What's the Deal in Georgia?! (The Country)

[pure_mercury]

Originally Posted by ajblaise

Does anyone else think that Russia planned the invasion to coincide with the Olympics so it wouldn't get nearly as much news coverage?

The Olympics came about in part so we wouldn't start as many wars, and now it's being used to help cover up one.

It's not out of the realm of possibility. I always wondered about the timing of Clinton's bombing of the "weapons facility" (actually an aspirin factory) in Sudan in 1998, given that Clinton testified that same week before the grand jury during the Lewinsky investigation. There are other examples throughout history that I can't think of right now.

[6sticks]

The timing of the conflict was determined by Georgia when they moved into South Ossetia.

[Carebear]

Originally Posted by ajblaise

Does anyone else think that Russia planned the invasion to coincide with the Olympics so it wouldn't get nearly as much news coverage?

The Olympics came about in part so we wouldn't start as many wars, and now it's being used to help cover up one.

Not really possible unless Russian troops dressed up as Georgian soldiers and attacked South Ossetia to give Russia a pretext. (And made someone looking like the Georgian president sanction it on TV.)

Iow: Georgia decided the timing.

Edit: Ah, 6sticks snuck in and said it before me.

[lowtech redneck]

Originally Posted by Carebear

Not really possible unless Russian troops dressed up as Georgian soldiers and attacked South Ossetia to give Russia a pretext. (And made someone looking like the Georgian president sanction it on TV.)

Iow: Georgia decided the timing.

Edit: Ah, 6sticks snuck in and said it before me.

And Georgia claims that South Ossetia (puppet of Russia) bombed Georgian villages before that. We'll see.

[Carebear]

Originally Posted by lowtech redneck

And Georgia claims that South Ossetia (puppet of Russia) bombed Georgian villages before that. We'll see.

Hm... good point. Russia could have prompted S. O. to provoke a reaction from G. Still, G. had other options if they didn't want to share the news with the Olympics.

Frankly I don't think either side really considered the Olympics at all. As we see, both news coverage and diplomacy seems pretty much the same now as it would if there were no Olympics.

[YourLocalJesus]

Originally Posted by pure_mercury

Yeah, those Mugabe, Chavez, Stalin, Hitler guys are all awesome, because they didn't take any crap. . . Were you for invading Iraq, too?

Hey, those guys are like comparing (a bunch of) Jean-Claude van Damme(s) to Chuck Norris!

Originally Posted by IlyaK1986

Hitler was a mass murderer. Putin is just badass. Yeah, he should allow a little more free speech, but nobody's perfect.

And I say that as an American (immigrated from Kiev)

YLJ: Sposyba!

Cheers mate

[Werewolfen]

You won't see anything but propaganda on every major U.S. mainstream media outlet , but watch this clip and at least think about it > YouTube - Washington sanctioned assault on South Ossetia

[Carebear]

Originally Posted by werewolfen1984

You won't see anything but propaganda on every major U.S. mainstream media outlet , but watch this clip and at least think about it > YouTube - Washington sanctioned assault on South Ossetia

Ok, a lot of that makes sense. I kind of thought the more extreme neo-cons had been squeezed out of Washington by now however, and what remained were the opportunistic people without any major ideology. But it does make sense. Nato HAS been perverted (and is starting to crack up because of it), insistence on rocket shields in eastern Europe, military bases in old Sovietistans, now Georgia... I kind of see it in a new light.

Still, his grim outlook for the future is rather unrealistic (even if there might be a policy for a new US-Russian conflict). The sun is setting on the American empire. Russia is surrounded by vassals, clients and powerful friends allies. There doesn't exist any kind of war with Russia where the US would triumph (this time not even a cold war I think, Russian economy is growing, and America will soon cease to be the sole financial hub of the world.)

[pure_mercury]

Originally Posted by Carebear

Ok, a lot of that makes sense. I kind of thought the more extreme neo-cons had been squeezed out of Washington by now however, and what remained were the opportunistic people without any major ideology. But it does make sense. Nato HAS been perverted (and is starting to crack up because of it), insistence on rocket shields in eastern Europe, military bases in old Sovietistans, now Georgia... I kind of see it in a new light.

Still, his grim outlook for the future is rather unrealistic (even if there might be a policy for a new US-Russian conflict). The sun is setting on the American empire. Russia is surrounded by vassals, clients and powerful friends allies. There doesn't exist any kind of war with Russia where the US would triumph (this time not even a cold war I think, Russian economy is growing, and America will soon cease to be the sole financial hub of the world.)

I don't know that that is true. A full-on USA + NATO vs. Russian world war could be "won", but would necessitate virtual abandonment of Iraq. We still have enough nukes to turn Russia into a wasteland. The U.S. would be playing global war Whack-A-Mole, though. It would be 1984-esque unending war, with the players and sides changing for decades.

[Provoker]

Originally Posted by pure_mercury

We still have enough nukes to turn Russia into a wasteland.

And Russia has the largest stockpile of WMD in the world. They can turn the US into a wasteland as well.