Russia attacks Georgia and how Russia just spoiled Rothschild/Soros plans

[MikeWB]

'Russia is fighting a war with us': Georgian president
Last Updated: Friday, August 8, 2008 | 9:42 AM ET

Clashes broke out Friday in the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia as Georgia launched a major military offensive to regain the territory and Russia responded by sending troops into the separatist region.

Russia's First Channel on Friday televised images of what it said were burning Georgian armoured vehicles in Tskhinvali, capital of the South Ossetian breakaway region of Georgia. Georgia launched a massive attack Friday to regain control over South Ossetia. (First Channel/Associated Press)Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said in a television interview Friday that Russia is fighting a war with his country as Russian tanks rolled into South Ossetia.

"Russia is fighting war with us in our own territory," Saakashvili told CNN. "And we are in this situation of self-defence against our neighbour."

More than two dozen people were reported dead in the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won defacto independence in the early 1990s.

Among the dead were 10 Russian peacekeepers killed when their barracks were hit by Georgian shelling, said Russian ground forces spokesman Col. Igor Konashenkov. Russia, which has close ties to South Ossetia, has peacekeepers in the region but Georgia alleges they back the separatists.

Also killed in overnight fighting were 15 civilians, separatist officials in South Ossetia said.

Convoy of Russian tanks

The main hospital in South Ossetia's capital of Tskhinvali has stopped functioning and ambulances were unable to reach wounded civilians, said international Red Cross spokeswoman Maia Kardova in Tbilisi, Georgia.

South Ossetia has been running its own affairs since declaring independence in the early 1990s, but has not been internationally recognized as independent. (CBC)Saakashvili, speaking earlier on local television, accused Russia of sending aircraft to bomb Georgian territory. Russia denied the statement.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it was sending reinforcements for its peacekeepers. Both Russian state television and Georgian officials reported a convoy of tanks had crossed the border.

Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili said government troops were now in full control of the city.

"We are facing Russian aggression," said Georgia's Security Council Chief Kakha Lomaya. "They have sent in their troops and weapons and they are bombing our towns."

Short ceasefire gives civilians time to leave

Putin warned earlier in the day that the Georgian attack will draw retaliation. Russia's Defence Ministry vowed to protect South Ossetians, many of whom have Russian citizenship.

The former Soviet republic of Georgia angered Russia by seeking NATO membership in what Moscow sees as a bid by Western powers to weaken Russia's influence in the region.

Georgia had declared a three-hour ceasefire, which began at 3 p.m. local time, to give civilians a chance to leave Tskhinvali.

Yakobashvili said Georgian forces have shot down two Russian combat planes over Georgian territory. Russia did not immediately comment.

Yakobashvili said one Russian plane had dropped a bomb on a military base near the Georgian capital, though no one was hurt.

The U.S. White House urged Russia and Georgia to peacefully resolve their dispute.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he was seriously concerned about the fighting and that the alliance is closely following the situation.

West criticized Russia for provoking tensions

Saakashvili long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s, and both have built up ties with Moscow.

Russia was criticized by the West for provoking tensions by sending warplanes over South Ossetia last month.

Most of South Ossetia, which is roughly 1.5 times the size of Luxembourg, has been under the control of an internationally unrecognized separatist government since 1992. Georgian forces held several swaths of it.

Relations between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as Georgia pushed to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional peacekeepers to Abkhazia.

US/Rothschilds has been trying to use Georgia as an outpost to get to oil:

Georgia - Oil Politics
Development of Caspian oil and gas resources and export routes has been slowed by regional conflict, political instability, and lack of regional cooperation. Many of the proposed export routes pass through areas where conflicts remain unresolved. Most of these are in the Transcaucasus part of the Caspian region, where conflicts in Georgia, the Chechnya portion of Russia, and between Armenia and Azerbaijan, hinder the development of export routes westward from the Caspian.

The future of the Caucasus region could be determined by the pipelines running through it. Each country in the region and several outside it have their own views on how oil and gas should reach the rest of the world. The western route for early oil from Azerbaijan goes from Baku to the Georgian port of Supsa on the Black Sea, and several other proposed pipeline routes also pass through Georgia. Pipeline construction on the western route was suspended briefly in October 1998 because of the fighting between government forces and those led by Akaki Eliava.

The proposed pipeline routes pass near several regions of Georgia that have been the site of separatist struggles, such as Abkhazia and Ossetia. Georgia has expressed a willingness to grant Abkhazia some autonomy, and talks to resolve the standoff have included proposals to route future oil pipelines across the rebel region, on the premise that economic cooperation could help bring peace to the region. The port of Supsa, the terminus of the western route for "early oil" from the AIOC, is 12 miles from a buffer zone between Abkhazia and Georgia.

The long controversial Baku-Ceyhan ("Main Export Pipeline") from the Caspian through Turkey to the Mediterranean should be completed by 2004, along with a parallel gas pipeline from Turkmenistan. Where these pipelines are built will create winners and losers in this multinational competition. The success of these projects would end an almost century-old Russian stranglehold on the oil and gas resources of the Caspian. The new pipelines are clearly is meant to weaken the influence of Russia in the region and therefore are regarded as hostile by the Russian Government. Moscow might choose to cause more trouble in the Caucasus. It has fomented rebellions in the past and can do so again. Georgia, through which the new pipeline would pass, is particularly vulnerable. It blamed Moscow for backing the secession of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Older article detailing how Rothschild/Soros tried to completely overtake Georgia:

MARK MACKINNON
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
E-mail
November 26, 2003 at 2:03 AM EDT
Tbilisi — It was back in February that billionaire financier George Soros began laying the brickwork for the toppling of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.

That month, funds from his Open Society Institute sent a 31-year-old Tbilisi activist named Giga Bokeria to Serbia to meet with members of the Otpor (Resistance) movement and learn how they used street demonstrations to topple dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Then, in the summer, Mr. Soros's foundation paid for a return trip to Georgia by Otpor activists, who ran three-day courses teaching more than 1,000 students how to stage a peaceful revolution.

Last weekend, the Liberty Institute that Mr. Bokeria helped found was instrumental in organizing the street protests that eventually forced Mr. Shevardnadze to sign his resignation papers. Mr. Bokeria says it was in Belgrade that he learned the value of seizing and holding the moral high ground, and how to make use of public pressure — tactics that proved so persuasive on the streets of Tbilisi after this month's tainted parliamentary election.

In Tbilisi, the Otpor link is seen as just one of several instances in which Mr. Soros gave the anti-Shevardnadze movement a considerable nudge: He also funded a popular opposition television station that was crucial in mobilizing support for this week's "velvet revolution," and he reportedly gave financial support to a youth group that led the street protests.

He also has a warm relationship with Mr. Shevardnadze's chief opponent, Mikhail Saakashvili, a New York-educated lawyer who is expected to win the presidency in an election scheduled for Jan. 4. Last year, Mr. Soros personally presented Mr. Saakashvili with the foundation's Open Society Award.

"It's generally accepted public opinion here that Mr. Soros is the person who planned Shevardnadze's overthrow," said Zaza Gachechiladze, editor-in-chief of The Georgian Messenger, an English-language daily based in the capital.

In the eyes of Mr. Soros's employees, it was all done in the name of building democracy. Laura Silber, a senior policy adviser at Open Society, said the foundation sponsored the exchange because "some of the experiences are very translatable" between Georgia and Serbia. In Georgia's current political climate, she said, "it looks more charged than it is."

That's not how Mr. Shevardnadze saw it, however.

"George Soros is set against the President of Georgia," he said during a news conference in Tbilisi a week before his resignation — it was at least the third time during the protests that he had complained about Mr. Soros. He threatened to shut down Open Society's Georgia offices, saying it was not Mr. Soros's business "to get involved in the political processes."

Mr. Bokeria, whose Liberty Institute received money from both Open Society and the U.S. government-backed Eurasia Institute, says three other organizations played key roles in Mr. Shevardnadze's downfall: Mr. Saakashvili's National Movement party, the Rustavi-2 television station and Kmara! (Georgian for Enough!), a youth group that declared war on Mr. Shevardnadze last April and began a poster and graffiti campaign attacking government corruption.

