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Update [2008-8-13 14:4:40 by Oui]:
TBILISI/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Georgia accused Russia of breaking a shaky ceasefire in their six-day-old conflict, a charge strongly denied by Moscow.
In a highly charged atmosphere of claim and counter-claim, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russian tanks had stormed the Georgian town of Gori and were advancing on the capital, though a deputy minister later backtracked on this.
Moscow said the claims were not true. “No Russian troops or armor are moving towards Tbilisi,” Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the General Staff, told Reuters.
[Several news sources have witness accounts of APC’s heading towards Tbilisi on a reconnaisance mission upto 30 miles from the capital. All heavy arms and munition depots in the Georgian sector near S Ossatia have been destroyed or put on transport. The Georgian armed forces have taken up a position 12 miles from Tbilisi.- Oui]
GORI, Georgia (Sky News/AP) – The head of Georgia’s national security council said that 50 Russian tanks [and APC carriers – Oui] had entered the strategic Georgian city of Gori, and another top Georgian official said his country’s troops were completely driven from the separatist province of Abkhazia.
The cease-fire agreement calls for both Georgian and Russian forces to retreat to the positions they held before the fighting over the separatist region of South Ossetia began.
The RIA-Novosti news agency cited the Russian Defense Ministry as denying the claim.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Zurab Gvenetadze said that Russian forces seized a military base on the outskirts of Gori, which sits on Georgia’s only significant east-west road, is about 15 miles from the South Ossetian border.
Independent confirmation of Lomaia’s claim was not immediately possible has come from a LIVE report on Sky News Television in the UK. Norwegian journalists nearby were robbed by Russian soldiers irregulars.
The small villages are not secured and civilians have been attacked during the night by bandits and irregulars. Check points may have been manned by soldiers who have deserted their army unit. Cars have been confiscated and civilians and journalists are robbed of their possessions. There are still lots of rumors and false information spreading.
NATO says Pres Medvedev’s decision to halt operation in Georgia good news
President Bush also spoke of reports that the Russians were blowing up Georgian vessels in the Black Sea port of Poti.
A C17 military cargo aircraft loaded with aid supplies was already on its way, Mr Bush said, adding: “in the days ahead we will use US aircraft as well as naval forces to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies”. Bush announced he had directed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to launch a humanitarian aid effort, that one flight was already on the way, and that Russia must not impede transit routes or communications and withdraw its forces completely from Georgia.
“The United States strongly supports France’s efforts as President of the European Union to broker an agreement to end this conflict,” he said. “Russia must keep its word to end this crisis.”
TERITORIAL INTEGRITY OF GEORGIA
Mr Bush said that the United States “stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected”. His mention of territorial integrity rather than just sovereignty as mentioned by Mr Sarkozy will be welcomed by the Georgians.
Saakashvili believes US troops will protect and secure Georgian ports and airports [Has been denied by the Pentagon – Oui]
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
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The six-point deal was meant to end the fighting over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but both sides traded accusations Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov used a Moscow press conference to urge Georgia to formally sign the deal.
Meanwhile Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, flanked by the leaders of Lithuania, Poland, Estonia and Latvia in a separate media briefing, said Russian tanks were attacking and “rampaging” through the Georgian town of Gori despite the cease-fire.
However journalists in Gori said they had seen no Russian tanks. Residents there told the journalists they had earlier seen “some” Russian tanks, but not in large numbers.
[The Russian tanks were most likely on a reconnaisance mission in the surrounding area, as there has been sniperfire and looting throughout the night from Georgian irregulars. – Oui]
CNN Video – War in Georgia
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."we need to dismiss the moving lips coming from BushRiceSaakashvili. The verbal words can be made to disappear through protestations they “mis-spoke, were misinterpretated, taken out of context”The written word more difficult.
What Rice and Bush has implemented here is to kick this ball into the portfolio of the next president.
As for Saakashvili, as an Attorney he would say to his client, “You do not sign away your rights if you have might and right in your corner OR if you have doubts…but this is the best deal, let’s put on a spin”
expect atmospherics to go hot into October should Israel think they can go ahead with an attack on Iran as both the US and Russia are distracted.
These are dangerous times with a Russian General reported (IF CREDIBLE) to has said
Poland open to nuclear strike
“Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to a strike – 100 per cent,” he was quoted as saying, before explaining that Russian military doctrine sanctioned the use of nuclear weapons “against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them”.
The bleak warning comes as tensions between Moscow and the West reached their worst state since the end of the Cold War.”
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Where are the grown ups? We need some to step forward before this school yard experiment blows up.
an interesting piece on why the US is so upset at what has happened
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/16/georgia.russia1
It seems two Georgian army bases and the naval port had just been upgraded to NATO standard and were utterly packed with weapons. They have now been destroyed and weapons captured or destroyed and the units from them scattered in disarray.
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(Munich Coference on Security Policy) Feb. 10, 2007 — To an audience that included John McCain, the White House contender, and Robert Gates, the US defence secretary and ex-Kremlinologist, Vladimir Putin served notice:
“Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. As a result we do not have sufficient strength to find a comprehensive solution to any one of these conflicts. Finding a political settlement also becomes impossible.
We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law. And independent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations. Well, who likes this? Who is happy about this?
… What is a unipolar world? It refers to one type of situation, one centre of authority, one centre of force, one centre of decision-making. It is world in which there is one master, one sovereign. This is pernicious … unacceptable … impossible.”
Thank you George Bush for staying the course and straight talk McSame express.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."