Reuters
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, four princes and other Saudi entities are immune from a lawsuit filed by victims of the September 11 attacks and their families alleging they gave material support to al Qaeda, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.
The ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Casey dismissing a claim against Saudi Arabia, a Saudi charity, four princes and a Saudi banker of providing material support to al Qaeda before the September 11 attacks.
The victims and their families argued that because the defendants gave money to Muslim charities that in turn gave money to al Qaeda, they should be held responsible for helping to finance the attacks.
The appeals court found that the defendants are protected under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
The court also noted that exceptions to the immunity rule do not apply because Saudi Arabia has not been designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. State Department.
(Reporting by Edith Honan, editing by Vicki Allen)
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Hair Samples in Anthrax Case Don’t Match
Carrie Johnson
Washington Post
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Federal investigators probing the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks recovered samples of human hair from a mailbox in Princeton, N.J., but the strands did not match the lead suspect in the case, according to sources briefed on the probe.
FBI agents and U.S. Postal Service inspectors analyzed the data in an effort to place Fort Detrick, Md., scientist Bruce E. Ivins at the mailbox from which bacteria-laden letters were sent to Senate offices and media organizations, the sources said.
The hair sample is one of many pieces of evidence over which researchers continue to puzzle in the case, which ended after Ivins committed suicide July 29 as prosecutors prepared to seek his indictment.
Authorities released sworn statements and search warrants last week at a news conference in which they asserted that Ivins was their sole suspect. But the materials have not dampened speculation about the merits of the investigative findings and the government’s aggressive pursuit of Ivins, a 62-year-old anthrax vaccine researcher. Conspiracy theories have flourished since the 2001 attacks, which killed five people and sickened 17 others.
Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced it will call FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to appear at an oversight hearing Sept. 17, when he is likely to be asked about the strength of the government’s case against Ivins. A spokeswoman for Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), a vocal FBI critic, said he would demand more information about how authorities narrowed their search.
The House Judiciary panel, meanwhile, is negotiating to hold a separate oversight hearing in September with bureau officials, in a session that could mark the first public occasion in which Mueller faces questions about the FBI's handling of the anthrax case.
Friends and former colleagues of Ivins, who died before he could see the full array of evidence prosecutors had gathered, continue to demand information about the DNA advances that authorities say led them to a flask in Ivins's lab.
Defense lawyer Paul F. Kemp yesterday said he wonders "where Ivins could have possibly stored this anthrax without any employees seeing it, or if he took it home, why there was no trace" of the deadly spores, despite repeated FBI searches over the past two years of Ivins's car, his work locker, a safe-deposit box and his house.
Meanwhile, government sources offered more detail about Ivins's movements on a critical day in the case: when letters were dropped into the postal box on Princeton's Nassau Street, across the street from the university campus.
Investigators now believe that Ivins waited until evening to make the drive to Princeton on Sept. 17, 2001. He showed up at work that day and stayed briefly, then took several hours of administrative leave from the lab, according to partial work logs. Based on information from receipts and interviews, authorities say Ivins filled up his car's gas tank, attended a meeting outside of the office in the late afternoon, and returned to the lab for a few minutes that evening before moving off the radar screen and presumably driving overnight to Princeton. The letters were postmarked Sept. 18.
Nearly seven years after the incidents, however, investigators have come up dry in their efforts to find direct evidence to place Ivins at the Nassau Street mailbox in September and October 2001.
Washington Post
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Federal investigators probing the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks recovered samples of human hair from a mailbox in Princeton, N.J., but the strands did not match the lead suspect in the case, according to sources briefed on the probe.
FBI agents and U.S. Postal Service inspectors analyzed the data in an effort to place Fort Detrick, Md., scientist Bruce E. Ivins at the mailbox from which bacteria-laden letters were sent to Senate offices and media organizations, the sources said.
The hair sample is one of many pieces of evidence over which researchers continue to puzzle in the case, which ended after Ivins committed suicide July 29 as prosecutors prepared to seek his indictment.
Authorities released sworn statements and search warrants last week at a news conference in which they asserted that Ivins was their sole suspect. But the materials have not dampened speculation about the merits of the investigative findings and the government’s aggressive pursuit of Ivins, a 62-year-old anthrax vaccine researcher. Conspiracy theories have flourished since the 2001 attacks, which killed five people and sickened 17 others.
Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced it will call FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to appear at an oversight hearing Sept. 17, when he is likely to be asked about the strength of the government’s case against Ivins. A spokeswoman for Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), a vocal FBI critic, said he would demand more information about how authorities narrowed their search.
The House Judiciary panel, meanwhile, is negotiating to hold a separate oversight hearing in September with bureau officials, in a session that could mark the first public occasion in which Mueller faces questions about the FBI's handling of the anthrax case.
Friends and former colleagues of Ivins, who died before he could see the full array of evidence prosecutors had gathered, continue to demand information about the DNA advances that authorities say led them to a flask in Ivins's lab.
Defense lawyer Paul F. Kemp yesterday said he wonders "where Ivins could have possibly stored this anthrax without any employees seeing it, or if he took it home, why there was no trace" of the deadly spores, despite repeated FBI searches over the past two years of Ivins's car, his work locker, a safe-deposit box and his house.
Meanwhile, government sources offered more detail about Ivins's movements on a critical day in the case: when letters were dropped into the postal box on Princeton's Nassau Street, across the street from the university campus.
Investigators now believe that Ivins waited until evening to make the drive to Princeton on Sept. 17, 2001. He showed up at work that day and stayed briefly, then took several hours of administrative leave from the lab, according to partial work logs. Based on information from receipts and interviews, authorities say Ivins filled up his car's gas tank, attended a meeting outside of the office in the late afternoon, and returned to the lab for a few minutes that evening before moving off the radar screen and presumably driving overnight to Princeton. The letters were postmarked Sept. 18.
Nearly seven years after the incidents, however, investigators have come up dry in their efforts to find direct evidence to place Ivins at the Nassau Street mailbox in September and October 2001.
Explosions in Georgian towns as Russian forces remain
Jon Swaine
London Telegraph
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Earlier claims that Russian troops had commenced a withdrawal from Gori were dismissed as at least five explosions were heard in the town. Journalists were forced to leave by a Russian soldier firing shots into the air. Troops are also thought to have returned to the strategically important port town of Poti.
A Georgian spokesman said: “The Russian troops are destroying the city of Gori. They are mining the city. They are destroying everything in Poti port. They are destroying the newly built roads in western Georgia.”
Reports of the explosions came as Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, reinforced suspicions that Moscow is expecting to set its own punitive terms for peace. He said: “One can forget about any talk about Georgia’s territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree that they can be forced back into the Georgian state.”
Earlier Ms Rice threatened Russia with international isolation unless it keeps to the plan, which was brokered by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, and calls for a return to the status quo that prevailed before the conflict, triggered by Georgia’s attempt to reclaim South Ossetia, a breakaway province, and for the respect of Georgian sovereignty.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, has made clear that the Kremlin would be making additional demands, including the eviction from the rebel provinces of all Georgian troops, and increased Russian presence in both the enclaves and “buffer zones” surrounding them.
It has emerged that Mr Medvedev, who also said he was committed to giving the populations of South Ossetia and Abkhazia the chance to vote on becoming part of the Russian republic, has been in talks at the Kremlin with the leaders of the separatist movements in both provinces.
As she was despatched for Tblisi by George W Bush, in a strong show of US support for Georgia, Ms Rice said Russian troops' violations of the truce since the agreement was reached have "only served to deepen the isolation into which Russia is moving".
The Secretary of State said there is a "very strong, growing sense that Russia is not behaving like the kind of international partner that it has said that it wants to be." Ms Rice, who will meet Mr Sarkozy before holding talks with Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian President, said: "We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia."
Her statement came as US aid began to arrive in the former Soviet state in a further show of support. A military aircraft, packed with medical supplies, shelters and bedding, arrived in Tblisi along with promises that more will follow.
The Pentagon has said it will be "reviewing the needs" of the Georgian military, battered after the five-day conflict with Russia over the rebel region of South Ossetia.
However there have been reports of obstructions being made to humanitarian aid. Giorgi Gorgiladze, the Georgian Permanent Representative to the UN, said: "We would like to underline, that the representatives of international and humanitarian organisations have not been granted an access in the territories controlled by the Russian armed forces."
After a day in which its troops were accused of looting and burning villages, Russia earlier warned that America, which has a staunch ally of Tbilisi's pro-western government, would have "to choose" between building a relationship with Georgia or Russia.
"We understand that this current Georgian leadership is a special project of the United States, but one day the United States will have to choose," said Mr Lavrov.
Mr Saakashvili said that western leaders must send peacekeeepers to his country immediately, or risk having their rhetoric exposed as hollow. Writing in the Washington Post, he said: "Only Western peacekeepers can end the war. I have staked my country's fate on the West's rhetoric about democracy and liberty."
"Russia's invasion of Georgia strikes at the heart of Western values and our 21st-century system of security," he added.
"If the international community allows Russia to crush our democratic, independent state, it will be giving carte blanche to authoritarian governments everywhere."
London Telegraph
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Earlier claims that Russian troops had commenced a withdrawal from Gori were dismissed as at least five explosions were heard in the town. Journalists were forced to leave by a Russian soldier firing shots into the air. Troops are also thought to have returned to the strategically important port town of Poti.
A Georgian spokesman said: “The Russian troops are destroying the city of Gori. They are mining the city. They are destroying everything in Poti port. They are destroying the newly built roads in western Georgia.”
Reports of the explosions came as Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, reinforced suspicions that Moscow is expecting to set its own punitive terms for peace. He said: “One can forget about any talk about Georgia’s territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree that they can be forced back into the Georgian state.”
Earlier Ms Rice threatened Russia with international isolation unless it keeps to the plan, which was brokered by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, and calls for a return to the status quo that prevailed before the conflict, triggered by Georgia’s attempt to reclaim South Ossetia, a breakaway province, and for the respect of Georgian sovereignty.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, has made clear that the Kremlin would be making additional demands, including the eviction from the rebel provinces of all Georgian troops, and increased Russian presence in both the enclaves and “buffer zones” surrounding them.
It has emerged that Mr Medvedev, who also said he was committed to giving the populations of South Ossetia and Abkhazia the chance to vote on becoming part of the Russian republic, has been in talks at the Kremlin with the leaders of the separatist movements in both provinces.
As she was despatched for Tblisi by George W Bush, in a strong show of US support for Georgia, Ms Rice said Russian troops' violations of the truce since the agreement was reached have "only served to deepen the isolation into which Russia is moving".
The Secretary of State said there is a "very strong, growing sense that Russia is not behaving like the kind of international partner that it has said that it wants to be." Ms Rice, who will meet Mr Sarkozy before holding talks with Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian President, said: "We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia."
Her statement came as US aid began to arrive in the former Soviet state in a further show of support. A military aircraft, packed with medical supplies, shelters and bedding, arrived in Tblisi along with promises that more will follow.
The Pentagon has said it will be "reviewing the needs" of the Georgian military, battered after the five-day conflict with Russia over the rebel region of South Ossetia.
However there have been reports of obstructions being made to humanitarian aid. Giorgi Gorgiladze, the Georgian Permanent Representative to the UN, said: "We would like to underline, that the representatives of international and humanitarian organisations have not been granted an access in the territories controlled by the Russian armed forces."
After a day in which its troops were accused of looting and burning villages, Russia earlier warned that America, which has a staunch ally of Tbilisi's pro-western government, would have "to choose" between building a relationship with Georgia or Russia.
"We understand that this current Georgian leadership is a special project of the United States, but one day the United States will have to choose," said Mr Lavrov.
Mr Saakashvili said that western leaders must send peacekeeepers to his country immediately, or risk having their rhetoric exposed as hollow. Writing in the Washington Post, he said: "Only Western peacekeepers can end the war. I have staked my country's fate on the West's rhetoric about democracy and liberty."
"Russia's invasion of Georgia strikes at the heart of Western values and our 21st-century system of security," he added.
"If the international community allows Russia to crush our democratic, independent state, it will be giving carte blanche to authoritarian governments everywhere."
Georgia Files Suit Against Russia, Charging Racial Discrimination
MARLISE SIMONS
New York Times
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Georgia has filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague for its actions in and around the territory of Georgia from 1991 to 2008, the court said in a statement.
Georgia has also consulted the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court, also in The Hague, but has taken no further steps, a court official said.
In recent days, Russia has threatened to file war crimes charges against Georgia in connection with its attack on the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali last week.
Georgia filed the lawsuit late on Tuesday at the Peace Palace in The Hague, where the court is based, an official said. In its 32-page complaint, Georgia said that beginning in 1991 Russia, along with separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia under Moscow’s control, used violent means to caused the mass expulsion of Georgians as well as other ethnic groups and prevented their return home.
As a basis for the court’s jurisdiction, Georgia invoked the 1965 International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which it said Russia had violated.
The International Court of Justice is the United Nations highest court and rules on disputes between nations. No hearing has been scheduled on the case and no action is expected soon, said a lawyer familiar with the court.
“It will be a long and tortuous process, but Georgia has no option,” said Payam Akhavan, a specialist in international law and a member of Georgia’s legal team. “Georgia has to assert its right under international law.”
At the International Criminal Court, the director of jurisdiction in the prosecutor’s office, Béatrice Le Fraper, said that a representative of the Georgian government had come “to provide information and to ask questions.” But no further steps had been taken, she said.
The criminal court, which is independent of the United Nations, deals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Ms. Le Fraper said the court had jurisdiction over matters on Georgian territory because the country was a full member of the court, having ratified its statute.
New York Times
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Georgia has filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague for its actions in and around the territory of Georgia from 1991 to 2008, the court said in a statement.
Georgia has also consulted the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court, also in The Hague, but has taken no further steps, a court official said.
In recent days, Russia has threatened to file war crimes charges against Georgia in connection with its attack on the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali last week.
Georgia filed the lawsuit late on Tuesday at the Peace Palace in The Hague, where the court is based, an official said. In its 32-page complaint, Georgia said that beginning in 1991 Russia, along with separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia under Moscow’s control, used violent means to caused the mass expulsion of Georgians as well as other ethnic groups and prevented their return home.
As a basis for the court’s jurisdiction, Georgia invoked the 1965 International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which it said Russia had violated.
The International Court of Justice is the United Nations highest court and rules on disputes between nations. No hearing has been scheduled on the case and no action is expected soon, said a lawyer familiar with the court.
“It will be a long and tortuous process, but Georgia has no option,” said Payam Akhavan, a specialist in international law and a member of Georgia’s legal team. “Georgia has to assert its right under international law.”
At the International Criminal Court, the director of jurisdiction in the prosecutor’s office, Béatrice Le Fraper, said that a representative of the Georgian government had come “to provide information and to ask questions.” But no further steps had been taken, she said.
The criminal court, which is independent of the United Nations, deals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Ms. Le Fraper said the court had jurisdiction over matters on Georgian territory because the country was a full member of the court, having ratified its statute.
U.S. and Poland sign missile shield deal
Gabriela Baczynska
Reuters
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Poland finally agreed on Thursday to host elements of U.S. global anti-missile system on its territory after Washington improved the terms of the deal amid the Georgia crisis.
The preliminary deal was signed by deputy Polish Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer and U.S. chief negotiator John Rood. It still needs to be endorsed by the Polish parliament.
The signing comes after Prime Minister Donald Tusk had been holding out for enhanced military cooperation with the United States in return for consent to host 10 interceptor rockets at a base in northern Poland.
Washington says the interceptors and a radar in the Czech Republic would form part of a global “missile shield” protecting the United States and its allies from long range missiles that could in the future be fired by Iran or groups such as al-Qaeda.
“We have crossed the Rubicon,” Tusk said just before the deal was signed.
“We have finally got understanding of our point of view that Poland, being a crucial partner in NATO and an important friend and ally of the United States, must also be safe.”
Officials said the deal included a U.S. declaration that it will aid Poland militarily in case of a threat from a third country and that it would establish a permanent U.S. base on Polish
"We are comfortable that we negotiated a strong agreement," Rood said. "It elevates our security relationship to a new level."
