ZIONIST PROXY GEORGIA – MAY DEATH BE UPON YOU ZIONISM !!!!!!!
By Ali Abunimah
Cleveland Indy Media
Aug. 12, 2008 at 12:26 PM
OH
Tel Aviv to Tbilisi: Israel’s role in the Russia-Georgia war Tel Aviv
to Tbilisi:
Israel’s role in theRussia-Georgia war Tel Aviv to Tbilisi: Israel’s
role in the Russia-Georgia war Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada,
12 August 2008 html
[] Israelis wave both Georgian and Israeli flags as they chant
anti-Russian slogans during a demonstration outside the Russian embassy
in Tel Aviv, 11 August. (Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images) From the moment
Georgia launched a surprise attack on the tiny breakaway region of
South Ossetia last week, prompting a fierce Russian counterattack,
Israel has been trying to distance itself from the conflict. This is
understandable: with Georgian forces on the retreat, large numbers of
civilians killed and injured, and Russia’s fury unabated, Israel’s
deep involvement is severely embarrassing. The collapse of the
Georgian offensive represents not only a disaster for that country
and its US-backed leaders, but another blow to the myth of Israel’s
military prestige and prowess. Worse, Israel fears that Russia
could retaliate by stepping up its military assistance to Israel’s
adversaries including Iran. "Israel is following with great concern
the developments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and hopes the violence
will end," its foreign ministry said, adding with uncharacteristic
doveishness, "Israel recognizes the territorial integrity of
Georgia and calls for a peaceful solution." Tbilisi’s top diplomat
in Tel Aviv complained about the lackluster Israeli response to his
country’s predicament and perhaps overestimating Israeli influence,
called for Israeli "diplomatic pressure on Moscow." Just like Israel,
the diplomat said, Georgia is fighting a war on "terrorism." Israeli
officials politely told the Georgians that "the address for that type
of pressure was Washington" (Herb Keinon, "Tbilisi wants Israel to
pressure Russia," The Jerusalem Post, 11 August 2008). While Israel
was keen to downplay its role, Georgia perhaps hoped that flattery
might draw Israel further in. Georgian minister Temur Yakobashvili —
whom the Israeli daily Haaretz stressed was Jewish — told Israeli
army radio that "Israel should be proud of its military which trained
Georgian soldiers." Yakobashvili claimed rather implausibly, according
to Haaretz, that "a small group of Georgian soldiers were able to
wipe out an entire Russian military division, thanks to the Israeli
training" ("Georgian minister tells Israel Radio: Thanks to Israeli
training, we’re fending off Russian military," Haaretz, 11 August
2008). Since 2000, Israel has sold hundreds of millions of dollars in
arms and combat training to Georgia. Weapons included guns, ammunition,
shells, tactical missile systems, antiaircraft systems, automatic
turrets for armored vehicles, electronic equipment and remotely
piloted aircraft. These sales were authorized by the Israeli defense
ministry (Arie Egozi, "War in Georgia: The Israeli connection," Ynet,
10 August 2008). Training also involved officers from Israel’s Shin
Bet secret service — which has for decades carried out extrajudicial
executions and torture of Palestinians in the occupied territories
— the Israeli police, and the country’s major arms companies Elbit
and Rafael. The Tel Aviv-Tbilisi military axis appears to have been
cemented at the highest levels, and according to YNet, "The fact that
Georgia’s defense minister, Davit Kezerashvili, is a former Israeli
who is fluent in Hebrew contributed to this cooperation." Others
involved in the brisk arms trade included former Israeli minister and
Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo as well as several senior Israeli military
officers. The key liaison was Reserve Brigadier General Gal Hirsch who
commanded Israeli forces on the border with Lebanon during the July
2006 Second Lebanon War. (Yossi Melman, "Georgia Violence – A frozen
alliance," Haaretz, 10 August 2008). He resigned from the army after
the Winograd commission severely criticized Israel’s conduct of its
war against Lebanon and an internal Israeli army investigation blamed
Hirsch for the seizure of two soldiers by Hizballah. According to one
of the Israeli combat trainers, an officer in an "elite" Israel army