All three have ties to Mr. Soros. According to Georgian press reports, Kmara received a $500,000 (U.S.) start-up grant in April, some of which may have been used during the three weeks of street protests when it bused demonstrators in from the countryside and set up loudspeakers and a giant television screen amid the crowds surrounding the parliament building.

Rustavi-2 got start-up money from Mr. Soros when it launched in 1995 and more funding a year ago when it began the anti-Shevardnadze newspaper 24 Hours.

Observers say that Rustavi-2's role during the protests is hard to overestimate. The channel began its campaign years ago when it produced a popular cartoon called Our Yard, in which the animated president was portrayed as a crooked double-dealer.

The government twice tried to shut down the station after its reporters exposed corruption in various government ministries and Mr. Shevardnadze's inner circle. And it was Rustavi-2 that showed the Georgian people how flawed the Nov. 2 parliamentary election was, broadcasting exit polls conducted by American non-governmental organizations that contradicted the official results. During the protests that followed, it was the channel everyone watched for the latest news.

"They were a tribune," Mr. Bokeria said. "People knew where to get real information. They were informed about the details of the election, when to go into the streets, where and how."

Meanwhile, Mr. Saakashvili, the man expected to replace Mr. Shevardnadze, has a relationship with Mr. Soros that dates back to late 2000, when the financier paid the first of several visits to Tbilisi.

Mr. Soros arrived in the country then at Mr. Shevardnadze's invitation — the two have known each other since the 1980s, when the Georgian was Soviet foreign minister — to set up Open Society Georgia, with the stated aim of building democratic institutions and civil society. On that same trip, however, he met with Mr. Saakashvili and publicly praised a program the then-justice-minister was promoting to tackle the country's corruption problem.

Less than a year later, Mr. Saakashvili quit his post over Mr. Shevardnadze's slow progress in implementing the program and went into opposition. After his departure, Mr. Soros's relationship with Mr. Shevardnadze began to sour.

In mid-2002, Mr. Shevardnadze made his first of many complaints about Mr. Soros's political interference in the country, and shortly afterward, more than a dozen young people stormed the offices of Mr. Bokeria's Liberty Institute, smashing computers and beating up several members of the staff. Mr. Soros responded by suggesting during a news conference in Moscow that Mr. Shevardnadze's government could not be trusted to hold a proper parliamentary election in 2003.

"It is necessary to mobilize civil society in order to assure free and fair elections because there are many forces that are determined to falsify or to prevent the elections being free and fair," Mr. Soros said. "This is what we did in Slovakia at the time of [Vladimir] Meciar, in Croatia at the time of [Franjo] Tudjman and in Yugoslavia at the time of Milosevic."

Mr. Soros's money and seeming good intentions were initially welcomed in former Soviet states when Open Society moved in after the fall of the Iron Curtain, but some of those relationships have since broken down. Ukraine and Belarus expelled Open Society, accusing the organization of political interference, and the foundation's offices in Moscow were raided recently by masked gunmen over an apparent real-estate dispute.

Mr. Soros, whose large-scale currency market interventions have been blamed by some for the 1997 currency crisis in Southeast Asia, has said that his next goal is making sure U.S. President George W. Bush does not win re-election.

Older article detailing how Rothschild/Soros tried to completely overtake Georgia. US/Rothschilds has been trying to use Georgia as an outpost to get to oil:

MARK MACKINNON
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
E-mail
November 26, 2003 at 2:03 AM EDT
Tbilisi — It was back in February that billionaire financier George Soros began laying the brickwork for the toppling of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.

That month, funds from his Open Society Institute sent a 31-year-old Tbilisi activist named Giga Bokeria to Serbia to meet with members of the Otpor (Resistance) movement and learn how they used street demonstrations to topple dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Then, in the summer, Mr. Soros's foundation paid for a return trip to Georgia by Otpor activists, who ran three-day courses teaching more than 1,000 students how to stage a peaceful revolution.

Last weekend, the Liberty Institute that Mr. Bokeria helped found was instrumental in organizing the street protests that eventually forced Mr. Shevardnadze to sign his resignation papers. Mr. Bokeria says it was in Belgrade that he learned the value of seizing and holding the moral high ground, and how to make use of public pressure — tactics that proved so persuasive on the streets of Tbilisi after this month's tainted parliamentary election.

In Tbilisi, the Otpor link is seen as just one of several instances in which Mr. Soros gave the anti-Shevardnadze movement a considerable nudge: He also funded a popular opposition television station that was crucial in mobilizing support for this week's "velvet revolution," and he reportedly gave financial support to a youth group that led the street protests.

He also has a warm relationship with Mr. Shevardnadze's chief opponent, Mikhail Saakashvili, a New York-educated lawyer who is expected to win the presidency in an election scheduled for Jan. 4. Last year, Mr. Soros personally presented Mr. Saakashvili with the foundation's Open Society Award.

"It's generally accepted public opinion here that Mr. Soros is the person who planned Shevardnadze's overthrow," said Zaza Gachechiladze, editor-in-chief of The Georgian Messenger, an English-language daily based in the capital.

In the eyes of Mr. Soros's employees, it was all done in the name of building democracy. Laura Silber, a senior policy adviser at Open Society, said the foundation sponsored the exchange because "some of the experiences are very translatable" between Georgia and Serbia. In Georgia's current political climate, she said, "it looks more charged than it is."

That's not how Mr. Shevardnadze saw it, however.

"George Soros is set against the President of Georgia," he said during a news conference in Tbilisi a week before his resignation — it was at least the third time during the protests that he had complained about Mr. Soros. He threatened to shut down Open Society's Georgia offices, saying it was not Mr. Soros's business "to get involved in the political processes."

Mr. Bokeria, whose Liberty Institute received money from both Open Society and the U.S. government-backed Eurasia Institute, says three other organizations played key roles in Mr. Shevardnadze's downfall: Mr. Saakashvili's National Movement party, the Rustavi-2 television station and Kmara! (Georgian for Enough!), a youth group that declared war on Mr. Shevardnadze last April and began a poster and graffiti campaign attacking government corruption.

All three have ties to Mr. Soros. According to Georgian press reports, Kmara received a $500,000 (U.S.) start-up grant in April, some of which may have been used during the three weeks of street protests when it bused demonstrators in from the countryside and set up loudspeakers and a giant television screen amid the crowds surrounding the parliament building.

Rustavi-2 got start-up money from Mr. Soros when it launched in 1995 and more funding a year ago when it began the anti-Shevardnadze newspaper 24 Hours.

Observers say that Rustavi-2's role during the protests is hard to overestimate. The channel began its campaign years ago when it produced a popular cartoon called Our Yard, in which the animated president was portrayed as a crooked double-dealer.

The government twice tried to shut down the station after its reporters exposed corruption in various government ministries and Mr. Shevardnadze's inner circle. And it was Rustavi-2 that showed the Georgian people how flawed the Nov. 2 parliamentary election was, broadcasting exit polls conducted by American non-governmental organizations that contradicted the official results. During the protests that followed, it was the channel everyone watched for the latest news.

"They were a tribune," Mr. Bokeria said. "People knew where to get real information. They were informed about the details of the election, when to go into the streets, where and how."

Meanwhile, Mr. Saakashvili, the man expected to replace Mr. Shevardnadze, has a relationship with Mr. Soros that dates back to late 2000, when the financier paid the first of several visits to Tbilisi.

Mr. Soros arrived in the country then at Mr. Shevardnadze's invitation — the two have known each other since the 1980s, when the Georgian was Soviet foreign minister — to set up Open Society Georgia, with the stated aim of building democratic institutions and civil society. On that same trip, however, he met with Mr. Saakashvili and publicly praised a program the then-justice-minister was promoting to tackle the country's corruption problem.

Less than a year later, Mr. Saakashvili quit his post over Mr. Shevardnadze's slow progress in implementing the program and went into opposition. After his departure, Mr. Soros's relationship with Mr. Shevardnadze began to sour.

