Georgia 'under attack' as Russian tanks roll in TBLISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgia's president said Friday that his country is under attack by Russian tanks and warplanes, and he accused Russia of targeting civilians as tensions over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia appeared to boil over into full-blown conflict. "All day today, they've been bombing Georgia from numerous warplanes and specifically targeting (the) civilian population, and we have scores of wounded and dead among (the) civilian population all around the country," President Mikhail Saakashvili told CNN in an exclusive interview. "This is the worst nightmare one can encounter," he said. Asked whether Georgia and Russia were now at war, he said, "My country is in self-defense against Russian aggression. Russian troops invaded Georgia." Watch the interview with Saakashvili » About 150 Russian armored vehicles have entered South Ossetia, Saakashvili said, and Georgian forces had shot down two Russian aircraft. Russia's Defense Ministry said it sent "reinforcements" to South Ossetia to help the Russian peacekeepers already stationed there. Watch the Russian tanks moving into the area » The events followed an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss a dramatic escalation of violence in Georgia and South Ossetia. The session ended Friday morning without a statement about the fighting. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said it was sending an envoy to the region immediately. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer issued a statement Friday saying he was seriously concerned about the recent events in the region, and he called on all sides to end armed clashes and begin direct talks. Watch more about NATO's attempts to help Georgia » Carmen Romero, a NATO spokeswoman speaking to CNN from Brussels, reiterated Scheffer's statement. She said NATO was in regular contact with Georgia's president and was talking to the Russian side. Britain and the United States also urged all sides to bring an immediate end to the violence. "The U.S. has been in discussions for many months with all parties to find a peaceful resolution," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "We urge all sides to refrain from violence and to begin direct talks." Earlier Friday, Russian military aircraft dropped two bombs on Georgian territory, a Georgian official said, causing no casualties. In a letter addressed to his "fellow citizens" Friday, Saakashvili said he had mobilized tens of thousands of reserve officers and that the mobilization continued. Don't Miss Georgia's territorial turmoil Georgia orders cease fire, offers talks Reports: 6 die as Georgia shells South Ossetia Shootings heighten Georgia tension "We must unite," Saakashvili wrote. "All of us, hundreds of thousands of Georgians here and abroad, should come together, unite, and fight to save Georgia. We are a freedom-loving people, and if our nation is united, no aggressor will be able to harm it." Georgia declared a unilateral three-hour ceasefire at 3 p.m. to enable civilians to escape from the conflict zone, which so far was focused inside South Ossetia but included aerial targets inside Georgia, Saakashvili said. "Clearly they don't really have boundaries in their activities," said Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili, in an interview with CNN. She said Russian aircraft had bombed "several villages" in Georgia outside of the South Ossetian territory. Tkeshelashvili said Georgian authorities are still collecting information on casualties. Georgia was appealing to the world for diplomatic intervention, she said, stressing that Georgia was not asking for military assistance. Violence has been mounting in the region in recent days, with sporadic clashes between Georgian forces and South Ossetian separatists. South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia in the early 1990s, but its independence is not internationally recognized. Georgian troops launched new attacks in South Ossetia late Thursday after a top government official said a unilateral cease-fire offer was met with separatist artillery fire. Alexander Lomaia, the secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, said Georgian troops were responding proportionately to separatist mortar and artillery attacks on two villages -- attacks he said followed the cease-fire and call for negotiations by Saakashvili. Russia said a Georgian attack on a military barracks left a number of Russian peacekeepers dead. "It's all very sad and alarming," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said earlier in the day. "And, of course, there will be a response." Putin was at a meeting with U.S. President Bush in Beijing, where they attended a luncheon for world leaders hosted by the Chinese president ahead of the Olympics, which begin Friday. "There are lots of volunteers being gathered in the region, and it's very hard to withhold them from taking part. A real war is going on," Putin said, according to his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. Russian peacekeepers are in South Ossetia under a 1992 agreement by Russian, Georgian, and South Ossetian authorities to maintain what has been a fragile peace. The mixed peacekeeping force also includes Georgian and South Ossetian troops. "The Georgian leadership has launched a dirty adventure," said a statement from Russia's Defense Ministry on Friday. "We will not leave our peacekeepers and Russian citizens unprotected." Saakashvili said the Russian invasion of South Ossetia was pre-planned. "These troops that are in Georgia now -- they didn't come unexpectedly," the president told CNN. "They had been amassing at the border for the last few months. They claimed they were staging exercises there and as soon as a suitable pretext was found, they moved in." Georgia, located on the Black Sea coast between Russia and Turkey, has been split by Russian-backed separatist movements in South Ossetia and another region, Abkhazia.
