Poor, beleaguered Russians looting Poti, the Georgian Black Sea port.

[bushmeister0]

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/viewmedia/58388

"Russian marines and naval troops Sunday were seen leaving the Georgian port of Poti after having demolished Georgian naval installations and removed tons of Georgian military materials by lorry.

US-supplied patrol boats were among the Georgian naval equipment carted away by the Russians, witnesses said."

I heard in another report yesterday (link I can't find now) that Russians were carrying off even helicopters on the beds of trucks!

NPR's Ivan Watson reports:

"On Saturday, a main railroad bridge near the village of Kaspi was blown apart, 'effectively isolating the Georgian capital,' Watson says.

'It looks like Russia is carrying out a long slow punishment of its disobedient little neighbor, Georgia, which got way too close to the U.S.,' he says. 'It is systematically destroying and dismantling the bases of the Georgian army, which has been trained by the U.S., and police stations in the towns it has occupied.'

Watson says one European diplomat said the Russian goal is clearly regime change, that Moscow wants to overthrow the pro-American, anti-Russian president, and it is doing that by isolating the capital. He predicted that with the railroad down and with the road blockaded, Tbilisi will start feeling the pressure of food and supply shortages in a matter of days."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93666241

And then what happens?

What's W going to do about it?

Interesting read, btw, on the f'd up history of this whole thing at the Observer:

"Ethnic tensions: War in the Caucasus is Stalin's legacy

Arbitrary boundaries and forced repatriation are two of the causes behind the constant conflicts in the former Soviet Union. Shaun Walker reports:

One of Vladimir Putin's most-quoted phrases is that the 'collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 21st century'. This was widely interpreted as being part of the ex-KGB agent's hankering for the return of the Soviet past. But Putin spoke the words while talking about the vicious wars that raged in its aftermath and the wars that are likely to come in the future. The week's events in South Ossetia show how quickly simmering tensions can erupt into vicious conflict. Look out for more violence in places you've never heard of, coming soon."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ethnic-tensions-war-in-the-caucasus-is-stalins-legacy-899615.html

We've got a deal, right?