unit, Hirsch and colleagues would sometimes personally supervise
the training of Georgian forces which included "house-to-house
fighting." The training was carried out through several "private"
companies with close links to the Israeli military. As the violence
raged in Georgia, the trainer was desperately trying to contact
his former Georgian students on the battlefront via mobile phone:
the Israelis wanted to know whether the Georgians had "internalized
Israeli military technique and if the special reconnaissance forces
have chalked up any successes" (Jonathan Lis and Moti Katz, "IDF
vets who trained Georgia troops say war with Russia is no surprise,"
Haaretz, 11 August 2008). Yet on the ground, the Israeli-trained
Georgian forces, perhaps unsurprisingly overwhelmed by the Russians,
have done little to redeem the image of Israel’s military following
its defeat by Hizballah’s in July-August 2006. The question remains
as to why Israel was involved in the first place. There are several
reasons. The first is simply economic opportunism: for years,
especially since the 11 September 2001 attacks, arms exports and
"security expertise" have been one of Israel’s growth industries. But
the close Israeli involvement in a region Russia considers to be of
vital interest suggests that Israel might have been acting as part of
the broader US scheme to encircle Russia and contain its reemerging
power. Since the end of the Cold War, the US has been steadily
encroaching on Russia’s borders and expanding NATO in a manner the
Kremlin considers highly provocative. Shortly after coming into office,
the Bush Administration tore up the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and,
like the Clinton administration, adopted former Soviet satellite
states as its own, using them to base an anti-missile system Russia
views as a threat. In addition to their "global war on terror,"
hawks in Washington have recently been talking up a new Cold War with
Russia. Georgia was an eager volunteer in this effort and has learned
quickly the correct rhetoric: one Georgian minister claimed that
"every bomb that falls on our heads is an attack on democracy, on the
European Union and on America." Georgia has been trying to join NATO,
and sent 2,000 soldiers to help the US occupy Iraq. It may have hoped
that once war started this loyalty would be rewarded with the kind of
round-the-clock airlift of weapons that Israel receives from the US
during its wars. Instead so far the US only helped airlift the Georgian
troops from Iraq back to the beleaguered home front. By helping
Georgia, Israel may have been doing its part to duplicate its own
experience in assisting the eastward expansion of the "Euro-Atlantic"
empire. While supporting Georgia was certainly risky for Israel, given
the possible Russian reaction, it has a compelling reason to intervene
in a region that is heavily contested by global powers. Israel
must constantly reinvent itself as an "asset" to American power
if it is to maintain the US support that ensures its survival as a
settler-colonial enclave in the Middle East. It is a familiar role;
in the 1970s and 1980s, at the behest of Washington, Israel helped
South Africa’s apartheid regime fight Soviet-supported insurgencies
in South African-occupied Namibia and Angola, and it trained
right-wing US-allied death squads fighting left-wing governments and
movements in Central America. After 2001, Israel marketed itself as
an expert on combating "Islamic terrorism." Venezuelan president
Hugo Chavez recently denounced Colombia – long one of the largest
recipients of US military aid after Israel — as the "Israel of Latin
America." Georgia’s government, to the detriment of its people, may
have tried to play the role of the "Israel of the Caucasus" — a loyal
servant of US ambitions in that region — and lost the gamble. Playing
with empires is dangerous for a small country. As for Israel itself,
with the Bush Doctrine having failed to give birth to the "new Middle
East" that the US needs to maintain its power in the region against
growing resistance, an ever more desperate and rogue Israel must look
for opportunities to prove its worth elsewhere. That is a dangerous and
scary thing. Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is
author of < 8.shtml>One
Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli- Palestinian Impasse
(Metropolitan Books, 2006).