RUSSIA VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED
If everything goes to schedule, the interceptor base would be ready by around 2012, officials have said. The Czechs have already signed an agreement to host the radar although parliament there must yet ratify it.
Russia has vehemently opposed placing the shield installations in central Europe, saying they would threaten its security and upset the post-Cold War balance of power in Europe.
Moscow has threatened to take retaliatory steps against Poland and the Czech Republic, its former reluctant vassals who are now part of the European Union and NATO.
In the face of Russian opposition, Tusk had argued he could not agree to the shield unless the United States agreed to boost Warsaw's air defenses and enhance mutual military cooperation.
Russia's military action against Georgia strengthened the argument, Tusk said on Tuesday, ahead of the talks this week.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski played down the impact of the events in Georgia on the deal, apparently hoping to soften any criticism from Moscow.
In the first sign of Moscow's displeasure, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday cancelled a planned trip to Warsaw in September, Polish diplomats said.
The deal, if approved by parliaments in Prague and Warsaw, will be a rare success for President George W. Bush who has argued it is essential to contain the threat of a potentially nuclear-armed Iran.
Washington hopes the shield might persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program, although Teheran says it wants to develop nuclear energy only to generate electricity and not to make nuclear weapons.
Reuters
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Poland finally agreed on Thursday to host elements of U.S. global anti-missile system on its territory after Washington improved the terms of the deal amid the Georgia crisis.
The preliminary deal was signed by deputy Polish Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer and U.S. chief negotiator John Rood. It still needs to be endorsed by the Polish parliament.
The signing comes after Prime Minister Donald Tusk had been holding out for enhanced military cooperation with the United States in return for consent to host 10 interceptor rockets at a base in northern Poland.
Washington says the interceptors and a radar in the Czech Republic would form part of a global “missile shield” protecting the United States and its allies from long range missiles that could in the future be fired by Iran or groups such as al-Qaeda.
“We have crossed the Rubicon,” Tusk said just before the deal was signed.
“We have finally got understanding of our point of view that Poland, being a crucial partner in NATO and an important friend and ally of the United States, must also be safe.”
Officials said the deal included a U.S. declaration that it will aid Poland militarily in case of a threat from a third country and that it would establish a permanent U.S. base on Polish
"We are comfortable that we negotiated a strong agreement," Rood said. "It elevates our security relationship to a new level."
RUSSIA VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED
If everything goes to schedule, the interceptor base would be ready by around 2012, officials have said. The Czechs have already signed an agreement to host the radar although parliament there must yet ratify it.
Russia has vehemently opposed placing the shield installations in central Europe, saying they would threaten its security and upset the post-Cold War balance of power in Europe.
Moscow has threatened to take retaliatory steps against Poland and the Czech Republic, its former reluctant vassals who are now part of the European Union and NATO.
In the face of Russian opposition, Tusk had argued he could not agree to the shield unless the United States agreed to boost Warsaw's air defenses and enhance mutual military cooperation.
Russia's military action against Georgia strengthened the argument, Tusk said on Tuesday, ahead of the talks this week.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski played down the impact of the events in Georgia on the deal, apparently hoping to soften any criticism from Moscow.
In the first sign of Moscow's displeasure, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday cancelled a planned trip to Warsaw in September, Polish diplomats said.
The deal, if approved by parliaments in Prague and Warsaw, will be a rare success for President George W. Bush who has argued it is essential to contain the threat of a potentially nuclear-armed Iran.
Washington hopes the shield might persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program, although Teheran says it wants to develop nuclear energy only to generate electricity and not to make nuclear weapons.
Second World War spy ring to open its files
Anne Barrowclough
London Times
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
One was a historian and assistant to John Kennedy, another was the chef who first introduced French cuisine to American households, and a third was the father of Stewart Copeland, drummer for the band The Police.
In their every day lives they had nothing in common but Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Julia Childs and Miles Copeland shared a secret life - serving in an international spy ring at a time when Hitler was threatening the world.
Their work and that of thousands of other members of the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA, will be revealed today when previously classified files are opened by the National Archives in the USA. For the first time, the files identifiying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralised intelligence agency will be released and the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives exposed.
Members of the OSS, which was created by President Franklin Roosevelt in World War II to help fight Nazism, included historians, actors, lawyers and athletes. They created propoganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and encouraged resistance amongst foreign troops.
In the service of the OSS, Julia Childs helped develop a shark repellent to ensure that sharks would not explode ordnance that was targeting U-boats, while Kermit Roosevelt, the son of President Thedodore Roosevelt, set up a militia of Inuit.
Others members of the service include Ernest Hemingway’s son John, Arthur Goldberg, who went on to become a Supreme Court judge and President Roosevelt’s other son, Quentin.
Most kept their work secret even from those closest to them. Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North Africa, said he only recently told his wife of 62 years about his OSS work. "I was told to keep my mouth shut," said Mr Mess, now 93.
The release of the files will reveal for the first time the workings of the agency, which was taken into the CIA after it was disbanded by President Harry S Truman in 1945. The CIA had resisted releasing the records for decades but former CIA director William Casey cleared the way for the transfer of millions of OSS documents to the National Archives when he took over the agency in 1981. The personnel files are the latest to be made public.
Before the formation of the OSS, the USA had no united intelligence gathering network. The different arms of the military were reluctant to share information and the code-breaking operation of the State Department was shut down in 1929 by Secretary of State Henry Stimson because "gentlemen don't read each others' mail."
The OSS helped arm, train and supply a number of resistance movements including Mae Tse
Tung's Red Army in China and the Viet Minh in French Indochina. One of its greatest achievements during World War II was the penetration of Germany by its operatives. They were responsible for training German and Austrian civilians for missions inside Germany. Some of these agents included exiled communists, labour activies, Jewish refugees and anti-Nazi prisoners of war.
At the height of World War II, the OSS ran 12000 agents.
London Times
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
One was a historian and assistant to John Kennedy, another was the chef who first introduced French cuisine to American households, and a third was the father of Stewart Copeland, drummer for the band The Police.
In their every day lives they had nothing in common but Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Julia Childs and Miles Copeland shared a secret life - serving in an international spy ring at a time when Hitler was threatening the world.
Their work and that of thousands of other members of the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA, will be revealed today when previously classified files are opened by the National Archives in the USA. For the first time, the files identifiying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralised intelligence agency will be released and the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives exposed.
Members of the OSS, which was created by President Franklin Roosevelt in World War II to help fight Nazism, included historians, actors, lawyers and athletes. They created propoganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and encouraged resistance amongst foreign troops.
In the service of the OSS, Julia Childs helped develop a shark repellent to ensure that sharks would not explode ordnance that was targeting U-boats, while Kermit Roosevelt, the son of President Thedodore Roosevelt, set up a militia of Inuit.
Others members of the service include Ernest Hemingway’s son John, Arthur Goldberg, who went on to become a Supreme Court judge and President Roosevelt’s other son, Quentin.
Most kept their work secret even from those closest to them. Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North Africa, said he only recently told his wife of 62 years about his OSS work. "I was told to keep my mouth shut," said Mr Mess, now 93.
The release of the files will reveal for the first time the workings of the agency, which was taken into the CIA after it was disbanded by President Harry S Truman in 1945. The CIA had resisted releasing the records for decades but former CIA director William Casey cleared the way for the transfer of millions of OSS documents to the National Archives when he took over the agency in 1981. The personnel files are the latest to be made public.
Before the formation of the OSS, the USA had no united intelligence gathering network. The different arms of the military were reluctant to share information and the code-breaking operation of the State Department was shut down in 1929 by Secretary of State Henry Stimson because "gentlemen don't read each others' mail."
The OSS helped arm, train and supply a number of resistance movements including Mae Tse
Tung's Red Army in China and the Viet Minh in French Indochina. One of its greatest achievements during World War II was the penetration of Germany by its operatives. They were responsible for training German and Austrian civilians for missions inside Germany. Some of these agents included exiled communists, labour activies, Jewish refugees and anti-Nazi prisoners of war.
At the height of World War II, the OSS ran 12000 agents.
Iran: We will protect our waters
Press TV
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
The Iranian Navy is more capable than ever in protecting our waters in the Persian Gulf, says Iranian Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari.
The navy commander made his remarks after reports suggested that an armada of US and European naval vessels will be stationed in the Persian Gulf in an unprecedented build-up.
“We will protect our land and territorial waters with all our might,” said the Iranian commander.
Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon, also commented on the issue Wednesday.
“We routinely rotate deployed naval forces in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility (one of which is the Persian Gulf),” he told The Jerusalem Post.
“As a matter of policy we do not discuss current or future ship’s movements,” he added.
His remarks were provoked by speculation prompted by the introduction of House Resolution 362, which “demands” that the US president make strenuous efforts, “prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran”.
Supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Resolution (and the Senate version Resolution 580) is considered by its critics as a means of imposing a naval blockade and restrict imports into the oil-rich country.
“This resolution, House Resolution 362 is a virtual war resolution. It is the declaration of tremendous sanctions, and boycotts and embargoes on the Iranians. It is very, very severe,” former presidential candidate Ron Paul has said.
“The fear is, they say, maybe some day, [Iran is] going to get a nuclear weapon, even though our own CIA’s National Intelligence Estimate has said that the Iranians have not been working on a nuclear weapon since 2003,” continued the 10-term congressman.
The bill, which was introduced at an AIPAC annual policy conference and is considered the lobby’s top legislative priority, has gained 261 co-sponsors in Congress and has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
In preparation for any possible act of aggression against the country, Iran has reportedly begun mass production of a high-tech naval weapons system capable of targeting any warship within a range of 300 kilometers from its shores.
“The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps recently tested a naval weapon which is definitely capable of sending any warship within a distance of 300 km to the bottom of the sea,” IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad-Ali Jafari said on August 4.
Lt. Col. Ryder, however, has cast doubt as to whether the reported deployment of the warships is aimed at the imposition of a naval blockade on Iran. “I can tell you that reports of an alleged naval blockade of Iran are false.”
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
The Iranian Navy is more capable than ever in protecting our waters in the Persian Gulf, says Iranian Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari.
The navy commander made his remarks after reports suggested that an armada of US and European naval vessels will be stationed in the Persian Gulf in an unprecedented build-up.
“We will protect our land and territorial waters with all our might,” said the Iranian commander.
Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon, also commented on the issue Wednesday.
“We routinely rotate deployed naval forces in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility (one of which is the Persian Gulf),” he told The Jerusalem Post.
“As a matter of policy we do not discuss current or future ship’s movements,” he added.
His remarks were provoked by speculation prompted by the introduction of House Resolution 362, which “demands” that the US president make strenuous efforts, “prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran”.
Supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Resolution (and the Senate version Resolution 580) is considered by its critics as a means of imposing a naval blockade and restrict imports into the oil-rich country.
“This resolution, House Resolution 362 is a virtual war resolution. It is the declaration of tremendous sanctions, and boycotts and embargoes on the Iranians. It is very, very severe,” former presidential candidate Ron Paul has said.
“The fear is, they say, maybe some day, [Iran is] going to get a nuclear weapon, even though our own CIA’s National Intelligence Estimate has said that the Iranians have not been working on a nuclear weapon since 2003,” continued the 10-term congressman.
The bill, which was introduced at an AIPAC annual policy conference and is considered the lobby’s top legislative priority, has gained 261 co-sponsors in Congress and has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
In preparation for any possible act of aggression against the country, Iran has reportedly begun mass production of a high-tech naval weapons system capable of targeting any warship within a range of 300 kilometers from its shores.
“The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps recently tested a naval weapon which is definitely capable of sending any warship within a distance of 300 km to the bottom of the sea,” IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad-Ali Jafari said on August 4.
Lt. Col. Ryder, however, has cast doubt as to whether the reported deployment of the warships is aimed at the imposition of a naval blockade on Iran. “I can tell you that reports of an alleged naval blockade of Iran are false.”
Same As the Old Boss: Both McCain and Obama’s Advisors Want War in Georgia
George Washington’s Blog
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Georgia is located in Eurasia, is a gateway to other Eurasian countries, and possesses important oil pipelines.
For months previous to the start of hostilities in the Georgia-Russian war, American trainers have been getting the Georgians ready for war.
As revealed in a July article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “A large contingent of Georgia Army National Guard soldiers flew to the Republic of Georgia on Sunday for joint military exercises at a time when tension is brewing in the region”.
And you won’t hear it on the tv news, but Georgia started the war.
It is clear that the U.S. has been behind Georgia’s military adventures.
McCain
McCain’s top foreign affairs advisor was until very recently a high-level Georgian lobbyist , a neocon, and a key player in pushing fake intelligence and the Iraq war. He is a hawk who is very good at starting wars.
Former LA Times’ journalist Robert Scheer thinks the war was started to boost McCain’s election chances.
Obama
Obama’s top foreign policy advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, wrote in his book The Grand Chessboard, that the top priority for the U.S. was seizing control of Eurasia and its rich oil resources.
Here are some sample quotes:
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Georgia is located in Eurasia, is a gateway to other Eurasian countries, and possesses important oil pipelines.
For months previous to the start of hostilities in the Georgia-Russian war, American trainers have been getting the Georgians ready for war.
As revealed in a July article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “A large contingent of Georgia Army National Guard soldiers flew to the Republic of Georgia on Sunday for joint military exercises at a time when tension is brewing in the region”.
And you won’t hear it on the tv news, but Georgia started the war.
It is clear that the U.S. has been behind Georgia’s military adventures.
McCain
McCain’s top foreign affairs advisor was until very recently a high-level Georgian lobbyist , a neocon, and a key player in pushing fake intelligence and the Iraq war. He is a hawk who is very good at starting wars.
Former LA Times’ journalist Robert Scheer thinks the war was started to boost McCain’s election chances.
Obama
Obama’s top foreign policy advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, wrote in his book The Grand Chessboard, that the top priority for the U.S. was seizing control of Eurasia and its rich oil resources.
Here are some sample quotes:
- “Ever since the continents started interacting politically, some five hundred years ago, Eurasia has been the center of world power.”- (p. xiii)
- “It is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus of also challenging America. The formulation of a comprehensive and integrated Eurasian geostrategy is therefore the purpose of this book.” (p. xiv)
- “How America ‘manages’ Eurasia is critical. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance at the map also suggests that control over Eurasia would almost automatically entail Africa’s subordination, rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania geopolitically peripheral to the world’s central continent. About 75 per cent of the world’s people live in Eurasia, and most of the world’s physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for about three-fourths of the world’s known energy resources.” (p.31)
It is clear that the US is following Brzezinski’s playbook for Eurasia.
Indeed, this is exactly what Mikhail Gorbachev was referring to when he wrote:
“By declaring the Caucasus, a region that is thousands of miles from the American continent, a sphere of its ‘national interest,’ the United States made a serious blunder.”
Bottom line: Both McCain and Obama’s top foreign policy advisors want a war. And, obviously, the other neocons and assorted hawks want one also. Indeed, the U.S. is now sending troops into Georgia under the pretense of giving “humanitarian aid”.this (which provides some insights, but may be over-the-top).
See also this and this (which provides some insights, but may be over-the-top).
Ceasefire gives way to PR war
Russia Today
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
The information war between Russia and Georgia is continuing, even after a ceasefire agreement has stopped the military conflict. On Wednesday evening, Mikhail Saakashvili spread panic in Tbilisi, by claiming that Russian tanks are on the move towards the Georgian capital.
For several hours, western news channels reported that Russian armoured vehicles were rumbling deeper into Georgia.
Framing the situation as “some very tense times in Georgia”, much of the western media raised concerns that Russia was breaching the peace agreement.
However, Russian peacekeepers say they’re there to liquidise thousands of heavy weapons, which were dropped in the streets by retreating Georgians.
While the situation in Gori is grim, local officials are said to have fled the region. Russian attempts to organise a joint humanitarian effort have failed.
Local citizens are left there with no food, and the Russian military have been left to organise aid for them.
The main focus on CNN, for example, is the opposite – their sources claim torture and looting.
Meanwhile, as western media report that Russian tanks were heading towards Tbilisi, the Georgian government officially denied the claims, saying there is absolutely no danger to its citizens.
It seems many western news outlets don’t count official sources as secure, and instead keep relying on their own sources. But as British Times newspaper claims, most of these sources are little more than rumour-mongers.
