Russian Military Concerned By U.S. Cargo Flights To Georgia

[Purveyor]

Source: RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's General Staff said Thursday it was concerned by the nature of cargoes the United States was airlifting to Georgia, questioning if they were really humanitarian aid.

The U.S. sent two C-17 military planes to Georgia late Wednesday and early Thursday as part of a Pentagon humanitarian mission.

---
At a news conference Thursday, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the General Staff, urged the media to press U.S. officials for trustworthy information on the U.S. role in Georgia.

"What is going on there?" he asked. "We, the Russians, are extremely concerned about it."

"U.S. military transport aircraft are reported to have been airlifting some humanitarian cargoes to Tbilisi airport. Two days ago, reports said we had destroyed the airport," Nogovitsyn said

Read more: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080814/116045281.html

[DJ13]

1. If they're really concerned they can always leave Georgia

[Mudoria]

2. Not much they can do about it anyway. Getting out of Georgia

would be, as you said, a good first step.

[L. Coyote]

5. Then, who will stop the Georgians from killing more of their people?

Not Joe Lieberman!

[amandabeech]

10. Human Rights Watch has seriously questioned the accuracy of Russia's numbers. n/t

[ohio2007]

14. HRW could only confirm 44 deaths to the Russian boasts of 1,500 +

HRW people were on NPR radio today.

[maddezmom]

19. they also accuse Russia of using clusterbombs

Tbilisi - Russia has used cluster bombs during its incursion this week into Georgian territory, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleged. In a statement issued early Friday from Tbilisi, HRW condemned the practise, which it claimed to have documented from airstrikes Tuesday in two Georgian cities.

"Cluster bombs are indiscriminate killers that most nations have agreed to outlaw," said Marc Garlasco, HRW senior military analyst.

"Russia should never have fired cluster munitions against a town in Georgia, and now it should help in the clean-up to avoid any more deaths."

The New York-based group said that RBK-250 cluster bombs, each containing 30 submunitions, were dropped from Russian aircraft.

HRW researchers inside the Georgian war zone interviewed wounded survivors and medical and military personnel, and obtained a video of one strike and photos of craters and bomb remnants, all confirming its conclusions.

more:http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/225840,russia-using-cluster-bombs-in-georgia-human-rights-watch-alleges.html

[amandabeech]

20. If true, this is an extremely serious human rights violation.

I just don't understand, or don't want to understand, why Russia wants to renew its reputation for military brutality. Wasn't Chechnya enough?

I simply don't understand, or don't want to understand, why Russia and Putin have so much support here. I don't think that there are many if any DUers who applaud Bush attack on Iraq and subsequent actions, or any previous ugly U.S. military actions. Why applaud someone else's.

[arendt]

22. Its not that people support Russia. Its that they don't believe the neocon BS from Georgia...

its really a toss-up which side are the bigger liars and murdereres. And, since, the Georgians started this, people tend to figure they got what they deserved.

arendt

[amandabeech]

26. The assumption that this is all Georgia's fault is I think somewhat in question

considering the history of this conflict.

I think when this is end and more neutral information is available, there will be plenty of blame to go around.

[arendt]

28. What? The assumption that is being pushed is that its all the Russians fault. And, when people...

call the media on that LIE, they are accused of being in league with Russia.

This is a classic psychological warfare operation - tell only one side of the story - the Georgian side.

arendt

[amandabeech]

29. I wasn't clear. I was writing about DU, which seems to take the opposite tack

of the MSM.

[rayofreason]

25. Actually...

..the Russians were much more brutal in Chechnya than in Georgia. People in the West did not pay much attention because it was only Muslims getting slaughtered, there were not a lot of pictures, the Chechens were pretty bad themselves, and they were heavily infiltrated by Salafi Jihadists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chechen_War
http://talk.islamicnetwork.com/showthread.php?t=6463
http://talk.islamicnetwork.com/showthread.php?t=6463

I agree with you about the support on the DU for Russia in all of this. I can only marvel at the cognitive dissonance.

[arendt]

27. I repeat, people here don't support Russia. They just don't believe the neocon BS that Georgia...

is our brave ally, and a democracy.

Shakashvili is a neocon. The CIA put him in office. He sold his country to the World Bank. He called out the riot police at his last crooked election. He bought a billion dollars worth of guns for a nation of 5 M people. He hires McCain's advisor to feed lies to America. He is a neocon shit. Its my tax dollars that are paying for him, and the same U.S. media that crucifies Democrats is lying for him (all the rest of the world media are telling the truth about who attacked first.)

