rudolph giuliani just said “Russia has imperial ambitions” —- heh

this is troubling. at the same time only the latest volley towards a full fledged ww3 (the pipeline wars).

“The United States and Israel are both neck-deep in the “Great Game”; the ongoing war for vital petroleum and natural gas supplies in Central Asia and the Caspian Basin.”

Chameleon @ 08/13/08 23:42:21

I believe the best term for what just happened to Georgia is “pwned.”

If this was Bush’s war, and it looks more like Putin’s war to me, then it followed an accelerated trajectory for the Bush Standard: defeat all crammed into a week, and not a slow, shambling disaster.

Don’t poke the damned Bear. It ain’t dead; it’s hibernating.

ManusCelerDei @ 08/14/08 02:26:17

think bush’s (proxy) war. hopefully you read the article, as well. it sorta makes that point.

Chameleon @ 08/14/08 03:03:33

As far as Russia goes, there’s no question, it was and — continues to be — pretty masterful. In the most elegant sense of the term.

I think everyone’s swooning.

microdot @ 08/14/08 04:29:59

spooning even

bodo @ 08/14/08 04:39:18

Troops in standoff in Georgia town

The planned handover of the strategically important town of Gori, about 30km from the breakaway region of South Ossetia, appears to have broken down.

Talks between Russian and Georgian military commanders ended when Russian-backed South Ossetian forces demanded that they be allowed to police the town, sources told Al Jazeera.

“That was not acceptable to the Georgians who left the discussion,” Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from the outskirts of Gori, said.

microdot @ 08/14/08 04:43:39

spooning?

microdot @ 08/14/08 05:17:26

uh huh

bodo @ 08/14/08 05:36:51

US blamed over S Ossetia crisis

Washington has formed a close bond with the government of Mikheil Saakashvili since he came to power in the 2003 ‘Rose Revolution,’ offering military and economic aid and encouraging Georgia to join Nato.

Jon Sawyer, the director for the Pulitzer Centre for Crisis Reporting, said US politicians had encouraged their Georgian counterparts to think they had the backing of the US when Tbilisi decided to launch its attack on South Ossetia last week.

“The US has for several years now mishandled the situation in Georgia”

...

“The United States seeks to use Georgia as an ‘energy corridor’ to transport Caspian energy to the West without going through Iran or Russia; to this end, it helped build the BTC pipeline across Georgia and helped beef up the Georgian military to protect it,” Michael Klare, the author of Resource Wars told the New American Media website.

“By declaring the Caucasus, a region that is thousands of miles from the American continent, a sphere of its ‘national interest,’ the United States made a serious blunder.” —Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet leader

dikweed @ 08/14/08 07:51:31

Thursday, August 14, 2008 14:17 Mecca time, 11:17 GMT

Medvedev hosted leaders of the de facto governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Moscow where they signed the six-point plan, drafted by France, aimed at ending the hostilities.

He asked Eduard Kokoity, South Ossetia’s president, and Sergei Bagapsh, his Abkhazian counterpart, to convey his support to the people of the respective regions.

“Please be aware that Russia’s position is unchanged,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

“We will support any decisions taken by the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia … and not only do we support it but we will guarantee them both in the Caucasus and throughout the world.”

In a statement made while the meeting was still ongoing, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said that the question of Tbilisi’s control over the regions was dead.

“One can forget about any talk about Georgia’s territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state,” he told reporters.

microdot @ 08/14/08 07:59:03

i’m not clear on this

“Then, on Monday, he should announce that Russia will sell all $50 billion of its Fannie Mae mortgage-backed bonds, all of it US dollar-backed assets, and will accept only rubles and euros in the future sale of Russian oil and natural gas. Then watch as the Dow Jones goes into a death-spiral. Why use a blunderbuss when a flyswatter will do just fine.”

is this saying that Putin is planning on doing this? or just sort of “weighing the options” as they put it?

deaner @ 08/14/08 11:56:28

when china suggested they were considering selling off u.s. treasury securities, bush called it the ‘nuclear option’ ....... by doing so he hinted that would be the equivalent of an economic war. sounds like putin is suggesting economic warfare …. which in turn most likely will lead to some real ass warfare where people die, “rome burns”, and bush takes back up the game of golf.