The newspaper’s article titled ‘Georgia loses the fight with Russia, but manages to win the PR war’ says:
“As foreign correspondents poured into Tbilisi a team of Belgian PR advisers launched a slick operation to keep them updated with e-mail alerts detailing the latest alleged aggressions by Russia and the Georgian Government’s reaction.
Some of the claims veered into outright exaggeration – such stating that Russian jets were “intensively bombing Tbilisi” or that Russian troops had taken Gori – but the 24-hour news culture meant that many organisations repeated them without independent verification”.
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
The information war between Russia and Georgia is continuing, even after a ceasefire agreement has stopped the military conflict. On Wednesday evening, Mikhail Saakashvili spread panic in Tbilisi, by claiming that Russian tanks are on the move towards the Georgian capital.
For several hours, western news channels reported that Russian armoured vehicles were rumbling deeper into Georgia.
Framing the situation as “some very tense times in Georgia”, much of the western media raised concerns that Russia was breaching the peace agreement.
However, Russian peacekeepers say they’re there to liquidise thousands of heavy weapons, which were dropped in the streets by retreating Georgians.
While the situation in Gori is grim, local officials are said to have fled the region. Russian attempts to organise a joint humanitarian effort have failed.
Local citizens are left there with no food, and the Russian military have been left to organise aid for them.
The main focus on CNN, for example, is the opposite – their sources claim torture and looting.
Meanwhile, as western media report that Russian tanks were heading towards Tbilisi, the Georgian government officially denied the claims, saying there is absolutely no danger to its citizens.
It seems many western news outlets don’t count official sources as secure, and instead keep relying on their own sources. But as British Times newspaper claims, most of these sources are little more than rumour-mongers.
The newspaper’s article titled ‘Georgia loses the fight with Russia, but manages to win the PR war’ says:
“As foreign correspondents poured into Tbilisi a team of Belgian PR advisers launched a slick operation to keep them updated with e-mail alerts detailing the latest alleged aggressions by Russia and the Georgian Government’s reaction.
Some of the claims veered into outright exaggeration – such stating that Russian jets were “intensively bombing Tbilisi” or that Russian troops had taken Gori – but the 24-hour news culture meant that many organisations repeated them without independent verification”.
Russian Troops Withdraw From Gori
Sky News
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Russian troops have begun pulling out from Gori, the Georgian city that has been hit by shelling and looting, according to Georgia’s Interior Ministry.
Their presence in the town had raised fears that Russia would challenge a cease-fire agreement brokered following five days of bloody conflict over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia.
Georgian police on the outskirts of Gori were halting civilian traffic and scores of light vehicles carrying Georgian soldiers were parked in the area.
Meanwhile, a Russian defence ministry source told Sky News an unmanned Georgian spy plane had been shot down over South Ossetia.
The first planeload of US aid has been delivered to Georgia as Washington steps up its support of the shaky ceasefire.
A C-17 military aircraft brought supplies into the capital Tbilisi and a second flight is planned for later today.
George Bush has promised to support Georgia with humanitarian supplies and said he expects
Russia to allow aid into the country, ensuring all lines of communication and transport remain open.
Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili said Mr Bush’s pledge meant Georgian ports and airports would be taken under US military control but this claim was swiftly denied by the Pentagon.
The US president also criticised Moscow for apparently breaking the ceasefire.
"The United States of America stands with the democratically-elected government of Georgia," Mr Bush said.
"We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in Tbilisi later after talks in Paris.
Russia has denied violating the ceasefire and rejected claims its troops had advanced on Tbilisi or looted the town of Gori.
But a top Russian general has said his troops would be in Gori at least until tomorrow in order to hand control over to Georgian police.
Sky News' Lisa Holland, speaking from Moscow, said: "Essentially it is the West's worst nightmare that this is squaring up into some kind of proxy confrontation between America and Russia."
She added: "Russia's foreign minister said America now has to choose between Georgia and Russia so the situation is getting more and more serious and critically Russia is saying quite clearly that it believes the solution - the way forward - must not involve America."
In the meantime, Human Rights Watch, a US-based organisation with staff in Georgia, has said its onsite researchers have witnessed looting of ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia, the separatist province at the heart of the current conflict.
And yesterday, Sky News' Andrew Wilson was held at gunpoint in Gori, saying there were "vicious looters on the way into town".
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Russian troops have begun pulling out from Gori, the Georgian city that has been hit by shelling and looting, according to Georgia’s Interior Ministry.
Their presence in the town had raised fears that Russia would challenge a cease-fire agreement brokered following five days of bloody conflict over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia.
Georgian police on the outskirts of Gori were halting civilian traffic and scores of light vehicles carrying Georgian soldiers were parked in the area.
Meanwhile, a Russian defence ministry source told Sky News an unmanned Georgian spy plane had been shot down over South Ossetia.
The first planeload of US aid has been delivered to Georgia as Washington steps up its support of the shaky ceasefire.
A C-17 military aircraft brought supplies into the capital Tbilisi and a second flight is planned for later today.
George Bush has promised to support Georgia with humanitarian supplies and said he expects
Russia to allow aid into the country, ensuring all lines of communication and transport remain open.
Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili said Mr Bush’s pledge meant Georgian ports and airports would be taken under US military control but this claim was swiftly denied by the Pentagon.
The US president also criticised Moscow for apparently breaking the ceasefire.
"The United States of America stands with the democratically-elected government of Georgia," Mr Bush said.
"We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in Tbilisi later after talks in Paris.
Russia has denied violating the ceasefire and rejected claims its troops had advanced on Tbilisi or looted the town of Gori.
But a top Russian general has said his troops would be in Gori at least until tomorrow in order to hand control over to Georgian police.
Sky News' Lisa Holland, speaking from Moscow, said: "Essentially it is the West's worst nightmare that this is squaring up into some kind of proxy confrontation between America and Russia."
She added: "Russia's foreign minister said America now has to choose between Georgia and Russia so the situation is getting more and more serious and critically Russia is saying quite clearly that it believes the solution - the way forward - must not involve America."
In the meantime, Human Rights Watch, a US-based organisation with staff in Georgia, has said its onsite researchers have witnessed looting of ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia, the separatist province at the heart of the current conflict.
And yesterday, Sky News' Andrew Wilson was held at gunpoint in Gori, saying there were "vicious looters on the way into town".
Ed Asner Wants Ballot Referendum for New 9/11 Probe
Gothamist
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Watch your back, Dick Cheney! Actor Ed Asner, former Dallas Cowboy Mark Stepnoski, and formerly famous hip hop group Arrested Development are leading a petition drive to get a referendum on New York City’s November ballot that would establish a new 9/11 investigation. If the group, called 911 Truth, can collect 30,000 signatures before September 4th, the City Council will be required to consider the measure, which calls for an investigative panel with subpoena authority.
Former Senator Mike Gravel (who would join the panel along with former senator Lincoln Chafee, Asner and 9/11 widow Lorie Van Auken) tells NY Mag that “the original commission didn’t get to the bottom of anything. We need to investigate from scratch.” Among the “Top 40” reasons the group gives to doubt the official story of 9/11, from their website:
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Watch your back, Dick Cheney! Actor Ed Asner, former Dallas Cowboy Mark Stepnoski, and formerly famous hip hop group Arrested Development are leading a petition drive to get a referendum on New York City’s November ballot that would establish a new 9/11 investigation. If the group, called 911 Truth, can collect 30,000 signatures before September 4th, the City Council will be required to consider the measure, which calls for an investigative panel with subpoena authority.
Former Senator Mike Gravel (who would join the panel along with former senator Lincoln Chafee, Asner and 9/11 widow Lorie Van Auken) tells NY Mag that “the original commission didn’t get to the bottom of anything. We need to investigate from scratch.” Among the “Top 40” reasons the group gives to doubt the official story of 9/11, from their website:
- “Al-CIA-da?” The longstanding relationship between US intelligence networks and radical Islamists.
- Flight 93. Did the Shanksville crash occur at 10:06 (according to a seismic report) or 10:03 (according to the 9/11 Commission)? Does the Commission wish to hide what happened in the last three minutes of the flight, and if so, why?
- Pentagon Strike. How was it possible the Pentagon was hit 1 hour and 20 minutes after the attacks began? Why was there no response from Andrews Air Force Base, just 10 miles away.
They currently have over 25,000 signatures from New York City residents, and volunteers are fanning out around town, with another (rival?) group, We Are Change, staking out the World Trade Center site (pictured above). So are they just a crowd of unhinged conspiracy theorists locked into a reflexive, anti-establishment world view that’s as paranoid as it is adolescent? Or, rather, vigilant citizens with the clarity see through the all jingoistic lies that thinly veil Dick Cheney’s treasonous agenda? Discuss!
McCain: ‘In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations.’
Think Progress
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
In recent days, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) rhetoric toward Russia has mostly been overblown bluster, including an accusation that the country wanted to restore its old empire. However, since a cease-fire was announced and his predictions were proven wrong, McCain has backtracked, saying there won’t be a Cold War. To justify his new position, he told reporters in a press conference today:
In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations.
Watch it:
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
In recent days, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) rhetoric toward Russia has mostly been overblown bluster, including an accusation that the country wanted to restore its old empire. However, since a cease-fire was announced and his predictions were proven wrong, McCain has backtracked, saying there won’t be a Cold War. To justify his new position, he told reporters in a press conference today:
In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations.
Watch it:
Russia says U.S. playing dangerous game in Georgia
Oleg Shchedrov
Reuters
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Russia accused the United States on Wednesday of playing a dangerous game in the Caucasus by backing Georgia and denied Moscow was not doing enough to prevent looting.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Washington had to choose between partnership with Moscow and the Georgian leadership which he described as a “virtual project”.
“We understand that this current Georgian leadership is a special project of the United States, but one day the United States will have to choose between defending its prestige over a virtual project or real partnership which requires joint action,” Lavrov told reporters.
U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday demanded Russia resolve a crisis with Georgia and said he would dispatch U.S. military aircraft with humanitarian supplies.
Lavrov, speaking to reporters at a state residence outside Moscow, hit back, saying Moscow had warned Washington about the dangers of backing Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
“Bush’s speech said nothing of how Georgia was armed all these years, including by the United States,” Lavrov said.
"We have more than once warned our partners that this is a dangerous game. It (the Bush speech) said nothing about what had happened on Aug 8, when Western leaders maintained silence when Tskhinvali became a target of massive bombing," Lavrov said.
"The Western political elite got excited only after the Russian leadership decided not to leave its peacekeepers to their fate, not to allow... ethnic cleansing as it had happened in Srebrenica," Lavrov said.
Refugees streaming out of villages near South Ossetia on Wednesday described how armed groups looted and burned their houses after the Georgian army left.
Lavrov said he had told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Russia would prevent any looting in Georgian towns such as Gori, which is near South Ossetia where the conflict erupted last Thursday.
"I spoke today with Rice and she told me there are reports of acts of looting in Gori, that illegal groups are looting the city and Russian troops are doing nothing," he said.
"If any such facts prove true, we will react in the most serious way," he said. "The peaceful population should be protected. We are investigating all these reports and will not allow any such actions."
Georgia repeatedly accused Russia of breaking a ceasefire in their six-day-old conflict on Wednesday by pushing troops into the Georgian town of Gori, a claim denied by Moscow.
"There is Russian presence near the towns of Gori and Senaki... We have never concealed this," Lavrov said.
"They are there to neutralise a huge arsenal of arms and military hardware which they found there totally abandoned," Lavrov said. "It was necessary to neutralise them in order not to create a threat for civilians".
He also denied that Russian troops were present at the Georgian port of Poti.
Reuters
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Russia accused the United States on Wednesday of playing a dangerous game in the Caucasus by backing Georgia and denied Moscow was not doing enough to prevent looting.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Washington had to choose between partnership with Moscow and the Georgian leadership which he described as a “virtual project”.
“We understand that this current Georgian leadership is a special project of the United States, but one day the United States will have to choose between defending its prestige over a virtual project or real partnership which requires joint action,” Lavrov told reporters.
U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday demanded Russia resolve a crisis with Georgia and said he would dispatch U.S. military aircraft with humanitarian supplies.
Lavrov, speaking to reporters at a state residence outside Moscow, hit back, saying Moscow had warned Washington about the dangers of backing Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
“Bush’s speech said nothing of how Georgia was armed all these years, including by the United States,” Lavrov said.
"We have more than once warned our partners that this is a dangerous game. It (the Bush speech) said nothing about what had happened on Aug 8, when Western leaders maintained silence when Tskhinvali became a target of massive bombing," Lavrov said.
"The Western political elite got excited only after the Russian leadership decided not to leave its peacekeepers to their fate, not to allow... ethnic cleansing as it had happened in Srebrenica," Lavrov said.
Refugees streaming out of villages near South Ossetia on Wednesday described how armed groups looted and burned their houses after the Georgian army left.
Lavrov said he had told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Russia would prevent any looting in Georgian towns such as Gori, which is near South Ossetia where the conflict erupted last Thursday.
"I spoke today with Rice and she told me there are reports of acts of looting in Gori, that illegal groups are looting the city and Russian troops are doing nothing," he said.
"If any such facts prove true, we will react in the most serious way," he said. "The peaceful population should be protected. We are investigating all these reports and will not allow any such actions."
Georgia repeatedly accused Russia of breaking a ceasefire in their six-day-old conflict on Wednesday by pushing troops into the Georgian town of Gori, a claim denied by Moscow.
"There is Russian presence near the towns of Gori and Senaki... We have never concealed this," Lavrov said.
"They are there to neutralise a huge arsenal of arms and military hardware which they found there totally abandoned," Lavrov said. "It was necessary to neutralise them in order not to create a threat for civilians".
He also denied that Russian troops were present at the Georgian port of Poti.
British Government Attempts To Scrap Open Justice In The Name Of Fighting Terrorism
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Ministers want to re-write fundamental principle of English law to accomodate state secrecy
The British government has inserted provisions into a Counter-Terrorism Bill that would see centuries old principles of law and justice undermined and allow the government unprecedented powers to intervene in the workings of the judiciary.
The legislation would allow inquests to be held in secret without a jury and would grant the government the right to replace the coroner with their own appointee, should they deem it to be a matter of national security.
The Times of London has the story, pointing out that the change in law would also allow the Home Secretary (The British equivalent of Secretary of State) to "bar the public from inquests if it is deemed to be in the public interest", a candidate for the award of most Orwellian phrase if ever there was one.
The report goes on to state:
It could be applied to inquests similar to those into the deaths of the weapons inspector David Kelly, “friendly-fire” military casualties or Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. In future, inquests similar to that into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, which is due to start next month with 44 police officers giving evidence anonymously, could also be subject to the secrecy clause.
Lawyers, opposition MPs and pressure groups have told The Times that the move represents a fundamental breach of the right to a public inquiry into a death – a centuries-old mainstay of British justice.
The bill passed the House of Commons last month, without any mention of the measure which was overshadowed by debate surrounding the legal detention length of suspects in terror cases.
Critics and public pressure groups, including The Coroners’ Society, have slammed the proposal, warning that it could easily be used to shield from public scrutiny any case that the government deems politically sensitive.
Lawyers have warned that the measure undermines the entire justice system in the UK by threatening the principle of open justice. The move also represents a breach of the separation of powers of the state, the foundation underpinning the British political system and the governance of democratic states in general. Britain is renowned for having one of the most independent judicial systems in the world, this measure would go some way to scaling that back significantly.
Labour MP Andrew Dismore, the chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, has also stated that the provisions contravene the European Convention on Human Rights.
Though the measure will likely not pass the House of Lords, still the final arbiters of judicial disputes in the UK, the fact that the government even legislated it speaks volumes of their agenda and intention to continue to use anti-terror laws to grant themselves further unchecked power and implement greater secrecy.
Infowars.net
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Ministers want to re-write fundamental principle of English law to accomodate state secrecy
The British government has inserted provisions into a Counter-Terrorism Bill that would see centuries old principles of law and justice undermined and allow the government unprecedented powers to intervene in the workings of the judiciary.
The legislation would allow inquests to be held in secret without a jury and would grant the government the right to replace the coroner with their own appointee, should they deem it to be a matter of national security.