In mid-2002, Mr. Shevardnadze made his first of many complaints about Mr. Soros's political interference in the country, and shortly afterward, more than a dozen young people stormed the offices of Mr. Bokeria's Liberty Institute, smashing computers and beating up several members of the staff. Mr. Soros responded by suggesting during a news conference in Moscow that Mr. Shevardnadze's government could not be trusted to hold a proper parliamentary election in 2003.

"It is necessary to mobilize civil society in order to assure free and fair elections because there are many forces that are determined to falsify or to prevent the elections being free and fair," Mr. Soros said. "This is what we did in Slovakia at the time of [Vladimir] Meciar, in Croatia at the time of [Franjo] Tudjman and in Yugoslavia at the time of Milosevic."

Mr. Soros's money and seeming good intentions were initially welcomed in former Soviet states when Open Society moved in after the fall of the Iron Curtain, but some of those relationships have since broken down. Ukraine and Belarus expelled Open Society, accusing the organization of political interference, and the foundation's offices in Moscow were raided recently by masked gunmen over an apparent real-estate dispute.

Mr. Soros, whose large-scale currency market interventions have been blamed by some for the 1997 currency crisis in Southeast Asia, has said that his next goal is making sure U.S. President George W. Bush does not win re-election.

[MikeWB]

Georgian troops retreat from S. Osettian capital
Georgian troops have reportedly left Tskhinvali, ending a day of violence in the South Ossetian capital. The breakaway republic's authorities say hundreds of civilians have been killed. Russian reinforcements are in the region and say any attempts to attack either civilians or troops will be stopped.
Peacekeepers say the city is in ruins. South Ossetia is calling Georgia's attacks 'genocide' and 'ethnic purges'.

According to the president of the self-proclaimed republic, Eduard Kokoity, 1,400 civilians have been killed. He also said the South Ossetian forces are pushing Georgian troops out of the capital.

Georgia launched a major military offensive against South Ossetia on Friday in a bid to regain control of its breakaway province.  Heavy artillery pounded the capital Tskhinvali for hours, reportedly reducing much of the city to rubble.

South Ossetia then appealed to Moscow for help.

More than 10 Russian peacekeepers have been killed and about 30 wounded in clashes. Russia's Defence Ministry said.

The Ministry has also been quoted as saying Georgian troops have killed civilians captured during fighting.

President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered Russia's emergencies ministry to supply humanitarian aid to those injured in South Ossetia. He said Russia will protect its citizens in South Ossetia at all costs, as tension between Georgia and its breakaway region broke into heavy violence.

"It is my duty as president of the Russian Federation to protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens, wherever they may be," Medvedev said on Friday.


The actions of the Georgian side led to deaths - among them are Russian peacekeepers. The situation reached the point that Georgian peacekeepers have been shooting at Russian peacekeepers. Now women, children and old people are dying in South Ossetia - most of them are citizens of the Russian Federation. According to the constitution, I, as the President of the Russian Federation, must protect lives and the dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are. Those responsible for the deaths of our citizens will be punished.
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, currently on a visit to Beijing for the start of the Olympics, warned that Georgia's actions would meet a "response."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed there is evidence of ethnic cleansing in villages in South Ossetia.

Lavrov also said the latest developments in South Ossetia cast doubts over Georgia's status as a responsible member of the international community.

He called last night's events and "an aggression".  

"Georgian peacekeepers, who were part of the same contingent with the Russian peacekeepers were firing at their comrades. It was absolutely unacceptable to see residential quarters shelled, to see a humanitarian convoy that was trying to reach the people in need bombed from the air. And many villages, including those outside the zone of conflict, are being attacked by the Georgian troops using artillery, tanks," he said.

The Transport Ministry has announced the suspension of all commercial air services between Russia and Georgia from midnight on Friday.

Georgian claims

Meanwhile, Georgian's President Mikhail Saakashvili has accused Russia of bombing Georgian territory, a charge which Moscow denies.

"During the whole day, Russian jet planes have been continuously attacking Georgian towns – I have to stress, outside the conflict zone. They have been continuously attacking the town of Gori in the middle of Georgian that has nothing to do with South Ossetia. They have been attacking villages all around Georgia," he said.  

Elsewhere, the head of Georgia's national Security Council said: "If Russia indeed sent its troops to Georgian territory, it means we are at war with Russia."

And according to the Georgian Interior Ministry, Russian aircraft have dropped two bombs near the Vaziani military airbase in a Tbilisi suburb. No injuries have been reported.

Civilian fears

Refugees have been fleeing the region since fighting began early on Friday.

Residents in Tskhinvali say the attack caught them by surprise.  Vadim Bagaev told RT that the city was burning in clouds of thick black smoke.

"Around midnight, massive shooting began. They appeared to have more long-range weapons and we were not able to resist. We had to fall back. When I was leaving the city - half of it was occupied by the Georgians," he said.

"A lot of the buildings are ruined and are on fire. The whole city is clouded with black smoke. It's impossible to count the casualties, but I think it's in the hundreds," Bagaev said.  

Russia's Federal Migration Service says it's ready to receive refugees from the hostilities.

[LatinAmericanview]

Thought provoking information

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info, but links Mike, you seem to forget links often.  Please provide some links/sources to these stories/quotes.  Thank you.

[nik]

Israel backs Georgia in Caspian Oil Pipeline Battle with Russia

Georgian tanks and infantry, aided by Israeli military advisers, captured the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, early Friday, Aug. 8, bringing the Georgian-Russian conflict over the province to a military climax.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin threatened a "military response."

Former Soviet Georgia called up its military reserves after Russian warplanes bombed its new positions in the renegade province.

In Moscow's first response to the fall of Tskhinvali, president Dimitry Medvedev ordered the Russian army to prepare for a national emergency after calling the UN Security Council into emergency session early Friday.

Reinforcements were rushed to the Russian "peacekeeping force" present in the region to support the separatists.

Georgian tanks entered the capital after heavy overnight heavy aerial strikes, in which dozens of people were killed.

Lado Gurgenidze, Georgia's prime minister, said on Friday that Georgia will continue its military operation in South Ossetia until a "durable peace" is reached. "As soon as a durable peace takes hold we need to move forward with dialogue and peaceful negotiations."

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.

Saakashvili need only back away from this plan for Moscow to ditch the two provinces' revolt against Tbilisi. As long as he sticks to his guns, South Ossetia and Abkhazia will wage separatist wars.

DEBKAfile discloses Israel's interest in the conflict from its exclusive military sources:

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.

Aware of Moscow's sensitivity on the oil question, Israel offered Russia a stake in the project but was rejected.

Last year, the Georgian president commissioned from private Israeli security firms several hundred military advisers, estimated at up to 1,000, to train the Georgian armed forces in commando, air, sea, armored and artillery combat tactics. They also offer instruction on military intelligence and security for the central regime. Tbilisi also purchased weapons, intelligence and electronic warfare systems from Israel.

These advisers were undoubtedly deeply involved in the Georgian army's preparations to conquer the South Ossetian capital Friday.

In recent weeks, Moscow has repeatedly demanded that Jerusalem halt its military assistance to Georgia, finally threatening a crisis in bilateral relations. Israel responded by saying that the only assistance rendered Tbilisi was "defensive."

This has not gone down well in the Kremlin. Therefore, as the military crisis intensifies in South Ossetia, Moscow may be expected to punish Israel for its intervention.

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1358

[LatinAmericanview]

Interestung article Nik, but the debka source is ify

[MikeWB]

aZiXx, plug first sentence of the article (& wrap it into quotes) into google and you get tons of links.

Nik, Debka is Mossad's disinfo front. It's only purpose is to muddle the water.

[K-Sensor]

Yes interesting.  I knew there would be an oil link in the theme of things, but strategically, I think Russia wants Georgia back.  It's a stone's throw away from Middle East.  I can't see Russia giving up on this.

I must admit I'm a little naive about the region though.

