Russian Prez Puts West On Notice

Medvedev Declares Russia A "Nation To Be Reckoned With;" U.S. Leaders Blast Russia

(CBS/ AP)  President Dmitry Medvedev declared Saturday that "Russia is a nation to be reckoned with" following its war with Georgia, again putting the West on notice that Moscow is prepared to use it military and economic might.

With a U.S. Navy ship unloading aid off Georgia's Black Sea coast within shooting distance of Russian troops, Medvedev's comments were another reminder that the Kremlin views last month's war as the start of a new era in Russian assertiveness.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, said "the truth is on our side" and likened the situation in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia with Srebrenica - the Bosnian town that was the site of Europe's worst mass carnage since World War II.

In France, the European Union's 27 foreign ministers were reluctant to provoke Moscow, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner saying the EU did not plan to impose sanctions against Russia.

"Russia must remain a partner, it's our neighbor, it's a large country and there is no question to go back to a Cold War situation, that would be a big mistake," Kouchner said.

In the weeks since Russian forces routed the Georgian army and seized the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, Russian officials have used bellicose language toward the West. Putin has suggested the United States was to blame for the war for helping the Georgian military rebuild.

At a meeting Saturday of the State Council, Medvedev said the world had changed since the beginning of fighting in Georgia last month.

"We have reached a moment of truth. It became a different world after Aug. 8," he said.

"Russia will never allow anyone to infringe upon the lives and dignity of its citizens. Russia is a nation to be reckoned with from now on," Medvedev told the council, a government consultative body of largely regional governors.

Medvedev criticized the United States and other Western nations, though not by name, for challenging Russia's intervention.

"Millions of people supported us, but we've heard no words of support and understanding from those who in the same circumstances pontificate about free elections and national dignity and the need to use force to punish an aggressor," he said.

The United States has moved to counter Russia, both lambasting Moscow for what it called a disproportionate military response and providing humanitarian and economic aid to Georgia.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, at an economic meeting Saturday in Italy, blasted Russian actions in the war as an "affront to civilized standards" and said Moscow has given "no satisfactory justification" for invading Georgia.

During a visit to North Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that "the time isn't right" for the U.S. to move forward on a once-celebrated deal for civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.

Her comment increased speculation that President Bush is planning to punish Moscow for invading Georgia, a former Soviet republic, by canceling the agreement. Such a move is being planned, according to senior Bush administration officials, but is not yet final.

U.S. warships have delivered much of the aid and Russian officials have questioned whether the aid is a cover for weapons shipments.

At Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti, Russian forces watched closely Saturday as the U.S. naval ship USS Mount Whitney delivered 17 tons of aid for Georgians displaced by the fighting.

U.S. naval officers said a Russian warship had trailed the Mount Whitney - the flagship of the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean fleet - across the Black Sea. Russian forces onshore were also scrutinizing the ship from a position just 3 miles away from its anchorage off Poti.

"They're clearly watching us very, very closely, and I think they'll be very happy when we leave," the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Owen Honors, told The Associated Press.

Capt. John Moore, the commander of the task force that has brought some 450 tons of aid to Georgia on three U.S. ships and numerous planes, said the Russian frigate Ladnyy had trailed the Whitney about 4,000 yards away for the entire Black Sea trip. The Russian boat remained in international waters after the U.S. ship crossed Friday into Georgian waters 12 miles from Poti, he said.

In an echo of the cat-and-mouse games that Soviet and American forces played in the Cold War, Moore said the two countries' naval forces had had little contact except for a brief exchange between the Ladnyy and another U.S. ship, the USS McFaul.

"I think it was on the 24th August, when the Ladnyy contacted the bridge and very courteously said 'Hey, welcome to the Black Sea', and we responded in kind 'thank you very much'," he told AP.

At one Russian position on the shore near Poti, several light tanks and armored personnel carriers bearing peacekeeping insignias could be seen Saturday behind a high earthen berm and a razor-wire fence. An excavator dug new holes nearby.