The Times of London has the story, pointing out that the change in law would also allow the Home Secretary (The British equivalent of Secretary of State) to "bar the public from inquests if it is deemed to be in the public interest", a candidate for the award of most Orwellian phrase if ever there was one.
The report goes on to state:
It could be applied to inquests similar to those into the deaths of the weapons inspector David Kelly, “friendly-fire” military casualties or Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. In future, inquests similar to that into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, which is due to start next month with 44 police officers giving evidence anonymously, could also be subject to the secrecy clause.
Lawyers, opposition MPs and pressure groups have told The Times that the move represents a fundamental breach of the right to a public inquiry into a death – a centuries-old mainstay of British justice.
The bill passed the House of Commons last month, without any mention of the measure which was overshadowed by debate surrounding the legal detention length of suspects in terror cases.
Critics and public pressure groups, including The Coroners’ Society, have slammed the proposal, warning that it could easily be used to shield from public scrutiny any case that the government deems politically sensitive.
Lawyers have warned that the measure undermines the entire justice system in the UK by threatening the principle of open justice. The move also represents a breach of the separation of powers of the state, the foundation underpinning the British political system and the governance of democratic states in general. Britain is renowned for having one of the most independent judicial systems in the world, this measure would go some way to scaling that back significantly.
Labour MP Andrew Dismore, the chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, has also stated that the provisions contravene the European Convention on Human Rights.
Though the measure will likely not pass the House of Lords, still the final arbiters of judicial disputes in the UK, the fact that the government even legislated it speaks volumes of their agenda and intention to continue to use anti-terror laws to grant themselves further unchecked power and implement greater secrecy.
Russia says Georgian move for South Ossetia was ‘like 9/11′
Jon Swaine
London Telegraph
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Georgia’s attempt to reclaim South Ossetia has been compared with 9/11 by Sergei Ivanov, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister.
Seeking to justify Moscow’s overwhelming response to Georgia’s attempt to reassert itself over the breakway province, Mr Ivanov said that Russia had no choice but to take military action, just as the US felt bound to respond after the attacks by al-Qa’eda on New York and Washington in September 2001.
“We just reacted because we didn’t have any other option. Any civilised country would act same way. I may remind you - September 11th, the reaction was similar. American citizens were killed. You know the reaction,” Mr Ivanov said.
International condemnation for the Russian response had taken Moscow by surprise, according to Mr Ivanov. “We didn’t think that we annoyed anybody,” he said.
Mr Ivanov also rubbished comments by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary. Mr Miliband earlier accused Russia of engaging in “19th Century forms of diplomacy” in its “blatant aggression” towards Georgia. He said “the sight of Russian tanks rolling into parts of a sovereign country on its neighboring borders will have brought a chill down the spine of many people, rightly”.
Mr Miliband's claim that Russia was keen restore the Soviet Union was "total rubbish - to use a proper English word," Mr Ivanov said.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, earlier taunted the US and Georgia over the crisis, describing the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili as a "special project" of the Bush administration rather than a proper state.
London Telegraph
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Georgia’s attempt to reclaim South Ossetia has been compared with 9/11 by Sergei Ivanov, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister.
Seeking to justify Moscow’s overwhelming response to Georgia’s attempt to reassert itself over the breakway province, Mr Ivanov said that Russia had no choice but to take military action, just as the US felt bound to respond after the attacks by al-Qa’eda on New York and Washington in September 2001.
“We just reacted because we didn’t have any other option. Any civilised country would act same way. I may remind you - September 11th, the reaction was similar. American citizens were killed. You know the reaction,” Mr Ivanov said.
International condemnation for the Russian response had taken Moscow by surprise, according to Mr Ivanov. “We didn’t think that we annoyed anybody,” he said.
Mr Ivanov also rubbished comments by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary. Mr Miliband earlier accused Russia of engaging in “19th Century forms of diplomacy” in its “blatant aggression” towards Georgia. He said “the sight of Russian tanks rolling into parts of a sovereign country on its neighboring borders will have brought a chill down the spine of many people, rightly”.
Mr Miliband's claim that Russia was keen restore the Soviet Union was "total rubbish - to use a proper English word," Mr Ivanov said.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, earlier taunted the US and Georgia over the crisis, describing the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili as a "special project" of the Bush administration rather than a proper state.
Russia launches genocide probe over S.Ossetia events
RIA Novosti
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Top Russian investigators have opened a criminal case on charges of genocide in connection with recent events in South Ossetia, a General Prosecutor’s Office spokesman said on Thursday.
The Investigation Committee at the General Prosecutor’s Office “initiated a genocide probe based on reports of actions committed by Georgian troops aimed at murdering Russian citizens - ethnic Ossetians - living in South Ossetia,” said Igor Komissarov, deputy chairman of the Investigation Committee.
Russia has accused Georgia of committing “genocide” by launching an offensive last Friday to regain control of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Russia is calling for an international war crimes trial for the Georgian leadership, which Moscow says is responsible for massive loss of life in South Ossetia.
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered prosecutors on August 10 to gather evidence to support Russian allegations of the Georgian genocide of South Ossetians. The vast majority of South Ossetians hold Russian passports.
Russia has said that 1,600 civilians died in the Georgian attack on Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.
Georgia has also filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice on Tuesday over alleged ethnic cleansing.
“The suit contains material showing that Russia has committed ethnic cleansing against Georgia [during three interventions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia] from 1993 to 2008,” Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaya said.
Speaking on South Ossetia’s events earlier this week, the Russian prime minister accused the West of double standards.
“They [the U.S.] of course had to hang Saddam Hussein for destroying several Shiite villages,” Vladimir Putin said.
“But the current Georgian rulers, who in one hour simply wiped ten Ossetian villages from the face of the earth, who used tanks to knock down children and the elderly, and who burnt civilians alive - they (Georgian leaders) are players who of course have to be protected.”
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
Top Russian investigators have opened a criminal case on charges of genocide in connection with recent events in South Ossetia, a General Prosecutor’s Office spokesman said on Thursday.
The Investigation Committee at the General Prosecutor’s Office “initiated a genocide probe based on reports of actions committed by Georgian troops aimed at murdering Russian citizens - ethnic Ossetians - living in South Ossetia,” said Igor Komissarov, deputy chairman of the Investigation Committee.
Russia has accused Georgia of committing “genocide” by launching an offensive last Friday to regain control of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Russia is calling for an international war crimes trial for the Georgian leadership, which Moscow says is responsible for massive loss of life in South Ossetia.
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered prosecutors on August 10 to gather evidence to support Russian allegations of the Georgian genocide of South Ossetians. The vast majority of South Ossetians hold Russian passports.
Russia has said that 1,600 civilians died in the Georgian attack on Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.
Georgia has also filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice on Tuesday over alleged ethnic cleansing.
“The suit contains material showing that Russia has committed ethnic cleansing against Georgia [during three interventions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia] from 1993 to 2008,” Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaya said.
Speaking on South Ossetia’s events earlier this week, the Russian prime minister accused the West of double standards.
“They [the U.S.] of course had to hang Saddam Hussein for destroying several Shiite villages,” Vladimir Putin said.
“But the current Georgian rulers, who in one hour simply wiped ten Ossetian villages from the face of the earth, who used tanks to knock down children and the elderly, and who burnt civilians alive - they (Georgian leaders) are players who of course have to be protected.”
Russia accuses Georgia of plotting armed attack against Abkhazia
RIA Novosti
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia’s criticism of the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to Abkhazia was slammed Wednesday by Moscow, which called Tbilisi’s declaration that Russian troops were occupying its breakaway region an attempt to plot an armed attack against Abkhazia.
“If [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili’s absurd demand that the peacekeeping operation be halted in Abkhazia is implemented, the region will risk being plunged deeper into crisis by the unhealthy ambitions of the incumbent Georgian authorities,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said Russia would continue its peacekeeping missions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The ministry added that the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States were deployed in the region not only with the consent of Georgia, but Abkhazia as well. This was fixed in the Agreement on a Ceasefire and Separation of Forces, signed in Moscow in 1994. The ministry said the decision by CIS heads of state on the use of peacekeepers directly referred to a request from Abkhazia for this.
“Considering this, we think it impossible to resolve the fate of the peacekeeping operation without taking into account the opinion of the Abkhazian side,” the ministry said adding that the whole architecture of the Georgian-Abkhazian settlement scheme would be disrupted otherwise.
Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in Abkhazia as part of the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces since the 1990s, following a bloody conflict triggered by Abkhazia’s bid for independence from Georgia.
After Friday’s attempt by the Georgian military to regain control of South Ossetia and the subsequent expulsion of Georgian troops from the region, Russia has committed more than 9,000 paratroopers and 350 armored vehicles to Abkhazia in an attempt to prevent the South Ossetian conflict spreading, and to guard against a potential Georgian attack on Abkhazia.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia’s criticism of the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to Abkhazia was slammed Wednesday by Moscow, which called Tbilisi’s declaration that Russian troops were occupying its breakaway region an attempt to plot an armed attack against Abkhazia.
“If [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili’s absurd demand that the peacekeeping operation be halted in Abkhazia is implemented, the region will risk being plunged deeper into crisis by the unhealthy ambitions of the incumbent Georgian authorities,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said Russia would continue its peacekeeping missions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The ministry added that the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States were deployed in the region not only with the consent of Georgia, but Abkhazia as well. This was fixed in the Agreement on a Ceasefire and Separation of Forces, signed in Moscow in 1994. The ministry said the decision by CIS heads of state on the use of peacekeepers directly referred to a request from Abkhazia for this.
“Considering this, we think it impossible to resolve the fate of the peacekeeping operation without taking into account the opinion of the Abkhazian side,” the ministry said adding that the whole architecture of the Georgian-Abkhazian settlement scheme would be disrupted otherwise.
Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in Abkhazia as part of the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces since the 1990s, following a bloody conflict triggered by Abkhazia’s bid for independence from Georgia.
After Friday’s attempt by the Georgian military to regain control of South Ossetia and the subsequent expulsion of Georgian troops from the region, Russia has committed more than 9,000 paratroopers and 350 armored vehicles to Abkhazia in an attempt to prevent the South Ossetian conflict spreading, and to guard against a potential Georgian attack on Abkhazia.
Dearth Of Sunspot Activity To Herald New Ice Age?
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Observatory predicts two degree drop in temperatures over next two decades as solar activity dwindles
A top observatory that has been measuring sun cycles for over 200 years predicts that global temperatures will drop by two degrees over the next two decades as solar activity grinds to a halt and the planet drastically cools down, potentially heralding the onset of a new ice age.
While the mass media, Al Gore and politicized bodies like the IPCC scaremonger about the perils of global warming and demand the poor and middle class pay CO2 taxes, both hard scientific data and circumstantial evidence points to a clear cooling trend.
Following the end of the Sun’s most active period in over 11,000 years, the last 10 years have displayed a clear cooling trend as temperatures post-1998 leveled out and are now plummeting.
China recently experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels and Britain suffered its coldest April in decades as late-blooming daffodils were pounded with hail and snow on an almost daily basis. The British summer has also left many yearning for global warming, with temperatures in June and July rarely struggling to get over 16 degrees and on one occasion even dropping as low as 9 degrees in the middle of the afternoon.
“Summer heat continues in short supply, continuing a trend that has dominated much of the 21st Century’s opening decade,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “There have been only 162 days 90 degrees or warmer at Midway Airport over the period from 2000 to 2008. That’s by far the fewest 90-degree temperatures in the opening nine years of any decade on record here since 1930.”
The reason? Sunspot activity has dwindled. There have only been a handful of days in the past two months where any sunspot activity has been observed and over 400 spotless days have been recorded in the current solar cycle.
“The sun’s surface has been fairly blank for the last couple of years, and that has some worried that it may be entering another Maunder minimum, the sun’s 50-year abstinence from sunspots, which some scientists have linked to the Little Ice Age of the 17th century,” reports one science blog.
Long-time man-made global warming advocates NASA assure us that significant sunspot activity will return in 2012, but a recent a paper on recent solar trends by William Livingston and Matthew Penn of the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, predicts that sunspots will all but vanish after 2015.
Since the sun, and not carbon dioxide, is the principle driver of climate change, a dearth of sunspot activity would herald a repeat of the Maunder Minimum, the name given to the period roughly from 1645 to 1715, when sunspots became exceedingly rare and contributed to the onset of the Little Ice Age during which Europe and North America were hit by bitterly cold winters and the Thames river in London completely froze.
Prison Planet
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Observatory predicts two degree drop in temperatures over next two decades as solar activity dwindles
A top observatory that has been measuring sun cycles for over 200 years predicts that global temperatures will drop by two degrees over the next two decades as solar activity grinds to a halt and the planet drastically cools down, potentially heralding the onset of a new ice age.
While the mass media, Al Gore and politicized bodies like the IPCC scaremonger about the perils of global warming and demand the poor and middle class pay CO2 taxes, both hard scientific data and circumstantial evidence points to a clear cooling trend.
Following the end of the Sun’s most active period in over 11,000 years, the last 10 years have displayed a clear cooling trend as temperatures post-1998 leveled out and are now plummeting.
China recently experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels and Britain suffered its coldest April in decades as late-blooming daffodils were pounded with hail and snow on an almost daily basis. The British summer has also left many yearning for global warming, with temperatures in June and July rarely struggling to get over 16 degrees and on one occasion even dropping as low as 9 degrees in the middle of the afternoon.
“Summer heat continues in short supply, continuing a trend that has dominated much of the 21st Century’s opening decade,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “There have been only 162 days 90 degrees or warmer at Midway Airport over the period from 2000 to 2008. That’s by far the fewest 90-degree temperatures in the opening nine years of any decade on record here since 1930.”
The reason? Sunspot activity has dwindled. There have only been a handful of days in the past two months where any sunspot activity has been observed and over 400 spotless days have been recorded in the current solar cycle.
“The sun’s surface has been fairly blank for the last couple of years, and that has some worried that it may be entering another Maunder minimum, the sun’s 50-year abstinence from sunspots, which some scientists have linked to the Little Ice Age of the 17th century,” reports one science blog.
Long-time man-made global warming advocates NASA assure us that significant sunspot activity will return in 2012, but a recent a paper on recent solar trends by William Livingston and Matthew Penn of the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, predicts that sunspots will all but vanish after 2015.
Since the sun, and not carbon dioxide, is the principle driver of climate change, a dearth of sunspot activity would herald a repeat of the Maunder Minimum, the name given to the period roughly from 1645 to 1715, when sunspots became exceedingly rare and contributed to the onset of the Little Ice Age during which Europe and North America were hit by bitterly cold winters and the Thames river in London completely froze.
The spotless sun: Eerily quiet solar activity has many scientists concerned that a new ice age could be on the horizon.
Forecasts of a sharp cooling trend are backed by the UK’s Armagh Observatory, which has been observing solar activity for over 200 years.
The observatory notes that solar cycles 21 and 22, which were characterized by being short and intense in their activity, led to the natural global warming observed in the 80’s and 90’s.
“Cycle 23, which hasn’t finished yet, looks like it will be long (at least 12 to 13 years) and cycle 24, which has still to start, looks like it will be exceptionally weak,” writes one observatory scientist.
“Based on the past Armagh measurements, this suggests that over the next two decades, global temperatures may fall by about 2 degrees C — that is, to a level lower than any we have seen in the last 100 years….“Temperatures have already fallen by about 0.5 degrees C over the past 12 months and, if this is only the start of it, it would be a serious concern,” concludes David Watt.
Such predictions are of course of little interest to a global PR machine that butters its bread on attributing every weather event, be it droughts, floods, volcanoes or earthquakes, to man-made global warming.
No matter that the last ten years have showed no global warming and the next 10 years are predicted to show no global warming, the fact that temperatures are clearly dropping in correlation to the lack of sunspot activity means nothing to people who are already committed to a quasi-religious belief system and governments that have resolved to squeeze the middle class citing fraudulent claims of eco-apocalypse as an excuse, while the real environmental crises - deforestation, GM madness, cell phone tower radiation, genetic splicing and chemtrails go almost completely ignored.
Russian troops not heading to Tbilisi - Russia
Russia Today
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Russia has officially denied reports its troops have entered Georgian territory beyond the conflict zone, in breach of the ceasefire agreement. Throughout the day, major international news channels have been reporting that Russian tanks were in the Georgian town of Gori and heading towards the capital Tbilisi.
