Georgia: Russia Controls A Third Of Nation

President Says Russian Tanks Moving Deeper Into Georgia; Rice Pushes For Truce

(CBS/AP)  Georgia's president said Thursday that a column of Russian tanks and other vehicles was moving toward the country's second-largest city, and that Russian forces already control a third of Georgian territory.

Mikhail Saakashvili, speaking to foreign reporters in the capital in an appeal for international help, said the convoy was about halfway between the western cities of Senaki and Kutaisi.

"We have no idea what they're doing," Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said of the Russian column. "One explanation could be they are trying to rattle the civilian population."

There was no immediate response from Russia to the claims. Both sides have made conflicting statements since fighting broke out Aug. 7, when Georgia sought to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

According to two defense officials, the latest Pentagon information does not show any major movement by Russian troops or tanks Thursday. The officials said that if tanks are moving toward Kutaisi, the Russian troops might be headed to South Ossetia where they're supposed to be going.

The developments came on a day that Russian troops searched selected cities, forests and fields in Georgia looking for military equipment abandoned by Georgian forces during the week-old war. And Russia's foreign minister declared Georgia could "forget about" regaining two separatist provinces.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he saw no need to invoke American military force in the war between Russia and Georgia but warned that U.S.-Russian relations could suffer lasting damage if Moscow doesn't retreat.

"The United States spent 45 years working very hard to avoid a military confrontation with Russia," said Gates. "I see no reason to change that approach today."

Gates was adamant that sending U.S. troops is not an option, but the U.S. already had a number of its most elite Special Operations Forces on the ground in Georgia, assisting and training the Georgian army, reports CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan.

That would put them in position to advise the Georgians in the current crisis, military and intelligence sources told CBS News.

Thursday's events presented a huge challenge to the EU-sponsored cease-fire agreement designed to end seven days of fighting that began after Georgia tried to regain control of South Ossetia. The accord had envisioned Russian and Georgian forces returning to their original positions.

"One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters as Russia's president met in the Kremlin with the two separatist leaders. The comments and meeting were a clear sign that Moscow is considering the enclaves.

The Bush administration said it will ignore the "bluster" from Russia about the separatist regions. However, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to Georgia to ask the U.S. ally to sign a cease-fire agreement with Russia that includes apparent concessions to Moscow but preserves Georgian borders, a U.S. official said.

The pact fleshes out a French-brokered agreement giving Russian peacekeepers the express right to patrol beyond South Ossetia, the disputed border region at the heart of the conflict.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the pact is not finalized, said there are important clarifications still to be made and the U.S. would support more powers for the Russian peacekeepers only if they were limited, well defined and temporary.

"The United States of America stands strongly, as the president of France just said, for the territorial integrity of Georgia," Rice said after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Still, analysts said there were holes in the EU plan to end the war between Georgia and Russia.

Robert Hunter, former ambassador to NATO under President Clinton, said the EU plan has halted much of the fighting but hardly commits the Russians to much.

"As it stands, this proposal leaves the Russians in total control," he told the AP in New York. "There is nothing in here about the inviolability of Georgia's frontiers," which he said lets Russia move forward on absorbing the separatist regions.

The war has raised concerns among other former Soviet bloc nations. On Thursday, Poland and the United States reached an agreement that will see a battery of American missiles established inside Poland.

"Poland and the Poles do not want to be in alliances in which assistance comes at some point later - it is no good when assistance comes to dead people. Poland wants to be in alliances where assistance comes in the very first hours of - knock on wood - any possible conflict," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

Relief planes swooped into the Georgian capital of Tbilisi with tons of supplies for the estimated 100,000 people uprooted by the fighting. U.S. officials said the two planes carried cots, blankets, medicine and surgical supplies - but the Russians insinuated that the U.S. might have sent military aid as well.

Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said he wasn't sure that the U.S. planes carried only humanitarian cargo. "It causes our concern," he said.

U.S. officials rejected the claim.

Georgia, bordering the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia has distributed passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and stationed troops they call peacekeepers there since the early 1990s.

Georgia's Interior Ministry accused Russia of using Iskander short-range missiles on the Black Sea port of Poti and in the central city of Gori. Ministry official Shota Utiashvili showed reporters images of what he said were shrapnel and remains of the missiles.

Russian troops and Georgian troops briefly patrolled Gori together Thursday before relations between the sides broke down and the Georgians left. At least 20 explosions were heard later near Gori, along with small-arms fire. It was not clear whether it was renewed fighting or the disposal of ordnance from a Georgian military base.

Gori, battered by Russian bombing before Tuesday's cease-fire, lies on Georgia's main east-west road only 60 miles west of Tbilisi.

Terrified Georgians had to flee their village near Gori on foot, they said, because rampaging militias from South Ossetia are burning homes and farms, killing people and livestock, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.

Earlier, at a checkpoint outside Gori, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said Georgian engineers and special forces were searching for Russian mines. "We are cleaning roads because we have information that there are some mines," he told AP.

A Russian envoy denied that any roads around Gori were mined.

AP television footage showed Russian troops inside and outside Gori, with plumes of black smoke rising from behind a forest.

Nogovitsyn said Russian troops went into Gori to establish contact with its civilian administration and to take control over military depots abandoned by the Georgian forces. "The abandoned weapons needed protection," he said.

Danish journalists said drunken South Ossetia militiamen fired shots into the ground before them and a UNHCR representative Thursday as Russian tanks blocked them from entering Gori. One journalist's television camera was seized.

In Vienna, Victor Dolidze, Georgia's ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Russian troops were looting the Georgian military base in Senaki, as well Poti.

The Russian envoy to the OSCE, Vladimir Voronkov, strongly denied Dolidze's other claim, that Russian troops had laid mines in Gori and may be doing the same in Senaki and Poti.

An AP Television News crew heard explosions Thursday at a military base in Senaki and were told by officials from both sides that the Russians were destroying ordnance. Dozens of Russian armored vehicles and troops later set up for the night on the main road from Senaki north to Zugdidi.

Russian troops operated with confidence Thursday in and around Poti, the site of Georgia's key oil terminal. Georgia's coast guard said Russian troops burned four Georgian patrol boats in Poti on Wednesday, then returned Thursday to loot and destroy the coast guard's radar and other equipment.

Georgian port authorities told an AP television crew in Poti that Russian troops were at the Poti docks early Thursday and APTN saw a destroyed Georgian military boat about 60 feet long.

The same APTN crew followed Russian troops on the outskirts of Poti as they searched a field and a forest at an old Soviet military base for possible Georgian military equipment.

Nogovitsyn would not comment on the Russian presence in Poti, saying only that Russian forces were operating within their "area of responsibility." He also shrugged off as "nonsense" Ukraine's order restricting Russia's navy from moving freely in Ukraine's Black Sea waters.

Another APTN camera crew saw Russian soldiers and military vehicles parked Thursday inside the Georgian government's elegant gated residence in the western town of Zugdidi. Some of the Russian soldiers wore blue peacekeeping helmets, others wore green camouflage helmets, all were heavily armed. Other Russian troops patrolled the city.

"The Russian troops are here. They are occupying," Ygor Gegenava, an elderly Zugdidi resident told the APTN crew. "We don't want them here. What we need is friendship and good relations with the Russian people."

The United Nations estimates 100,000 people have been uprooted by the fighting, including 12,000 South Ossetians who fled north into Russia.

In Tbilisi, displaced Georgians set up tents at a makeshift refugee camp, hanging washing on lines and rolling out mattresses and bedding.

"We have no beds, six of us are sleeping on the floor. We don't have anything left," a Georgian woman named Manana told an APTN crew. She would not give her last name, fearing reprisals.

[sistatee-2009]

"French-brokered cease-fire"

Break out the white flags.

[neoconrcrazy]

""What is clear is that the complete Russian victory in this small but nasty war has created a new reality on the ground," reported CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips, "not just in Georgia, but in relations between Russia and the West."



yeah, the new reality is: don''t *** around with russia - it''s not iraq, or nicarauga, or grenada!

did you understand, neocon chickenhawks ?

[trrrorislamx]

hmmmm is this a 3AM PHONE CALL MOMENT???

who do you really want answering the phone???

Hillary Clinton 3 am Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-VFA7L2RcE&feature=related

[jgunther7]

There is a resurgence of Russian pride, and history will repeat itself. The Russians only take so much abuse and then they come back in force. When they do come back, they take no prisoners and hell will be riding with them. Just remember the armies of Napoleon trying to sneak back out of Russia after committing terrible atrocities, the pompous Armies of Queen Victoria that were run out of the Crimea, and the once massive armies of Nazi Germany that went into Russia and never came out. The Russians who were once derided for not having a viable army in WWII turned on the Germans with new tanks stretching from one edge of the horizon to the other. There are no Germans left to confirm that story, so we will have to rely on the Russians version.

[trrrorislamx]

DEMONIC-RATS DO NOT WANT SECRET BALLOTS,,,

For some, right to secret ballot could be lost
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/shared-blogs/ajc/thinkingright/entries/2008/08/13/right_to_vote_in_privacy_could.html

[trrrorislamx]

the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,,, inside job

the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personnel,,, inside job

the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel,,, inside job

the 1998 bombing of U.S . embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000,,, inside job

the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39 U.S. sailors,,, inside job

talk is no substitute for action,,,

kkklowntoon just gave us the same old tired speech and did nothing else,,,

"We will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to find those who killed our sailors and hold them accountable."

yahhh right

In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt

[rdupuy11]

It appears the key to diplomacy in the Bush WhiteHouse, is to be a patronzing arse-ho** the entire time others are solving the problem.

It reminds me of Bush I, when he went into Kuwait at the request of the non-democratic Royal Family of Kuwait, which is entirely different from Ossetia, of course, as Ossetians are democracy loving people.

I remember how he kept the entire war inside Kuwait and respected the sovereignty of Iraq. Or rather, how he didn''t conduct the war that way at all. He didn''t bomb the hel* out of Kuwait...he bombed Iraq.

It''s common sense, you don''t contain a war inside the area you are trying to liberate.

Now, do you suppose only Bush I knew this, but Bush II, just doesn''t know how war works? No...no they know, they also know its a propaganda campaign, so you have the absurd propaganda coming out, that none of the players themselves really beleive, its just meant to full average joe.

I cannot say they are wrong, average joe is pretty *** stupid.

[trrrorislamx]

WHY IS RUSSIA NOT BOWING DOWN TO THE GREAT ANNOINTED ONE???

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

The anointed one''s pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece

The One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopkn0lPzM8

[obamanation6]

SOUND AN ALARM:Russian Foreign Minister says Georgia''s territorial integrity is a dead issue.....

[neoconrcrazy]

Withdraw all the troops we can from anywhere we can, and send them to Georgia.

Send every military ship we can to the shores of Georgia.

Posted by Humanavance


i would qualify this comment as alarmist -

these 2 disputed regions are populated by peoples who have REFUSED to become part of Georgia and Georgia has been keen, too keen recently, to force them militarily. That is their objective. The bush objective is to secure more realestate to keep russia from caspian oil. therefore their common effort to force the question with russia. which failed miserably and which most likely will mean Georgia will never see these regions as part of their country again - after killing not only russians, who by the way have lived there since the 17th century, in their agressive attack, but also separtist ethic georgians.

sorry to say, but your call to arms is unfounded, the conflict is contrived by georgian & neocon american agendas and nothing to do with a "soviet" or "imperiaistic" russian revival.

russians will protect russians - period.

[ajaxtheleast]

Beneficent Russia allowing a multi-year

Iraqi repayment plan and were screaming

about the first small installment.

[ahrats]

The big bear has awoken from it slumber and wants to take over all its old teritories by force if necessary so they can not join NATO. If NATO has any balls it would accept immediatly Georgia into the fold and see if Russia wants a war. Stalin lives in the kremlin again but as another name called Putin.

[riddelup-2009]

We provided millions in military aid To Georgia. They use that military aid to attack South Ossetia Georgia is amazed that Russia would attack a known U.S. ally. We attack Russia with prodigious and instantaneous rhetoric. Russia tells us to mind our own invasion and leave their invasion alone. I say we should declare that Russia has WMD and launch a massive invasion. The massive nuclear conflagration will validate our foreign policy.

[gx1103710]

This story is out of date. The Russian are pulling back according to the BBC and CNN. Thank god some of you guys are not in charge of the country or we would be in WW3. After 5 years in Iraq we hardly have any moral high ground. Remember the US invasion of Panama? Was not Panama a sovereign state? Did the Russian threaten us at that time and interfere? Lets keep our nose out of every corner of the world. Its not wanted.

[neoconrcrazy]

when 9-11 left dead americans, we killed a million or so iraqis -

when Georgia''s attack left dead russians, they killed a couple of thousand guilty georgians -

stop being a complete hyocrites.

peole who launch unwarranted attacks are terrorists and should be treated as such.

good work Russia.

[haoli25]

Think of how proud Reagan would be. Putin has decided to ignore a legal government in favor of the ''Freedom Fighters''. Sound familiar? Send ''em Oliver North to get arms for the seperatists.

[tapsettle]

CBS should be ashamed of their tirade of pro-Bush headlines over this issue.
FACT: Georgia bombed and killed 2000 innocent South Ossetians, most of whom also happen to be Russian citizens.
FACT: Russia responded with force, as they warned they would.
FACT: Bush ignores the Georgian genocide (like he ignores Israel and his own) and threatens Russia.
FACT: Putin is still laughing at him, and quite right too.

[tapsettle]

when 9-11 left dead americans, we killed a million or so iraqis -
Posted by neoconRcrazy

Dont you mean ..."we killed a million or so INNOCENT iraqis" ??

[neoconrcrazy]

Dont you mean ..."we killed a million or so INNOCENT iraqis" ??

Posted by tapsettle

yes, inncocent - and the south ossetians killed by georgian terrorists were innocent too.

but the georgian terrorists, killed by the russians, were not innocents.

[ajaxtheleast]

"TO RALLY THE WORLD IN DEFENSE OF A FREE GEORGIA."

HEY, LIKE THE PUNCH LINE MAN!!

GIMME THE LEAD-IN,

MIGHT USE THIS ONE!!

[tapsettle]

Posted by neoconRcrazy

Absolutely right. Now if only the rest of the US public and media opened there eyes ...

[rdupuy11]

I don''t normally complain about the media, but I have to admit, we''ve seen this kind of trend here. First are the unfounded accusations that Russia started this, when its a fact they did not. Then you see additional logic based on the previous ''facts'', and after a few days we are so far from reality, its astonishing, and only a few media articles reset matters back to the core facts...most are playing along with the propaganda.

The comments section isn''t playing though...its obvious this is a Saakashvili adventure. But now we have Condi talking about this ''isn''t the Cold War''...when in fact, thats exactly how they are treating the situation.

In the modern era, when peacekeeping forces are attacked, they have the right to self defense. When you liberate an oppressed group, you take the fight to the oppressor, not to lands of the victim group. You treat terrorist groups like Hamas, even when they are elected (and they were), you treat their terrorist actions just the same as any terrorist group. Democracy is not the pretend protection Condi claims it is....and the fact of the matter, that we all know she will conveniently forget as it suits her in other matters.

I''m left scratching my head by the massive inconsistency.

[neoconrcrazy]

just look a bushit wriggle around trying to get the international community to do something! gosh, he''s even involved the UN, to try to help him protect his proxy.....seems contradictory, no?

well, that''s what chickenhawks look like when faced with reality - destroy harmless iraq and get 3% of their population killed (in america that''d be about 9 million people) is easy.....

[tapsettle]

The American-armed and trained Georgian army swarmed into South Ossetia last Thursday, killing an estimated 2,000 civilians, sending 40,000 South Ossetians fleeing over the Russian border, and destroying much of the capital, Tskhinvali. So why is America so supportive of Georgia, then and now???

[tapsettle]

The attack was unprovoked and took place a full 24 hours before even ONE Russian soldier set foot in South Ossetia. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Americans still believe that the Russian army invaded Georgian territory first. In Gods name why ????

[tapsettle]

The BBC, AP, NPR, the New York Times and the rest of the establishment media has consistently and deliberately misled its readers into believing that the violence in South Ossetia was initiated by the Kremlin. Sounds like the run up to Iraq ????

[neoconrcrazy]

I''''m left scratching my head by the massive inconsistency.

Posted by Mark19712

no much to do with inconsistancy - alot to do with spin, i.e. last 8 years -

today''s spin is the "revival of the Soviet Union" or "imperialist Russia" and such BS

fact is bushit & henchmen gave their georgian proxies a green light for this and when the massive russian reaction came - they stood there flat-footed and said at first "we tried to stop them", then moved on to another spin depicting it as a "russian invaision".

this administration is hopelessly inept, corrupt, unfit.

[tapsettle]

Thank you Mike Whitney for upholding journalism with integrity.

[obamanation6]

The U.S. doesn''t have the resources or the will to take on Russia and so whatever is coming out of the Bush White House is just more smoke and mirrors.

[tapsettle]

Mounting a military assault against South Ossetian innocents was a reckless decision whose tragic consequences, for thousands of people of different nationalities, are now clear. The Georgian leadership could do this only with the perceived support and encouragement of a much more powerful force. Guess who ??

[obamanation6]

There is absolutely no way the U.S. could take on Russia with our military begging for more recruits and in dire need of new equipment.

[obamanation6]

The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia," Bush said during an appearance at the White House. "We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected."

Yet Bush''s statement, along with the moderate measures that came with it, served to underscore the limited options available to the United States, which has neither the wherewithal nor the willingness to enter into a military conflict with Russia on its territorial border

[tapsettle]

"Georgian armed forces were trained by hundreds of US instructors, and its sophisticated military equipment was bought in a number of countries. This, coupled with the promise of NATO membership, emboldened Georgian leaders into thinking that they could get away with a "blitzkrieg" in South Ossetia...Russia had to respond. To accuse it of aggression against "small, defenseless Georgia" is not just hypocritical but shows a lack of humanity." ("A Path to Peace in the Caucasus", Mikhail Gorbachev, Washington Post)

[obamanation6]

Russia is paying no attention to President Bush and Sec. of State Rice on their paper tiger threats about what the U.S. will do if Russia doesn''t pullback on their invasion of Georgia.

[jmurrieta1]

""The message is that Russia has perhaps not accepted that it is time to move on from the Cold War and it is time to move to a new era in which relations between states are on the basis of equality, and sovereignty and economic integration," Rice said Wednesday. "


There''s no liar like a Neocon liar. Rice has pushed for installation of anti-missile systems in Poland and the Czech republic, supposedly to defend the US from Iran and North Korea. Of course, these locations are nowhere near the trajectory of any missiles from those countries to the US. They are placed there as a cold-war operation to intimidate the Russians.

Condie, you''re a liar. Go back to work for Exxon Mobil. Maybe they''ll name another oil tanker after you.

[rave_on3]

fact is bushit & henchmen gave their georgian proxies a green light for this

Posted by neoconRcrazy at 07:43 AM : Aug 14, 2008


Talk about spin! You''re saying Bush and his cronies greenlit this opearation? Au contraire mon frere. Russia has been fomenting unrest in both of these breakaway provinces for some time now. Not long ago in Abkhazia, Saakashvili wanted to quell some violence and looting occuring in that province. He was told by the west (more specifically, Germany) to practice some restraint. Unfortunately Mr. Saakashvili is a brash man and dedided Russia had gone too far this time and decided to do something about it. Misjudgement would be an understatement in this case.

And you are naive to think the Russians don''t have designs for the glory years of their previous empire.

[tapsettle]

History will not just condemn the Bush administration over the US response to these events, but also the corporate media that US foreign policy depends upon. The American people now have a choice as to whether they too will be historically condemned for failing to see through such a blatant farce.

[checkthepast]

The majority of posters here are so anti America that surely they don''t live in this country (or shouldn''t).
If they do and this is truly the next generation to populate this nation, then it''s time for Americans to relocate. You can''t face the world if you won''t even face the big mouth punks that constantly degrade everything about the United States.