****************************************** ********************************
rpunch.org/walberg08122008.htmlAugust 12, 2008 How
the U.S. Invited a War in South Ossetia War a la Carte By ERIC WALBERG
Last week, Georgia launched a major military offensive against the
rebel province South Ossetia, just hours after President Mikheil
Saakashvili had announced a unilateral ceasefire. Close to 1,500
have been killed, Russian officials say. Thirty thousand refugees,
mostly women and children, streamed across the border into the North
Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz in Russia. The timing ? and subterfuge
? suggest the unscrupulous Saakashvili was counting on surprise. ?Most
decision makers have gone for the holidays,? he said in an interview
with CNN. ?Brilliant moment to attack a small country.? Apparently
he was referring to Russia invading Georgia, despite the fact that
it was Georgia which had just launched a full-scale invasion of
the ?small country? South Ossetia, while Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin was in Beijing for the Olympics. Twenty-seven Russian
peacekeepers and troops have been killed and 150 wounded so far, many
when their barracks were shelled by Georgian forces at the start of the
invasion. Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili
rushed to announce that their mini-blitzkreig had destroyed ten
Russian combat planes (Russia says two) and that Georgian troops were
in full control of the capital Tskhinvali. Russia?s Defense Ministry
denounced the Georgian attack as a ?dirty adventure.? From Beijing,
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, ?It is regrettable that
on the day before the opening of the Olympic Games, the Georgian
authorities have undertaken aggressive actions in South Ossetia.? He
later added, ?War has started.? Russian President Dmitry Medvedev vowed
that Moscow will protect Russian citizens ? most South Ossetians hold
Russian passports. The offensive prompted Moscow to send in 150 tanks,
to launch air strikes on nearby Gori and military sites, and to order
warships to Georgia?s Black Sea coast. Georgia?s national security
council declared a state of war with Russia and a full military
mobilization. US military planes are already flying Georgia?s 2,000
troops in Iraq ? the third-largest force after the United States
and Britain ? back to confront the Russians. By Sunday, despite
early claims of victory, Georgian troops had retreated from South
Ossetia, leaving diplomatic rubble behind which will be very hard
to clear. Truth is stranger than fiction in Georgia. The writing has
been on the wall for months. Georgian President Saakashvili?s fawning
over Western leaders at the ?emergency? NATO meeting in April and
his pre-election anti-Russian bluster in May made it clear to all
that Georgia is the more-than-willing canary in the Eastern mine
shaft. The Georgian attack on South Ossetia?s capital Tskhinvali
? I repeat ? just hours after Saakashvili declared a cease-fire,
looks very much like an attempt to reincorporate the rebel province
into Georgia unilaterally. But whoever is advising the brash young
president ignores the postscript ? no pasaran! South Ossetia has
been independent for 16 years and is not likely to drape flowers
on invading Georgia tanks. It also just happens to have Russia as
patron. The aftershocks of this wild gamble by Saakashvili are just
beginning. This is Russia?s most serious altercation with a foreign
country since the collapse of the Soviet Union and could escalate into
an all-out war engulfing much of the Caucasus region. Russian warships
are not planning to block shipments of oil from Georgia?s Black Sea
port of Poti, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said
on Sunday, but reserve the right to search ships coming to and from
it. Another source naval source said, ?The crews are assigned the
task to not allow arms and military hardware supplies to reach Georgia
by sea.? The Russians have already sunk a Georgian missile boat that
was trying to attack Russian ships. Upping the ante, Ukraine said it
reserved the right to bar Russian warships from returning to their
nominally Ukrainian ? formerly Russian ? base of Sevastopol , on the
Crimean peninsula. On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of ?arming the
Georgians to the teeth.? Georgia?s other separatist region, Abkhazia,
was mobilizing its forces for a push into the Kodori Gorge, the only
part of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia. ?No dialogue is possible
with the current Georgian leadership,? said Abkhazia?s President
Sergei Bagapsh. ?They are state criminals who must be tried for
the crimes committed in South Ossetia, the genocide of the Ossetian
people.? Britain has ordered its nationals to leave Georgia. British