Throughout the conflict, the Georgian leadership has been waging a media war against Russia. There have been a number of false claims about Russian troop movements in Georgia.
On Monday, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Russia of occupying Gori. This information was reported by the world media but later denied.
Meanwhile, Saakashvili has claimed that Russia should be held responsible for the destruction of the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, not Georgia. The Georgian President was speaking at a news conference in Tbilisi, where he was joined by the presidents of Poland and post-Soviet states Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus said the five leaders were attending the conference in support of the Georgian government.
Earlier, Saakashvili claimed Russian troops sank Georgian coastal guard boats in the port city of Poti. He said Russia wanted to bomb the port, but the city authorities convinced them to move the vessels into the sea and sink them with explosives.
Meanwhile Russian General Staff Deputy Commander Anatoli Nogovitsin has said that several boats attacked a Russian Navy vessel near Poti. The ship fired back and drove the attackers away, he said.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Russia has officially denied reports its troops have entered Georgian territory beyond the conflict zone, in breach of the ceasefire agreement. Throughout the day, major international news channels have been reporting that Russian tanks were in the Georgian town of Gori and heading towards the capital Tbilisi.
Throughout the conflict, the Georgian leadership has been waging a media war against Russia. There have been a number of false claims about Russian troop movements in Georgia.
On Monday, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Russia of occupying Gori. This information was reported by the world media but later denied.
Meanwhile, Saakashvili has claimed that Russia should be held responsible for the destruction of the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, not Georgia. The Georgian President was speaking at a news conference in Tbilisi, where he was joined by the presidents of Poland and post-Soviet states Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus said the five leaders were attending the conference in support of the Georgian government.
Earlier, Saakashvili claimed Russian troops sank Georgian coastal guard boats in the port city of Poti. He said Russia wanted to bomb the port, but the city authorities convinced them to move the vessels into the sea and sink them with explosives.
Meanwhile Russian General Staff Deputy Commander Anatoli Nogovitsin has said that several boats attacked a Russian Navy vessel near Poti. The ship fired back and drove the attackers away, he said.
Captured map shows Georgia planned to invade Abkhazia
Russia Today
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Russian troops have discovered what they believe are plans for an invasion of Abkhazia in a captured Georgian command post vehicle. On Wednesday, Abkhazian armed forces succeeded in pushing Georgian troops out of the Upper Kodori Gorge in anticipation of such an attack.
For the past few days the spotlight has been on Georgia’s other breakaway republic, South Ossetia.
But the captured documents apparently outline steps for the invasion of Abkhazia, a region twice the size of South Ossetia, bordering the Black Sea.
Russia: US gave nod to Georgia
PRESS TV
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Russia says that Georgia’s attack on the independence-seeking region of South Ossetia was likely executed with the United States’ approval.
“It is hard to imagine that (Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili embarked on this risky venture without some sort of approval from the side of the United States,” Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, told Russia’s NTV television on Wednesday.
Meanwhile on the same day, an official in the delegation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Georgia’s president was “mad” to try to crush separatists in South Ossetia, and he fell into a “vulgar” trap that led to war.
“Saakashvili was mad enough to go in the middle of the night and bomb a city,” the official told reporters overnight on condition of anonymity. The result is “a Georgia attacked, pulverized, through its own fault,” he added.
“The Georgians fell into a vulgar trap. They thought that (Russian Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin would not retaliate in the middle of the Olympic Games,” the official said.
Contrary to Tbilisi’s expectations, Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s reaction was too heavy-handed. “They sent in the Russian army and liquidated the opposing army,” the official added.
France’s Sarkozy — whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union — brokered an outline peace deal on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday to end fighting sparked by Tbilisi’s decision to regain control of South Ossetia by force.
Russia's troops overran their Georgian enemy, forcing them out of South Ossetia and helping the separatists drive out Georgian forces in another independence-seeking region, Abkhazia, before moving further into Georgian territory.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Russia says that Georgia’s attack on the independence-seeking region of South Ossetia was likely executed with the United States’ approval.
“It is hard to imagine that (Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili embarked on this risky venture without some sort of approval from the side of the United States,” Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, told Russia’s NTV television on Wednesday.
Meanwhile on the same day, an official in the delegation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Georgia’s president was “mad” to try to crush separatists in South Ossetia, and he fell into a “vulgar” trap that led to war.
“Saakashvili was mad enough to go in the middle of the night and bomb a city,” the official told reporters overnight on condition of anonymity. The result is “a Georgia attacked, pulverized, through its own fault,” he added.
“The Georgians fell into a vulgar trap. They thought that (Russian Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin would not retaliate in the middle of the Olympic Games,” the official said.
Contrary to Tbilisi’s expectations, Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s reaction was too heavy-handed. “They sent in the Russian army and liquidated the opposing army,” the official added.
France’s Sarkozy — whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union — brokered an outline peace deal on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday to end fighting sparked by Tbilisi’s decision to regain control of South Ossetia by force.
Russia's troops overran their Georgian enemy, forcing them out of South Ossetia and helping the separatists drive out Georgian forces in another independence-seeking region, Abkhazia, before moving further into Georgian territory.
Russia warned over ‘Soviet past’
BBC
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has warned Russia against hankering after a Soviet past in its border disputes.
He told the BBC Russia had been trying to assert the concept of “ex-Soviet space”, which was “not acceptable”.
Russia had adopted a 19th Century approach and “blatant aggression” in Georgia, when it should be asserting itself economically, he said.
EU foreign ministers are meeting to try to co-ordinate an international response to the crisis in Georgia.
Russian and Georgian troops have been fighting over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia.
‘Unacceptable’
But Mr Miliband told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there had been “blatant aggression” by Russia outside South Ossetia, in Abkhazia and into parts of Georgia.
"The sight of Russian tanks rolling into part of a sovereign country on its neighbouring borders will have brought a chill to the spine of many people, rightly, because that is a reversion to - it's not just Cold War politics, it's a 19th Century way of doing politics."
He added: "That is simply not the way international relations can be run in the 21st Century."
Mr Miliband was speaking as it appeared French President Nicholas Sarkozy had agreed an outline plan with Russia and Georgia to try to resolve the crisis.
The foreign secretary said there should be a retreat back to pre-7 August positions, pending international engagement "on the security and stability of the area, consistent with the territorial integrity of Georgia".
"Countries need to know that their territorial integrity is secure," he said.
'New map'
He told the BBC that on the Georgia issue, and other disputed border areas, "the Russians want to assert this concept, I think, of 'ex-Soviet space', somehow denying that these are independent countries with territorial integrity of their own. I think that is unacceptable."
He added: "It's not good for Russia to continue to believe that it is suffering a hangover from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union does not exist anymore. There's no such thing as ex-Soviet space."
He said the "new map" of eastern Europe had to be defended in the interests of stability and it was in Russia's interests to do so.
"Russia knows that its strength in the 21st Century is going to have to be asserted economically and not just militarily, but we have got to make sure that this remains absolutely clear," he told the BBC.
He said countries on Russia's borders needed to know their territorial integrity was secure.
"It's not in Russia's interests to continue to hanker for a Soviet past because frankly, it's gone and it's good that it's gone."
Speaking to the programme later Andrei Chupin, Russia's charge d'affaires in London, said he believed the British media had favoured Georgia's position in its reporting of hostilities.
Russia has insisted that it had the legal right to move in to protect Russian peacekeepers who had come under fire and to protect its citizens in South Ossetia.
"We are quite disappointed with what we see as a somewhat biased coverage of the events in South Ossetia by western media," he said.
Mr Miliband was also asked about an article he wrote last month which prompted speculation that he might challenge Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the Labour Party leadership.
He defended the article, saying it "set out a very clear agenda" for the government, but said he had been working "very closely" with Mr Brown on the situation in Georgia and praised him for "leading the government forward with vigour and determination".
"I am fully focused on dealing with the situation in Georgia. I am working very closely with Gordon on that. End of story," he said.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has warned Russia against hankering after a Soviet past in its border disputes.
He told the BBC Russia had been trying to assert the concept of “ex-Soviet space”, which was “not acceptable”.
Russia had adopted a 19th Century approach and “blatant aggression” in Georgia, when it should be asserting itself economically, he said.
EU foreign ministers are meeting to try to co-ordinate an international response to the crisis in Georgia.
Russian and Georgian troops have been fighting over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia.
‘Unacceptable’
But Mr Miliband told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there had been “blatant aggression” by Russia outside South Ossetia, in Abkhazia and into parts of Georgia.
"The sight of Russian tanks rolling into part of a sovereign country on its neighbouring borders will have brought a chill to the spine of many people, rightly, because that is a reversion to - it's not just Cold War politics, it's a 19th Century way of doing politics."
He added: "That is simply not the way international relations can be run in the 21st Century."
Mr Miliband was speaking as it appeared French President Nicholas Sarkozy had agreed an outline plan with Russia and Georgia to try to resolve the crisis.
The foreign secretary said there should be a retreat back to pre-7 August positions, pending international engagement "on the security and stability of the area, consistent with the territorial integrity of Georgia".
"Countries need to know that their territorial integrity is secure," he said.
'New map'
He told the BBC that on the Georgia issue, and other disputed border areas, "the Russians want to assert this concept, I think, of 'ex-Soviet space', somehow denying that these are independent countries with territorial integrity of their own. I think that is unacceptable."
He added: "It's not good for Russia to continue to believe that it is suffering a hangover from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union does not exist anymore. There's no such thing as ex-Soviet space."
He said the "new map" of eastern Europe had to be defended in the interests of stability and it was in Russia's interests to do so.
"Russia knows that its strength in the 21st Century is going to have to be asserted economically and not just militarily, but we have got to make sure that this remains absolutely clear," he told the BBC.
He said countries on Russia's borders needed to know their territorial integrity was secure.
"It's not in Russia's interests to continue to hanker for a Soviet past because frankly, it's gone and it's good that it's gone."
Speaking to the programme later Andrei Chupin, Russia's charge d'affaires in London, said he believed the British media had favoured Georgia's position in its reporting of hostilities.
Russia has insisted that it had the legal right to move in to protect Russian peacekeepers who had come under fire and to protect its citizens in South Ossetia.
"We are quite disappointed with what we see as a somewhat biased coverage of the events in South Ossetia by western media," he said.
Mr Miliband was also asked about an article he wrote last month which prompted speculation that he might challenge Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the Labour Party leadership.
He defended the article, saying it "set out a very clear agenda" for the government, but said he had been working "very closely" with Mr Brown on the situation in Georgia and praised him for "leading the government forward with vigour and determination".
"I am fully focused on dealing with the situation in Georgia. I am working very closely with Gordon on that. End of story," he said.
Foreclosure fallout: Houses go for a $1
Ron French
The Detroit News
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
One dollar can get you a large soda at McDonald’s, a used VHS movie at 7-Eleven or a house in Detroit.
The fact that a home on the city’s east side was listed for $1 recently shows how depressed the real estate market has become in one of America’s poorest big cities.
And it still took 19 days to find a buyer.
The sale price of the home may be an anomaly, but illustrates both the depths of the foreclosure crisis in Detroit and the rapid scuttling of vacant homes in some of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.
The home, at 8111 Traverse Street, a few blocks from Detroit City Airport, was the nicest house on the block when it sold for $65,000 in November 2006, said neighbor Carl Upshaw. But the home was foreclosed last summer, and it wasn’t long until “the vultures closed in,” Upshaw said.
“The siding was the first to go. Then they took the fence. Then they broke in and took everything else.”
The company hired to manage the home and sell it, the Bearing Group, boarded up the home only to find the boards stolen and used to board up another abandoned home nearby.
Scrappers tore out the copper plumbing, the furnace and the light fixtures, taking everything of value, including the kitchen sink.
“It about doesn’t make sense to put the family out,” Upshaw said. “Once people are gone, you’re gonna lose the house in this neighborhood.”
Tuesday, the home was wide open. Doors leading into the kitchen and the basement were missing, and the front windows had been smashed. Weeds grew chest-high, and charred remains marked a spot where the garage recently burned.
Put on the market in January for $1,100, the house had no lookers other than the squatters who sometimes stayed there at night. Facing $4,000 in back taxes and a large unpaid water bill, the bank that owned the property lowered the price to $1.
$1 sale to cost bank $10,000
While it’s not unusual for $1 to be exchanged when property is transferred for legal reasons, listing a home in the Multiple Listing Service for $1 was surprising and unsettling to Kent Colpaert, the listing real estate agent for the property.
"I've never seen a home listed for $1," Colpaert said.
"But it's been hit hard: It's just a shell."
On Tuesday, Realtor.com listed one other single-family home, one duplex and one empty lot at $1 in Detroit.
Dollar property sales are the financial hangover from the foreclosure crisis, said Anthony Viola of Realty Corp. of America in Cleveland.
Lenders that made loans to unqualified buyers during the height of the subprime market now find themselves the owners of whole neighborhoods of vacant, deteriorating homes.
"No one has much sympathy for these banks that made subprime loans," Viola said. "And in some cities like Cleveland, judges aren't letting them sit on the properties -- they're ordering them to tear them down or sell them."
So desperate was the bank owner of 8111 Traverse Street to unload the property that it agreed to pay $2,500 in sales commission and another $1,000 bonus for closing the $1 sale; the bank also will pay $500 of the buyer's closing costs. Throw in back taxes and a water bill, and unloading the house will cost the bank about $10,000.
"It doesn't make sense in some neighborhoods to keep paying costs and costs," Colpaert said. "It can make more financial sense to give it away."
Buyer calls it an investment
Colpaert declined to provide the name of the prospective purchaser, because the deal had not been through closing. The agent did say that the buyer agreed to pay the full list price of $1, and planned to pay cash.
The buyer, a local woman, considers the home to be an investment property and will not live there, Colpaert said, though exactly how soon the buyer can expect to recoup her four-quarter investment is questionable. Replacing the guts of the house will costs tens of thousands of dollars, and the owner will have trouble keeping scrappers from stealing the improvements as quickly as they're installed. Home demolition costs about $5,000, Colpaert said.
Meanwhile, the new owner will owe $3,900 in property taxes in 2009 on her dollar purchase unless she challenges the tax assessment.
While selling a home for the amount of change most people could find between their couch cushions is unusual, some abandoned homes in Detroit sell for $100; vacant lots can be purchased for $300.
"My 14-year-old son could buy a block of Detroit property," said Ann Laciura, senior servicing specialist for the Bearing Group.
The Detroit News
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
One dollar can get you a large soda at McDonald’s, a used VHS movie at 7-Eleven or a house in Detroit.
The fact that a home on the city’s east side was listed for $1 recently shows how depressed the real estate market has become in one of America’s poorest big cities.
And it still took 19 days to find a buyer.
The sale price of the home may be an anomaly, but illustrates both the depths of the foreclosure crisis in Detroit and the rapid scuttling of vacant homes in some of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.
The home, at 8111 Traverse Street, a few blocks from Detroit City Airport, was the nicest house on the block when it sold for $65,000 in November 2006, said neighbor Carl Upshaw. But the home was foreclosed last summer, and it wasn’t long until “the vultures closed in,” Upshaw said.
“The siding was the first to go. Then they took the fence. Then they broke in and took everything else.”
The company hired to manage the home and sell it, the Bearing Group, boarded up the home only to find the boards stolen and used to board up another abandoned home nearby.
Scrappers tore out the copper plumbing, the furnace and the light fixtures, taking everything of value, including the kitchen sink.
“It about doesn’t make sense to put the family out,” Upshaw said. “Once people are gone, you’re gonna lose the house in this neighborhood.”
Tuesday, the home was wide open. Doors leading into the kitchen and the basement were missing, and the front windows had been smashed. Weeds grew chest-high, and charred remains marked a spot where the garage recently burned.
Put on the market in January for $1,100, the house had no lookers other than the squatters who sometimes stayed there at night. Facing $4,000 in back taxes and a large unpaid water bill, the bank that owned the property lowered the price to $1.
$1 sale to cost bank $10,000
While it’s not unusual for $1 to be exchanged when property is transferred for legal reasons, listing a home in the Multiple Listing Service for $1 was surprising and unsettling to Kent Colpaert, the listing real estate agent for the property.
