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.

[betty2700635]

there will be a war in near future,cold war......by the way I have met many mature *** women on --B O O M E R C U P I D .COM/--boomercupid has become more and more populer for meeting mature men and women

[samsel3]

The truth is, this is all about control of oil & gas pipelines. The BTC oil pipeline in South Ossetia & the Nabucco natural gas pipeline in NW Georgia supply markets in the European Union. In November 2003 the World Bank funded the BTC pipeline to circumvent Russian pipelines supplying europe.

Shareholders in the BTC pipeline are: British Petroleum, AzBTC, Chevron, Statoil, TPAO, ENI, Total, Itochu, INPEX, ConocoPhillips & Amerada Hess.

Russia is the second largest supplier of oil & gas on the planet.
After loosing Iraqi oil to Operation Iraqi Freedom, they negotiated supplies with Iran. The Russians were not happy with Cheneys BTC pipeline or the Caspian Sea Pipelines project going through Afghanistan. This threatens their economy based on oil & gas.

Again it s the Bush administrations lust for money in World markets for their BIG OIL buddies

[samsel3]

Moscow -- Armed forces will be used if necessary, including preventively and with the use of nuclear weapons, for protection of Russia and its allies, the Russian Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky said on Saturday.

"We do not intend to attack anybody. But all our partners must realize that for protection of Russia and its allies if necessary armed forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Baluyevsky was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Baluyevsky reportedly made the statement at a scientific conference of the Academy of Military Sciences January 19, 2008.

[samsel3]

The truth is, this is all about control of oil & gas pipelines. The BTC oil pipeline in South Ossetia & the Nabucco natural gas pipeline in NW Georgia supply markets in the European Union. In November 2003 the World Bank funded the BTC pipeline to circumvent Russian pipelines supplying europe.

Shareholders in the BTC pipeline are: British Petroleum, AzBTC, Chevron, Statoil, TPAO, ENI, Total, Itochu, INPEX, ConocoPhillips & Amerada Hess.

Russia is the second largest supplier of oil & gas on the planet.
After loosing Iraqi oil to Operation Iraqi Freedom, they negotiated supplies with Iran. The Russians were not happy with Cheneys BTC pipeline or the Caspian Sea Pipelines project going through Afghanistan. This threatens their economy based on oil & gas.

Again it s the Bush administrations lust for money in World markets for their BIG OIL buddies

[samsel3]

November 4, 2004 the IAGS Energy Security reported :

"Much of the stability along the BTC corridor would depend on Russia. Russia is not supportive of BTC. It sees it as a U.S. plot to gain control over the Caucasus and cut all links between Moscow of the former Soviet states, building an economic infrastructure that would prevent the former Soviet states to ever reunite with Russia. Moscow also views BTC as a way to weaken its position as major supplier of oil to the European markets. In a recent article at Asia Times Online, John Helmer refers to the BTC project as an effort %u201Cto redraw the geography of the Caucasus on an anti-Russian map.%u201D

Russia sold it s investment share of the BTC pipeline to Japan before the Iraq invasion.

After loosing Iraqi oil to Operation Iraqi Freedom, they negotiated supplies with Iran. The Russians were not happy with Cheneys BTC pipeline or the Caspian Sea Pipelines project going through Afghanistan. This threatens their economy based on oil & gas.

[tapsettle]

Dude, It`s called an "extinction event".
-----
Posted by Nancy_Naive

Hopefully just america and its puppet allies will be extinct. Russia will survice, as will other parts of the globe. america doesnt have a hope. Probably a good thing for humankind too the way they have been going since the 50s.

[ajcwashere]

dmw1167:

Good point, as the majority of Europe''s oil comes from the Middle East. We used to provide 60 percent of our own oil, but have since become more dependant, as is why the chants at the GOP exclaiming, "Drill, drill, drill."

[ajcwashere]

dmw1167:

I think I got confused, as there was an initial post provided by someone who was claiming to be a Brit, and somehow same got entangled with your message, so I read it as if the post was claiming the Brits save our a**, and so on.

[ajcwashere]

dmw1167:

Awesome -- a fellow patriot. We''re on the same page!!

[credibility2]

Russia, the perpetual bully that''s always drunk on vodka and commie delusion.

[ajcwashere]

ainttaken: "Libs are a lot more patriotic as they still adhere to the principles keep this country free......as opposed to being frightened to the point we give them away"

God forbid, but what do you thing will happen to this country if Nobama%u2019s elected, along with Pelosi? Can someone say Jimmy Carter again.

What do you think you''re doing by increasing government? More government; less individual freedoms. It''s that simple. In reference to National defense, we wouldn''t have one if it was up to the libs.

[ajcwashere]

IDNNSG:

A little patriotism within this country wouldn''t hurt though. Somehow, the libs have been attempting to reinvent this term.

[idnnsg]

SharnCedar says, "we need to get more agressive as a nation, we need to embrace nationalism."

THAT is a recipe for disaster!

A world full of aggressive, nationalistic nations, each with nuclear weapons, WILL NOT SURVIVE.

[ajcwashere]

Moscow22:
My understanding is that for some time, Russia was allowing for the emigration of many Russians adhering to Russia%u2019s own old boys club into Georgia and surrounding territories, so as to stand in opposition to the sovereign democratic government of Georgia.

[sharncedar]

It is apparent that agressive nations are prospering in this new world order, from Moscow to Beijing, nationalism and agression is paying off. we need to get more agressive as a nation, we need to embrace nationalism, or we are going to lose this game. That means, lose access to the oil and then have our economy destroyed. We are well on the way to that now, thanks to weak leaders like Pelosi, Obama, and Bush.

[hsmagst]

Russia couldn''''t even win a war in Afganistan...
Posted by hsmagst at 08:07 AM :

Neither could America.


We haven''t spent 9 years trying either but we are far ahead of the Russian effort there. That is one area we will win in unless you Libs force us out.

[moscow22]

You forget the Admiral Kuzenstov so we do have a carrier.

[ajcwashere]

"I think the USA should get out of NATO and let you fools do whatever you like, but never go back and save your a$$e$."

Who saved whose ***, and who started NATO? Someone is having memory failure.
"I think the USA should get out of NATO and let you fools do whatever you like, but never go back and save your a$$e$."

Who saved whose ***, and who started NATO? Someone is having memory failure. I agree with the other blogger: Europe is asleep at the wheel. That''s an American colloquialism for your sitting on your a** while evil flourishes around you. Evil prospers when good men do nothing.

[jgunther7]

dmw1167 says I think the USA should get out of NATO and let you fools do whatever you like, but never go back and save you.... Most Europeans wish we would do just that.

[neo267-2009]

Europe is a joke. They allowed Hitler to rise to power, they grew fat and lazy under US protection during the Cold War, they ignored the genocides of Saddam, and turned their back on Iraq after the US Liberation.