Chameleon @ 08/14/08 12:02:12

it’s All about the Russia, Stupid!™.

HughJarse @ 08/14/08 12:04:12

Mister Prime Minister is suggesting Economic Warfare? Sheisse. That’ll teach me not to skip over a Whitney. I guess I’d better hurry . . .

Georgian leader’s future in doubt

microdot @ 08/14/08 12:09:46

A line in the sand

desultory01 @ 08/14/08 13:20:16

Guy, guys GUYS . . . Putin did NOT suggest he would resort to economic warfare. WTF. Whitney suggested that he should . .. BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG difference.

Putin needs to carefully weigh his options. Then, on Monday, he should announce that Russia will sell all $50 billion of its Fannie Mae mortgage-backed bonds, all of it US dollar-backed assets, and will accept only rubles and euros in the future sale of Russian oil and natural gas. Then watch as the Dow Jones goes into a death-spiral. Why use a blunderbuss when a flyswatter will do just fine.

I remember now when and why I decided to pass on the piece — he expected me to take a quote from the DEBKA files seriously. LOL.

If you haven’t absorbed MK’s Shtokman card piece, that’s definitely an oversite you want to remedy post haste.

microdot @ 08/14/08 13:46:38

Oh. And I saw Putin “finger wagging” in George’s face at the Olympics and I’ve seen him up close really really pissed. The two don’t even remotely begin to resemble each other.

In fact, I seem to recall the following quote, approximately, “It’s sad, but now we are going to have to kick your ass”.

microdot @ 08/14/08 13:56:45

i don’t think who said it matters as much as how many aces are held by other countries in terms of the u.s. economy.

about the only trump card the u.s. has is military might. if the oil gets choked, then …..

Chameleon @ 08/14/08 13:56:47

Well, maybe he didn’t exactly say it like that. . . . he did say “it’s sad”. . . . I can’t remember the rest exactly.

microdot @ 08/14/08 13:57:49

Georgian TV Reporter Shot by Russian Sniper

desultory01 @ 08/14/08 16:45:38

She got “shot” in her left arm and kept on reporting? Sounds like a Bernie to moi. I’ll believe it when the Russian sniper confesses to a reputable source.

microdot @ 08/14/08 16:55:10

Interesting how the headline implies something quite extreme when, in fact, if someone followed the poor woman home — it would probably turn out to be tomato sauce.

Ya. It’s a Bernie.

microdot @ 08/14/08 17:48:28

Blackwater would have exploded her head.

microdot @ 08/14/08 17:50:43

looks like a graze by a .308 or less
lucky, another cm her hand would be gone

johnnycivil @ 08/14/08 18:03:31

it’s cheney’s war

Russians were told over breakfast yesterday what really happened in Georgia: the conflict in South Ossetia was part of a plot by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, to stop Barak Obama being elected president of the United States.

Chameleon @ 08/14/08 21:43:49

cheney should be giving the green light for his next excursion any day now

Chameleon @ 08/14/08 21:52:01

From article:
Wikipedia reports that, “Russian soldiers captured group of American mercenaries on territory of South Ossetia. Group was captured near of Zare village.”
Ahh, no, Wikipedia does not report anything.

zephid @ 08/15/08 13:22:33

The United States and Russia held military exercises on either side of the Caucasus mountains — July 15, 2008

Russia Holds Military Exercises in the North Caucasus

A large-scale Russian military exercise called “Caucasus 2008” is underway in Russia’s North Caucasus. Russian news agencies on July 16 quoted an aide to the commander of the North Caucasus Military District, Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Bobrun, as saying that the exercise would involve about 8,000 military personnel, 700 combat vehicles and more than 30 aircraft, and take place on the territory of Chechnya, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachaevo-Cherkessia.

...

On July 15, Georgia began its own large-scale military exercise in conjunction with the United States, dubbed “Immediate Response 2008,” near its capital of Tbilisi. Some 1,650 personnel, including troops from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, are to take part in the exercise, which was planned by the U.S. Armed Forces European Command and financed by the U.S. Defense Department.

Georgian president praises joint US military exercises staged amid tensions with Moscow — July 21, 2008

See also, Military conflict looms between Georgia and South Ossetia — July 10, 2008

dikweed @ 08/15/08 16:17:34