[Canard]

yea!!!! look it up yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[nik]

aZiXx, plug first sentence of the article (& wrap it into quotes) into google and you get tons of links.

Nik, Debka is Mossad's disinfo front. It's only purpose is to muddle the water.

Surething Mike, I know that, but it's doubtful that the data relating to Georgian employ of Israeli military advisors and deployment of it's military hardware is, in itself, an obfuscation. The motivations behind their reportage clearly are questionable but the raw facts of their meddling over the last months really aren't, even if they are announcing it themselves in this instance.

This is an extremely worrying geopolitical development and the Israeli's publically pronoucing themselves up to their necks in involvement even more so IMO. Using the Baku pipeline as premise this could easily be used as a pretext to assail Iran IMO as I'm sure many of us are reflecting on.

cheers

[Roy Hobs]

I don't trust the specific/details/facts of this story.

CNN is all over this where I live.  Every 5 minutes they are covering it.  

Since I don't trust CNN, I can't trust this story.  The facts, the specifics.  Why it is happening?  Who, what, where, why, how and for what purpose.  

Then someone has stated that Israel is behind Georgia.  wow.  Like we are supposed to think that this is a good thing?  

I don't even trust Russia.

They had the president of Georgia on Cnn pleading to Americans that Georgia just wants the same democracy that we have here in the States.  The second he said this, I knew this was just a bunch of bullshit.

This is THEATRE!  That is my opinion.

[K-Sensor]

This is THEATRE!  That is my opinion.

With Russia being heavy into freemasonry by their use of the Freemason haga bird symbol, it's indication there's a staged show being performed.

[LatinAmericanview]

They had the president of Georgia on Cnn pleading to Americans that Georgia just wants the same democracy that we have here in the States. The second he said this, I knew this was just a bunch of bullshit.

I some point in the future the masses have to be mobilized.  Socialism, communism, and capitalismworks well on the Goy.  Jews are mobilized by using Zionism,new othrodoxies and anti-semetism.  Jews and Goys coming together!

[MikeWB]

Here's the latest... Russians are bombing their oil pipeline.. the pipeline that Rothschild provided loans for on behest of US oil companies. They missed this round but the next sortie will obliterate it. This will really impact their economy and the oil prices will rise again.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L9618164.htm
Russian jets targeted major oil pipeline-Georgia
09 Aug 2008 14:07:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
TBILISI, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Russian fighter jets targeted the the major Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline which carries oil to the West from Asia but missed, Georgia's Economic Development Minister Ekaterina Sharashidze said on Saturday.
"This clearly shows that Russia has not just targeted Georgian economic outlets but international economic outlets in Georgia," she said at a news briefing.
There have been no independent verifications of Russian jets targeting the BTC pipeline. (Reporting by Margarita Antidze, writing by James Kilner, editing by Jon Boyle)

[MikeWB]

Wikipedia info:

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline) is a crude oil pipeline that covers 1,768 kilometres (1,099 mi) from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, hence its name. It is the second longest oil pipeline in the world after the Druzhba pipeline. The first oil that was pumped from the Baku end of the pipeline on May 10, 2005 reached Ceyhan on May 28, 2006.(1)

Planning
The Caspian Sea lies above one of the world's largest groups of oil and gas fields. As the Caspian Sea is landlocked, the transportation of oil to Western markets is complicated. During Soviet times, all transportation routes from the Caspian region were built through Russia.
The collapse of the Soviet Union started a search for new routes. Russia first insisted that the new pipeline should pass through Russian territory, then declined to participate.(2)(3) A pipeline across Iran from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf would have provided the shortest route, but Iran was considered an undesirable partner for a number of reasons: its theocratic government, concerns about its nuclear program, and United States sanctions that greatly restrict Western investment (especially by American companies) in the country. The United States government opposed any route that would pass through Iran(4).
At the time, Turkey called for energy transit through Turkey, insisting that this would be the safest and most economic route for export. In the spring of 1992, the Turkish Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel made this proposal to Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan. The first document on the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey on 9 March 1993 in Ankara.(5)
The choice of a Turkish route meant oil export from Azerbaijan via either Georgia or Armenia. For several reasons a route through Armenia was politically inconvenient, due to regional tensions over differing historical interpretations regarding the Armenian Genocide(6) (7), as well as the unresolved military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.( This left the circuitous Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey route as politically most expedient for the major parties, although it was longer and more expensive to build than the other options.
The BTC pipeline project gained momentum following the Ankara Declaration, adopted on 29 October 1998 by President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Turkey Süleyman Demirel, and President of Uzbekistan Islom Karimov. The declaration was witnessed by the United States Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, who expressed strong support for the BTC pipeline. The intergovernmental agreement in support of the BTC pipeline was signed by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey on 18 November 1999, during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul, Turkey.(

Construction
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company (BTC Co.) was founded during a document signing ceremony in London on 1 August 2002.(9) The official ceremony launching construction of the pipeline was held on 18 September 2002.(10) Construction began in April 2003 and was completed in 2005. The Azerbaijan section was constructed by Consolidated Contractors International of Greece, and Georgia's section was constructed by a joint venture of France's Spie Capag and US Petrofac Petrofac International. The Turkish section was constructed by BOTAŞ. Bechtel was the main contractor for engineering, procurement and construction.(9)

Inauguration
All together, three official inauguration ceremonies were held. On 25 May 2005, the pipeline was officially inaugurated at the Sangachal Terminal by President Ilham Aliyev of the Azerbaijan Republic, President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia and President Ahmet Sezer of Turkey, joined by President Nursaltan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, as well as United States Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman.(11) The inauguration of the Georgian section of the pipeline was hosted by President Mikheil Saakashvili at the BTC pumping station near Gardabani on 12 October 2005.(12) The inauguration ceremony at the Ceyhan terminal was held on 13 July 2006.(13)
Oil that was pumped from the Baku end of the pipeline on May 10, 2005 reached Ceyhan in May 28, 2006 after a journey of 1,770 km.(1) The first oil was loaded at the Cheyhan Marine Terminal (Haydar Aliyev Terminal) onto a ship named British Hawthorn.(6) The tanker sailed away from the port on 4 June 2006 with about 600,000 barrels (95,000 m³) of crude oil. This marked the start of export of Azerbaijan's oil via the BTC oil pipeline to world markets.

Description of the pipeline

Route
The pipeline starts from the Sangachal Terminal near Baku in Azerbaijan. The route of the pipeline crosses Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Ceyhan. The pipeline's destination is the Ceyhan Marine Terminal (Haydar Aliyev Terminal) on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Of its total length of 1,768 kilometres (1,099 mi), 443 kilometres (275 mi) lie in Azerbaijan, 249 kilometres (155 mi) in Georgia and 1,076 kilometres (669 mi) in Turkey. It crosses several mountain ranges at altitudes to 2,830 metres (9,300 ft).(14) It also traverses 3,000 roads, railways, and utility lines—both overground and underground—as well as 1,500 watercourses of up to 500 metres (1,600 ft) wide (in the case of the Ceyhan River in Turkey).(1) The pipeline occupies a corridor eight meters wide, and is buried along its entire length at a depth of no less than one meter.(15) Parallel to the BTC pipeline runs the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, which transports natural gas from the Sangachal Terminal to Erzurum in Turkey.(14) Between Sarız and Ceyhan, the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline will be laid along the same corridor.(16)

Technical features
The pipeline has a projected lifespan of 40 years, and when working at normal capacity, beginning in 2009, will transport 1 million barrels (160 000 m³) of oil per day. It has a capacity of 10 million barrels (1,600,000 m³) of oil, which will flow through the pipeline at 2 metres (6.6 ft) per second.(1) There are 8 pump stations through the pipeline route (2 in Azerbaijan, 2 in Georgia, 4 in Turkey). The project includes also the Ceyhan Marine Terminal, two intermediate pigging stations, one pressure reduction station, and 101 small block valves.(14) It was constructed from 150,000 individual joints of line pipe, each measuring 12 metres (39 ft) in length. This corresponds to a total weight of approximately 655,000 short tons (594,000 metric tons). The pipeline is 1,070 mm (42 inches) diameter for most of its length, narrowing to 865 mm (34 inches) diameter as it nears Ceyhan.(17)

