Abkhazia Wrests Gorge From Preoccupied Georgia

[bemildred]

Source: NYT

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The government of Abkhazia, a separatist Georgian enclave, now controls the Kodori Gorge region. With the Georgian military consumed last week by fighting about 120 miles away in South Ossetia, leaving Georgia’s west largely devoid of its presence, Abkhaz troops seized the Kodori Gorge almost without a fight. They were aided by a heavy aerial bombardment that Georgians assert was probably carried out by Russian jets.

“The situation was such that we saw an opportunity and we took it,” said Garri Kupalba, Abkhazia’s deputy defense minister.

The Kodori Gorge, a verdant slice of the Caucasus Ridge along Russia’s southwest border, was prized by the Georgian government for its strategic proximity to Abkhazia, which President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia had long vowed to bring under the country’s authority.

The loss of the territory early last week probably dashed any remaining hopes in Georgia of taking control of Abkhazia, and it served as one more example of Georgia’s failure in a war that has left the country militarily impotent and humiliatingly vulnerable.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/world/europe/18abkhazia.html

[thunder rising]

1. Thank God for the Atlantic and Pacific ... 'cause GWB would have us in that position too.

[bemildred]

2. Yeah, people do not appreciate our two oceans enough.

Thank God that Canada and Mexico have no imperial ambitions too.

[bahrbearian]

3. We will get to Canada and Mexico soon enough...

Just as soon as Chimpy and Co deems them evil enough.