Russia claims to retreat, but goes deeper into Georgia

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/1113026,georgia081808.article

18, 2008

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

GORI, Georgia — Russia said Monday it had begun withdrawing from the conflict zone in Georgia, but it held fast to key positions and sent some of its troops in the opposite direction — closer to the Georgian capital.

Russian troops and vehicles roamed freely around the strategically located central city of Gori, Russian forces appeared to blow up the runway at a military base in the western town of Senaki.

There were few signs Russia was following the terms of a cease-fire to end the short war, which has driven tensions between Russia and the West to some of their highest levels since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

In Paris, the French foreign minister said it appeared ‘‘we are witnessing the start’’ of a Russian withdrawal, but warned France would call an emergency meeting of the European Council to talk about consequences for Russia if that was not the case.

But U.S. defense and military officials said they had seen no significant movement yet of Russian troops withdrawing from Georgia.

[bananas]

1. The back-step boogaloo.

Condi is supposed to know this stuff,
she is a musician.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Marching through Georgia might be more appropriate.

Do you remember in Apocalyse Now the 'copters playing Ride of the Valkeries as they flew into the shore ? Maybe the Russians have been doing a modified singalong to Henry Clays old tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Q8jmGryKg

[NNN0LHI]

4. We used to do this at theaters when we didn't have no money when we were kids

Get in the exit line and walk backward.

Worked every time.

Don

[CJCRANE]

2. Russians borrowing a simple ploy from the neocons:

say one thing and do the opposite. Works every time.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. You don't think that that possibly predates the NeoCons?

Or that Russia and others have been doing it for centuries?

The Neo Cons are not the mystical Source Of All Evil.

[CJCRANE]

8. Neocons have set the precedent for 21st century diplomacy.

Their protests ring hollow when they have done much worse. They're in the moral gutter.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

10. I think you overestimate their influence.

Putin is ex-KGB. He was well-schooled in this sort of thing long before the neocons had come to power.

[KharmaTrain]

5. I Think The Best Term Is: Mop Up

IRC, at the outset of the invasion, Russia had "police" or peacekeepers (depends on who side your hearing) that was protecting the enclaves. Sounds like they're gonna replace that force with something a bit stronger...and I wouldn't be surprised if they attempt to formally annex South Osetsia and Abkhazia into Russia proper.

From a report I heard via the BBC yesterday, the Russians were trying to knock out any possibility that the Georgians could launch another attack and embarass the Saaskavilli government. This is also a warning shot, not at Poland or the Ukraine, but at the other caucus states that this could happen to them, too.

Cheers...

[DailyGrind51]

7. Remember when the Bush administration told Congress it wasn't building

permanent bases in Iraq, while it was doing just that and calling it an "embassy"? Kinda like that!

[nebenaube]

9. I think that

it's rather funny that we keep getting Georgian propaganda releases from a city that the Russians are supposed to be occuping...

[Bandit]

11. Russia has a Surge of it's own it would appear.

:shrug:

[Hubert Flottz]

12. Bush showed the entire planet that it was okay to

make up your own reality as you go along!(lie like hell)

[bushmeister0]

13. Is this what they call a Sitzkrieg?

Daily Telegraph:

"Trenches have been dug and tanks, camouflaged with tree branches, are scattered through fields and in forests ever closer to the Georgian capital Tbilisi."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/georgia/2575214/Georgia-Russian-military-entrench-themselves-deeper.html

AP:

"Russian forces built ramparts of earth around tanks and posted sentries on a hill in central Georgia on Saturday, seemingly digging in despite Western pressure for Moscow to withdraw its troops under a cease-fire deal signed by Russia's president.

But freshly dug positions of Russian armor in the town of Igoeti, about 30 miles west of the capital Tbilisi, showed that Russia was observing the truce at the pace and scope of its choosing."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26235207

I don't think they're going anywhere soon.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. "principle of territorial integrity should be analysed against ... the new situation on the ground"

Quote from Ivan Soltanovsky, Russian deputy representative at Nato, on the BBC today:

"The principle of territorial integrity should be analysed now against the new background, the new situation on the ground, which has been very greatly damaged, this principle, by the Georgian leadership itself"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/wato/ - at 18 minutes into the audio. So bear that in mind when Russia talks about 'territorial integrity'.