These dug-in Russian troops were still on Georgian territory weeks after an EU peace deal required them to leave. Soldiers refused to let an Associated Press reporter enter the post and said the commander was not there, but an officer acknowledged the Russians had seen the ship.

Georgia, a South Caucasus nation long dominated by Russia, sits astride a strategic corridor for Caspian Sea and Central Asian oil and gas. Georgia's desire to join NATO and move closer to the West has angered Russia.

Since the war, Russia has recognized South Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, as independent nations despite protests from the European Union, the United States and Georgia.

Putin, who often appears to taunt the West, insisted in an interview broadcast late Saturday, that Russia was justified in its intervention in South Ossetia. He said there would be no cooling of ties with the West because the West is dependent Russia's oil, gas and mineral wealth.

"We are convinced that the truth is on our side," he said in the interview with state-run TV.

He also drew parallels between South Ossetia and Srebrenica, the town where Serb troops in 1995 killed some 8,000 Muslim men and boys. He said the European peacekeepers there at the time - mainly Dutch soldiers, operating under a U.N. mandate - stood aside as the massacre took place.

In the French city of Avignon, EU foreign ministers met to figure out how the bloc can mediate a long-term solution to the standoff. Kouchner insisted the EU's aim was also to improve relations with Russia, despite current disagreements.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was heading to Russia on Monday to meet with Medvedev and clarify parts of the EU peace deal, especially the terms for withdrawing troops.

[ocasanas]

Russia is like that stubborn kid: "I want ice cream! I want ice cream!", but Russia needs to think about its consequences too if keeps threatening the West: WE WILL LOOSE BIG! RUSSIANS AND THE REST OF THE WORLD ALIKE. The question is perhaps...who will be losing more? Sincerely, I hope that this gets solved soon in a reasonable and peaceful way. I think that Russians have some right to back their actions, but the World has a say to them also.

[sashenka1]

Prime Minister Putin should wrestle President Medvedev with both wearing only their tighty whities made in Taiwan. Global TV and streaming internet coverage of the mat bout.

Herr Vlad Vasecc will be referee.

[gce65]

D!ck Cheney blasted nothing. He blustered. And his little attempted provocation between Georgia and Russia BUNGLED!

I''d like to see 67 yr old fat boy Cheney go to Moscow and meet with (55 yr old multiple black belt) Vladimir Putin. And for comic relief I ''d like to see Putin body slam fat boy war hawk Cheney.

It''d be like that scene with Ned Beatty from the movie Deliverance: "I wanna hear you squeal like a pig!"

The Russians play chess and are the best in the world at it--because they have to be. What do Bush and Cheney play, checkers? Marbles?

[kaelinda]

Wonder what would happen if a NATO nation were to be invaded by Russia? You want the answer? NOTHING would be done by the EU, by NATO, or by the US. WHY? Because, as Putin said, the west is dependent upon Russia''s oil, gas, and mineral wealth. Russia can do anything it *** well pleases and the EU, NATO, and the US will do nothing whatsoever about it. Sad, but true.

[yongamerica]

Sorry but politically Cheney can crush Putin because Putin is still an amateur as shown by his bellicose attack of Georgia. Russia will suffer for this for decades.

[gce65]

Prime Minister Putin should wrestle President Medvedev with both wearing only their tighty whities made in Taiwan. Global TV and streaming internet coverage of the mat bout.
Herr Vlad Vasecc will be referee.

Posted by sashenka1 at 06:49 PM : Sep 06, 2008
-------

Better yet, let''s have President Medvedev fight President Bush and Prime Minister Putin fight Vice President Cheney.

My money would be on the Russians.

[yongamerica]

Europe is far from independent on Russian energy. Its use of Russian energy will drastically be reduced after Russia''s cowardly and unprovoked attack on Georgia.

[notthistime4]

I fear that Bush & Cheney are notching up the rhetoric for domestic reasons - they think it will help John McCain. The truth is that Saakashvilli has turned out to be a bit of an idiot / loose cannon and while I sincerely doubt that even President Howdy Doody and VP Strangelove are stupid encourage to have encouraged him to invade South Ossetia, they do not appear to have been clear in telling him NOT to do so.

