Russia and Georgia agree to peace plan: Sarkozy

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

TBILISI (AFP) — Russia and Georgia have agreed to a plan brokered by France aimed at restoring peace in the region, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said here Wednesday.

"There is a text. It has been accepted in Moscow, it was accepted here in Georgia. I have the agreement of all the protaganists," Sarkozy said at an early-morning news conference in the Georgian capital.


Read more: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jWnMvPz77y9w_sTN91k...

---

Georgia says agreed to modified Russia peace plan
12 Aug 2008 21:51:24 GMT

TBILISI, Aug 13 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili said on Wednesday they had agreed to a modified version of a peace plan with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

~snip~

"It is a political document. It is an agreement of principles ... and I think we have full coincidence of principles," Saakashvili told a joint news conference with Sarkozy.

The changes made had been approved by Medvedev and included removing a reference to talks on the future status of South Ossetia, the two men said.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LC36243.htm

[dipsydoodle]

1. BBC link

Russia and Georgia have agreed a truce brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and have approved the principles of a full peace plan.

The exact details of the proposals appeared to be still under discussion.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili suggested some details agreed by Russia were unacceptable and said the document needed fleshing out.

Earlier, Russia announced its military activity in the area was completed and witnesses saw troops pulling out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7557457.stm

I'm guessing that the unacceptable bit is that he's got to resign.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Silly quit bleeding don't you know the war is over?

3 hours ago: Dutch reporter Jeroen Akkermans (rear, in white) helps to carry seriously wounded Israeli reporter Tzadok Yehezkeli in the centre of the town of Gori, after the bombing of the centre of the city some 80 km (50 miles) from Tbilisi, August 12, 2008. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to military operations in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of fighting and just before French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to hold peace talks in Moscow.

[Botany]

3. Damn French

With their European ideas of peace and diplomacy.
Hell, what is wrong w/ Condi? Just today she said that
they should stop the fighting .....


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/world/europe/13georgi ...

<Richard C. Holbrooke, the former ambassador to the United Nations,
noted that Mr. Sarkozy was leading the mediation efforts.>

[ohio2007]

4. Dutch cameraman killed in Georgia

A Dutch cameraman for television channel RTL was killed in a Russian bombardment of the Georgian city of Gori.

12 August 2008

GORI - A Dutch cameraman for television channel RTL was killed and his colleague wounded in a Russian bombardment of the Georgian city of Gori, RTL confirmed Tuesday.

Cameraman Stan Storimans was one of five people reported killed in the bombing, while reporter Jeroen Akkermans sustained leg wounds. His condition is described as stable.

A total of five journalists are confirmed as having been killed since the start of the conflict between Georgia and Russia last week.



http://www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/Dutch-camerama...


video;

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=852_1218576885

So how's that peace deal working out?

Isn't Gori Stalins hometown?
I heard Russian jets dropped a bomb or two in the town square of Gori. A statue of Stalin may (or may not) still be standing in the town square.

[maddezmom]

5. this happened before it was signed by both parties

[ohio2007]

7. Did you see the statue in the video ?

Stalin still stands in Gori

[bemildred]

12. All I see is something about meeting hot chicks in my area,

One of them had really big tits.

[Regret My New Name]

6. What is being bombed in the cities?

I'm assuming it's not just terror bombings against civilians, is it? Are there military installations, communications or something in the areas being bombed? Supporting ground forces?

[fascisthunter]

8. oh well... the war will end

schucks

[Regret My New Name]

11. hah... right.

dot dot dot

[bemildred]

10. Terror bombing against civilians is what war is all about. nt

[daleo]

9. Blessed be the cheese makers

I mean peace makers. (a little Life of Brian humor)

[Hardrada]

13. Nicolas Sarkozy earns his salary.

[DogPoundPup]

14. Surrender or else, Russia tells Georgia, Kremlin calls halt to offensive, dictates humiliating terms

Source: Guardian UK

The Kremlin last night dictated humiliating peace terms to Georgia as the price for halting the Russian invasion of the small Black Sea country and its four-day rout of Georgian forces.