Cost and financing
The pipeline cost US$3.9 billion.(18) Around 15,000 people were employed during the construction of the pipeline. Approximately 70% of BTC costs are being funded by third parties, including the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, export credit agencies of seven countries and a syndicate of 15 commercial banks.(14)

Source of supply
The BTC pipeline is supplied by oil from Azerbaijan's Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea via the Sangachal Terminal. This pipeline may also transport oil from the Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field as well as from other oil fields in Central Asia.(2) The government of Kazakhstan had announced that it would seek to build a trans-Caspian oil pipeline from the Kazakhstani port of Aktau to Baku and in turn to the BTC pipeline. However, due to opposition to a Caspian offshore pipeline by both Russia and Iran, the oil pipeline is doubtful. Therefore Kazakhstan has announced a new project named Kazakh-Caspian Transportation System, which is scheduled to come into operation in 2010. The project includes a pipeline from Iskene to the Caspian port of Kuryk, terminals in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, and construction of oil tankers.(19) The project is at the pre-feasibility stage.

Possible transhipment via Israel
It has been proposed that oil from the BTC pipeline may be transported to eastern Asia via the Israeli oil terminals at Ashkelon and Eilat, the overland trans-Israel sector being bridged by the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline owned by the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company (EAPC).(20)(21) Tamila Ahmadov, a former adviser to the President Aliyev and one of Azerbaijan's architects of the BTC plan, was the key promoter of the idea. Analysis by a major oil company was presented as evidence that using the Israel route would result not only in lower construction cost and time to market but also in lower threat of political instability and improved shipment dependability.

Shareholders of the pipeline

The pipeline is owned by a consortium of energy companies led by BP (formerly British Petroleum), the operator of the pipeline. The shareholders of the consortium are:
BP (United Kingdom): 30.1%
State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) (Azerbaijan): 25.00%
Chevron (USA): 8.90%
StatoilHydro (Norway): 8.71%
Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO) (Turkey): 6.53%
Eni/Agip (Italy): 5.00%
Total (France): 5.0%
Itochu (Japan): 3.4%
Inpex (Japan): 2.50%
ConocoPhillips (USA): 2.50%
Hess Corporation (USA) 2.36%(13)
Controversial aspects

Politics

Even before its completion, the BTC pipeline was affecting the world's oil politics. The South Caucasus, previously seen as Russia's backyard, is now a region of great strategic significance to other great powers. The U.S. and other Western nations have consequently become much more closely involved in the affairs of the three nations through which oil will flow. Some have criticized this degree of western involvement in the South Caucasus, arguing that it has led to an unhealthy dependence on undemocratic leaders. The countries themselves though have been trying to use the involvement as a counterbalance to Russian and Iranian economic and military dominance in the region.(15)(22) It is seen similarly by Russian specialists claiming that the pipeline is aimed to weaken the Russian influence in Caucasus. The Russian Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev even stated that the United States and other Western countries are planning to settle their soldiers in Caucasus on the pretext of instability in regions where the pipeline passes through.(23)
The project also constitutes an important leg of the East-West energy corridor, gaining Turkey greater geopolitical importance. The BTC pipeline also supports Georgia's independence from Russian influence. Former President Eduard Shevardnadze, one of the architects and initiators of the project, saw the construction of the pipeline through Georgian territory as a certain guarantee for the country's future economic and political security and stability. This view has been fully shared by his successor President Mikhail Saakashvili. "All strategic contracts in Georgia, especially the contract for the Caspian pipeline are a matter of survival for the Georgian state," he told reporters on 26 November 2003.

Economics

Although some have touted the BTC pipeline as potentially removing the dependence of the US and other Western nations on oil from the Middle East, in reality it doesn't change global dependence on Middle Eastern oil as it supplies only 1% of global demand during its first stage. However, the pipeline diversifies the global oil supply and so insures, to an extent, against a failure in supply elsewhere. Critics of the pipeline—particularly Russia—are skeptical about its economic prospects and see this as politically motivated.(24)
Construction of the BTC pipeline has contributed significantly to the economies of the host countries. In the first half of 2007, a year after the completion and launch of BTC pipeline as the main export route for Azerbaijani oil, the real GDP growth of Azerbaijan hit a record of 35%.(25) Substantial transit fees accrues to Georgia and Turkey. For Georgia the transit fees are expected to produce an average of US$62.5 million per year.(22) Turkey is expected to receive approximately US$200 million in transit fees per year in the initial years of operation, with the possibility of increasing to US$290 million per year from year 17 to year 40. Turkey is also benefitting from an increase in economic activity in eastern Anatolia, including increased importance of the port of Ceyhan, which had experienced significant reductions of activities since the 1991 Gulf War.(26) The reduction of oil tanker traffic on the Bosphorus will contribute to greater security for Istanbul.(27)
One of the concerns related to the use of oil revenues is the level of corruption. To counter concerns that oil money would be siphoned off by corrupt officials, Azerbaijan has set up a State oil fund (State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, or SOFAZ), expressly mandated with using natural-resource revenue to benefit future generations, to bolster support from key international lenders and improve transparency and accountability. SOFAZ is audited by Deloitte and Touche. Additionally, Azerbaijan became the first oil producing country in the world to join EITI — the British-led Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.(15)

Security

Concerns have also been addressed about the security of the BTC pipeline.(28)(29) It deliberately bypasses the border of Armenia (with which Azerbaijan is still technically at war over the status of the Armenian-populated separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan), crosses through Georgia (which has two unresolved separatist conflicts) and goes through the edges of the Kurdish region of Turkey (which has seen a prolonged and bitter conflict with separatists).(30) It will require constant guarding to prevent sabotage, though the fact that almost all of the pipeline is buried will make it harder to attack.(15)
On 6 August 2008, a major explosion and fire in eastern Turkey Erzincan Province closed the pipeline. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the attack.(31) It is expected to take to five weeks to repair the pipeline.(32)

Environment

Several ecological issues had been raised concerning the BTC pipeline. Critics of the pipeline have pointed out that the region through which it travels is highly seismic, suffering from frequent earthquakes. The route takes the pipeline through three active faults in Azerbaijan, four in Georgia and seven in Turkey. The pipeline's engineers have equipped it with a number of technical solutions to reduce its vulnerability to earth movements. However, the BTC pipeline for almost half of its entire route goes through the same territory as the Baku-Supsa pipeline, which has been in operation since 1999 and has an exemplary safety record.

The pipeline crosses the watershed of the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park (albeit not entering the park territory), an area of mineral water springs and outstanding natural beauty in Georgia.(33) This has long been the subject of fierce opposition by environmental activists. Since the pipeline is buried for its entire length, constructing it has left a highly visible scar across the landscape. The Oxford-based "Baku Ceyhan Campaign" averred that "public money should not be used to subsidise social and environmental problems, purely in the interests of the private sector, but must be conditional on a positive contribution to the economic and social development of people in the region." As the Borjomi mineral water is a major export commodity of Georgia, any oil spills there would have a catastrophic effect on the viability of the local water bottling industry.
The field joint coating of the pipeline has also been an area of controversy as there were shortcomings in tests of used sealant SPC 2888.(34) BP and its contractors interrupted work until the problem was eliminated.(26)

On the positive side, the BTC pipeline eliminates 350 tanker cargoes per year through the sensitive and very congested Bosphorus and Dardanelles. The World Bank as a condition of financing required the use of catalytic converters on the 18 large Wärtsilä engine driven compressors used to transport the oil through the pipeline in the Turkish portion. Consequently each of the 7,600 hp (5,700 kW) engines have reduced their carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds emissions by greater than 90% providing a significant air quality improvement over the 350 tanker shipments through the Bosphorus.(35)

Human rights

Human rights activists criticized Western governments for the pipeline, due to reported human and civil rights abuses by the Aliyev regime.(36) A Czech documentary film Zdroj (Source) underscores these human rights abuses, such as eminent domain violations in appropriating land for the pipeline's route, and criticism of the government leading to arrest.(37) The project was also criticized by the Kurdish Human Rights Project.