I fully agree that today''s Russia is starting to resemble the cement-headed USSR and that the West needs to be firm in demanding that it get the hell out of Georgia. Nonetheless, the demands would be more credible and easier for Russia to comply with, were the West to also admit that both sides have behaved like cement-headed, ham-fisted fools.

[notthistime4]

If we want to punish Russia, the best way to do so is to use less oil and gas. That is what will hurt Russia most financially and remove its leverage. Instead, McCain is wavers on conservation and alternative energy and picks a VP who thinks we can drill our way out of the problem and that the simplest option (using less oil) is for sissies.

[ilyasib]

Sorry but politically Cheney can crush Putin because Putin is still an amateur as shown by his bellicose attack of Georgia. Russia will suffer for this for decades.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by yongamerica at 07:04 PM

Sunny! Are you aware the Georgia attacked Russia and killed over there about 2000 people? Or you just keep watching your "free-speech" channels and make your opinion based on lie?

[gce65]

If Russia cuts off the oil an gas where will the Russian''s get the money to build their graet military that is over 20+ years old.
Posted by youngjm0 at 07:43 PM : Sep 06, 2008
--------

The USS Mount Whitney was commissioned in 1969! Twenty years old is nothing to the Russian military. It certainly didn''t impede them from slapping down the Georgian attack pretty easily with just a few Russian ground units.
Their air power also quite easily bombed Georgian military air bases that the US is now trying to rebuild at the cost of billion$.

[georgew1956]

they need oil people and they are going to do what ever to get it they are despirate . don''t pet that dog till its feed its self. and *** ( shut up ) at least for 3 months and then go shoot your month off to a russian.

[agnim]

Anther BUSH BLUNDER!

The bush-cheney-McCaint Republicon administration has been blundering from one foreign policy debacle to another, and from one domestic failure to another.

Nothing good has come from the bush-cheney-McCaint administration, ONLY BAD!

Russia IS NOT little Iraq!
Russia IS NUCLEAR-ARMED, less we forget!

Smarter US leaders spent decades trying to end the dangerous Cold War, only to have super power-drunk INCOMPETENTS starting it up again.

What if Russia comes to have a maniacal leader or cabal of maniacal leaders as the US? There could easily be NUCLEAR CONFRONTATION!

Less we forget, NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE UNFORGIVING FOR MANY GENERATIONS INTO THE FUTURE!

This constant poking and bullying of the Russian Bear is being done by mad men in the US administration.

The Europeans are brighter people who understand the dangers of tension among NUCLEAR-ARMED states.

US needs a change of administration to a more intelligent and sober one.

[ilyasib]

To Agnim


Thanks God. We have bright people left in US.

[hacker2xy]

South Ossetia is Georgian. Period.

Posted by BagdadsHere4 ..well lets''s take it to the stage!! you''re facing a REAL ENEMY WITH REAL BOOTS!! COWARDS!! GO RUSSIA!!

[agnim]

Abkhazia and Ossetia SHOULD NEVER be in control of genocidal Georgians, EVER!

If the Georgians can''t stand the peoples of Ossetia and Abkhazia, then let them be!

It was another genocidal Georgian, Stalin, who drove the Ossetians south.
Now another genocidal Georgian, Saakhasvili, wants to finish off the Ossetians, along with Russian citizens.
And the Russians should not respond? Ha ha ha!

That''s like asking the US to not invade Afghanistan-Pakistan in pursuit of maniac muslims who claim responsibility for killing thousands of Americans.

The Russians were very very generous to not completely smash up Georgia''s infrastructure, the way Georgia''s genocidal Big Guns smashed up the sleeping Ossetians.

As soon as the US install more military facilities in Georgia, the Russians should remove the people from them, and smash them again!

Georgia should only have a police force like Panama!

[agnim]

Posted by ronsib at 08:25 PM : Sep 06, 2008

Yes there are ''bright people in the US''.
The question is, "are there enough bright people in the US to lead the nation away from the bush-cheney-McCaint abyss?"

Fortunately the answer is YES!