Faced with strong western denunciation, President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia called a halt to the Russian offensive and negotiated terms for a truce and a broader settlement with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who, as chair of the European Union, rushed to the region to try to strike a deal on a ceasefire.

Early this morning in Tbilisi, Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, signaled his partial assent to the terms, announcing with Sarkozy that he accepted the ceasefire. But Saakashvili raised questions about a continuing Russian military presence in Georgia and the prospects for any durable settlement looked uncertain.

"We do not yet have a peace deal, we have a provisional cessation of hostilities; but this is significant progress," Sarkozy said after talks with Medvedev in Moscow and before taking the terms to Tbilisi. This morning Sarkozy predicted Saakashvili would accept Russian terms on the broader settlement.

Medvedev branded Saakashvili a "lunatic" as he outlined tough terms to the French leader, in effect demanding Georgian capitulation to vastly superior Russian forces.

"The difference between lunatics and other people is that when they smell blood it is very difficult to stop them," Medvedev said. "So you have to use surgery."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/13/georgia.rus...

---

Also see how McCain's advisor Randy Scheunemann (a neocon who, until March was registered with the US justice Department as "a foreign agent working on behalf of the government of Georgia.") and his buddies have played a significant role in pushing Georgia's brilliant but flawed leader Mikheil Saakashvili into what The Daily Telegraph characterised yesterday in a useful profile as his "catastrophic blunder" in invading South Ossetia.

'The newest neocon catastrophe'
http://publicaddress.net/system/topic,1283,hard_news_th...

[bemildred]

15. Murdoch spouts drivel as usual. nt

[HEyHEY]

16. Uh... you think Murdoch owns the gaurdian? This highlights the ignorance of media bashers here

The Gaurdian is a left-leaning British Paper and has been pretty-well in open war with Murdoch forever

[bemildred]

18. Gotta stay on message here:

While thousands rallied in support of Saakashvili yesterday outside the parliament in Tbilisi, there was a growing sense among many Georgians that his decision to attack had been a disastrous blunder - with Russia's overwhelming response both predictable and highly costly.

"Why are people waving flags? It's not as if we won," Lasha Darkveldze, 23, said as supporters thronged the centre of Tbilisi and marched on its freedom square. "Saakashvili should now resign."

"We hope he is going to disappear from Georgia," Bacha Janashia, 24, a student, said. "I wonder why he did it. He has only 10,000 soldiers and he takes on Russia."

If the Russian terms are demeaning, Saakashvili's bargaining position is extremely weak given the virtual disintegration of his armed forces. Abandoned tanks litter the road between Tbilisi and Gori - dumped following Russia's swift advance deep into Georgia on Monday.

[HEyHEY]

19. Did it occur to you that is the truth?

I'm pretty sure Georgians are pissed off at their leader about the whole thing. And I'd say Russia's response WAS overwhelming...

[bemildred]

20. Yeah, that did occur to me. nt

[JVS]

24. So what exactly is the Murdoch message that the guardian is promoting? What's his angle?

[bemildred]

32. Excuse my brain fart. I don't really see any point in elaborating it further. nt

[Odin2005]

31. Uh, The Guardian is a left-wing paper.

@ the knee-jerk Georgia-bashers

[msongs]

17. there goes Medvedev picking on George W Bush again nt

[JVS]

21. harsh, but just

"The key demands are that the Georgian leader pledges, in an agreement that is signed and legally binding, to abjure all use of force to resolve Georgia's territorial disputes with the two breakaway pro-Russian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia; and that Georgian forces withdraw entirely from South Ossetia and are no longer part of the joint "peacekeeping" contingent there with Russian and local Ossetian forces.

Medvedev also insisted the populations of the two regions had to be allowed to vote on whether they wanted to join Russia, prefiguring a possible annexation that would enfeeble Georgia and leave Saakashvili looking crushed. If he balked at the terms, said Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister: "We will be forced to take other measures to prevent any repetition of the situation that emerged because of the outrageous Georgian aggression.""

[HEyHEY]

22. Just! How dare you, sir!

Face it, if the Russians had invaded and imposed such terms on Milosevic, Duers would be bitching about that too.