Screw the neocons. They are hurting me more than the Russians. Screw the media, they hate Democrats. Anyone they like, I distrust.

arendt

[Nihil]

33. Thank you.

It's quite sad that people who are very quick to distrust the
BushCo media manipulation on other matters are just swallowing
the pro-Georgia propaganda hook, line & sinker.
:shrug:

[daleo]

32. U.S. used cluster bombs in Iraq and Israel used them in Lebanon

I know, three wrongs don't make a right, and good on HRW for pointing out the use by all three militaries.

"The lives of Iraqi civilians are being endangered because Britain and the United States are failing to provide adequate information about their forces' use of cluster bombs, says the New York-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch.
The Pentagon has admitted using nearly 1,500 air-dropped cluster bombs during the war, but has not revealed information about ground-launched cluster munitions, which were far more numerous."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/may/05/usa.iraq

(Beirut, July 24, 2006) – Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said today. Researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human Rights Watch researchers also photographed cluster munitions in the arsenal of Israeli artillery teams on the Israel-Lebanon border.
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/24/isrlpa13798.htm

[L. Coyote]

3. The US military is flying 2,000 Georgian soldiers home from Iraq duty!!

They were under US command in Iraq. Now they have new orders!!

[amandabeech]

9. That happened days ago. n/t

[xchrom]

4. get out of georgia.

then there won't be any thing to be concerned about.

[L. Coyote]

6. They are in Georgia because there is something to be concerned about. Bombing civilians!!

You might want to get informed first about what has transpired, and who has killed whom.

[WriteDown]

8. Yeah, got to support Russia

Just ask the president of the President Yushchenko.

[Cousin It]

12. It's you.....

.....that needs to think again about what's transpired, and who's the real threat to the peace.

Human Rights Watch are already saying the Russians are spinning the casualty figures.

You seem not to have noticed the stench of hypocrisy in Russia hiding under a cloak of humanitarian concern.

If the Russians are in S.O to protect the anti Georgian locals why are so many of their forces operating on undisputed Georgian soil ?

[L. Coyote]

16. To prevent further bombings, apparently. Why is the USA in Afghanistan?

Obstensibly, to prevent another attack! Would you have them do that from Manhattan?

On edit, read post 17 and the linked article!

" The objective was to destroy the provincial capital, while also inflicting a significant loss of human life.

"If the objective were to restore Georgian political control over the provincial government, the operation would have been undertaken in a very different fashion, with Special Forces occupying key public buildings, communications networks and provincial institutions, rather than waging an all out bombing raid on residential areas, hospitals, not to mention Tskhinvali's University. ...."

I'm not taking sides. I'm saying there are various sides and various views of the conflict and why it is happening.

[Cousin It]

18. Do me a favour....

.....theres a big hole in Manhattan and the key people behind it were to be found in Afghanistan. You've every right and reason to be there. Nor did you pile into Afghanistan overnight, despite it being plain to anyone who takes an interest in day to day events that BinLaden was responsible from the moment the second plane hit the towers.

Georgia has toppled how many tower blocks in Moscow exactly ? That's right, none - they're not a threat to the Russians at all are they ?

There are more than a few reasons for the Russians to not like the Georgians recent direction.

Because it carries a pipeline that bypasses them.

Because they want to join Nato for their own protection (and now we can see why)

Because russia got used to having a huge buffer zone of client states around their western borders, and all thats just melted away.

But that's not the same thing as being attacked at all is it ? Your analogy is laughable.

Why would you want to bend out of shape so much to justify deliberate, pre meditated over-reaction I wonder ?

Your hatred of Bush seems to be causing you to support betrayal the Georgians right when they're calling in your help.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[arendt]

23. What can't be spun is that the Georgians started this. And we gave $1B of arms to a country of 5M...

talk about hypocrisy - its us that stinks of hypocrisy.

The Russians are sending a message to the neocons - stop f***ing with us. Its a message I wish I could send to the neocons.

arendt

[Xipe Totec]

7. Same advice applies to Furious George nt

[David__77]

11. Can't Russia tell with spy satellites?

I mean, wouldn't it be clear enough if these were military supplies, or were possibly so?

[ohio2007]

13. They are concerned about to all those militias with shoulder fired stinger missiles

roaming the countryside with "made in Russia" stamped all over them.

[Middle finga]

15. What if Russia started a covert operation in Iraq and

Afghanistan? America has their hands full as it is and now Bush is poking at another hornets nest.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[amandabeech]

31. Russia will probably stay out of Afghanistan.

They got their fingers burned there a few years ago, like we probably will in the end.

The Russian vets of that war came back like the U.S. vets of Viet Nam.

[BeHereNow]

21. The ignorance on this thread is astounding.

That is all.

BHN

[DU GrovelBot]

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