Georgia says "very close" to war with Russia

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Georgia says "very close" to war with Russia
Tue May 6, 2008 8:37am EDT

By Mark John

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia's deployment of extra troops
in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia has brought
the prospect of war "very close", a minister of ex-Soviet
Georgia said on Tuesday.

Separately, in comments certain to fan rising tension
between Moscow and Tbilisi, the "foreign minister" of the
breakaway Black Sea region was quoted as saying it was
ready to hand over military control to Russia.

"We literally have to avert war," Temur Iakobashvili, a
Georgian State Minister, told reporters in Brussels.

Asked how close to such a war the situation was, he
replied: "Very close, because we know Russians very well."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL0616183020080506

[bemildred]

1. Must be like having a yappy dog pee on your leg. nt

[Winterblues]

5. I think more like having a snarling bear entering your front door

Would you give the bear all your honey to keep it from eating you?

[bemildred]

7. If I was Georgia, I would do my best not to annoy the bear.

The current government of Georgia has been remiss in that regard, and one can only hope that that doesn't prove to have been too expensive of a mistake for them.

[sasquatch]

2. Dude I would love to see Putin bitch slap Saxby Chambliss

:silly:

[Bake]

6. Wouldn't that be COOOOOL????

Very funny stuff!! Kudos.

:rofl:

Bake

[Blue_Tires]

8. well played n/t

[Dogtown]

18. Aye Men

as the locals say!!!

:toast:

[FVZA_Colonel]

24. I remember thinking about, when that story of Georgia shooting down a Russian bomber or something

appeared how funny it would be if it had been a bunch of rednecks shooting at it with their shotguns, and imagining their reactions on actually hitting it.

[slackmaster]

3. Oh, THAT Georgia

Never mind.

[Doctor_J]

4. NPR today sounded like they're "back in the USSR"

with Pooty-poot's party in charge instead of the Commies. Vlad is jailing dissident writers, crime & corruption are rampant, and a few connected people are stealing from the huddled masses.

[darue]

25. name a "jailed dissident writer" everything else describes America perfectly.

crime & corruption are rampant, and a few connected people are stealing from the huddled masses

[Hugabear]

9. I'm sure the Kremlin is shaking in its boots

Russia could squash these guys like a bug.

[nels25]

14. No doubt, however

always be aware of the law of un intended consequences.

With all the other problems in the world this will not help.

And one can only guess how the geo-politics of this would/could play out.

One nice thing though, I do not see how we (the US) can be blamed.

:dem:

[otherlander]

10. Couldn't they just settle this

by seeing who could piss further? Do they really, really have to drag a bunch of 18-y.o.'s into this?

[nels25]

15. Check your history

sometimes some people are not willing to cut a deal short of castrating the other side (either figuratively of literally).

We shall see what transpires.
:hi:

[Bragi]

11. I'd have thought Alabama would Georgia"s first target /NT

[hokies4ever]

12. Better hope that Georgia doesn't have any of those loose nukes

that the Soviet Union was careless in guarding once the Cold War ended.

[nels25]

16. Very Good Point

:yoiks:

[Xithras]

13. Yeah, because that worked so well for the Chechens.

I get that the Abkhazians are genocidal bastards who have ethnically cleaned Abkhazia of Georgians, and I get that Abkhazia has been a part of Georgia for 1200 years, but the residents there don't want to be in Georgia anymore AND they have Vlad on their side. Abkhazia is going to be free either way, and fighting it will simply get the rest of Georgia reduced to rubble.

Of course, Georgia has two good reasons to risk it. Ossetia and Ajaria. Both of those regions have made moves to secede as well, and both of those movements will gain a lot of steam if Abkhazia leaves. If all three go, Georgia will lose half its land AND (more importantly) its access to the Black Sea.

It's not a pretty situation.

[nels25]

17. How far is Vlad willing to push

this disruption in other states??

He can not seriously think he can re-establish the old Soviet Union can he?

If he does, then serious blood will flow.

The soviets (Lenin, Stalin et al) left some marks and if the scabs come off the situation will spiral out of control big time.

I agree this is not good at all.

And it is flying under the radar, hardly anyone in the US is aware of if they are they are keeping quiet about it.

[Xithras]

19. Vlad is ex-KGB, and I've always suspected that he missed the SU.

Putin was raised in an authoritarian society and came to power in one of its most authoritarian branches. He watched glastnost and perestroika destroy that society in only a few short years, and it came at the expense of his own authority and of the organization he was a member of. Putin has always displayed traits that indicate his nostalgia for the "good old days", and he's made statements before that Russia is the "natural" power base and leader of the former Soviet republics. He sees them as Russias children to be controlled, and if neccesary, punished.

[nels25]

21. Has he forgotten a little thing known

as the Russian Civil War circa 1919 - 1921??

I would wager a least a few dollars that he will not get these now free parts to come back to Soviet style benevolence peacefully.

For instance I would imagine that the Ukraine would be a push over for him :sarcasm: after all they no longer remember the imposed starvation's of the 30's.

The baltic states are just lusting to rejoin a re-configured Soviet Union (GAG).

You get the picture.

And I agree with you whole heartedly.

[SargeUNN]

20. Uh Oh is the Soviet Union Reforming?

Thanks to Bush for his faith based foreign policy, we could see this filthy Putin starting to put the Soviet Union together and Bush can be proud of that.

[nels25]

22. At the risk of becoming a target.

How is this Bush's fault??

I mean it is almost a required component to hate and blame any and everything on him (most of it deserved) but I am inclined to give him a pass on this one.

Nothing he stated, or action he could have taken could have stopped this situation,in fact in could have speed ed it up.

I do not believe that Putin would have taken to kindly to Bush pressing the issue,he would have taken that as digging into the internal affairs of Russia (they have always been a little bit kinky about that, just like us).

His KGB back ground would have guaranteed a blow back had we been more forceful.

Saying nothing and he simply continues about his business.

Either way short of a major escalation of some sort he does as he pleases, same as Iran is doing.

[Igel]

23. If you want to blame anybody--and I don't--you'd have to blame Clinton.

Putin is a response to the policies from the '90s. I think he's the wrong response, and he's a parasite on what prosperity Russia would have had. But Russian's buy the idea that he was their economic and social savior, while the US was the big bad guy in the game.

(There was a recent contrarian CFR article that looked at a number of economic indicators: All but two, employment and corruption, were rising pre-Putin, and employment typically rises as a response to increased investment, etc.; under Putin, corruption's increased. Compared with other post-Communist countries, Russia's done less well than those that embarked on privatization schemes, with the pre-Putin economic indicators parallelling those of other countries who are now doing better, on a per capita basis. Zap oil out of the equation, and Russia's even worse off.)

[Up2Late]

26. DAMN YOU SONNY PERDUE!!!

What? The Country of Georgia?!?

Never mind.:hide: