IGOETI, Georgia, Aug. 16, 2008
Despite Cease-Fire, Russia Digs In
Russian Forces Defiantly Maintaining Presence In Central Georgia
-
Play CBS Video
Video
Russian Troops Won't Back Down
Although the fighting has died down in the nation of Georgia, officials say that Russian forces have remained in that nation which will create a challenge for the U.S. Kimberly Dozier reports.
-
Video
Who Really Runs Russia?
As Russian troops remain in Georgia despite a supposed cease fire, some are now wondering if Vladimir Putin still maintains authority over former protégé Dmitry Medvedev. Beth Knobel reports.
-
Video
U.S.-Russia Tensions High
While Georgia signed a cease-fire, Russia made additional threats to U.S. allies. Georgia's President blasted the West for failing to act as Russia still occupies Georgian cities. Lara Logan reports.
-
-
Photo
Russian armored vehicles move in Orjosani, between the capital Tbilisi and strategic town of Gori, Georgia, Aug. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
-
Photo
A Georgian man looks at a Russian convoy leaving after looting part of the Black Sea port of Poti, western Georgia, Aug. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
-
Photo
Russian armored vehicles move in Orjosani, between the capital Tbilisi and strategic town of Gori, Georgia, Aug. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
-
-
Who's Who
Russia And Georgia At Odds
Some of the faces and places involved in the tense dispute.
-
Photo Essay
Russia Flexes Muscles
Russian tanks rumble into strategic Georgian city despite supposed ceasefire.
The United States and France said it appeared Russia was defying the truce already. Russian troops still controlled two Georgian cities and the key east-west highway between them Saturday, cities well outside the breakaway provinces where earlier fighting was focused.
"From my point of view - and I am in contact with the French - the Russians are perhaps already not honoring their word," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
U.S. Defense officials tell CBS News, it looks like Russia is still bound and determined to redraw the Georgian map, by staying put in the country, in greater numbers than ever before.
CBS News has learned the Russian invasion force - an estimated fifteen thousand strong - is digging in to the two breakaway Georgian provinces-setting up near-permanent camps in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. That's according to U.S. satellite and human intelligence, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier.
U.S. defense officials say Russian camps in the south, some within thirty miles of the capital, are more temporary. They say the Russians are trying to reach as many abandoned Georgian military bases as possible, and take them apart before they retreat.
U.S. President George W. Bush warned Russia Saturday that it cannot lay claim to the two separatist regions in U.S.-backed Georgia even though their sympathies lie with Moscow. "There is no room for debate on this matter," the president, with Rice, told reporters at his Texas ranch.
But Georgia's Foreign Ministry accused Russian army units and separatist fighters in one of the regions, Abkhazia, of taking over 13 villages and the Inguri hydropower plant Saturday, shifting the border of the Black sea province toward the Inguri River.
Abkhaz officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the late-night claim, and there was no information on whether the seizure involved violence.
The villages and plant are in a U.N.-established buffer zone on Abkhazia's edge, and it appeared that the separatists were bolstering their control over the zone after Russian-backed fighters forced Georgians out of their last stronghold in Abkhazia earlier this week.
The tense peace pact in Georgia, a U.S. ally that has emerged as a proxy for conflict between an emboldened Russia and the West, calls for both Russian and Georgian forces to pull back to positions they held before fighting erupted Aug. 7 in the other breakaway province, South Ossetia in central Georgia.
But freshly dug positions of Russian armor in the town of Igoeti, about 30 miles west of the capital Tbilisi, showed that Russia was observing the truce at the pace and scope of its choosing.
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, acknowledged that Medvedev had signed the cease-fire deal and ordered its implementation, but he said Russian troops would not withdraw until Moscow is satisfied that security measures its forces are allowed to take under the agreement are effective.
He also said Russia would strengthen its peacekeeping contingent in South Ossetia, the separatist Georgian region at the center of more than a week of warfare that sharply soured relations between Moscow and the West.
"As these additional security measures are taken, the units of the Russian armed forces that were sent into the zone of the South Ossetian conflict ... will be withdrawn," he said.
Asked how much time it would take, he responded: "As much as is needed."
Quote
Rice bristled at this, saying that the text of the cease-fire agreement, negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current leader of the European Union, outlined a very limited mandate only for Russian peacekeepers who were in Georgia at the time hostilities escalated. She said the agreement specifies that these initial peacekeepers can have limited patrols in a prescribed area within the conflict zone and would not be allowed to go into Georgian urban areas or tie up a cross-country highway.They have robbed the military base and taken almost everything, and they have burned or sunk the stuff they could not carry.
Zurab Simonia, port workerAccording to Rice, Medvedev told Sarkozy that the minute the Georgian president signed the cease-fire agreement, Russian forces would begin to withdraw.
Sarkozy said Saturday that the truce explicitly bars Russian troops from Gori or "any major urban area" of Georgia.
Earlier Saturday, Russian forces dug shallow foxholes in the middle of Igoeti and parked tanks, one flying a Russian flag, along the road. In the afternoon, they withdrew from those positions to the town's western outskirts. There, they set up defensive positions with tank cannons pointed back toward Georgian-held territory, where police and soldiers milled about, awaiting Russia's next move.
West of Igoeti, Russian troops were deployed in large numbers in and around the strategic city of Gori, which endured an intense Russian bombardment during the fighting that began when Georgia attacked its breakaway region of South Ossetia. Military vehicles on the side of the road were camouflaged with branches; a couple of soldiers slept on stretchers in the shade of the hulking machines.
Russian troops effectively control the main artery running through the western half of Georgia, because they surround the strategic central city of Gori and the city and air base of Senaki in the west. Both cities sit on the main east-west highway that slices through two Georgian mountain ranges.
Controlling Senaki, which sits on a key intersection, also means the Russians control access to the Black Sea port city of Poti and the road north to another breakaway region, Abkhazia. AP reporters have seen Russian troops there for days but noted a growing contingent Saturday and artillery guns and tanks pointed out from the city, which they appear to be using as a base for their sorties elsewhere in western Georgia.
An Associated Press Television News team saw Russian soldiers pulling out of the Black Sea port of Poti Saturday after sinking Georgian naval vessels and ransacking the port. A picture of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in the looted office of the Navy and Coast Guard had been vandalized, with the face scratched out.
"They have robbed the military base and taken almost everything, and they have burned or sunk the stuff they could not carry," port worker Zurab Simonia said.
Lavrov was not specific about the security measures planned, but suggested they would be limited mostly to South Ossetia, not Georgia proper. He accused Georgia of undermining security, citing the Russian military's claim that it had averted an attack on a highway tunnel by stopping a car laden with grenade launchers and ammunition.
"We are constantly encountering problems from the Georgian side, and everything will depend on how effectively and quickly these problems are resolved," he said.
Georgia, meanwhile, claimed that Russian forces blew up a railroad bridge Saturday. Russia denied it.
The rival claims underscored the fragility of the cease-fire. Lavrov said the deal Saakashvili signed Friday differed from the one with Medvedev's signature, with Saakashvili's version lacking an introductory preamble. While that difference may appear to be a technicality, it could be one either side could cite if it wants to abandon the deal.
The conflict erupted after Georgia launched a massive barrage to try to take control of South Ossetia. The Russian army quickly overwhelmed its neighbor's forces and drove deep into Georgia, raising fears that it was planning on a long-term occupation.
Even if Russian forces do withdraw from the rest of Georgia, Moscow appears likely to maintain strong control over South Ossetia. Lavrov said Thursday that Georgia can "forget about" South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which broke from Georgian government control in early 1990s wars, and their future status is shaping up as a potentially explosive source of tension.
In Texas, Bush said, "A major issue is Russia's contention that the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia may not be a part of Georgia's future. These regions are a part of Georgia and the international community has repeatedly made clear that they will remain so."
Russia views the growing relationship between the U.S. and Georgia as an encroachment on its traditional sphere of influence and a threat to its clout. The fighting came amid U.S. efforts to close a deal on a missile shield based in former Soviet satellites in Europe, an issue already damaging ties with its former Cold War foe.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 112 CommentsRussia has no right to invade Georgia and claim South Ossetia and Abkhazia for their own - this overt campaign to conquer and absorb a neighboring free country and democracy is paralleled in scope and nature only by Hitler''s 1939 invasion of Poland, the Soviet Union''s 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, and Saddam Hussein''s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
It appears that Russia''s intention - despite signing a truce to stop it''s campaign against Georgia and to leave immediately - is to continue to occupy the country until it can overthrow the Georgian government and replace it with an neo-Soviet Communist regime.
There is no doubt that until Russia''s military is driven out of Georgia, they will continue with the occupation - and will likely repeat the same aggression against other border nations, including Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Estonia, and probably several others.
If Russia is not knocked back on its heels right now, then genocide and World War are sure to follow.
keep you hands off south osetia and abkhazia
American citizen telling the truth about Georgian invade in South Osetia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCwTo9AdT2c&feature=related
The first day war of Georgia against Ossetia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2DncU5FdCU&feature=related
Georgian attack on capital of Ossetia is beaten off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ4NSNtV8Jk&feature=related
Georgian terrorist armies kill inhabitants of South Ossetia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnob0TQDeN8&feature=related
Abkhazia declared itself independent on 23 July 1992. Since then it has been at war with, and partially occupied by, Georgia.
http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/ge-abkha.html
Tensions between Georgia and Russia were strained over the Pankisi Gorge, a lawless region of Georgia that Russia said had become a haven for Islamic militants and Chechen rebels.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107564.html
GET SOME RUSKIES,,, GET SOME,,,
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
Rapes in Beslan: in Muhammed''s Footsteps
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1214617/posts
did not tim kaine tell the world that HUSSEIN has ended the war between georgia and russia,,,
Video - Tim Kaine: Obama Ended The War Between Georgia and Russia
http://beltwayblips.com/video/tim_kaine_obama_ended_the_war_between_georgia_and/
Tim Kaine: Barack Obama Solved The Crisis In Georgia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w43m6vQrEYw
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
who do you really want answering the phone???
Hillary Clinton 3 am Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-VFA7L2RcE&feature=related
DEMONIC-RATS LEAD THE CHORUS OF USEFUL IDIOTS,,,
Skit featuring albright, Kim J Ill, and Osama bin laden
The David Zucker Madeleine Albright ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hzH6X8g34Y
HUSSEIN CANNOT EVEN HANDLE HILLARY,,, lol
hahaha
Barack Obama blinks in Hillary face-off
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/08/14/2008-08-14_barack_obama_blinks_in_hillary_faceoff.html
Russia rolls over Georgia, Hillary Clinton does the same to Barack Obama. Now we know who''s boss.
Obama blinked and stands guilty of appeasing Clinton by agreeing to a roll call vote for her nomination.
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." Albert Einstein
It''s only going to get worse folks, because of idiots like George W. Bush and Condileeza Con thinking they can bluff the Russians.
America can breathe a sigh of relief that Barrack Obama kept his comments measured and calculated like a true statesmen.
Let''s just hope we can make it to when Barrack Obama is President and can resolve these issues with quiet and intelligent diplomacy with respect to other superpowers.
No wonder 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.
The United States doesn''t have a military that can do a *** thing about what Russia is doing.
The U .S. military is stretched way beyond their capabilities now and military commanders are crying for more troops for Afghanistan, but the U.S. doesn''t have more troops.
Russia can and will tell the U.S. to go take a flying you-know-what at the moon because Russia knows the U.S. is now a PAPER TIGER.
The U.S. has 160,000 troops tied up in Iraq and 30,000 troops bogged down in Afghanistan and nothing in the military recruitment pipeline to take on Russia in Georgia.
If the U.S. peacekeepers and humanitarian helpers start getting their *** kicked by the Russians, the U.S. military''s hand are tied because we just don''t have the troops to do a *** thing about the situation and Russia knows it.
The United States doesn''''t have a military that can do a *** thing about what Russia is doing.
The U .S. military is stretched way beyond their capabilities now and military commanders are crying for more troops for Afghanistan, but the U.S. doesn''''t have more troops.
Russia can and will tell the U.S. to go take a flying you-know-what at the moon because Russia knows the U.S. is now a PAPER TIGER.
The U.S. has 160,000 troops tied up in Iraq and 30,000 troops bogged down in Afghanistan and nothing in the military recruitment pipeline to take on Russia in Georgia.
--------------------------------------
Currently, we have 2.3 million troops active (still wondering where they are) & another 5 million in reserve. Being the most technologically advanced military in the world & being in NATO I''m more than sure we can take on Russia.
Population:
United States: 250 Million, Canada: 32 Million, Europe: 500 Million Russia: 143 Million
Population:
United States: 250 Million, Canada: 32 Million, Europe: 500 Million Russia: 143 Million
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Xalen54
What does the population of countries have to do with you statemant? If all the bible thumpers have their way these numbers might be inportant, cause Russia may run out of ammo before we are ALL dead, and we won''t have any weapons to defend ourselves.
ummmm haji,,,
china and russia hate FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIC MUSLIMS too,,,
GOT IT,,,
Posted by obamanation6
-----------------
And, time and again, when somebody on Wall Street sneezes or has an *** too quickly, the world''s remaining financial centers worry and dump too. It''ll be a lot harder to carve the US out of the GLOBAL economy than what people have thought/hoped/wanted/whatever.
Posted by whitemale08
--------------------
Assuming he wins. I know a LOT of people who will NOT vote McCain, but are too skeptical of Obama. (Now it makes more sense why Clinton went all out... though a lot people thought she was a phony too.)
I''m going to go eat some chocolate pudding right now. Find a rose and smell it too.
As part of the effort to relieve the strain on the force, the Army is developing plans to accelerate the creation of two new combat brigades, The Associated Press has learned jan 2008
Posted by obamanation6 at 10:24 PM : Aug 16, 2008
ummmmm nancy,,,
china''s currency the yuan is pegged to the dollar as are many world currencies,,,
russia uses the ameerican dollar for its own currency,,,
GOT IT,,,
hahahahaha
George Washington is Russia''s Comrade Hero in Terrorislam''s parallel universe
hahahahaha
Posted by smurfcrusher at 10:34 PM : Aug 16, 2008
1.00 RUB = 0.0406108 USD
you mean this currency,,, LOL
no wonder the russians use american dollars,,,
hahaha
FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM has no friends,,,
and is friend to no one,,,
http://www.stranslation.com/Russian_Translation/currency_of_russia.htm
Terrorislam, maybe in your parallel universe the Euro is Russia''s official currency...
After all, one Euro is 1.5 US dollars!
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=EUR&to=USD&submit=Convert
Just because you have a poor opinion of Rubles does not mean your favorite currency is theirs too...
Truly baffling logic
tell it to the ruskies nancy,,,
The majority of Russian people were saving their money in dollars during post-perestroika years
Russia to oust US dollar from nation''s financial policy
http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/9051-16.cfm
%u201CIf American could do something, why didn%u2019t they help us?%u201D one soldier said, his voice rising almost to a shout. %u201CThe Russians took Gori, Senaki, Zugdidi. They are on our bases. Don%u2019t ask us questions. Go ask your president.%u201D reuters
keep you hands off south osetia and abkhazia
American citizen telling the truth about Georgian invade in South Osetia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCwTo9AdT2c&feature=related
The first day war of Georgia against Ossetia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2DncU5FdCU&feature=related
Georgian attack on capital of Ossetia is beaten off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ4NSNtV8Jk&feature=related
Georgian terrorist armies kill inhabitants of South Ossetia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnob0TQDeN8&feature=related
Posted by obamanation6 at 11:10 PM : Aug 16, 2008
NEXT:CHINA INVADES TAIWAN.....
Posted by obamanation6 at 11:08 PM : Aug 16, 2008
keep dreaming nancy,,,
Web definitions for abomination
a person who is loathsome or disgusting
China total medals 49
Russian Fed total medals 21
The real top ten is:
China
United States
Germany
Australia
South Korea
Japan
Great Britain
Italy
Russia
Ukraine
welcome to,,,
CHINA''S SPECIAL/CHEATING OLYMPICS,,,
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=CHINA+CHEATING OLYPICS
CHINA STINKS,,,
ALWAYS HAS,,,
ALWAYS WILL,,,
TEAM USA ROCKS,,,
United States total medals 57
China total medals 49
Russian Fed total medals 21
On some days, Rice probably wishes she had stayed in academia.-- at least there, she could publish for GOP thinktanks in taxpayer-paid obscurity.
Finally, we are given to understand the Georgians have committed their share of offenses under international law, as well. To the extent these are factual, Georgia must understand international law applies to even the natives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The two, miniscule territories fear absorption by either Russia or Georgia. They want to be left alone.
All to say, many parties are involved in an affront to international law in Georgia and nearby regions. How startling a tactical move it might be if Russians were actually to honor the principles of international law in Georgia, and remove their forces-- now positioned in direct violation of the truce they just signed.
