Georgian, US troops start military exercise amid escalating tensions with Russia

[kpete]

Georgian, US troops start military exercise amid escalating tensions with Russia
The Associated Press


TBILISI, Georgia: Georgian and U.S. troops started a joint military exercise Tuesday amid growing tensions between the ex-Soviet republic and Russia, a Georgian defense ministry official said.

About 1,200 U.S. servicemen and 800 Georgians will train for three weeks at the Vaziani military base near the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, ministry spokesman Mindiya Arabuli said. The drills were planned months ago and are not related to recent tensions over two separatist Georgian regions that are backed by Moscow, he said.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has courted the United States and sent a large contingent of troops to Iraq. His efforts to move Georgia from under Russia's shadow and into NATO have angered Moscow, which has stepped up support for the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

more at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/15/europe/EU-GEN-Georgia-US-Military.php


The Georgian army had no chance of winning a war with Russia or any intention of occupying the territory they captured. The real aim was to lure the Russian army into a trap. US planners hope to do what they did so skillfully in Afghanistan; lure their Russian prey into a long and bloody Chechnya-type fiasco that will pit their Russia troops against guerrilla forces armed and trained by US military and intelligence agencies. The war will be waged in the name of liberating Georgia from Russian imperialism and stopping Putin from achieving his alleged ambition to control critical western-owned pipelines around the Caspian Basin. Much of this “think tank” generated narrative has already appeared in the mainstream media or been articulated by American political elites. Meanwhile, the fighting in the Caucasus has diverted attention from the massive US naval armada that is presently sailing towards the Persian Gulf for the long-anticipated confrontation with Iran.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20508.htm
http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=38478

[C_U_L8R]

1. If you ever wanted to start a war

this is a good example of what to do.

[L. Coyote]

3. This is an important part of the McCain campaign!

[dbonds]

2. Think of the worst possible thing Bush can do, and he just did it.