"I've never seen a home listed for $1," Colpaert said.
"But it's been hit hard: It's just a shell."
On Tuesday, Realtor.com listed one other single-family home, one duplex and one empty lot at $1 in Detroit.
Dollar property sales are the financial hangover from the foreclosure crisis, said Anthony Viola of Realty Corp. of America in Cleveland.
Lenders that made loans to unqualified buyers during the height of the subprime market now find themselves the owners of whole neighborhoods of vacant, deteriorating homes.
"No one has much sympathy for these banks that made subprime loans," Viola said. "And in some cities like Cleveland, judges aren't letting them sit on the properties -- they're ordering them to tear them down or sell them."
So desperate was the bank owner of 8111 Traverse Street to unload the property that it agreed to pay $2,500 in sales commission and another $1,000 bonus for closing the $1 sale; the bank also will pay $500 of the buyer's closing costs. Throw in back taxes and a water bill, and unloading the house will cost the bank about $10,000.
"It doesn't make sense in some neighborhoods to keep paying costs and costs," Colpaert said. "It can make more financial sense to give it away."
Buyer calls it an investment
Colpaert declined to provide the name of the prospective purchaser, because the deal had not been through closing. The agent did say that the buyer agreed to pay the full list price of $1, and planned to pay cash.
The buyer, a local woman, considers the home to be an investment property and will not live there, Colpaert said, though exactly how soon the buyer can expect to recoup her four-quarter investment is questionable. Replacing the guts of the house will costs tens of thousands of dollars, and the owner will have trouble keeping scrappers from stealing the improvements as quickly as they're installed. Home demolition costs about $5,000, Colpaert said.
Meanwhile, the new owner will owe $3,900 in property taxes in 2009 on her dollar purchase unless she challenges the tax assessment.
While selling a home for the amount of change most people could find between their couch cushions is unusual, some abandoned homes in Detroit sell for $100; vacant lots can be purchased for $300.
"My 14-year-old son could buy a block of Detroit property," said Ann Laciura, senior servicing specialist for the Bearing Group.
British journalist detained by Beijing police after covering Free Tibet protest
Tania Branigan and Jonathan Watts
London Guardian
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Police in Beijing roughed up and detained a British journalist after he covered a Free Tibet protest close to the city’s main Olympic zone earlier today.
The incident appeared to be the clearest breach yet of the host nation’s promise of free media access during the Games.
John Ray, of Independent Television News, said he was pinned down by police, dragged along the ground and pushed into a police van.
He said the authorities had also confiscated his equipment, pulled off his shoes, filmed him and accused him of trying to unfurl a Tibetan flag.
After his release some 30 minutes later, he said he was shaken but unharmed.
Beijing police said eight foreign Free Tibet protesters, including seven US citizens and a Japanese national, were arrested and their deportation was being supervised. They made no comment about Ray’s treatment.
Today’s incident, which came five days into the Games, is likely to embarrass the International Olympic Committee.
It is also awkward for the Beijing hosts, who are keen to keep the spotlight on the Olympics, which are being covered by more than 20,000 foreign journalists.
The incident happened when a number of activists from Students for a Free Tibet gathered at the entrance and on a bridge inside the Ethnic Minorities park, less than half a mile from the Bird’s Nest stadium.
A British passport holder, who escaped arrest, was also among the protesters.
When demonstrators tried to unfurl a Tibetan Snow Lion flag and banner on the bridge, a group of foreign journalists attempted to enter the park to film them.
Ray said he had fallen behind the main group, tussled with park guards and was then set upon by a four or five uniformed police. They pushed him to the ground, dragging him off to a nearby restaurant as he shouted: “I am a British journalist” to startled diners.
“My accreditation was in my pocket, but they wouldn’t let me get it out to show them,” he said after being released.
Police swung him on to a couch and pinned him down by sitting on his arms. When they relaxed, he tried to get away but was tripped up. He was then bundled into a police van and asked him what his views on Tibet were.
“I could see that they threw in behind me a yellow Tibetan flag or banner. I couldn’t see exactly what it was,” he said.
“They are claiming I tried to unfurl a Tibet banner. I did not at any time try to unfurl a banner and I have never possessed any banner or protest material. I was there simply to report on a demonstration, not to take part in it in any way.”
Beijing police said the activists had been undertaking illegal activities.
The Olympics has been hit by a series of small-scale protests by foreigners in Beijing calling for greater human rights, religious freedom and support for Tibet.
Police have quickly cleared most demonstrations and deported those involved. In today's incident, the Students for a Free Tibet activists - mostly Canadians and Americans - were rounded up by police after chanting: "Tibetans are dying for freedom" at the entrance of the park.
"Chinese people are great, but shame on the Chinese government because they are lying to China," Pemba Yoko, a British-Tibetan woman from London, said.
"Chinese people have a right to be Chinese. Why can't Tibetans have the right to be Tibetan? China is illegally occupying my country. We are proud to be Tibetan. We will never give up. This is a non-violent war."
Chinese officials recently apologised for two incidents of harrassment of foreign reporters, including the beating of two Japanese journalists trying to cover the deadly upsurge of unrest in Xinjiang last week.
London Guardian
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Police in Beijing roughed up and detained a British journalist after he covered a Free Tibet protest close to the city’s main Olympic zone earlier today.
The incident appeared to be the clearest breach yet of the host nation’s promise of free media access during the Games.
John Ray, of Independent Television News, said he was pinned down by police, dragged along the ground and pushed into a police van.
He said the authorities had also confiscated his equipment, pulled off his shoes, filmed him and accused him of trying to unfurl a Tibetan flag.
After his release some 30 minutes later, he said he was shaken but unharmed.
Beijing police said eight foreign Free Tibet protesters, including seven US citizens and a Japanese national, were arrested and their deportation was being supervised. They made no comment about Ray’s treatment.
Today’s incident, which came five days into the Games, is likely to embarrass the International Olympic Committee.
It is also awkward for the Beijing hosts, who are keen to keep the spotlight on the Olympics, which are being covered by more than 20,000 foreign journalists.
The incident happened when a number of activists from Students for a Free Tibet gathered at the entrance and on a bridge inside the Ethnic Minorities park, less than half a mile from the Bird’s Nest stadium.
A British passport holder, who escaped arrest, was also among the protesters.
When demonstrators tried to unfurl a Tibetan Snow Lion flag and banner on the bridge, a group of foreign journalists attempted to enter the park to film them.
Ray said he had fallen behind the main group, tussled with park guards and was then set upon by a four or five uniformed police. They pushed him to the ground, dragging him off to a nearby restaurant as he shouted: “I am a British journalist” to startled diners.
“My accreditation was in my pocket, but they wouldn’t let me get it out to show them,” he said after being released.
Police swung him on to a couch and pinned him down by sitting on his arms. When they relaxed, he tried to get away but was tripped up. He was then bundled into a police van and asked him what his views on Tibet were.
“I could see that they threw in behind me a yellow Tibetan flag or banner. I couldn’t see exactly what it was,” he said.
“They are claiming I tried to unfurl a Tibet banner. I did not at any time try to unfurl a banner and I have never possessed any banner or protest material. I was there simply to report on a demonstration, not to take part in it in any way.”
Beijing police said the activists had been undertaking illegal activities.
The Olympics has been hit by a series of small-scale protests by foreigners in Beijing calling for greater human rights, religious freedom and support for Tibet.
Police have quickly cleared most demonstrations and deported those involved. In today's incident, the Students for a Free Tibet activists - mostly Canadians and Americans - were rounded up by police after chanting: "Tibetans are dying for freedom" at the entrance of the park.
"Chinese people are great, but shame on the Chinese government because they are lying to China," Pemba Yoko, a British-Tibetan woman from London, said.
"Chinese people have a right to be Chinese. Why can't Tibetans have the right to be Tibetan? China is illegally occupying my country. We are proud to be Tibetan. We will never give up. This is a non-violent war."
Chinese officials recently apologised for two incidents of harrassment of foreign reporters, including the beating of two Japanese journalists trying to cover the deadly upsurge of unrest in Xinjiang last week.
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Russia Rubbishes Bombing Claims
Sky News
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Russia has slammed claims that its forces are continuing to attack Georgia after announcing an end to the five-day war in the region.Georgia’s acting ambassador to Britain has told Sky News Russian jets were bombing civilian targets in Georgia despite Moscow’s announcement that it was calling off its troops.
Georgei Badridze said that Russian bombers had hit targets including a hospital in the town of Gori, villages away from the combat zone and a minibus carrying civilians.
He said the strikes had been carried out after the announcement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the military offensive to protect South Ossetia had been called off.
“We’re talking about strikes from helicopter gunships which could not have mistaken these places for anything else,” he said.
“If their plan to totally destroy Georgian statehood fails at this stage, they (want to) make us bleed economically.”
Witnesses also reported seeing 135 Russian military vehicles driving through Georgia toward Khodori Gorge, part of the breakaway region of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia.
Russia’s defence ministry slammed the claims of continuing military action as “provocations”, and Russian reports said Georgian forces were shooting at them.
A Russian news agency reported that the ministry had admitted some shots were being fired, but only under “provocation”.
The five-day conflict was started when Georgia tried to take control of the pro-Russian province of South Ossetia.
Casualty figures given by each side vary widely, with Russia claiming thousands of deaths and Georgia hundreds.
Moscow accused Georgia of “war crimes” in the area, saying thousands of civilians had been killed before it stepped in and comparing the situation to the war in Kosovo in the 1990s, when European forces stepped in to protect a persecuted minority.
Mr Badridze, however, told Sky News the charges were simply a smokescreen, and said the situation mirrored Hitler's staged invasion of Germany by Poland before the Second World War.
He said that the only way to prevent continuing Russian aggression and safeguard Georgian democracy was for the West to allow Georgia to join Nato.
"The international community has to make the Russians leave Georgia," he added.
Sky News' Andrew Wilson, speaking from the Georgian town of Poti, said that it was possible that orders were taking a long time to pass down the chain of command.
He said that although the Russian fighting machine was formidable, the forces under Moscow's command also included militiamen who may not see their first loyalty as being to the Kremlin.
"There's an element of disorganisation in the military that may become a factor as the EU tries to put a blanket of calm over the situation," he said.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told a large rally outside Georgia's parliament he would pull his country out of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) grouping of ex-Soviet countries.
"We are leaving the CIS for good and propose that other countries leave this body run by Russia," the Russian Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Russia has slammed claims that its forces are continuing to attack Georgia after announcing an end to the five-day war in the region.Georgia’s acting ambassador to Britain has told Sky News Russian jets were bombing civilian targets in Georgia despite Moscow’s announcement that it was calling off its troops.
Georgei Badridze said that Russian bombers had hit targets including a hospital in the town of Gori, villages away from the combat zone and a minibus carrying civilians.
He said the strikes had been carried out after the announcement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the military offensive to protect South Ossetia had been called off.
“We’re talking about strikes from helicopter gunships which could not have mistaken these places for anything else,” he said.
“If their plan to totally destroy Georgian statehood fails at this stage, they (want to) make us bleed economically.”
Witnesses also reported seeing 135 Russian military vehicles driving through Georgia toward Khodori Gorge, part of the breakaway region of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia.
Russia’s defence ministry slammed the claims of continuing military action as “provocations”, and Russian reports said Georgian forces were shooting at them.
A Russian news agency reported that the ministry had admitted some shots were being fired, but only under “provocation”.
The five-day conflict was started when Georgia tried to take control of the pro-Russian province of South Ossetia.
Casualty figures given by each side vary widely, with Russia claiming thousands of deaths and Georgia hundreds.
Moscow accused Georgia of “war crimes” in the area, saying thousands of civilians had been killed before it stepped in and comparing the situation to the war in Kosovo in the 1990s, when European forces stepped in to protect a persecuted minority.
Mr Badridze, however, told Sky News the charges were simply a smokescreen, and said the situation mirrored Hitler's staged invasion of Germany by Poland before the Second World War.
He said that the only way to prevent continuing Russian aggression and safeguard Georgian democracy was for the West to allow Georgia to join Nato.
"The international community has to make the Russians leave Georgia," he added.
Sky News' Andrew Wilson, speaking from the Georgian town of Poti, said that it was possible that orders were taking a long time to pass down the chain of command.
He said that although the Russian fighting machine was formidable, the forces under Moscow's command also included militiamen who may not see their first loyalty as being to the Kremlin.
"There's an element of disorganisation in the military that may become a factor as the EU tries to put a blanket of calm over the situation," he said.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told a large rally outside Georgia's parliament he would pull his country out of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) grouping of ex-Soviet countries.
"We are leaving the CIS for good and propose that other countries leave this body run by Russia," the Russian Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Attacks damaged or destroyed 70% of buildings - Tskhinvali mayor
RIA Novosti
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
TSKHINVALI, August 12 (RIA Novosti) - Around 70% of buildings in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, have been damaged or destroyed since Georgia attacked its rebel republic early last Friday, the city’s mayor said on Tuesday.
“Up to 70% of the municipal buildings have been damaged or completely destroyed,” Robert Guliyev said. “The situation is almost the same in the private housing sector.”
The mayor said around 15,000 civilians remained in the city, which had 30,000 residents before the attacks began.
Guliyev did not give the number of civilian deaths. According to Russia, around 1,600 civilians have died.
Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, said earlier Tuesday that all nurseries, schools and the only hospital in the city were destroyed on the first day of the attack.
The Defense Ministry official said Russia had provided the necessary financial assistance to rebuild Tskhinvali. Field bakeries have been set up in the conflict zone, and food and water are being supplied, he said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an end to the "peace enforcement" operation in Georgia earlier in the day, after five days of fighting that followed Georgia's military offensive to seize South Ossetia. However, he said Georgia must pull its troops back before a peace settlement can be reached.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
TSKHINVALI, August 12 (RIA Novosti) - Around 70% of buildings in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, have been damaged or destroyed since Georgia attacked its rebel republic early last Friday, the city’s mayor said on Tuesday.
“Up to 70% of the municipal buildings have been damaged or completely destroyed,” Robert Guliyev said. “The situation is almost the same in the private housing sector.”
The mayor said around 15,000 civilians remained in the city, which had 30,000 residents before the attacks began.
Guliyev did not give the number of civilian deaths. According to Russia, around 1,600 civilians have died.
Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, said earlier Tuesday that all nurseries, schools and the only hospital in the city were destroyed on the first day of the attack.
The Defense Ministry official said Russia had provided the necessary financial assistance to rebuild Tskhinvali. Field bakeries have been set up in the conflict zone, and food and water are being supplied, he said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an end to the "peace enforcement" operation in Georgia earlier in the day, after five days of fighting that followed Georgia's military offensive to seize South Ossetia. However, he said Georgia must pull its troops back before a peace settlement can be reached.
Civilians perish as Georgian troops torch church
Russia Today
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Regnum news agency is reporting that Georgian troops burned down a 10th century Orthodox church while terrified civilians perished inside. The agency quotes eyewitness accounts of the atrocity after all-out fighting in Khetagurovo, a small village near the republic’s capital Tskhinvali.
Almost all of those fighting to defend the village were killed, but the report says the fate of others, mostly women and the elderly, turned out to be even more horrible.
Eyewitnesses report that Georgian tanks literally ran people down and that soldiers took almost all the women to another location. Their fate is still unknown.
Meanwhile, those who didn’t manage to escape found their shelter in a 10th century Orthodox church. Civilians hoped that Georgians of the same faith wouldn’t dare storm the building, one of the oldest of its kind in the country.
But Regnum reports that the Georgian troops set the church on fire and left those inside to perish.
It is the latest in a series of reports of the Georgian military attacking and killing civilians.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Regnum news agency is reporting that Georgian troops burned down a 10th century Orthodox church while terrified civilians perished inside. The agency quotes eyewitness accounts of the atrocity after all-out fighting in Khetagurovo, a small village near the republic’s capital Tskhinvali.
Almost all of those fighting to defend the village were killed, but the report says the fate of others, mostly women and the elderly, turned out to be even more horrible.
Eyewitnesses report that Georgian tanks literally ran people down and that soldiers took almost all the women to another location. Their fate is still unknown.