[JVS]

23. I know you're joshing, but I'd like to comment on the two points

The first part, no peacekeeping Georgian troops is a pretty plain "No foxes in the henhouse" rule. Georgia's aggression toward the Ossetian minority and the Russians who were also in the peacekeeping force alongside the Georgians makes trust impossible.

My second comment pertains to a possible plebiscite. WTF has Georgia been doing to Abkhazia and Ossetia that there is even the remotest chance that they would vote to become part of Russia? A people who want to be annexed by Russia is an unfortunate group indeed. If Georgia loses such a plebiscite it is a very strong indictment of just how fucked up an operation they're running.

[Igel]

25. Russians are also foxes.

Perhaps that escaped your notice.

However, there are also Georgians in "South Ossetia", depending on where you put the borders; there's little likelihood Russia (or the Russians that make up most of the S. Ossetia government) will place the borders to exclude the territory in which Georgians dwell. More likely, they'll exclude the Georgians from the territory.

Borders are flexible, and Putin wants to flex some borders.

I'd also note that the Georgians driven from South Ossetia--notice that it's ok for parts of Ossetia to be ethnically cleansed, as long as it's Georgians at the receiving end of the broom--haven't and won't be allowed back in. That will be considered, no doubt just (communal) punishment. Such things are relative, after all.

Neither, in fact, will the Jews that fled the fighting in the '90s be allowed to return; not that the Russians had any problem with fewer Jews, the siloviki were just as happy to see them gone (noting with some pride, no doubt, that many were Ashkenazi who happened to find themselves in the Caucasus because that's where the expulsion order the tsar' issued happened to land them). Some Ossetians, apparently, miss them, however. But again, since most of the Ossetian power structure is filled by Russians transferred from other Russian provinces ...

As for Abkhazia ... Sukhumi will make such a nice little day trip for visitors to Sochi, one of Putin's favorite haunts, and much safer with a buffer.

[WriteDown]

33. I appreciate your post..

few here seem to recognize the divisions that exist in the region.

[fed_up_mother]

26. I think the majority identify as Russians

not Georgians. I believe they have a different ethnicity.

[JVS]

27. They identify as Abkhaz and Ossetian.

[fed_up_mother]

28. thanks. :)

[The Croquist]

30. I thought the Russia had no desire for territory

Now they want a vote on whether or not these provinces should join Russia?

This has been a setup by Russia from the get go.

[DeltaLitProf]

29. Message deleted

I misunderstood your sarcasm.

[annabanana]

34. It happens a lot.

heyhey doesn't EVER use the smiley.. assumes everyone reads everything here and has done years of research before post 1

[WhiteTara]

35. Russia calls halt to 5-day invasion of Georgia

Source: AP

TBILISI, Georgia - Declaring "the aggressor has been punished," the Kremlin ordered a halt Tuesday to Russia's devastating assault on Georgia — five days of air and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins and uprooted 100,000 people. ADVERTISEMENT



Both sides accepted the general outlines of a cease-fire plan, but Georgia complained hours after the Russian endorsement that bombs and shells were still falling.

Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili said Russia's aim all along was not to gain control of two disputed provinces but to "destroy" the smaller nation, a former Soviet state and current U.S. ally.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking in Moscow, said Georgia had paid enough for its attack on South Ossetia, a separatist region along the Russian border with close ties to Russia.

"The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized," Medvedev said.

Still, the president ordered his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting: "If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_on_re_eu/georgia...

---

Georgia's President has backed the cease fire

[seemslikeadream]

36. just a pawn in their game

3 hours ago: A woman walks in front of the ruins of a building which was destroyed during the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia in South Ossetia's capital Tskhinvali August 12, 2008. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a cease fire in Georgia on Tuesday, but U.S. officials could not confirm fighting had stopped and threatened Moscow's membership in important global clubs.




3 hours ago: A Tskhinvali resident tends to the grave of a pregnant woman killed by shrapnel during the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia in South Ossetia's capital August 12, 2008. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a cease fire in Georgia on Tuesday, but U.S. officials could not confirm fighting had stopped and threatened Moscow's membership in important global clubs.

[FarLeftRage]

37. This is bullshit!

The fucking russians won't stop until they take over Georgia completely...