charity worker Sian Davis said, ?It?s really, really quiet, eerily
quiet. Everyone was either at home or had packed up and moved out of
the city. People are really, really scared. People are panicking.? So
far the more than 2,000 US nationals in this tiny but strategic country
are mostly staying put. This is yet another made-in-the-USA war. US
President George W Bush loudly supported Georgia?s request to join
NATO in April, much to the consternation of European leaders. NATO
promised to send advisers in December. Not losing any time, the US
sent more than 1,000 US Marines and soldiers to the Vaziani military
base on the South Ossetian border in July ?to teach combat skills
to Georgian troops.? The UN Security Council failed to reach an
agreement on the current crisis after three emergency meetings. A
Russian-drafted statement that called on Georgia and the separatists
to ?renounce the use of force? was vetoed by the US, UK and France. To
dispel any conceivable doubt, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said Friday: ?We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by
aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia?s territorial integrity,
and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil.? But it?s
also yet another made-in-Israel war. A thousand military advisers
from Israeli security firms have been training the country?s armed
forces and were deeply involved in the Georgian army?s preparations
to attack and capture the capital of South Ossetia, according to the
Israeli web site Debkafiles which has close links with the regime?s
intelligence and military sources. Haaretz reported that Yakobashvili
told Army Radio ? in Hebrew, ? Israel should be proud of its military
which trained Georgian soldiers.? ?We killed 60 Russian soldiers
just yesterday,? he boasted on Monday. ?The Russians have lost more
than 50 tanks, and we have shot down 11 of their planes. They have
enormous damage in terms of manpower.? He warned that the Russians
would try and open another battlefront in Abkhazia and denied reports
that the Georgian army was retreating. ?The Georgian forces are not
retreating. We move our military according to security needs.? Israelis
are active in real estate, tourism, gaming, military manufacturing
and security consulting in Georgia, including former Tel Aviv mayor
Roni Milo and Likudite and gambling operator Reuven Gavrieli. ?The
Russians don’t look kindly on the military cooperation of Israeli
firms with the Georgian army, and as far as I know, Israelis doing
security consulting left Georgia in the past few days because of the
events there,? the former Israeli ambassador to Georgia and Armenia,
Baruch Ben Neria, said yesterday. Since his posting, Ben Neria has
represented Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in Georgia . By Sunday,
Putin was in Vladikavkaz and said it is unlikely South Ossetia
will ever be reintegrated into Georgia. There are really only two
possible scenarios to end the conflict: a long-term stalemate or
Russian annexation of South Ossetia. The former is beginning to
look pretty good, and Saakashvili is probably already ruing his
rash move. The Georgian president is clearly hoping he can suck
the US into the conflict. Alexander Lomaya, secretary of Georgia?s
National Security Council, said only Western intervention could
prevent all-out war. But it is very unlikely Bush will risk WWIII
over this scrap of craggy mountain. When US puppets get out of line,
like a certain Saddam Hussein, they are easily abandoned. Saakashvili
would be wise to recall the fate of the first post-Soviet Georgian
president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, also a darling of the US (in 1978 US
Congress nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize). He rode to victory
on a wave of nationalism in 1990, declaring independence for Georgia
and officially recognizing the ?Chechen Republic of Ichkeria?. But
South Ossetia wanted no part of the fiery Gamsakhurdia?s chauvinistic
vision and declared its own ?independence?. Engulfed by a wave of
disgust a short two years later, abandoned by his US friends, he
fled to his beloved Ichkeria. He snuck back into western Georgia,
looking for support in restive Abkhazia, but his uprising collapsed,
prompting Abkhazia to secede. Gamsakhurdia died in 1993, leaving
the two secessionist provinces as a legacy, and was buried in
Chechnya. Saakashvili rehabilitated him in 2004 and had his
remains interred in Mtatsminda Pantheon with other Georgian
?heroes?. Truth really is stranger than fiction in Georgia. Now
the burning question is: will history repeat itself? Eric
Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly. You can reach him
at< ;
ZIONIST PROXY GEORGIA
by ALI ABUNIMAH Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008 at 12:26 PM
MAY DEATH BE UPON YOU ZIONISM !!!!!!!