In effect, by honoring international law in Georgia, Russia would dramatize the illegal Bush conduct in Iraq. On his way out of office, Bush could reflect once more on the stark contrast-- if Russia could demonstrate respect for international law, maybe he should, as well.
They are clearly indignant when Russia does, on a much-smaller scale, exactly what they did in Iraq. And compared with Saddam, Saakashvili was left in power, (at least, so far).
Here on display is official Bush Double-Think in its full, Orwellian glory.
Rice is Exhibit A-- From her academic background, even Rice understands principles of international law matter a great deal in drafting a responsible US foreign policy.
As an educator in the California university system, Rice was also the first to insist the Communist bloc honor such principles, as well. Her area of specialty was foreign affairs, and the Soviet bloc, in particular.
But hitching her wagon-- pre-2000 election-- to the rising Bush star, Rice clearly forgot about such principles. So complicit did Rice become in the Bush conspiracy about Iraq, she was content to moan about the threat of a "mushroom cloud" and any other tale handed her for publication.
(see "A New Reverence for International Law?"--2)
the Iraqi war is legal, demonic-rat hero oscar, emmy, nobel prize winning al bore says so,,,
it actually never ended since it only stopped by the signing of a ceasefire,,, just like the korean war,,,
the resumption of hostilities was only a matter of time since iraq broke the ceasefire agreement,,,
blame saddam for iraq,,, Even clintoon and the dems wanted the resumption of hostilities back in 1998,,,
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"Iraq''s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
Moreover, no international law can prevent the United States from taking actions to protect its vital interests, when it is manifestly clear that there is a choice to be made between law and survival. I believe, however, that such a choice is not presented in the case of Iraq. Indeed, should we decide to proceed, that action can be justified within the framework of international law rather than outside it. In fact, though a new UN resolution may be helpful in building international consensus, the existing resolutions from 1991 are sufficient from a legal standpoint. - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/gore/gore092302sp.html
So, Mr. "spreading democracy" Bush doesn''t want the people of south Ossetia, and Abkhazia, to choose their own destiny, and align themselves with whomever they wish. It seems that rather than Russia "laying claim", it is the people of the two breakaway regions who claim to be part of Russia.
Of course there is no room for debate, because Bush is not a party with whom to debate on these matters, they are none of his business.
We should all ignore Bush and his poodle Rice on this, and start preparing for their war crimes trials, on the world stage, Bush is now, more than ever, totally irrelevant.
Perhaps they learned from all of those "signed pieces of paper" the US government signed regarding the "Native Americans", treaties that the US government broke before the ink was dry on the paper they signed.
Or maybe the treaty known as the Geneva Convention document, which the US government, one of the original creators, has decided no longer applies to it.
Or even the treaty between the US government and its people, called the Constitution, which has been abrogated repeatedly by this administration.
Stack on top of that the strategy of lying to justify illegal military mercenary actions on behalf of multinational corporations, wouldn''t it be wise for anyone to view the American government as a group totally void of credibility, honor, or regard of human life?
Posted by brianbwb at 04:27 AM : Aug 17, 2008,,,
Jack Abramoff and his buddies scammed the Indians out of $66 million and Abramoff made a $22 million dollar profit in the deal. The Indians don`t seem to ever learn! lol Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Russians may not be directly involved in the crimes against the Georgians but they are guilty of providing an environment of protection with their tanks while Separatist loot and pillage! If the Russians leave Georgian territory the Georgians can implement their own security and restore order. The real crime here is that the Russian occupation force is looking the other way while Separatist do whatever they please!
Posted by brianbwb at 04:27 AM : Aug 17, 2008
you mean like FDR did when he rounded up all the japanese in america??? btw,,, the supreme court sided with FDR,,,
you mean like the kkklowntoons did???
LOOK WHO BROKE THE CONSTITUTION
GOP targeting Clinton on phone-call snooping
Republicans plan to seize on an allegation from the 1992 presidential campaign to tarnish Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on the red-hot issue of government surveillance.
Government surveillance will be at the forefront of the political debate this fall as congressional Democrats and President Bush square off over legislation allowing electronic spying on U.S. soil without a warrant.
Republicans are focusing on an allegation in a recent book by two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters, which suggests Clinton listened to a secretly recorded conversation between political opponents.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gop-targeting-clinton-on-phone-call-snooping-2007-10-16.html
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 112 Comments