Meanwhile, those who didn’t manage to escape found their shelter in a 10th century Orthodox church. Civilians hoped that Georgians of the same faith wouldn’t dare storm the building, one of the oldest of its kind in the country.
But Regnum reports that the Georgian troops set the church on fire and left those inside to perish.
It is the latest in a series of reports of the Georgian military attacking and killing civilians.
BP shuts Georgia oil, gas pipelines as a precaution
Reuters
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - BP (BP.L) has closed two oil and gas pipelines running from its Caspian Sea fields through Georgia but neither has been damaged by recent fighting in the country, a spokesman for the British oil major said on Tuesday.
Georgia accused Russia of bombing its fuel lines on Tuesday, allegations denied by Moscow.
“We have checked those and there are no reports of any impact to any of the pipelines,” the BP spokesman said.
The closure further limits BP’s export options from the land-locked Caspian Sea after a fire damaged last week its key link to Turkey, Baku-Ceyhan, forcing to cut output from offshore Azeri fields to 250,000 barrels per day from 850,000 bpd.
On Tuesday, the company closed the 155,000-barrel a day Western Route Export Pipeline (WREP) running from Baku in Azerbaijan to the Georgian port of Supsa until it feels safe to reopen it.
“As a precaution we have stopped pumping oil through that earlier this morning,” the spokesman said, adding that the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) which runs to the border with Turkey was also shut on Tuesday.
The 830-km WREP line transports oil from the Chirag field in the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan to Supsa with about half of the pipeline in Georgia.
The 692-km SCP, which is buried underground, carries gas from the Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea through Georgia to the Turkish border, where it links to a Turkish-built extension joining SCP to the domestic supply grid at Erzurum.
The closure leaves BP with only Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk and Georgia's Black Sea ports of Batumi and Kuleva as the only available export options.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - BP (BP.L) has closed two oil and gas pipelines running from its Caspian Sea fields through Georgia but neither has been damaged by recent fighting in the country, a spokesman for the British oil major said on Tuesday.
Georgia accused Russia of bombing its fuel lines on Tuesday, allegations denied by Moscow.
“We have checked those and there are no reports of any impact to any of the pipelines,” the BP spokesman said.
The closure further limits BP’s export options from the land-locked Caspian Sea after a fire damaged last week its key link to Turkey, Baku-Ceyhan, forcing to cut output from offshore Azeri fields to 250,000 barrels per day from 850,000 bpd.
On Tuesday, the company closed the 155,000-barrel a day Western Route Export Pipeline (WREP) running from Baku in Azerbaijan to the Georgian port of Supsa until it feels safe to reopen it.
“As a precaution we have stopped pumping oil through that earlier this morning,” the spokesman said, adding that the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) which runs to the border with Turkey was also shut on Tuesday.
The 830-km WREP line transports oil from the Chirag field in the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan to Supsa with about half of the pipeline in Georgia.
The 692-km SCP, which is buried underground, carries gas from the Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea through Georgia to the Turkish border, where it links to a Turkish-built extension joining SCP to the domestic supply grid at Erzurum.
The closure leaves BP with only Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk and Georgia's Black Sea ports of Batumi and Kuleva as the only available export options.
War a la Carte: How the U.S. Invited a War in South Ossetia
ERIC WALBERG
Counterpunch
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Last week, Georgia launched a major military offensive against the rebel province South Ossetia, just hours after President Mikheil Saakashvili had announced a unilateral ceasefire. Close to 1,500 have been killed, Russian officials say. Thirty thousand refugees, mostly women and children, streamed across the border into the North Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz in Russia.
The timing — and subterfuge — suggest the unscrupulous Saakashvili was counting on surprise. “Most decision makers have gone for the holidays,” he said in an interview with CNN. “Brilliant moment to attack a small country.” Apparently he was referring to Russia invading Georgia, despite the fact that it was Georgia which had just launched a full-scale invasion of the “small country” South Ossetia, while Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in Beijing for the Olympics. Twenty-seven Russian peacekeepers and troops have been killed and 150 wounded so far, many when their barracks were shelled by Georgian forces at the start of the invasion. Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili rushed to announce that their mini-blitzkreig had destroyed ten Russian combat planes (Russia says two) and that Georgian troops were in full control of the capital Tskhinvali.
Russia’s Defense Ministry denounced the Georgian attack as a “dirty adventure.” From Beijing, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, “It is regrettable that on the day before the opening of the Olympic Games, the Georgian authorities have undertaken aggressive actions in South Ossetia.” He later added, “War has started.” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev vowed that Moscow will protect Russian citizens — most South Ossetians hold Russian passports. The offensive prompted Moscow to send in 150 tanks, to launch air strikes on nearby Gori and military sites, and to order warships to Georgia’s Black Sea coast.
Georgia’s national security council declared a state of war with Russia and a full military mobilisation. US military planes are already flying Georgia’s 2,000 troops in Iraq — the third-largest force after the United States and Britain — back to confront the Russians. By Sunday, despite early claims of victory, Georgian troops had retreated from South Ossetia, leaving diplomatic rubble behind which will be very hard to clear. Truth is stranger than fiction in Georgia.
The writing has been on the wall for months. Georgian President Saakashvili’s fawning over Western leaders at the “emergency” NATO meeting in April and his pre-election anti-Russian bluster in May made it clear to all that Georgia is the more-than-willing canary in the Eastern mine shaft. The Georgian attack on South Ossetia’s capital Tskhinvali — I repeat — just hours after Saakashvili declared a cease-fire, looks very much like an attempt to reincorporate the rebel province into Georgia unilaterally. But whoever is advising the brash young president ignores the postscript — no pasaran! South Ossetia has been independent for 16 years and is not likely to drape flowers on invading Georgia tanks. It also just happens to have Russia as patron.
The aftershocks of this wild gamble by Saakashvili are just beginning. This is Russia’s most serious altercation with a foreign country since the collapse of the Soviet Union and could escalate into an all-out war engulfing much of the Caucasus region. Russian warships are not planning to block shipments of oil from Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on Sunday, but reserve the right to search ships coming to and from it. Another source naval source said, “The crews are assigned the task to not allow arms and military hardware supplies to reach Georgia by sea.” The Russians have already sunk a Georgian missile boat that was trying to attack Russian ships. Upping the ante, Ukraine said it reserved the right to bar Russian warships from returning to their nominally Ukrainian — formerly Russian — base of Sevastopol , on the Crimean peninsula. On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of “arming the Georgians to the teeth.”
Georgia’s other separatist region, Abkhazia, was mobilising its forces for a push into the Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia. “No dialogue is possible with the current Georgian leadership,” said Abkhazia’s President Sergei Bagapsh. “They are state criminals who must be tried for the crimes committed in South Ossetia, the genocide of the Ossetian people.” Britain has ordered its nationals to leave Georgia. British charity worker Sian Davis said, “It’s really, really quiet, eerily quiet. Everyone was either at home or had packed up and moved out of the city. People are really, really scared. People are panicking.” So far the more than 2,000 US nationals in this tiny but strategic country are mostly staying put.
This is yet another made-in-the-USA war. US President George W Bush loudly supported Georgia’s request to join NATO in April, much to the consternation of European leaders. NATO promised to send advisers in December. Not losing any time, the US sent more than 1,000 US Marines and soldiers to the Vaziani military base on the South Ossetian border in July “to teach combat skills to Georgian troops.” The UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement on the current crisis after three emergency meetings. A Russian-drafted statement that called on Georgia and the separatists to “renounce the use of force” was vetoed by the US, UK and France. To dispel any conceivable doubt, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday: “We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia’s territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil.”
But it’s also yet another made-in-Israel war. A thousand military advisers from Israeli security firms have been training the country’s armed forces and were deeply involved in the Georgian army’s preparations to attack and capture the capital of South Ossetia, according to the Israeli web site Debkafiles which has close links with the regime’s intelligence and military sources. Haaretz reported that Yakobashvili told Army Radio — in Hebrew, “ Israel should be proud of its military which trained Georgian soldiers.” “We killed 60 Russian soldiers just yesterday,” he boasted on Monday. “The Russians have lost more than 50 tanks, and we have shot down 11 of their planes. They have enormous damage in terms of manpower.” He warned that the Russians would try and open another battlefront in Abkhazia and denied reports that the Georgian army was retreating. “The Georgian forces are not retreating. We move our military according to security needs.”
Israelis are active in real estate, tourism, gaming, military manufacturing and security consulting in Georgia, including former Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo and Likudite and gambling operator Reuven Gavrieli. “The Russians don’t look kindly on the military cooperation of Israeli firms with the Georgian army, and as far as I know, Israelis doing security consulting left Georgia in the past few days because of the events there,” the former Israeli ambassador to Georgia and Armenia, Baruch Ben Neria, said yesterday. Since his posting, Ben Neria has represented Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in Georgia .
By Sunday, Putin was in Vladikavkaz and said it is unlikely South Ossetia will ever be reintegrated into Georgia. There are really only two possible scenarios to end the conflict: a long-term stalemate or Russian annexation of South Ossetia. The former is beginning to look pretty good, and Saakashvili is probably already ruing his rash move. The Georgian president is clearly hoping he can suck the US into the conflict. Alexander Lomaya, secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, said only Western intervention could prevent all-out war. But it is very unlikely Bush will risk WWIII over this scrap of craggy mountain.
When US puppets get out of line, like a certain Saddam Hussein, they are easily abandoned. Saakashvili would be wise to recall the fate of the first post-Soviet Georgian president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, also a darling of the US (in 1978 US Congress nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize). He rode to victory on a wave of nationalism in 1990, declaring independence for Georgia and officially recognising the “Chechen Republic of Ichkeria”. But South Ossetia wanted no part of the fiery Gamsakhurdia’s chauvinistic vision and declared its own “independence”. Engulfed by a wave of disgust a short two years later, abandoned by his US friends, he fled to his beloved Ichkeria. He snuck back into western Georgia, looking for support in restive Abkhazia, but his uprising collapsed, prompting Abkhazia to secede.
Gamsakhurdia died in 1993, leaving the two secessionist provinces as a legacy, and was buried in Chechnya. Saakashvili rehabilitated him in 2004 and had his remains interred in Mtatsminda Pantheon with other Georgian “heroes”. Truth really is stranger than fiction in Georgia. Now the burning question is: will history repeat itself?
Counterpunch
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Last week, Georgia launched a major military offensive against the rebel province South Ossetia, just hours after President Mikheil Saakashvili had announced a unilateral ceasefire. Close to 1,500 have been killed, Russian officials say. Thirty thousand refugees, mostly women and children, streamed across the border into the North Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz in Russia.
The timing — and subterfuge — suggest the unscrupulous Saakashvili was counting on surprise. “Most decision makers have gone for the holidays,” he said in an interview with CNN. “Brilliant moment to attack a small country.” Apparently he was referring to Russia invading Georgia, despite the fact that it was Georgia which had just launched a full-scale invasion of the “small country” South Ossetia, while Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in Beijing for the Olympics. Twenty-seven Russian peacekeepers and troops have been killed and 150 wounded so far, many when their barracks were shelled by Georgian forces at the start of the invasion. Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili rushed to announce that their mini-blitzkreig had destroyed ten Russian combat planes (Russia says two) and that Georgian troops were in full control of the capital Tskhinvali.
Russia’s Defense Ministry denounced the Georgian attack as a “dirty adventure.” From Beijing, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, “It is regrettable that on the day before the opening of the Olympic Games, the Georgian authorities have undertaken aggressive actions in South Ossetia.” He later added, “War has started.” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev vowed that Moscow will protect Russian citizens — most South Ossetians hold Russian passports. The offensive prompted Moscow to send in 150 tanks, to launch air strikes on nearby Gori and military sites, and to order warships to Georgia’s Black Sea coast.
Georgia’s national security council declared a state of war with Russia and a full military mobilisation. US military planes are already flying Georgia’s 2,000 troops in Iraq — the third-largest force after the United States and Britain — back to confront the Russians. By Sunday, despite early claims of victory, Georgian troops had retreated from South Ossetia, leaving diplomatic rubble behind which will be very hard to clear. Truth is stranger than fiction in Georgia.
The writing has been on the wall for months. Georgian President Saakashvili’s fawning over Western leaders at the “emergency” NATO meeting in April and his pre-election anti-Russian bluster in May made it clear to all that Georgia is the more-than-willing canary in the Eastern mine shaft. The Georgian attack on South Ossetia’s capital Tskhinvali — I repeat — just hours after Saakashvili declared a cease-fire, looks very much like an attempt to reincorporate the rebel province into Georgia unilaterally. But whoever is advising the brash young president ignores the postscript — no pasaran! South Ossetia has been independent for 16 years and is not likely to drape flowers on invading Georgia tanks. It also just happens to have Russia as patron.
The aftershocks of this wild gamble by Saakashvili are just beginning. This is Russia’s most serious altercation with a foreign country since the collapse of the Soviet Union and could escalate into an all-out war engulfing much of the Caucasus region. Russian warships are not planning to block shipments of oil from Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on Sunday, but reserve the right to search ships coming to and from it. Another source naval source said, “The crews are assigned the task to not allow arms and military hardware supplies to reach Georgia by sea.” The Russians have already sunk a Georgian missile boat that was trying to attack Russian ships. Upping the ante, Ukraine said it reserved the right to bar Russian warships from returning to their nominally Ukrainian — formerly Russian — base of Sevastopol , on the Crimean peninsula. On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of “arming the Georgians to the teeth.”
Georgia’s other separatist region, Abkhazia, was mobilising its forces for a push into the Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia. “No dialogue is possible with the current Georgian leadership,” said Abkhazia’s President Sergei Bagapsh. “They are state criminals who must be tried for the crimes committed in South Ossetia, the genocide of the Ossetian people.” Britain has ordered its nationals to leave Georgia. British charity worker Sian Davis said, “It’s really, really quiet, eerily quiet. Everyone was either at home or had packed up and moved out of the city. People are really, really scared. People are panicking.” So far the more than 2,000 US nationals in this tiny but strategic country are mostly staying put.
This is yet another made-in-the-USA war. US President George W Bush loudly supported Georgia’s request to join NATO in April, much to the consternation of European leaders. NATO promised to send advisers in December. Not losing any time, the US sent more than 1,000 US Marines and soldiers to the Vaziani military base on the South Ossetian border in July “to teach combat skills to Georgian troops.” The UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement on the current crisis after three emergency meetings. A Russian-drafted statement that called on Georgia and the separatists to “renounce the use of force” was vetoed by the US, UK and France. To dispel any conceivable doubt, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday: “We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia’s territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil.”
But it’s also yet another made-in-Israel war. A thousand military advisers from Israeli security firms have been training the country’s armed forces and were deeply involved in the Georgian army’s preparations to attack and capture the capital of South Ossetia, according to the Israeli web site Debkafiles which has close links with the regime’s intelligence and military sources. Haaretz reported that Yakobashvili told Army Radio — in Hebrew, “ Israel should be proud of its military which trained Georgian soldiers.” “We killed 60 Russian soldiers just yesterday,” he boasted on Monday. “The Russians have lost more than 50 tanks, and we have shot down 11 of their planes. They have enormous damage in terms of manpower.” He warned that the Russians would try and open another battlefront in Abkhazia and denied reports that the Georgian army was retreating. “The Georgian forces are not retreating. We move our military according to security needs.”
Israelis are active in real estate, tourism, gaming, military manufacturing and security consulting in Georgia, including former Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo and Likudite and gambling operator Reuven Gavrieli. “The Russians don’t look kindly on the military cooperation of Israeli firms with the Georgian army, and as far as I know, Israelis doing security consulting left Georgia in the past few days because of the events there,” the former Israeli ambassador to Georgia and Armenia, Baruch Ben Neria, said yesterday. Since his posting, Ben Neria has represented Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in Georgia .
By Sunday, Putin was in Vladikavkaz and said it is unlikely South Ossetia will ever be reintegrated into Georgia. There are really only two possible scenarios to end the conflict: a long-term stalemate or Russian annexation of South Ossetia. The former is beginning to look pretty good, and Saakashvili is probably already ruing his rash move. The Georgian president is clearly hoping he can suck the US into the conflict. Alexander Lomaya, secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, said only Western intervention could prevent all-out war. But it is very unlikely Bush will risk WWIII over this scrap of craggy mountain.