[MikeWB]

This is THEATRE!  That is my opinion.

With Russia being heavy into freemasonry by their use of the Freemason haga bird symbol, it's indication there's a staged show being performed.

Huh? Not this Freemasonry crap again. Russia and its symbols are centuries older than Freemasonry which was an invention of the Brits of 17th century.

[blueocean]

RE-invention is probably even more accurate hehe


Some say "all the world is a stage", sometimes it seems that way maybe.

 If you call people being blow up theater then I say:  "Why don't you try it yourself?, see if ya like it.............."

[MikeWB]

This war is very simple to grasp: South Ossetia is a secessionist republic full of Russians that don't like Georgian gov. They declared independence from Georgia in 1992.  In the meantime, Georgia has found itself at an excellent spot to transport its and oil from Casipian region. US and Rothschilds cozied up to Georgia and started training its military. NATO even did some exercises there. Israelis were supplying Georgia with arms. Now, Georgia tried to conquer Ossetia and Russians just started quashing them like flies. Georgia will be the next Chechnya. Pipeline will be destroyed and Russians will screw another Rothschild/Israeli/US plan.

[nik]

I'm not sure how, where or if it figures into the dynamic but looking into this I find that German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is on the payroll of both Rothschild and Gazprom. It'd be interesting if his name dredges up anywhere in the media in the following days in regards to this sitaution.

[Roy Hobs]

Blue Ocean wrote in response to my comment about CNN's coverage as 'theatre':

"If you call people being blow up theater then I say: "Why don't you try it yourself?, see if ya like it.............."


I take offense to your comment Blue Ocean.  If you think I believe killing innocent people is "theatre", then I guess I didn't make myself clear enough, or you are judging me too harshly.  

I certainly do not believe the killing of innocent people as 'theatre'.  

Good grief..........what kind of a person do you think I am?  And what kind of a person would have the balls to suggest such on a forum as this?  

I believe that the media spin on this event in Georgia is "theatre".  

I don't know the specifics of what is happening on the ground.  And I don't think any of us who aren't living there has any any idea of what is true; what is really happening; how is it happening...etc, etc.  

Blue Ocean............do you know of ONE media outlet that is honest and accurate in their reporting?

If so............I'd like to frequent their information.  

Maybe we could find someone who is actually on the ground who could help us understand what exactly is happening.  Thanks.

The Media here in the States -- specifically CNN -- is "theatre" in my opinion.  When CNN gets an exclusive interview with the president of Georgia and he appeals to the US for our kind of democracy.....I can only assume that this is pure propaganda; aka....'theatre'.

[blueocean]

K-sensor wrote: "

Roy Hobs wrote:
This is THEATRE! That is my opinion.


With Russia being heavy into freemasonry by their use of the Freemason haga bird symbol, it's indication there's a staged show being performed. "


Hey Hobs I think my comment is more directed at the k-sensor comment that this war is just a staged show being performed.  

I think that is too easy to say that it is just a staged show being performed.  My comment is also directed more at all those who say that everything is "JUST A SHOW"  .

[MikeWB]

Cyberwarfare... RBN is on the attack. RBN owns the world's largest network of zombies (virus infected machines).

RBN - Georgia CyberWarfare
RBN (Russian Business Network) now nationalized, invades Georgia Cyber Space

Sat – 2008 08 09 5:00 EST (click on figs for larger size)

As requested by community relay, the following is a report on the cyber war underway in parallel with conventional warfare. Many of Georgia's internet servers were under external control from late Thursday, Russia's invasion of Georgia commenced on Friday. It is further requested of any blog reader the information below is further relayed to the International Press and Community to ensure awareness of this situation. Also as much of Georgia's cyberspace is now under unauthorized external control the following official press statement is circulated without modification. Report on the cyberwar below:

Official Press Statement from the Government of Georgia


Georgia seeks peaceful resolution to the conflict in South Ossetia Georgian troops mobilize to protect civilian population from rebel attacks TBILISI – Sat 09 August 2008 –


The Government of Georgia has sought to defuse the tense and violent situation in the South Ossetia region yesterday by declaring a unilateral ceasefire and appealing to the leadership of the separatist rebels to begin talks with the State Minister for Reintegration Temuri Yakobashvili. Despite calls for peace, separatist rebels continued to attack Georgian police posts and the civilian population.


Initially government forces did not return fire. However, at 8:30pm the village of Avnevi came under fire from separatists and the village was almost completely destroyed. The government-controlled village of Prisi also came under attack by separatists, which left several people wounded.


In response to separatist attacks on government-controlled villages, Georgian Armed Forces occupied several villages in South Ossetia early this morning. At around 5:30am, Russian Federation forces began moving into the conflict zone through the Roki tunnel, which connects Russia and Georgia and has been an entry point for the illegal transfer and sale of arms to separatist rebels. Two additional Russian units entered into Georgia through the Roki tunnel around 8:00am. The first Russian unit that entered Georgia through the Roki tunnel was killed as they attempted to cross the Gufta Bridge, which was also destroyed in the operation conducted by the government's air command.


The Russian air force has also been conducting military operations in Georgia. Military fighter planes dropped bombs in four towns. The Russian air force also bombed the villages of Variani, injuring seven civilians, and dropped three bombs on Gori. The OSCE has confirmed the Gori operation was conducted by the Russian air force. So far several people have been killed and wounded, including innocent civilians.

In an effort to protect the civilian population, the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili declared a unilateral ceasefire to be in effective between 3:00pm – 6:00pm Friday. During this time, the civilian population and the separatists were invited to cross the line of control. The government has also provided humanitarian assistance and full amnesty for those separatists that choose to surrender. As of 2:30pm, Georgian forces controlled 100% of Tskhinvali with just a few small groups still resisting government presence. Despite the ceasefire, Russia continued to take aggressive military action within Georgian territory.

At 4:30pm and 5:35pm, Russian military aircraft bombed a Georgian military base in Marneuli three times, in the southern part of the country about 30 kilometres from Tbilisi, resulting in the destruction of grounded Georgian military equipment, severe damage to a number of buildings, and several causalities.


Russian military aircraft also entered Georgian airspace at 3:05pm and dropped two bombs on the Georgian military airbase in Vaziani, just on the outskirts of the capital.

Pics of traceroutes here: http://rbnexploit.blogspot.com/2008/08/ ... rfare.html

[LatinAmericanview]

Georgian Zionist Jews and various Z.O.G.s pretending to aid of Iranian Sunni Muslims (South Ossetian Oblast) against Russian Lubavicth Zionists over control of an Oil Distribution hub.  Meanwhile this will trigger an Oil Shock! The magnitude remains to be seen.  A manufactured energy crises with highly energy dependent nations suffering the most. Throw in economic callaspe and you have your nightmare scenario.

[K-Sensor]

Poor little Turkey gets the blamed for cyber blocking the Georgian Government websites.  We know Turkey doesn't take command from Israel and US, now don't we.

If Russia is blocking then it's their game to, in a war.

[MikeWB]

They're already calling it "Pipeline war"...

The Pipeline War: Russian bear goes for West's jugular
By Svetlana Skarbo and Jonathan Petre
Last updated at 1:00 PM on 10th August 2008


The war in Georgia escalated dangerously last night after Russian jets reportedly bombed a vital pipeline that supplies oil to the West.

After a day of heightening international tensions, Georgian leaders claimed that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which transports oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, had been attacked. But it is thought the bombs  missed their target.

Their claims came after Russian jets struck deep into the territory of its tiny neighbour, killing civilians and 'completely devastating' the strategic Black Sea port of Poti, a staging post for oil and other energy supplies.

Reports last night also said that Russia had bombed the international airport in Tbilisi.