A few more months and cool American heads will again prevail. lol

[hacker2xy]

The biggest mistake the West made regarding Russia was to not take their pride seriously.

The Russians are a very proud people.

__________________
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves%u2026freely, his sly whispers%u2026heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims...he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. Cicero.......

[ilyasib]

i really want to believe in it. hope these new heads will stop all this mess.

[hacker2xy]

It''''s time to set our watches again. The Doomsday Clock moved two minutes closer to midnight this week.

[hacker2xy]

"I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated,'''''''' Obama says in an interview with FOX News Channel''''s Bill O''''Reilly..huh?

[hacker2xy]

'''' Obama is an uncle Tom....

[hacker2xy]

Uncle Tom is a pejorative for a black person who is perceived by others as behaving in a subservient manner to White American authority figures

[agnim]

The "biggest mistake" bush-blair-brown made is to believe that they should be able to colonize Russia and plunder Russian resources!

Napoleon failed.
Hitler failed and was instead crushed by the Russian Bear.
Bush-brown WILL ALSO fail.

The Georgians are idiots to believe that Americans and Europeans are going to risk NUCLEAR annihilation by militarily coming to the aid of genocidal Georgian criminals, who turned Big Guns on sleeping Ossetians.

[kohin-2009]

We are still in the dream land of Bush/Cheney and Macsame/Pallin: If we cut relation wherecan they get money like youngjm0 sugesting.Don`t you know there richest countries on earth are in the middle east and the far east? Did you forget that China, 1/2 of the population of the world need energy? India is another country with huge population certainly 9 times the population of the USA need energy ,Latine America, Africa need a trusth worthy friend who can bring some alternatives technologies in many field my friends.
So it is in the USA interest to have friends every where.
Choose Mcsame and this crazy anti-jews so called Pallin and believe me you`ll go down like the Roman Empire. I hope the good American ,those who have our love and our support, will prevail...

[kohin-2009]

I heard that The shooter ,Cheney, was in Ukrain????
Doesn`t he know anything about the Slavic civilisation???
Was he trying to ask them to start a new suicidal war with Russia???
Well let me tell you my friend, other than two or three imbecils and stupid brainless like Sakashvilli, these peoples are one . For exemple, if we look at the slavic civilisation, it started in UKRAIN with KIERSKAYARUS ( translation: Russia of KIEV ).
Americans, stops this crazy guys who are messing our world, and let is save our planet earth and the human race.

[agnim]

The media was allowed rights in order to keep the American people informed.
Instead, media is more interested in being filthy rich BUSINESSES. Informing Americans be damnned!

Incompetence prior to 911 is excused.

Maniac muslims were allowed to breed up in Afghanistan-Pakistan

An UNPROVOKED war was allowed to commence in Iraq and cost Americans with ZERO benefit to Americans

Georgia was incited/allowed to attack Ossetians and Russians

All of those foreign policy debacles occurred while the US media FAILED TO INFORM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE that unwise leaders are leading the nation into one nasty mess after another.

Fortunately the Russians can push back. Maybe this will wake up the American people of the foreign policy dangers they have been sleeping through. lol

[hacker2xy]

Enjoy your day......
it''s all downhill from here on......

[edward1975-2009]

Agnim: Don''t know how long you''ve lived here, but America hasn''t had an effective foriegn policy for fifty years. As far as Russia goes, their great at posturing, but there isn''t a man in the Kremlin that has had a set for quite a while, and this idiot doesn''t either. So cool your panties and go back to concocting more conspiracy theories with the other nuts.

[wogerwabbit]

This was the August surprise to give McCain a bump in the polls... wait until the October surprise. I''m sure we ain''t seen nothin'' yet from these pro-life people who thrive on death and corruption.

[kohin-2009]

Edward1975,You don`t need to be born or live at all in the USA these days, you just have to look aroud the world, every body is having a laugh at you because of the ignorance and stupidities of Bush/Cheney. Don`t agree? just look what they did in IRA : unilateralism,Panama : overthrow a democraticly elected gov.,SOMALIA : allowing a neiboring country to invade a sovereign country, Serbia : recognizing Kosovo without a legal status.
And your Cheney is trying to tell the international community in Italy that Russia didn`t give enough Justification???