When US puppets get out of line, like a certain Saddam Hussein, they are easily abandoned. Saakashvili would be wise to recall the fate of the first post-Soviet Georgian president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, also a darling of the US (in 1978 US Congress nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize). He rode to victory on a wave of nationalism in 1990, declaring independence for Georgia and officially recognising the “Chechen Republic of Ichkeria”. But South Ossetia wanted no part of the fiery Gamsakhurdia’s chauvinistic vision and declared its own “independence”. Engulfed by a wave of disgust a short two years later, abandoned by his US friends, he fled to his beloved Ichkeria. He snuck back into western Georgia, looking for support in restive Abkhazia, but his uprising collapsed, prompting Abkhazia to secede.
Gamsakhurdia died in 1993, leaving the two secessionist provinces as a legacy, and was buried in Chechnya. Saakashvili rehabilitated him in 2004 and had his remains interred in Mtatsminda Pantheon with other Georgian “heroes”. Truth really is stranger than fiction in Georgia. Now the burning question is: will history repeat itself?
West Palm Beach rookie quits, 2 officers face discipline after being caught on tape beating suspect
MICHAEL LaFORGIA
Palm Beach Post
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
WEST PALM BEACH — One city police officer resigned and two more were placed on administrative leave after a dashboard camera captured images of them punching and kicking a handcuffed man in the face.
On May 26, Officer Louis Schwartz had pulled a car over outside a CVS pharmacy at 6800 South Dixie Highway when a pharmacy clerk told him a man in a black ski mask looked like he was about to rob the store.
As Schwartz walked in, the man, later identified as Pablo Gilberto Valenzuela, 42, of West Palm Beach, ran out through an emergency exit, turning to spray Schwartz with pepper spray as the officer gave chase, according to police reports.
A video recording captured what happened next:
Schwartz drew his gun and, ordering Valenzuela to the ground, approached as Officer Kurt Graham, who had heard Schwartz’s calls for help over the radio, closed in on the prone man. Graham put a knee into Valenzuela’s back and handcuffed him.
The video then showed Graham punch and kick Valenzuela in the face. Schwartz approached and also kicked Valenzuela in the face.
Later, as Officer Jason Zangara hoisted a bloodied Valenzuela to his feet, the video showed Valenzuela lurching away from Zangara’s grasp. Zangara whirled on the handcuffed man and punched him several times in the face, until the man collapsed on the pavement, the video showed.
Officers hauled him up again and led him out of the frame.
Valenzuela was held at the Palm Beach County Jail on charges of robbery, assault and battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.
In reports filed after the incident, Graham and Schwartz wrote that they kicked Valenzuela in the face because the handcuffed man was trying to bite Graham's leg.
"As I was crouching over Valenzuela he began to bite at my lower right leg," Graham wrote. "I felt his teeth graze up against my lower leg (through my pant leg). I immediately punched Valenzuela in the head in an attempt to stop his biting, at the same instance Officer Schwartz saw that Valenzuela was attempting to bite me, he kicked the subject in an attempt to stop him from biting me. As I arose to my feet I could still see Valenzuela attempting to bite me, this time I kicked him in the head."
Zangara wrote that he punched Valenzuela after Valenzuela tried to spit on him.
"I instinctively struck him in the face with my right fist to prevent him from spitting on me again as he was full of blood," Zangara wrote.
In the midst of an internal affairs investigation into the incident, Graham, whom a city spokesman described as a "rookie officer" still on probation, resigned on July 22.
Schwartz and Zangara - whose personnel files are dotted with suspensions and written reprimands - remain on administrative leave this afternoon while West Palm Beach Police Chief Delsa Bush decides their fate, said Chase Scott, city spokesman. It is unclear from the records if they have been on leave since the incident.
In an interview with internal affairs investigators, Valenzuela said the officers broke his jaw and gave him two black eyes and a gash that required four stitches. He said a fight with his wife during Memorial Day weekend triggered a stress disorder that preceded the incident on May 26.
Valenzuela, who said he was trades crew chief for Palm Beach County Facilities Management, said he had no memory of the confrontation or of the events that led up to it.~'michael_laforgia@pbpost.com
Palm Beach Post
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
WEST PALM BEACH — One city police officer resigned and two more were placed on administrative leave after a dashboard camera captured images of them punching and kicking a handcuffed man in the face.
On May 26, Officer Louis Schwartz had pulled a car over outside a CVS pharmacy at 6800 South Dixie Highway when a pharmacy clerk told him a man in a black ski mask looked like he was about to rob the store.
As Schwartz walked in, the man, later identified as Pablo Gilberto Valenzuela, 42, of West Palm Beach, ran out through an emergency exit, turning to spray Schwartz with pepper spray as the officer gave chase, according to police reports.
A video recording captured what happened next:
Schwartz drew his gun and, ordering Valenzuela to the ground, approached as Officer Kurt Graham, who had heard Schwartz’s calls for help over the radio, closed in on the prone man. Graham put a knee into Valenzuela’s back and handcuffed him.
The video then showed Graham punch and kick Valenzuela in the face. Schwartz approached and also kicked Valenzuela in the face.
Later, as Officer Jason Zangara hoisted a bloodied Valenzuela to his feet, the video showed Valenzuela lurching away from Zangara’s grasp. Zangara whirled on the handcuffed man and punched him several times in the face, until the man collapsed on the pavement, the video showed.
Officers hauled him up again and led him out of the frame.
Valenzuela was held at the Palm Beach County Jail on charges of robbery, assault and battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.
In reports filed after the incident, Graham and Schwartz wrote that they kicked Valenzuela in the face because the handcuffed man was trying to bite Graham's leg.
"As I was crouching over Valenzuela he began to bite at my lower right leg," Graham wrote. "I felt his teeth graze up against my lower leg (through my pant leg). I immediately punched Valenzuela in the head in an attempt to stop his biting, at the same instance Officer Schwartz saw that Valenzuela was attempting to bite me, he kicked the subject in an attempt to stop him from biting me. As I arose to my feet I could still see Valenzuela attempting to bite me, this time I kicked him in the head."
Zangara wrote that he punched Valenzuela after Valenzuela tried to spit on him.
"I instinctively struck him in the face with my right fist to prevent him from spitting on me again as he was full of blood," Zangara wrote.
In the midst of an internal affairs investigation into the incident, Graham, whom a city spokesman described as a "rookie officer" still on probation, resigned on July 22.
Schwartz and Zangara - whose personnel files are dotted with suspensions and written reprimands - remain on administrative leave this afternoon while West Palm Beach Police Chief Delsa Bush decides their fate, said Chase Scott, city spokesman. It is unclear from the records if they have been on leave since the incident.
In an interview with internal affairs investigators, Valenzuela said the officers broke his jaw and gave him two black eyes and a gash that required four stitches. He said a fight with his wife during Memorial Day weekend triggered a stress disorder that preceded the incident on May 26.
Valenzuela, who said he was trades crew chief for Palm Beach County Facilities Management, said he had no memory of the confrontation or of the events that led up to it.~'michael_laforgia@pbpost.com
‘Cute’ girl forced to mime at Olympics ceremony after China banned seven-year-old with crooked teeth
Nicola Boden and David Williams
Daily Mail
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
China picked a ‘cute’ nine-year-old girl to mime at its Olympic opening ceremony after deciding a seven-year-old with a ‘flawless’ voice was not pretty enough to perform.
Lin Miaoke, in her angelic red dress and pigtails, captivated the world last Friday as she ’sang’ the national anthem during its £20million opening for the Games.
But it has now been revealed the voice heard by billions both in Beijing and around the globe was in fact seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was banned for her crooked teeth.
In yet another example of fakery at the Games, China pre-recorded Yang singing Paean to the Motherland but chose her rival to lip-synch before the public.
The extraordinary last-minute decision to splice pictures and sound was taken just before the show by a top member of the Chinese Communist Party politburo.
Lin’s appearance in the ceremony has made her the hottest child star in China and her picture was even printed on the front page of the New York Times.
But the true story behind her performance has now been revealed by the general music designer of the ceremony, Chen Qigang, who wanted to set the record straight.
It lays bare China’s desperation to present a ‘perfect’ image to the world and deliver the best ever Olympics, shooing away migrant workers and protesters.
The country has already confessed footage of fireworks exploding across Beijing during the ceremony was digitally inserted into television coverage in case smog blurred some of the 29 blasts.
And today Olympic officials said they had been forced to draft-in ‘cheerleader squads’ to fill empty seats in stadiums despite the Games being billed as a sell out.
Ironically, attempts to control every aspect of the Games are far more damaging to China’s reputation than if events were allowed to unfold more naturally.
Of the decision to deny Yang Peiyi her chance to perform in front of billions, Mr Qigang said: ‘The first condition was that the director wants the image to be very cute.’
A 10-year-old girl who was a good singer was initially selected and used for all the rehearsals but it was eventually decided she was too old.
Organisers wanted a younger child and picked Yang Peiyi for her ‘flawless’ voice but were told at the last minute that Lin Miaoke would be the one to appear on stage.
Mr Qigang told Beijing People’s Broadcasting Station: ‘The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression.
‘Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in the aspect of voice, Yang Peiyi is flawless, in each member of our team’s view.’
He added: ‘This was a last-minute decision, we had to do it. We had been through several inspections, they were all very strict.
‘When we rehearsed at the spot, there were spectators from various divisions, especially leaders from the the Politburo who gave the opinion: It must change.
‘This is to say, we had no choice… We have a responsibility to face the audience of the whole country, to give this explanation.
‘Everyone should understand this in this way: this is in the national interest. It is the image of our national music, national culture. Especially the entrance of our national flag, this is an extremely important, extremely serious matter.
‘Then we made such a choice. I think it is fair to both Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi. That is to say, we have a perfect voice (in our team’s view), and a perfect image and representation, two combined together.’
The decision shows China's desire to ensure every single element of the Games is perfect and control exactly how it is perceived across the world.
It is possible Lin Miaoke did not even realise she was not singing at the time. She was only told she was performing at all 15 minutes beforehand.
A photo of Peiyi posted yesterday on a popular website shows a smiling girl with braces and crooked teeth.
She insisted she was not upset at the switch and was honoured to have her voice used.
But some people were angry, with one blog post reading: 'Leave the last bit of innocence to the children.'
Peiyi is a pupil at the Primary School affiliated to Beijing University. Her teacher Wang Liping said she is both cute and well-behaved, with a love for Peking opera.
In contrast, Miaoke was a minor celebrity even before the opening ceremony, having appeared in a number of Olympics-related television advertisements.
She has her own blog and one of the latest photos posted since the ceremony shows her looking up nervously at the ceremony's director, film director Zhang Yimou. 'Giving the child encouragement,' the caption says.
It is the the second straight Olympics where the opening ceremony involved lip-synching.
Luciano Pavarotti's performance at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin was prerecorded.
Bitter cold made a live performance impossible for the tenor, who was in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis.
Organisers were also forced to admit today that they were bussing in 'cheer squads' to fill empty seats, having claimed every single ticket for the Games had sold out.
The spectators - in matching t-shirts and banging batons - are being used to 'create a good atmosphere'.
Vice-president Wang Wei said: 'The shirts were handed out to volunteers who were assigned to be cheerleader squads to cheer both sides and encourage atmosphere.'Officials stress the Games are a sell-out and blame the empty seats on the bad weather and the failure of sponsors to use their own allocations.
It has already emerged organisers faked part of the firework display during the opening ceremony, which cost £20million to stage and wowed the world.
The 29 'footprints' seen springing up across the city towards its National Stadium during the four-hour epic show were actually pre-recorded.
A cameraman in a helicopter was also filming the displays live as they popped up along the skyline but organisers had feared it would be too shaky to use.
Daily Mail
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
China picked a ‘cute’ nine-year-old girl to mime at its Olympic opening ceremony after deciding a seven-year-old with a ‘flawless’ voice was not pretty enough to perform.
Lin Miaoke, in her angelic red dress and pigtails, captivated the world last Friday as she ’sang’ the national anthem during its £20million opening for the Games.
But it has now been revealed the voice heard by billions both in Beijing and around the globe was in fact seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was banned for her crooked teeth.
In yet another example of fakery at the Games, China pre-recorded Yang singing Paean to the Motherland but chose her rival to lip-synch before the public.
The extraordinary last-minute decision to splice pictures and sound was taken just before the show by a top member of the Chinese Communist Party politburo.
Lin’s appearance in the ceremony has made her the hottest child star in China and her picture was even printed on the front page of the New York Times.
But the true story behind her performance has now been revealed by the general music designer of the ceremony, Chen Qigang, who wanted to set the record straight.
It lays bare China’s desperation to present a ‘perfect’ image to the world and deliver the best ever Olympics, shooing away migrant workers and protesters.
The country has already confessed footage of fireworks exploding across Beijing during the ceremony was digitally inserted into television coverage in case smog blurred some of the 29 blasts.
And today Olympic officials said they had been forced to draft-in ‘cheerleader squads’ to fill empty seats in stadiums despite the Games being billed as a sell out.
Ironically, attempts to control every aspect of the Games are far more damaging to China’s reputation than if events were allowed to unfold more naturally.
Of the decision to deny Yang Peiyi her chance to perform in front of billions, Mr Qigang said: ‘The first condition was that the director wants the image to be very cute.’
A 10-year-old girl who was a good singer was initially selected and used for all the rehearsals but it was eventually decided she was too old.
Organisers wanted a younger child and picked Yang Peiyi for her ‘flawless’ voice but were told at the last minute that Lin Miaoke would be the one to appear on stage.
Mr Qigang told Beijing People’s Broadcasting Station: ‘The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression.
‘Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in the aspect of voice, Yang Peiyi is flawless, in each member of our team’s view.’
He added: ‘This was a last-minute decision, we had to do it. We had been through several inspections, they were all very strict.
‘When we rehearsed at the spot, there were spectators from various divisions, especially leaders from the the Politburo who gave the opinion: It must change.
‘This is to say, we had no choice… We have a responsibility to face the audience of the whole country, to give this explanation.
‘Everyone should understand this in this way: this is in the national interest. It is the image of our national music, national culture. Especially the entrance of our national flag, this is an extremely important, extremely serious matter.
‘Then we made such a choice. I think it is fair to both Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi. That is to say, we have a perfect voice (in our team’s view), and a perfect image and representation, two combined together.’
The decision shows China's desire to ensure every single element of the Games is perfect and control exactly how it is perceived across the world.
It is possible Lin Miaoke did not even realise she was not singing at the time. She was only told she was performing at all 15 minutes beforehand.
A photo of Peiyi posted yesterday on a popular website shows a smiling girl with braces and crooked teeth.
She insisted she was not upset at the switch and was honoured to have her voice used.
But some people were angry, with one blog post reading: 'Leave the last bit of innocence to the children.'
Peiyi is a pupil at the Primary School affiliated to Beijing University. Her teacher Wang Liping said she is both cute and well-behaved, with a love for Peking opera.
In contrast, Miaoke was a minor celebrity even before the opening ceremony, having appeared in a number of Olympics-related television advertisements.
She has her own blog and one of the latest photos posted since the ceremony shows her looking up nervously at the ceremony's director, film director Zhang Yimou. 'Giving the child encouragement,' the caption says.
It is the the second straight Olympics where the opening ceremony involved lip-synching.
Luciano Pavarotti's performance at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin was prerecorded.
Bitter cold made a live performance impossible for the tenor, who was in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis.
Organisers were also forced to admit today that they were bussing in 'cheer squads' to fill empty seats, having claimed every single ticket for the Games had sold out.
The spectators - in matching t-shirts and banging batons - are being used to 'create a good atmosphere'.
Vice-president Wang Wei said: 'The shirts were handed out to volunteers who were assigned to be cheerleader squads to cheer both sides and encourage atmosphere.'Officials stress the Games are a sell-out and blame the empty seats on the bad weather and the failure of sponsors to use their own allocations.
It has already emerged organisers faked part of the firework display during the opening ceremony, which cost £20million to stage and wowed the world.
The 29 'footprints' seen springing up across the city towards its National Stadium during the four-hour epic show were actually pre-recorded.
A cameraman in a helicopter was also filming the displays live as they popped up along the skyline but organisers had feared it would be too shaky to use.
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