A bloodied woman lies injured in the ruins of an apartment block in Gori after another Russian air strike

Georgian economic development minister Ekaterina Sharashidzne said: 'This clearly shows that Russia has targeted not just Georgian economic outlets but international economic outlets as well.'

The pipeline is 30 per cent owned by BP and supplies 1 per cent of the world's oil needs, pumping up to a million barrels of crude per day to Turkey.

 
It is crucial to the world's volatile energy market and the only oil and gas route that bypasses Russia's stranglehold on energy exports from the region.

As President Bush led the West in intensifying pressure on Russia to halt the bombing in Georgia last night, the two countries were edging closer to full-scale war over their conflicting claims for disputed territory.


Under attack: Georgian soldiers in the town of Gori sprint past a block of flats destroyed by a Russian bomber

Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili called for a ceasefire and accused Moscow of mounting an unprovoked invasion that put 'the entire post-Cold War order of Europe and the world at stake'.

But Moscow said that the conflict could not be resolved unless Georgia withdrew from its breakaway region of South Ossetia. The alarming developments followed a second day of drama and bloodshed in the pro-Western country in which:

• Russian jets widened the offensive by bombing the central Georgian town of Gori – Joseph Stalin's birthplace – in an attack on military targets that Georgian authorities claimed killed 60 civilians, and attacked the port of Poti.
• Georgia claimed that Russian troops had opened a new front by moving into another disputed province, Abkhazia, which has also suffered from ethnic tensions.
• Georgia declared a state of war, recalled all its 2,000 troops from Iraq and ordered a mass call-up with reservists being sent to the war zone to 'defend the motherland'.
• Russia claimed that it had 'completely liberated' the capital of South Ossetia Tskhinvali – a claim denied by Georgia – after flying in elite troops in an operation Moscow said was intended to force Georgia into a ceasefire.
•  Georgia claimed to have shot down 12 Russian combat aircraft – but Moscow confirmed that only two planes were missing.
•  Georgia may pull its 35-strong Olympic team out of the Beijing games because of the Russian military attacks, the country's National Olympic Committee said.


Anguish: A man cradles the body of a relative in the street after Russian planes bomb homes in Gori, killing five people

The forces of the two countries first clashed on Friday after Moscow sent hundreds of troops and armed convoys across the border into South Ossetia to repel a Georgian attack on rebels allied to Moscow.

Almost 40,000 refugees have already fled to Russia from the fighting, threatening a humanitarian catastrophe.

Tskhinvali was said to have been 'almost destroyed' in onslaughts by both sides.

Bodies lay in the streets and hospitals were overwhelmed with wounded.

Most of the 70,000 South Ossetians hold Russian passports and are allied to Moscow, while Georgia is an ally of the US and has applied to join Nato.

Russian bombers yesterday widened the offensive to force Georgian troops back from South Ossetia by bombing.


Devastation: Troops search a wrecked building for survivors

In his first Press conference since the conflict broke out early yesterday, President Saakashvili said: 'I call for an immediate ceasefire. Russia has launched a full-scale military invasion of Georgia.'

He reacted furiously to the air strikes on Gori and Poti, saying that it was comparable to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

He also alleged that Russian troops were opening up another front, adding: 'Hours ago Russia's Black Sea fleet started to move into Georgia's territory in Abkhazia. Russian troops and heavy equipment are in upper Abkhazia.'

He said Russia was conducting ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Ossetia and Abkhazia's Kodoro Gorge region.


Fleeing: A boy and a woman stare in terror at the carnage from a vehicle as they are evacuated from South Ossetia

The Georgian Parliament has approved a declaration for a 'state of war' for 15 days after at least 2,000 civilians were killed in fighting between Russia and the former Soviet satellite.

Overnight, two Russian planes were shot down and 12 of its soldiers were killed – along with more civilians who died during fighting in South Ossetia.

Russian fighter jets carried out up to five raids on mostly military targets around Gori – close to the conflict zone in South Ossetia – but at least one bomb is thought to have hit an apartment, killing five civilians, according to reports.

The Foreign Office upgraded its travel advice to urge against all but essential travel to Georgia. Foreign Secretary David Miliband was under mounting pressure to consider breaking off his summer holiday to tackle the mounting crisis.

Enlarge  
Mr Miliband, on holiday in Minorca, issued his first statement on the the affair late yesterday to call for a ceasefire 'and for peace talks to start as soon as possible'.

He also announced that he was sending Sir Brian Fall, the Foreign Office representative for the South Caucasus, to Georgia as part of an EU peace mission.

Defence Minister Des Browne said a delegation of EU, US and Nato officials was flying to the Georgian capital 'to broker a ceasefire'.

The move caps two days of faltering diplomatic activity, in which members of the United Nations Security Council have struggled to convene an emergency meeting.

Belgium's UN Ambassador Jan Grauls, who chairs the 15-member council this month, had spoken to his Russian and American counterparts.

'Depending on how much progress is made in these bilaterals, we will decide whether we can call a full council meeting,' his spokesman said.

President Bush expressed alarm about the escalating conflict and called on Russia to respect Georgia's territorial integrity.

In Beijing, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was seen to approach President Bush in the Olympic stadium, where they were attending the opening ceremony.

The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he witnessed a heated discussion between the two leaders.

'The President and Mr Putin were in an animated conversation two seats in front of us and I imagine they had a few things on their agenda,' he said.

Mr Putin later accused Georgia of seeking 'bloody adventures' and trying to drag other countries into a military conflict in South Ossetia.

'Georgia's aspiration to join Nato... is driven by its attempt to drag other nations and peoples into its bloody adventures,' Mr Putin said during a meeting in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz, some of which was shown on TV.

Mr Putin defended Russia's incursion into South Ossetia and urged Georgia to halt 'aggression' against the breakaway region.

'From a legal point of view, Russia's actions in South Ossetia are totally legitimate,' said Putin, who flew to the city after attending the opening of the Olympics.

'We urge the Georgian authorities to immediately stop their aggression against South Ossetia, to stop all violations of all standing agreements on a ceasefire and to respect the legal rights and interests of other people.'

Soon afterwards the US, Nato and the EU called for an immediate end to the fighting and the UN Security Council convened a tense emergency session to try to prevent all-out war.

Georgian forces say they have fought off attacks by Abkhazian separatists, backed by Russian air raids, in the Kodori Gorge region.

Russian forces invaded Abkhazia hours after taking control of most of South Ossetia, said President Saakashvili.

As the conflict escalated rapidly, Mr Saakashvili said his country had formally moved to a state of war and offered an immediate ceasefire.

He said Moscow had been planning the assault for months, accused Russia of actions similar to Stalin's invasion of Finland in 1939 and said 'the entire post-Cold War order of Europe and the world is at stake'.

Foreign journalists witnessed an air attack on the town of Gori early yesterday morning and the Georgian government claimed Russian bombers had 'completely devastated' the Black Sea port of Poti.

Russia has reportedly started to bomb civil and economic infrastructure, including the military base at Senaki. Up to 11 Russian jets reportedly hit container tanks and a shipbuilding plant at Poti.

Moscow has announced it would send reinforcements into South Ossetia and President Dmitry Medvedev has pledged to 'force the Georgian side to peace'.

Colonel Igor Konashenkov, a Russian infantry officer, said units of the 58th army had arrived in Tskhinvali overnight and would seek to 'establish peace. Additional 'special units' would arrive 'in the next few hours'.

Columns of Russian tanks plunged the two neighbours into war as they filed into South Ossetia yesterday, marking the Kremlin's first military assault on foreign soil since the Afghanistan intervention, which ended in 1989.

South Ossetia won de-facto independence in a war that ended in 1992 but has been a source of tension ever since.

Russian peacekeepers have suffered 15 dead and 150 wounded, the peacekeeping forces were quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

'Now our peacekeepers are waging a fierce battle with regular forces from the Georgian army in the southern region of Tskhinvali,' a representative of the Russian force was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia, said: 'I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings and in cars. It's impossible to count them now.'

The greatest mismatch in history of war

Georgia's war with Russia is a David and Goliath battle that, military experts say, the Black Sea state has no chance of winning.