Tel Aviv to Tbilisi: Israel’s role in the Russia-Georgia war
Tel Aviv to Tbilisi: Israel’s role in theRussia-Georgia war
Tel Aviv to Tbilisi: Israel’s role in the Russia-Georgia
war Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 12 August
2008 e9756.shtml [] Israelis wave
both Georgian and Israeli flags as they chant anti-Russian slogans
during a demonstration outside the Russian embassy in Tel Aviv, 11
August. (Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images) From the moment Georgia launched
a surprise attack on the tiny breakaway region of South Ossetia last
week, prompting a fierce Russian counterattack, Israel has been trying
to distance itself from the conflict. This is understandable: with
Georgian forces on the retreat, large numbers of civilians killed
and injured, and Russia’s fury unabated, Israel’s deep involvement
is severely embarrassing. The collapse of the Georgian offensive
represents not only a disaster for that country and its US-backed
leaders, but another blow to the myth of Israel’s military prestige
and prowess. Worse, Israel fears that Russia could retaliate by
stepping up its military assistance to Israel’s adversaries including
Iran. "Israel is following with great concern the developments in
South Ossetia and Abkhazia and hopes the violence will end," its
foreign ministry said, adding with uncharacteristic doveishness,
"Israel recognizes the territorial integrity of Georgia and calls for
a peaceful solution." Tbilisi’s top diplomat in Tel Aviv complained
about the lackluster Israeli response to his country’s predicament
and perhaps overestimating Israeli influence, called for Israeli
"diplomatic pressure on Moscow." Just like Israel, the diplomat said,
Georgia is fighting a war on "terrorism." Israeli officials politely
told the Georgians that "the address for that type of pressure
was Washington" (Herb Keinon, "Tbilisi wants Israel to pressure
Russia," The Jerusalem Post, 11 August 2008). While Israel was keen
to downplay its role, Georgia perhaps hoped that flattery might draw
Israel further in. Georgian minister Temur Yakobashvili — whom the
Israeli daily Haaretz stressed was Jewish — told Israeli army radio
that "Israel should be proud of its military which trained Georgian
soldiers." Yakobashvili claimed rather implausibly, according to
Haaretz, that "a small group of Georgian soldiers were able to wipe out
an entire Russian military division, thanks to the Israeli training"
("Georgian minister tells Israel Radio: Thanks to Israeli training,
we’re fending off Russian military," Haaretz, 11 August 2008). Since
2000, Israel has sold hundreds of millions of dollars in arms and
combat training to Georgia. Weapons included guns, ammunition,
shells, tactical missile systems, antiaircraft systems, automatic
turrets for armored vehicles, electronic equipment and remotely
piloted aircraft. These sales were authorized by the Israeli defense
ministry (Arie Egozi, "War in Georgia: The Israeli connection," Ynet,
10 August 2008). Training also involved officers from Israel’s Shin
Bet secret service — which has for decades carried out extrajudicial
executions and torture of Palestinians in the occupied territories
— the Israeli police, and the country’s major arms companies Elbit
and Rafael. The Tel Aviv-Tbilisi military axis appears to have been
cemented at the highest levels, and according to YNet, "The fact that
Georgia’s defense minister, Davit Kezerashvili, is a former Israeli
who is fluent in Hebrew contributed to this cooperation." Others
involved in the brisk arms trade included former Israeli minister and
Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo as well as several senior Israeli military
officers. The key liaison was Reserve Brigadier General Gal Hirsch who
commanded Israeli forces on the border with Lebanon during the July
2006 Second Lebanon War. (Yossi Melman, "Georgia Violence – A frozen
alliance," Haaretz, 10 August 2008). He resigned from the army after
the Winograd commission severely criticized Israel’s conduct of its
war against Lebanon and an internal Israeli army investigation blamed
Hirsch for the seizure of two soldiers by Hizballah. According to one
of the Israeli combat trainers, an officer in an "elite" Israel army
unit, Hirsch and colleagues would sometimes personally supervise
