War?

[Ayano]

it's too bad they can't be a voice for reason.

If the US tired, all the Iraq crap would come back to hit us in the back. More or less, Russia is acting on sketchy intelligence, and if we shook the no-no finger, they'd bring the 'but you did this' rhetoric along with the Russia must protect it's citizens lecture.

Cry genocide and you can justify an invasion.
We cried WMD, well G.W.B. did, and look what it got us into.

WW3 won't happen, Russia will advance and probably prop up the pro-Russian separatist group as either a sovereign nation or some autonomous region after a peace accord. The US is just going to suck it's thumb and lick it's wounds on the Iraq ordeal.

Funny how when shit happens it's all "wtf, the USA should tell them them to STFU because we can't"

[Da1andonly]

Two thirds of the people in Georgia have Russian passports. Russia is only entering the country to look out for their own citizens...

Yeah.


ps. what is wards & deprecates thoughts about this?

[Exalt]

Georgia isn't part of the European Union, nor is it part of Europe, so that doesnt make us anymore obliged to handle this (I am not saying the US should).

I think the UN is already on this though.

the UN? LOL?

that means nothing will be done

the UN is a complete joke... pretty much the UN is "US takes care of it, while the rest of us send like 10 troops each, who are mainly there in name only"

but since US can't do anything since we won't start a war with Russia, no one else will either, EU would be the only option there, since russia is Eastern Europe at least, but since you cannot take care of your own continent well i guess countries like Georgia will have to suck it up and get attacked

[Mantra-Slider]

[Exalt]

ok so i read up on some of the facts of the war going on... and heres what I came up with:

the Georgian side did not want to prevent war... they refused to sign an agreement that would not allow either side to use force, which was a russian proposal... and if broken would result in a worldwide trial... so part of this is their own faults

Russia claims they are reacting to Georgian aggressian in the south Ossetia region toward civilians that have claim russian citizenship. Basically, the Georgian government attacked these people because they think of themselves as Russians not as Georgians and for whatever reason did not like this... and if you look it up, history has shown that that region only joined Georgia as part of the province during the soviet union, before that it was still part of Russia.... moot point but either way I do think Georgia did pick the fight here

Since Friday Georgian forces, and included mercenaries, have destroyed the south Ossetia capital and took over several villages in south Ossetia.
Russian army has not crossed the Georgian border and most of the souths Ossetians are Russian citizens.

It has been confirmed that Georgian forces had been killing wounded on the spot. 2000 INNOCENT people dead on the South-Ossetian side versus the 60 or so on the Georgian side.


Now this is just what I've been reading up on that is from sources outside of the average CNN and FOX news channels, so it may or may not be completely accurate, but it gives an opinion outside of what we get in the United States.

Overall, I think Georgia did not take the proper steps to prevent this, and since I do believe they were the aggressors in the south ossetia region, russia is justified in marching in and pushing them back out.

It would be like Mexico trying to attack Arizona, and us saying "don't do it or we will come after you." Mexico does it anyway and so we send our troops and start fucking up Mexico... the world would say the same to us, but we would have every right to defend Arizona

[Kolar]

the UN? LOL?

that means nothing will be done

the UN is a complete joke... pretty much the UN is "US takes care of it, while the rest of us send like 10 troops each, who are mainly there in name only"

but since US can't do anything since we won't start a war with Russia, no one else will either, EU would be the only option there, since russia is Eastern Europe at least, but since you cannot take care of your own continent well i guess countries like Georgia will have to suck it up and get attacked

I think you're confusing the United Nations with the coalition of the willing. Easy mistake to make.

The EU has its part to play but Russia is a world power. Its military operations and aggression towards others is a concern for the world as it is whenever the United States decides to level another piece of real estate.

[Galleleo]

Last I heard is that Georgia has ceased all military activities. And pulled its troops out of South Ossetie, they want to open negotiations with the Russians over an immediate cease firing treaty and ending off all hostilities. Russian army has complete control over the capitol of South Ossetie, Tschinvali. Georgia has retreated to prevent a catastrophe among the civilians from happening.

As far as I understand, there has been a tense situation between Russia and Georgia for a while. The South Ossetie Region declared independence when the Soviet Union ended and they have close ties with North Ossetie which is in Russia. There have been fights been rebels and the Georgians army the last few weeks right around the time Russia and Georgia wanted to talk about peace in that region. Georgia blames Russia from siding with the South Ossetie Region and Russia wants to prevent Georgia from joining the NATO to prevent it from getting a bigger Army. Saakashvilli said a few days ago that this madness should stop and that a war is not in the interest of Russia nor Georgia.