"The US was once the greatest nation on earth...then you came along"

[tapsettle]

Unfortunately, like those people involved in the coalition, the US collectively are already condemned for the farcical genocide that is known today as the Iraq war.

[checkthepast]

one of the many losers on here that give Bush a lot of power and control
Posted by jamesm12341

So many that we won... and you lost... you are a bit confused about what "LOSERS" means, but as you gain more experience at it you will begin to understand.

[tapsettle]

"The US was once the greatest nation on earth...then you came along"
Posted by checkthepast

I don''t think you can blame the next generation for americas well-deserved position in the sewer. That was down to their ageing war-mongering peers for sure.

[rave_on3]

History will not just condemn the Bush administration over the US response to these events, but also the corporate media that US foreign policy depends upon. The American people now have a choice as to whether they too will be historically condemned for failing to see through such a blatant farce.

Posted by tapsettle at 07:59 AM : Aug 14, 2008

Look, I''m no apologist for the Bush administration. Our foreign policy is in the tank. We have very little leverage on the world stage. But just because our past adventures have been mistakes on the grandest scale doesn''t mean everything our adversaries do is correct.

[tapsettle]

Neither Bush nor Putin is under any illusions about Washington''s involvement in the hostilities. They know that Georgian President Mikail Saakashvili is an American stooge who came to power in a CIA-backed coup, the so-called "Rose Revolution", and would never order a major military operation such as this without explicit instructions from his White House puppetmasters. Most likely, the orders to invade came directly from the office of the Vice President, *** Cheney.

[rave_on3]

...the US collectively are already condemned...

Posted by tapsettle at 08:06 AM : Aug 14, 2008

Fortunately, I don''t hold such a bleak outlook. You should give more credit to reasonable peoples of the world and realize, if they condemn anybody it''s our current administration, they don''t condemn American''s as a whole.

[neoconrcrazy]

Russia has been fomenting unrest in both of these breakaway provinces for some time now.

Posted by rave_on3

avec toute ma sympathie mon frere - vous vous tromper! Ce la Georgia qui a fait le premiere pas en envoyant son armee !

[rdupuy11]

As long as Russia is backing the self determination of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, then, of course they are correct and the Bush administration is merely posturing.

If somehow they came into possession of these oil pipelines, then the Bush administration would be correct.

C''mon, it doesn''t take a rocket scientist, Bush isn''t talking about the oil pipelines all the time because Russia has threatened to take them...he''s talking about them all the time, because thats what he cares about, is concerned about, and its about how he views the world.

rave_on3, I take you at your word. I''m an american citizen, born here. At this point in time, of course George is being George. Of course, we are sending this ars* wipe packing pretty soon. He isn''t held in high respect, and nor are his gang of thugs.

McCain is a similar general pain...but feel sorry for us, we have only Obama and McCain to choose from as the main choices....a few minor party candidates beyond that. The system has been producing self serving populists for a few cycles now, and unfortunately I don''t see that changing soon.

[tapsettle]

The american people have much more to worry about as the fighting in the Caucasus has diverted attention from the massive US naval armada that is presently sailing towards the Persian Gulf for the long-anticipated confrontation with Iran.

[neoconrcrazy]

we already know we went to iraq thinking saddam was in cahoots with al-qaeda (that''s what bs bush told us)

NOW they want us to believe Russia has attacked Georgia (or as they term it "invaded" !

This is just another lie, in the long list.

[obamanation6]

The West has spent two decades drawing Russia into the solving of communal problems like climate change and terrorism. It needs Moscow%u2019s cooperation in persuading Iran not to develop nuclear weapons

[tapsettle]

A strategic diversion has been created for Russia. The South Ossetia capital has been shelled and a large Georgian tank force has been heading towards the border....American Marines, a thousand of them, have recently been in Georgia training the Georgian military forces... Russia has stated that it will not sit by and allow the Georgians to attack South Ossetia...This could get bad, and remember it is just a strategic diversion....but one that could have horrific effects." ("Massive US Naval Armada Heads for Iran", Earl of Stirling, Global Research)