The Georgians are outnumbered and outgunned in every department. Russia has about 697,000 troops, while Georgia has only 19,500 full-time regulars.

And with Russia's 1,200 combat aircraft confronting Georgia's seven outmoded support planes, and 6,000 tanks against 100 ageing machines, there is no contest.

Matthew Clements, Eurasia editor for Jane's Defence journal, said last night: 'The Georgian military cannot withstand a full Russian assault.

'The Russians have total air superiority and their coordinated operation gives the Georgians no chance of resisting.'



Find this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/arti ... gular.html

[Ognir]

Dailymail lol

Who controls the media?
Irish Catholics?

[joeblow]

Dailymail lol

Who controls the media?
Irish Catholics?

Well, you know I'm an avid listener of Keg Shitmanski and Erica Kahn Yelps, so I will have to correct you. It's actually the Knights of Malta using High-level Freemasonry directed by the Superior General of the Jesuit Order.

[MikeWB]

Guardian says that Putin's in charge... hahahah... Israel/US must be pissed off now.

Russian forces were moving to take total control of South Ossetia last night as Georgia withdrew troops amid intense diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire to end the three-day conflict in which 2,000 people have reportedly been killed and up to 22,000 displaced. Seizing the opening offered by President Mikheil Saakashvili's doomed military incursion last week, Moscow also insisted the Georgian leader should resign, according to senior US diplomats.

Russian aircraft bombed Tbilisi's international airport hours before the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, was due to land on an EU mission, the Georgian interior ministry said. Last night it was reported that Russia sank a Georgian ship after coming under attack.

Russia and the US clashed at the UN security council - meeting for the fourth time in four days to discuss the crisis - over charges that Moscow wanted "regime change" in Georgia.

Zalid Khalilzad, the US ambassador to the UN, asked his Russian counterpart Vitali Churkin: "Is the goal of the Russian Federation to change the leadership of Georgia?" Churkin replied: "There are leaders who become an obstacle. Sometimes those leaders need to contemplate how useful they have become to their people."

Meanwhile, the tide of refugees fleeing ruined towns and villages showed no sign of ending last night as Russian forces pushed forward after Saakashvili pulled his bloodied troops out of the territory.

People spoke of their ordeal since an unexpected incursion by Georgian forces into Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region, provoked a massive Russian response. Many had travelled in their nightclothes on rocky roads through the mountains and gave blood-curdling accounts of Georgian atrocities.

"I came in the boot of a car. Georgian snipers were firing at us from the forest. My brother stayed to fight. Our grandparents' home was reduced to rubble. We don't know where they are. Nothing is left of their village. It was totally destroyed by rockets and tank fire," Alisa Mamiyeva, 26, a teacher in Tskhinvali, said from the safety of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia.

Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who has taken charge of the crisis, eclipsing the president, Dmitry Medvedev, visited refugees in hospitals in Vladikavkaz, and said 22,000 had crossed into Russia.

In Georgia, residents also gave accounts of horror, this time at Russian hands. Neither side is allowing independent reporters into the worst affected areas. Gori, the main staging post for Georgian troops on the way to and from South Ossetia, was largely a ghost town last night after thousands of residents escaped from Russian air attacks, a local journalist told the Guardian. "The town and many nearby villages are too dangerous. There are many wounded. No one knows how many are dead," said Saba Tsitsikashvili.

Georgia claimed its army's retreat in the face of overwhelming firepower was designed as a humanitarian gesture to prevent further Russian air attacks. "We have decided to redeploy our troops to get a chance to resist a superior Russian armed force with other methods," Timurt Yakobashvili, a Georgian state minister, said.

President Bush's deputy national security adviser, James Jeffrey, warned Russia of a "significant long-term impact" on US-Russian relations if Moscow continued its disproportionate actions.

Russian officials rejected claims that Moscow was trying to widen the conflict into Georgia's other breakway region of Abkhazia.

In a series of media interviews, Saakashvili sought to bring the United States fully behind him. After speaking to Bush by phone, he told Germany's Rhein-Zeitung newspaper: "[Bush] understands that it's not really about Georgia but in a certain sense it's also an aggression against America. The Russians want the whole of Georgia. The Russians need control over energy routes from central Asia and the Caspian Sea. In addition, they want to get rid of us, they want regime change. Every democratic movement in this neighbouring region must be got rid of," he was quoted as saying.

Key developments in the battle for South Ossetia

· Georgia said its troops were observing a truce and withdrawing from South Ossetia. Russia disputed this

· A Russian airstrike hit Tibilisi international airport

· French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner flew to Tbilisi in a mediation bid. Russian media said French president Nicolas Sarkozy would travel to Moscow this week

· More than 2,000 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, according to Russia. The figure could not be verified

· Up to 20,000 refugees have fled South Ossetia, according to the UN which called for safe passage

· Georgia accused Russia of starting a military operation in Abkhazia. Moscow denied involvement

· The UN security council met for the fourth time in four days

· US President George Bush deplored Russia's "dangerous and disproportionate" actions

· The Pope expressed "profound anguish" over the many innocent victims of the conflict

Also, another report says that Putin and Bush were seen in Beijing during Olympics arguing and yelling at each other. Apparently PM of Australia overheard them. Hahahah... Bush is shitting his pants. Putin will cut the pipeline that US/Israel fought for and Rothschild banks paid for.

[K-Sensor]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7553461.stm

Crude rises on Georgia fighting
Gas pipeline at the North Ossetia and South Ossetia border
Oil and gas is transported through Georgia to Europe.

Crude oil prices have jumped by more than a dollar on fears that conflict between Russia and Georgia could disrupt supplies in the region.

Interesting words in the next lines...

Pipeline unscathed

BP has a 30% stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the world's second largest, that runs from Azerbaijan through southern Georgia into Turkey.

It can transport up to 1.2 million barrels of oil a day.

Then check out ; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7553144.stm

'New attacks' in Georgia conflict
...
"I said this violence is unacceptable," Mr Bush said, adding: "I was very firm with Vladimir Putin. Hopefully this will get resolved peacefully."

However, in a telephone call to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, said Russian aggression "must not go unanswered".

Mr Cheney said the continuation of violence against Georgia would have serious consequences for Russia's relations with the US, as well as the international community.

[MikeWB]

Zionists thought that Georgia would have provided Russia with a bigger challenge and would have dragged them into a quagmire so they would not be able to help Iran. As usual, Zionists miscalculated.

MOSCOW (AP) - Georgia's president says Russia's troops have effectively cut the country in half by seizing a strategic city that straddles the country's main east-west highway.
President Mikhail Saakashvili made the statement in a national security council meeting on Monday, about an hour after officials claimed Russian troops had captured Gori, about 60 miles west of the capital Tbilisi.

The news agency Interfax cited a Russian Defense Ministry official as denying the reports of the seizure.

But a top official at the Georgian embassy in Moscow, Givi Shugarov, said Russian troops appeared to be moving toward Tbilisi and he alleged Russia's goal was "complete liquidation" of the Georgian government.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

GORI, Georgia (AP)—Russia captured the central city of Gori and its armored vehicles rolled deep into western Georgia on Monday, seizing a military base and several towns and opening a second front of fighting. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said the Russian forces had effectively cut his country in half.

Fighting raged around Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Swarms of Russian planes launched new raids across Georgia, with at least one sending screaming civilians running for cover.

The invasions of three western towns and Gori, which sits on Georgia's only east-west highway, came despite a top Russian general's claim earlier Monday that Russia had no plans to enter Georgian territory.

Security Council head Alexander Lomaia said Monday it was not immediately clear if Russian forces would advance on Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. The U.N. Security Council called an emergency session at Georgia's request—the fifth meeting on the subject in as many days.

The two-front battlefield was a major escalation in the conflict that blew up late Thursday after a Georgian offensive to regain control of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Even as Saakashvili signed a cease-fire pledge Monday with EU mediators, Russia appeared determined to subdue the small U.S. ally that has been pressing for NATO membership.