On the 7th, Saakashvilli ordered the Georgian troops to put down their weapons and offered the South Ossetie a cease firing. He promised the Region a lot of autonomy if they stayed as part of Georgia. The cease firing treaty was broken soon after it was offered. It was reported that Russian military died when their barracks were fired upon.

On the 8th Russian send in about 150 tanks and Georgia took down 2 Russian Jets. Russia says the capitol, Tschinvali has been completely destroyed in the fights and on this day Saakashvilli said that all troops and reserves should be ready. Poetin then threatened Georgia to attack if they did not immediately cease all activities in South Ossetie. Georgia said they wouldnt cease all activities until the area would be under control. On this day Russia officially joined the side of South Ossetie to assist in this war.

Saakashvilli pulled his troops out of Iraq (roughly 2000) to help with the war back home. Russia then expended its attacks outside of the region in South Ossetie on, what they call, strategic targets. The ceasing of all activities and retreating of troops happened a few hours after Russia attacked a military airport near Tbilisi.

That is basically what I know about what happened these past few days. Basically the fighting between the rebels in that region and the Georgian army increased in the past week and on Friday Russia stepped in to back the South Ossetie side.

[Zingy]

I think that Russia made the right move in stopping Georgian troops from overtaking South Ossetia. If Georgia been allowed to forcibly take S. Ossetia, they would have later gone on to attack Abkhazia as well.

Also, if Georgia was allowed to take S. Ossetia without any outside interference, other countries, having seen Georgia's success, would too have decided to follow in Georgia's footsteps by using military force to forcibly regain control of self-declared independent provinces.

Russia had to use disproportionate force for it to be a sufficient warning beacon against future interference by Georgia (and other similar countries) so that they will not try to mess with regions/countries which are under Russian protection (in this case, both S. Ossetia and Abkhazia had Russian peacekeepers stationed there).

[Displaced]

this is simple. Georgia will not give the ossetia region autonomy, and russia will not settle till it has what it wants.

the ossetia region "wants" to be independant from Georgia. (or is it just pressure from Russia?)

Georgia does not want this to happen due to the "wealth" of the ossetia region (oil and gas pipelines that run through it).

Georgia is also feeling pressure from the US and Israel not to allow the ossetia region to become independant, as the US and Israel are heavily involved in equipping and training the Georgian military, and want "control" over those pipelines. Saakashvili wants to route the pipelines from ossetia to turkey, not to russia.

The US also wants to set up their "missile defence systems" in Georgia, so the US of A is pretty much pulling all the strings here.

[Exalt]

The US also wants to set up their "missile defence systems" in Georgia, so the US of A is pretty much pulling all the strings here.

yes because its always the US' fault that everything goes wrong in the world, especially in Europe where the EU sure doesn't have any responsibility right?

No one else is at fault for these things, everyone is a puppet of the mighty US, right?

[DoTheFandango]

I don't know, there are no right or wrong sides in this. While I blame Russia for pushing their "Peacekeepers" into Georgia, but who attacked who and what the fuck is going on.

[404 Not Found]

Next thing you know Russia will want to control Finland again j/k

Although when I lived in Helsinki decades ago, it was always interesting to see how the Soviet Unions presence was made known in abundance in the Baltic as well as along the land border.

If Russia wants to pull some weight and take advantage, this would be the time, in noting the lame-duck of Bush at the moment and an election on the horizon.

[Squeezer]

Next thing you know Russia will want to control Finland again j/k

Although when I lived in Helsinki decades ago, it was always interesting to see how the Soviet Unions presence was made known in abundance in the Baltic as well as along the land border.

If Russia wants to pull some weight and take advantage, this would be the time, in noting the lame-duck of Bush at the moment and an election on the horizon.

Not to mention right as the world turns it's attention to the Olympics.

[Exalt]

Not to mention right as the world turns it's attention to the Olympics.

well during the olympics there is supposed to be an unspoken agreement where no one does any aggression acts toward each other during the games.... and has been followed since ancient times really

even hitler and the soviet union followed that agreement.... apparently russia and georgia decided to throw that away

[Galleleo]

From what I understand, this started between the rebels (if you wanna call it that) and the Georgian army, some Russian soldiers which were stationed in South Ossetie got killed too and then the Russian army stepped in on the side of South Ossetie.

And why do you say this is happening in Europe? This shit is not happening in Europe. Russia might be classified as a European country, but this is not happening in Europe. I have no doubt that England, France, Germany probably others, are already busy trying to put as much diplomatic pressure on Russia as possible. But Poetin isn't really that sensitive to anything anyone says.