A Convoy Heads for Gori to Investigate Rumors of Plunder

OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia, Aug. 13 — Near a sign reading “J. Stalin’s Home Country,” Russian military vehicles lumbered along the highway, rifles pointing out from drivers’ windows. Most of the soldiers inside looked stony-eyed at the civilian cars going past. But a few nodded and gave casual waves, as if their presence there were no big deal.

It was a big deal for Alexandre Lomaia, secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council. Along with Estonian Ambassador Toomas Lukk, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and a group of Georgian and foreign journalists, he had come hoping to see for himself the place where hostile troops were said to be ravaging what was left of the town.

“There were numerous reports that the Russian regular army let the irregulars into the city this morning, and immediately after that, we started getting desperate calls from the people, saying, ‘Help us, they are looting, they are humiliating us, they are crushing our houses.’ “

The “irregulars,” according to Lomaia, were Cossacks, Chechens and — perhaps most terrifying for Georgians in this conflict — Ossetians. Ossetians and Georgians fought a vicious ethnic war in the early 1990s. The current conflict was ignited last week in South Ossetia.

Read more: A Convoy Heads for Gori to Investigate Rumors of Plunder

Lights go out in Georgia

RUSSIA’S lopsided five-day war with Georgia was nasty, brutish and short – to borrow philosopher Thomas Hobbes’ view of life. And as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called a halt to fighting Tuesday, Moscow had achieved its war aims.

Georgian forces were driven from the separatist South Ossetia enclave that wants to join Russian North Ossetia. Georgia’s U.S.-trained military was routed and “disorganized” (in Mr. Medvedev’s words), having fled to the outskirts of their capital, Tbilisi.

The Russians pursued them into Georgia’s undisputed territory, destroying bases, airfields and command centres, bombing urban areas and taking control of the main east-west highway.

Georgia’s ambitions to join NATO and the European Union have been set back and its ability to offer Europe a secure oil-and-gas pipeline route that isn’t controlled by Russia has also been cast in doubt.

By humbling and destabilizing a troublesome U.S. ally, Moscow has shown there are limits to what America can or will do to confront Russia in its old sphere of influence.

Read more: Lights go out in Georgia

Russia and Georgia agree to truce

The heavy fighting between Russian and Georgian forces appears to have ended after the two sides agreed to an EU-backed ceasefire plan.

Speaking early on Wednesday in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, confirmed that both sides had agreed to pull back their troops.

The peace plan demands that Russia and Georgia immediately end all hostilities and allow free access to the region for humanitarian assistance.

But the exact details of the truce must still be finalised and there are still reports from both sides that some fighting has continued.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, had ordered an end to military operations inside Georgia, but Georgia said Russian aircraft continued bombing villages and towns, killing several people.

Read more: Russia and Georgia agree to truce

Putin is solely responsible. Saakaszwili had no choice

“Russian journalist: Putin is solely responsible. Saakaszwili had no choice.” Marcin Wojciechowski (Gazeta Wyborcza, 2008-08-10; the full interview to be published on Monday
Who is right in the georgian-russian conflict – Moscow or Tbilisi?
Oleg Panfilow:

Georgian President Saakashvili had no choice but to attack South Osetia. For more than 10 days Georgian territory was shelled from Osetian positions. Russian peacekeepers watched it passively. Saakashvili called on Russia to calm down the leadership of South Osetia, threatened to use force, and finally it all boiled over … Russia did nothing to diminish the tension. And that’s how Georgian military action in South Osetia turned into regular war (…) They (the Russians) bombed all military airfields, harbor in Poti, several military bases. Georgians can;t believe that they are in regular war with Russia. Nobody expected that Russia would react so violently to the events in SOuth Osetia. Georgians are astonished and upset that Russia used a pretext to start a regular war against Georgia.
MW – Are Georgians ready to fight Russia?
OP -

All Georgian opposition united around Saakashvili, despite still recently calling him the worst, accusing him of falsifying the elections, attempting dictatorship, etc. Today it does not matter who believes what politically. Everyone wants to fight for Georgia. Even the former minister of defense Irakli Irakisziwili wanted by the Tbilisi authorities for the attempted coup (probably in hiding in Russia) declared in an interview that he would like to return to Georgia to fight for it as an ordinary soldier. Many of my friends, the reservists, declare readiness to fight the aggressor. The mood is solemn. Strangely, there are no anti-Russian sentiments, in a sense of wanting revenge against ordinary Russians. I am walking around in the streets, I am speaking in Russian, I am not hiding who I am, and nobody confronted me. No even a verbal abuse. To me this is incredible. I hope it stays this way.

Putin is solely responsible. Saakaszwili had no choice