the training of Georgian forces which included "house-to-house
fighting." The training was carried out through several "private"
companies with close links to the Israeli military. As the violence
raged in Georgia, the trainer was desperately trying to contact his
former Georgian students on the battlefront via mobile phone: the
Israelis wanted to know whether the Georgians had "internalized Israeli
military technique and if the special reconnaissance forces have
chalked up any successes" (Jonathan Lis and Moti Katz, "IDF vets who
trained Georgia troops say war with Russia is no surprise," Haaretz,
11 August 2008). Yet on the ground, the Israeli-trained Georgian
forces, perhaps unsurprisingly overwhelmed by the Russians, have done
little to redeem the image of Israel’s military following its defeat
by Hizballah’s in July-August 2006. The question remains as to why
Israel was involved in the first place. There are several reasons. The
first is simply economic opportunism: for years, especially since
the 11 September 2001 attacks, arms exports and "security expertise"
have been one of Israel’s growth industries. But the close Israeli
involvement in a region Russia considers to be of vital interest
suggests that Israel might have been acting as part of the broader US
scheme to encircle Russia and contain its reemerging power. Since the
end of the Cold War, the US has been steadily encroaching on Russia’s
borders and expanding NATO in a manner the Kremlin considers highly
provocative. Shortly after coming into office, the Bush Administration
tore up the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and, like the Clinton
administration, adopted former Soviet satellite states as its own,
using them to base an anti-missile system Russia views as a threat. In
addition to their "global war on terror," hawks in Washington have
recently been talking up a new Cold War with Russia. Georgia was an
eager volunteer in this effort and has learned quickly the correct
rhetoric: one Georgian minister claimed that "every bomb that falls
on our heads is an attack on democracy, on the European Union and on
America." Georgia has been trying to join NATO, and sent 2,000 soldiers
to help the US occupy Iraq. It may have hoped that once war started
this loyalty would be rewarded with the kind of round-the-clock airlift
of weapons that Israel receives from the US during its wars. Instead
so far the US only helped airlift the Georgian troops from Iraq back
to the beleaguered home front. By helping Georgia, Israel may have
been doing its part to duplicate its own experience in assisting the
eastward expansion of the "Euro-Atlantic" empire. While supporting
Georgia was certainly risky for Israel, given the possible Russian
reaction, it has a compelling reason to intervene in a region that is
heavily contested by global powers. Israel must constantly reinvent
itself as an "asset" to American power if it is to maintain the
US support that ensures its survival as a settler-colonial enclave
in the Middle East. It is a familiar role; in the 1970s and 1980s,
at the behest of Washington, Israel helped South Africa’s apartheid
regime fight Soviet-supported insurgencies in South African-occupied
Namibia and Angola, and it trained right-wing US-allied death squads
fighting left-wing governments and movements in Central America. After
2001, Israel marketed itself as an expert on combating "Islamic
terrorism." Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez recently denounced
Colombia – long one of the largest recipients of US military aid after
Israel — as the "Israel of Latin America." Georgia’s government, to
the detriment of its people, may have tried to play the role of the
"Israel of the Caucasus" — a loyal servant of US ambitions in that
region — and lost the gamble. Playing with empires is dangerous
for a small country. As for Israel itself, with the Bush Doctrine
having failed to give birth to the "new Middle East" that the
US needs to maintain its power in the region against growing
resistance, an ever more desperate and rogue Israel must look for
opportunities to prove its worth elsewhere. That is a dangerous and
scary thing. Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is
author of < 8.shtml>One
Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli- Palestinian Impasse
(Metropolitan Books, 2006).