I was going to post the oil traders haven't got wind of this yet, it has oil, also i believe russia transports its oil through there, but I could be wrong
Here's an article on the importance of the Pipelines and also on alleged American and Israeli role in Georgia. U.S. Attacks Russia Through Client State Georgia Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Friday, August 8, 2008 Georgian forces, trained and equipped by the Pentagon and the U.S. government, killed 10 Russian peacekeepers early this morning in a provocation attack that has escalated into military conflict, but the subsequent corporate media coverage would have us believe that the U.S. and NATO-backed client state Georgia is a helpless victim, when in actual fact a far more nuanced geopolitical strategy is being played out. Original reports early this morning detailed how Georgian forces had killed 10 Russian peacekeepers and wounded 30 others, which was the provocation for Russian forces to begin military operations, but the fact that Georgian forces were responsible for starting the conflagration has been completely buried in subsequent media coverage. “Georgia and the Pentagon cooperate closely,” reports MSNBC, “Georgia has a 2,000-strong contingent supporting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, and Washington provides training and equipment to the Georgian military.” The latest exercise, Immediate Response 2008, which took place last month, involved no less than one thousand U.S. troops working with Georgian troops in a war game scenario. Moreover, the very “Rose Revolution” that brought the Harvard trained pro-US Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvilli to power in 2003 was wholly aided and abetted by the Central Intelligence Agency. Russian fury at U.S. support for Georgia and Georgia’s aspirations of becoming a NATO member have flared regularly in recent months, with tensions also rising following U.S. attempts to place missile defense shield technology in Poland and the Czech Republic, which most observers agree has nothing to do with Iran and is in fact aimed at countering Russian military superiority in the region. In addition, the pro-Israeli news source DebkaFile reports that Georgian infantry units were “aided by Israeli military advisors” in capturing the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali earlier today. DebkaFile elaborates on the true geopolitical significance behind today’s events. DEBKAfile’s geopolitical experts note that on the surface level, the Russians are backing the separatists of S. Ossetia and neighboring Abkhazia as payback for the strengthening of American influence in tiny Georgia and its 4.5 million inhabitants. However, more immediately, the conflict has been sparked by the race for control over the pipelines carrying oil and gas out of the Caspian region. The Russians may just bear with the pro-US Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s ambition to bring his country into NATO. But they draw a heavy line against his plans and those of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route the oil routes from Azerbaijan and the gas lines from Turkmenistan, which transit Georgia, through Turkey instead of hooking them up to Russian pipelines. Jerusalem owns a strong interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan, rather than the Russian network. Intense negotiations are afoot between Israel Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Azarbaijan for pipelines to reach Turkey and thence to Israel’s oil terminal at Ashkelon and on to its Red Sea port of Eilat. From there, supertankers can carry the gas and oil to the Far East through the Indian Ocean. Former Treasury Secretary under Ronald Reagan, Paul Craig Roberts, told The Alex Jones Show today that the entire scenario smacked of a maneuver on behalf of the Neo-Con faction controlling the White House, led by Dick Cheney. Roberts said the date was precisely picked due to the distraction of the Olympics and Bush being out of the country. Both Condoleezza Rice and John McCain have today demanded Russia withdraw its forces from Russia immediately. Meanwhile, the U.S. media networks are seemingly more interested in the complete non-story of John Edwards having an affair, while a conflict that could have devastating and thunderous geopolitical consequences fizzes on the verge of explosion. As of early Friday evening, Edwards’ extramarital shenanigans were dominating CNN and Fox News, while Drudge also afforded the story more prominence that the situation in Georgia, which was also deemed less