[kohin-2009]

Oooops! IRA = IRAQ

[agnim]

Posted by Edward1975 at 09:20 PM : Sep 06, 2008
"Russians are good at posturing"?

Go tell that to Saakhasvili and the Georgians.
Go tell that to Hitler and the Germans.
Go tell that to Napoleon and the French that the Russians are only good at posturing.

You must be like bush, one ''child left behind'', who is IGNORANT of the lessons of history!

An idiot becomes president because IGNORAMUSES elected and re-elected him to destroy the nation. And destroy America he did over 8 years!

911
Katrina
Iraq
Afghanistan-Pakistan
Georgia
Starting up a new and dangerous Cold War
Record budget deficit
Destruction of budget surplus
Destruction of economy, and on and on and on.

Nothing constructive has been created in the last 8 years of the Presidency, only destruction!

[edward1975-2009]

Agnim: Another idiot walking around blind. We don''t bail Russia out in WWII, they speak German today. Bush had a lot of help from both sides of the aisle for what''s going on today.Prior to Democrats taking Congress, they promised a list as long as this nation of all the wrongs they were going to fix, to date not one has been accomplished. The biggest lie was them getting us out of Iraq, which Pelosi swore, to anyone holding a mic, they would do. Better brush up on fact. Russia has always been big at bullying smaller weaker nations, but to date has backed down everytime someone of equal strength has put them in a corner for a time out, and it will happen this time too. Russia is a has been super-power with the most corrupt military in the world, who would sell out their mothers to the highest bidder. Again brush up on history. Anything else you need educating on, if not, have mommy tuck you in. Freakin moron.

[tawpdawg111]

In France, the European Union''s 27 foreign ministers were reluctant to provoke Moscow, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner saying the EU did not plan to impose sanctions against Russia.

"Russia must remain a partner, it''s our neighbor, it''s a large country and there is no question to go back to a Cold War situation, that would be a big mistake," Kouchner said.
=============================

Well there you have it. Thanks to Bush/Cheney and PNAC braniacs we''re about to be ostracized by the entire EU. And who can blame them when we go around half-cocked all the time killing needlessly in the name of greed.

Someone is gonna get frozen out all right and it looks to be us.

[edward1975-2009]

singinrich: You lost too. Other than your simple answer of conspiracy for everything that happens in life, do you have a thought on anythng. How simple your world is, when you don''t have to think, but scream conspiracy at any idiot who will listen. You too are dismissed as the simpleton you are.

[ejpearcy]

Once again, the root of all this danger for the world has to do with the horrible practice of choosing sides with our friends/allies whether or not they are wrong. To prevent another world class war; we need to get a firm grip on putting principles before personalities, don''t we?!

Putin may very well have the truth on his side. I love my country (USA) but I do not love it when we or our allies relinquish excellent principles in favor of supporting our government or our government''s allies NO MATTER WHAT.

[endofempire]

kohin: Many of you couch jockeys who have gotten your education from CBS and CNN, and, of course, conspiracy theorist Web sites may not understand the fact that people abroad have ALWAYS snickered at your simplicity and general level of ignorance vis-a-vis world affairs, Geography, History, Literature (lest it be some of our second-rate-at-best writers) and, of course, Philosophy. It doesn''t matter where you travel, they general sense about us has been the same for decades. Let''s face it, in France Coca Cola is known as "La Champagne Americaine" in some circles :-)
All of this predates Bush by, well, forever.
However, what the French, the Russians and our great allies, Brits, also have to remember is that without us they''d be speaking Deutsch, as that would be a requirement in the Dritte Reich!
Our country has been going to hell in a handbasket over the last two years... Seems to almost exactly coincide with the time when Democrats took over Congress... Gas prices are killing children in the third world due to the price of food, but if you notice, the rise started just about the time when Obama got cranking with his bid for the big job... Some folks in the Middle East would like a Muslim American in office, perhaps? After the elections, everything will be back to normal, after Obama is able to fix everything that was wrong with the U.S. in about two phone calls. Keep your chins up... It is almost over.