****************************************** ********************************
rpunch.org/walberg08122008.htmlAugust 12, 2008 How
the U.S. Invited a War in South Ossetia War a la Carte By ERIC WALBERG
Last week, Georgia launched a major military offensive against the
rebel province South Ossetia, just hours after President Mikheil
Saakashvili had announced a unilateral ceasefire. Close to 1,500
have been killed, Russian officials say. Thirty thousand refugees,
mostly women and children, streamed across the border into the North
Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz in Russia. The timing ? and subterfuge
? suggest the unscrupulous Saakashvili was counting on surprise. ?Most
decision makers have gone for the holidays,? he said in an interview
with CNN. ?Brilliant moment to attack a small country.? Apparently
he was referring to Russia invading Georgia, despite the fact that
it was Georgia which had just launched a full-scale invasion of
the ?small country? South Ossetia, while Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin was in Beijing for the Olympics. Twenty-seven Russian
peacekeepers and troops have been killed and 150 wounded so far, many
when their barracks were shelled by Georgian forces at the start of the
invasion. Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili
rushed to announce that their mini-blitzkreig had destroyed ten
Russian combat planes (Russia says two) and that Georgian troops were
in full control of the capital Tskhinvali. Russia?s Defense Ministry
denounced the Georgian attack as a ?dirty adventure.? From Beijing,
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, ?It is regrettable that
on the day before the opening of the Olympic Games, the Georgian
authorities have undertaken aggressive actions in South Ossetia.? He
later added, ?War has started.? Russian President Dmitry Medvedev vowed
that Moscow will protect Russian citizens ? most South Ossetians hold
Russian passports. The offensive prompted Moscow to send in 150 tanks,
to launch air strikes on nearby Gori and military sites, and to order
warships to Georgia?s Black Sea coast. Georgia?s national security
council declared a state of war with Russia and a full military
mobilization. US military planes are already flying Georgia?s 2,000
troops in Iraq ? the third-largest force after the United States
and Britain ? back to confront the Russians. By Sunday, despite
early claims of victory, Georgian troops had retreated from South
Ossetia, leaving diplomatic rubble behind which will be very hard
to clear. Truth is stranger than fiction in Georgia. The writing has
been on the wall for months. Georgian President Saakashvili?s fawning
over Western leaders at the ?emergency? NATO meeting in April and
his pre-election anti-Russian bluster in May made it clear to all
that Georgia is the more-than-willing canary in the Eastern mine
shaft. The Georgian attack on South Ossetia?s capital Tskhinvali
? I repeat ? just hours after Saakashvili declared a cease-fire,
looks very much like an attempt to reincorporate the rebel province
into Georgia unilaterally. But whoever is advising the brash young
president ignores the postscript ? no pasaran! South Ossetia has
been independent for 16 years and is not likely to drape flowers
on invading Georgia tanks. It also just happens to have Russia as
patron. The aftershocks of this wild gamble by Saakashvili are just
beginning. This is Russia?s most serious altercation with a foreign
country since the collapse of the Soviet Union and could escalate
into an all-out war engulfing much of the Caucasus region. Russian
warships are not planning to block shipments of oil from Georgia?s
Black Sea port of Poti, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin
said on Sunday, but reserve the right to search ships coming to and
from it. Another source naval source said, ?The crews are assigned
the task to not allow arms and military hardware supplies to reach
Georgia by sea.? The Russians have already sunk a Georgian missile
boat that was trying to attack Russian ships. Upping the ante, Ukraine
said it reserved the right to bar Russian warships from returning to
their nominally Ukrainian ? formerly Russian ? base of Sevastopol ,
on the Crimean peninsula. On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of
?arming the Georgians to the teeth.? Georgia?s other separatist
region, Abkhazia, was mobilizing its forces for a push into the
Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia. ?No
dialogue is possible with the current Georgian leadership,? said
Abkhazia?s President Sergei Bagapsh. ?They are state criminals who
must be tried for the crimes committed in South Ossetia, the genocide
of the Ossetian people.? Britain has ordered its nationals to leave
Georgia. British charity worker Sian Davis said, ?It?s really, really
quiet, eerily quiet.
