during a conference call with reporters.
Saakashvili asked Western leaders to pressure Russia to agree to an immediate cease-fire, which he said his country would willingly observe first.
“We are dealing with absolutely criminal and crazy acts of irresponsible and reckless decision makers, which is on the ground producing dramatic and tragic consequences,” Saakashvili said Saturday afternoon.
Great. Thousands of Russians invading. Thousands dead. Cities being bombed into rubble. Here we go again. My cynical side’s first reaction to this is ... where are the jihadis in all of this? Because you know that they’re there. Probably in the “semi-autonomous” “breakaway province” of Ossetia, encouraged their cousins across the border in Russia to break away too.
McCain tells the commies to get the hell out. Obama wants everyone to hold hands and sing Kumbayah. The UN is useless as always of course.
Georgia is a US military ally. They are fighting with us in Iraq. I’ve read that we had 1000 US Marines in Georgia last month.
I don’t know this part of the world and I don’t know what the situation there is and I don’t know the history of the area at all. But I’m sure I’ll soon be as expert as anyone else if this keeps going for another week. Assuming of course that Russia doesn’t take over the entire country in a week. To protect it’s gas pipeline you know. Yeah, that’s a great reason to start a war. Oh Canada, how’s our pipeline doing up there in your country? Just kidding.
UPDATE: a little background info on South Ossetia. “It’s basically 75,000 people living on rocks”. South Ossetia is separated from North Ossetia by the Caucus Mountains, which are several kilometers tall. There is one road that connects North and South, and it is often closed due to weather. When it snows (and it always snows) there is no way into or out of South Ossetia. Great place to live it seems. Not.
The fighting continues. 2 Russian jets shot down. Military air bases in city of Tibilisi bombed.
Almost live-blogging the war from inside.
Notes for the globally challenged: Georgia sits between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It is northeast of Turkey. Turkey is north of Syria. Georgia is north of Armenia and northwest of Azerbaijan. Those two countries are north of the northwest corner of Iran. North of Georgia is Russia, and the Ossetia area is along the border between them. To the east of the Caspian Sea lie “the -stans”. Georgia isn’t the end of the earth, but you can almost see the borders from there.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/09/2008 at 11:41 AM
Filed Under: • War-Stories •
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