important than the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. One of our readers contributed the following, which explains in detail exactly what is unfolding. Most folks on here can not or will not look up the history or facts for themselves …morons.. Those who dont learn from history are destined to repeat it.. In 1992, Georgia was forced to accept a ceasefire to avoid a large scale confrontation with Russia. The government of Georgia and South Ossetian separatists reached an agreement to avoid the use of force against one another, and Georgia pledged not to impose sanctions against South Ossetia. A peacekeeping force of Ossetians, Russians and Georgians was established at the time. And late in 1992 the OSCE set up a mission in Georgia to monitor the peacekeeping operation. From then, until mid-2004, South Ossetia was generally peaceful. In June 2004, tensions began to rise as the Georgian authorities strengthened their efforts against smuggling in the region. Hostage takings, shootouts and occasional bombings left dozens dead and wounded. A ceasefire deal was reached on August 13, but it has been repeatedly violated. Tensions in the region soared in 2008 and outbreaks of violence became increasingly frequent in the border area. Georgia said it was an internal affair as the breakaway republic had never been recognized internationally. The Georgian side repeatedly insisted the conflict could be resolved without outside interference. However, early on August 8 Georgia launched a massive military offensive to take control of the republic. A quote from another Reuters At an emergency session of the United Nations on Thursday night, Russia failed to push through a statement that would have called on both sides to stop fighting immediately. Council diplomats said a phrase calling on all sides to “renounce the use of force” had been unacceptable to the Georgians, backed by the United States and the Europeans. UK Times online: Mr Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer who succeeded Eduard Shevardnadze in 2004 and has since tried to align it more closely to the West, compared the Russian action with the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and appealed to the outside world to intervene. “Russia is fighting a war with us in our own territory,” he told CNN as Russian armour rolled into South Ossetia. “It’s not about Georgia anymore. It’s about America, its values: we are a freedom-loving nation that is right now under attack. http://www.prisonplanet.com/us-attacks-russia-through-client-state-georgia.html
Prisonplanet.com? Really? I was unaware that people other than those skipping their regular doses of anti-psychotic medication actually listened to what Alex Jones had to say.
If there's anything you wanna refute in the article, go ahead. Just because the owner of the site is not your cup of tea doesn't give you the automatic right to dismiss the article. He's not even the author of the article. In addition, Alex hosts a bunch of authors, ex CIA analysts, Economists..etc on his show, He hosted Vincent Bugliosi ( Author The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder) , nobody else I'm aware of tried to host Bugliosi, although his book is 9th on the best-seller books list of Newyork times. I personally don't agree with everything Alex says.
As soon as you read "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" or "The Turner Diaries" and give a point by point refutation, I will consider doing the same. Otherwise, I won't waste my time. You don't spend your time refuting whackos just because they speak. That would empower them. For the truly insane, you just point at them and laugh. With a quick skimming perusal I found three thing things that can be proven as verifiable outright lies or gross mischaracterization within a couple of seconds. However, to discuss them would imply validation the rest of the bullsh!t paranoid innuendo and slander which is only hinted at in the article by their absence from discussion.
What are the three things that can be proven as verifiable outright lies or gross mischaracterization ?
Thanks!! It's just you can't really do much about an article based on mainstream media sources including MSNBC, Reuters, UK times online, CNN, and Debka ( a pro Israeli website). It would be much wiser for you to dismiss the article regarding its contents, not the host of the article.
LOL...I have been thinking the same thing all day....the irony seems to be lost on most...While I agree with Bush, he spent all our political leverage when he invaded another sovereign nation, IRAQ.