[hacker2xy]

that without us they''''d be speaking Deutsch,Posted by endofempire..what the hell are you smoking??

[hacker2xy]

It is remarkable that NONE of the aggressors, after having been once defeated by Russia, could have ever more regained the former strength and military glory.
NONE !

[samthetvcat]

---"Putin, who often appears to taunt the West, insisted in an interview broadcast late Saturday, that Russia was justified in its intervention in South Ossetia. He said there would be no cooling of ties with the West because the West is dependent Russia''s oil, gas and mineral wealth."---

Ugh, this totally stresses me out . . . what to do :(

[samthetvcat]

If we do ''drill here, drill now'' ''drill baby drill'', then everybody needs to do their part - no free rides!!!!!

We''re fixing to remain up their with Russia - that ought to mean drilling, nukes, coal, shale, natural gas, unsightly wind farms, solar panels in every State!

You never want to really fall behind . . .

[samthetvcat]

---"Pull the troops back from Iraq and you''''ll see the free market playing back"---
Posted by trishab58

Not great to leave your fate in the hands of others who may not have your best interests at heart either, if you can control your own destiny.

jmo though . . .

[oneamerican_]

Vladimir Putin and his sock puppet Dmitry Medvedev must be taught a lesson to never again interfere with democratic sovereign countries.

I predict that very soon this evil empire will be pulled apart by Putin-opposing forces within itself, as it finds itself in total isolation with no hope of regaining any standing in the world.

[refbatch]

USA,in general,have economic problems - therefore need free oil access.
By what way? - just by iniciating of local war in Kaspean sea region by aline hands..,hoping later to seize the oil sources.
What in realilty Georg W.Bush does not see is also interests of third side to develope direct war between USA and Russia for to aweak both countries and control the world after nuclear entertaiment.
Third side is not China - islamic wolrd,which already controls US and Russia''s authority.
What american citizens need in reality is fight corruption of US authiority elite with islamic wolrd.

[refbatch]

USA,in general,have economic problems - therefore need free oil access.
By what way? - just by iniciating of local war in Kaspean sea region by aline hands..,hoping later to seize the oil sources.
What in realilty Georg W.Bush does not see is also interests of third side to develope direct war between USA and Russia for to aweak both countries and control the world after nuclear entertaiment.
Third side is not China - islamic wolrd,which already controls US and Russia''s authority.
What american citizens need in reality is fight corruption of US authiority elite with islamic wolrd.

[alphaa10-2009]

OneAmerican said, "Vladimir Putin and his sock puppet Dmitry Medvedev must be taught a lesson to never again interfere with democratic sovereign countries."
---
To be consistent, Bush should address all abuses of national sovereignty-- including his own invasion of Iraq.

Leading by example remains the most compelling argument for any constructive proposition.

Yet, despite two terms, Bush never made any serious effort at leadership. Instead, he has brought the popular working definition of incompetence to a record low.

Antagonizing Russia is his most cretinesque ploy to date to build jingoist sentiment at home-- all in aid to that old war horse, John McBush. In his limited way, Bush reasons if congress will not give him his war with Iran, he''ll settle for a role in the B-movie, "Son of the Cold War".

[ajseamless]

some statements i agree but russia is trying to gobble up other nations and we cant allow that.if we do where will it end

[sdansker]

To trishab58:

You lie! It was 936 times not 935! If you are going to use numbers, at least get it right.

Also, spell check before you post. It''ll show that you minimally have the intelligence of a moron.

[condumbism]

U.S. Leaders Blast Russia!

Putin/Medvedev should kick back for a few years, then proclaim that Russia is a power to be reckoned with. If Russia wants to claim this today, then they are delusional. Regardless, the USA should pursue every opportunity it has to reduce the insane nuclear stockpile of both countries. First, the USA needs to close the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, and all but one other nuke lab in the USA. Los Alamos is the epicenter of massive fraud, waste, and abuse of our precious tax $$$, with very little return on our investment.