Everyone was either at home or had packed up and moved out of the
city. People are really, really scared. People are panicking.? So far
the more than 2,000 US nationals in this tiny but strategic country
are mostly staying put. This is yet another made-in-the-USA war. US
President George W Bush loudly supported Georgia?s request to join
NATO in April, much to the consternation of European leaders. NATO
promised to send advisers in December. Not losing any time, the US
sent more than 1,000 US Marines and soldiers to the Vaziani military
base on the South Ossetian border in July ?to teach combat skills
to Georgian troops.? The UN Security Council failed to reach an
agreement on the current crisis after three emergency meetings. A
Russian-drafted statement that called on Georgia and the separatists
to ?renounce the use of force? was vetoed by the US, UK and France. To
dispel any conceivable doubt, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
Friday: ?We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and
missiles, respect Georgia?s territorial integrity, and withdraw its
ground combat forces from Georgian soil.? But it?s also yet another
made-in-Israel war. A thousand military advisers from Israeli security
firms have been training the country?s armed forces and were deeply
involved in the Georgian army?s preparations to attack and capture
the capital of South Ossetia, according to the Israeli web site
Debkafiles which has close links with the regime?s intelligence and
military sources. Haaretz reported that Yakobashvili told Army Radio
? in Hebrew, ? Israel should be proud of its military which trained
Georgian soldiers.? ?We killed 60 Russian soldiers just yesterday,? he
boasted on Monday. ?The Russians have lost more than 50 tanks, and
we have shot down 11 of their planes. They have enormous damage in
terms of manpower.? He warned that the Russians would try and open
another battlefront in Abkhazia and denied reports that the Georgian
army was retreating. ?The Georgian forces are not retreating. We move
our military according to security needs.? Israelis are active in real
estate, tourism, gaming, military manufacturing and security consulting
in Georgia, including former Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo and Likudite
and gambling operator Reuven Gavrieli. ?The Russians don’t look
kindly on the military cooperation of Israeli firms with the Georgian
army, and as far as I know, Israelis doing security consulting left
Georgia in the past few days because of the events there,? the former
Israeli ambassador to Georgia and Armenia, Baruch Ben Neria, said
yesterday. Since his posting, Ben Neria has represented Rafael Advanced
Defense Systems in Georgia . By Sunday, Putin was in Vladikavkaz
and said it is unlikely South Ossetia will ever be reintegrated
into Georgia. There are really only two possible scenarios to end
the conflict: a long-term stalemate or Russian annexation of South
Ossetia. The former is beginning to look pretty good, and Saakashvili
is probably already ruing his rash move. The Georgian president is
clearly hoping he can suck the US into the conflict. Alexander Lomaya,
secretary of Georgia?s National Security Council, said only Western
intervention could prevent all-out war. But it is very unlikely
Bush will risk WWIII over this scrap of craggy mountain. When US
puppets get out of line, like a certain Saddam Hussein, they are
easily abandoned. Saakashvili would be wise to recall the fate of
the first post-Soviet Georgian president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, also a
darling of the US (in 1978 US Congress nominated him for the Nobel
Peace Prize). He rode to victory on a wave of nationalism in 1990,
declaring independence for Georgia and officially recognizing the
?Chechen Republic of Ichkeria?. But South Ossetia wanted no part of
the fiery Gamsakhurdia?s chauvinistic vision and declared its own
?independence?. Engulfed by a wave of disgust a short two years later,
abandoned by his US friends, he fled to his beloved Ichkeria. He snuck
back into western Georgia, looking for support in restive Abkhazia,
but his uprising collapsed, prompting Abkhazia to secede. Gamsakhurdia
died in 1993, leaving the two secessionist provinces as a legacy,
and was buried in Chechnya. Saakashvili rehabilitated him in 2004 and
had his remains interred in Mtatsminda Pantheon with other Georgian
?heroes?. Truth really is stranger than fiction in Georgia. Now the
burning question is: will history repeat itself?