Abkhazia now involved in Georgian battle

[Dead_Parrot]

Source: Haiti News.Net

The armed forces of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region have begun an operation to force Georgian troops out of the upper part of the Kodori gorge.

Abkhazia's artillery and air force have carried out strikes against Georgian troops in the gorge.

In a report by Interfax news agency, Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh confirmed its air force was conducting an operation in the upper part of the Kodori gorge of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia.

The regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in the 1990s following the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

Read more: http://www.haitinews.net/story/392340

---

Oops. Other sources:

Abkhazia launches operation to force Georgian troops out at Thaindian News
Georgian President: Abkhazia conduct operation for pushing out Georgian forces in Kodori defile at Focus
Abkhazia violence raises fears of “second front” at euronews

I'm sure the Russians won't be too far behind them, either.

Next stop: Ajara...

[Pab Sungenis]

1. Georgia won't be there next week.

A couple breakaway provinces might achieve independence, and Russia will swallow up the rest.

[CHIMO]

2. Russia widens attacks as world pleads for peace in South Ossetia

Russian bombers and artillery yesterday widened their attack against Georgian forces with strikes against towns and military bases across the country in a dangerous escalation of the two-day-old war. Moscow appeared determined to dismantle Georgia's military capability in punishment for its rival's brutal attempt to regain control of the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia.

Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, last night insisted that its actions were 'legitimate' and called on Georgia to end its 'aggression' against the separatist province.

As the civilian casualties escalated on both sides, Georgia's military adventure seemed to be unravelling. President Mikheil Saakashvili demanded a ceasefire from Russia and implored the West to intervene to help him. Georgia's difficulties deepened further as separatists in a second pro-Russian breakaway Georgian republic - Abkhazia - joined the conflict, attacking Georgian forces in the contested upper Kodori Gorge.

Despite Saakashvili's call for a ceasefire - and the announcement that a combined EU, UN and US delegation was flying to Georgia to broker a cessation of hostilities - Russia insisted there would be no ceasefire until all Georgian troops had withdrawn from South Ossetia, which declared its independence from Georgia after a war in 1992.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/10/russia.georgia

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

And just think if they were part of NATO?

[DogPoundPup]

3. more pics

... to see others http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/10/content_9117645.htm

[qazplm]

4. Boy that bull is seriously outgunned!!

:)

[BrotherBuzz]

5. Nevertheless, Ferdinand stopped the column dead in their tracks

Mission accomplished!

[Mojorabbit]

6. He looks wormy

to me. Skin and bones.

[jody]

11. I don't believe that animal has the paraphernalia to be a bull. n/t

[amandabeech]

7. This thing could get totally out of hand.

I don't care who started it. I just know that the Georgians are asking for a cease-fire, and the Russians just keep on pressing.

I have been exceptionally disappointed in Putin's cold-war/KGB mentality. I thought that Russians in general wanted to move away from some of that. Was I ever wrong! The Russian bear seems to exert itself no matter what government is behind it.

Anyone heard anything about Turkey's intentions?

[Dead_Parrot]

8. It's the terms of the cease-fire that seem to be the sticking point

The Russians want a ceasefire where the Georgians pull out of S. Ossetia: The Georgians want a cease-fire where the Russians pull out of S. Ossetia, Nobody seems to give a rat's arse what the S. Ossetians want (although it would probably align with the Russians).

Turkey have called for a cease-fire, and diplomatic solution. From http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=149705&bolum=102

"Turkey thinks its neighbor Georgia should solve its problems through peaceful ways. We are expressing this view both on bilateral level and international forums,"

Since the Kurds have just blown up a pipeline in Turkey, they are probably a little edgy about all hell breaking loose.

[amandabeech]

9. I have a Turkish roommate.

I've heard all about Turkish views of the Kurds. And the Armenians. I don't imagine that the Turks like the Black Sea Fleet sailing down the eastern Black Sea.

The world community, except the Russians and their close friends, have the border of Georgia drawn between North and South Ossetia. Same with Abkhasia. I hesitate to force any country to give up territory. I think that it is a bad precedent and likely to have very negative repercussions down the line. Rather, I want to see negotiations.

I'm also concerned about the Russians sitting so close to those pipelines. I do not have confidence in Putin's Russia, much to my disappointment.

[Dead_Parrot]

10. Negotiations would certainly have been preferable

Unfortunately, the lines don't always get drawn in the right place - Look at Northern Ireland or anything that used to be Yugoslavia. I'd carefully not look at Cyprus, under the circumstances. ;)

(Edit: Come to think of it, Georgia has been run from Moscow for most of the last 2 centuries, having been annexed by Tsar Alexander. They've only had independence from Russia for a months longer than S. Ossetia has claimed it from Georgia)

To be honest, I go more for self-determination rather than who's-got-dibs maplines (Unless you really want be a British colony again, naturally!).

[fedsron2us]

12. Serbia used to have a border that incorporated Kossovo

that was recognized by the international community. I am afraid it was the carve up that took place there has set the dangerous precedent which the Russians are now exploiting. Backing self determination for the Kossovans in Serbia was always going to come back and bite the west in the back side. Any European knows full well that these unexploded bombs lie all over their continent.

[amandabeech]

13. I agree with you 100%.

I thought that the Kossovo business would have future repercussions.

It might even have repercussions here in North America. We are experiencing a heavy immigration, legal and illegal from Mexico (primarily) and Central America (lots of Salvadorans). There is a major concentration of these immigrants in the southwest, particularly southern California. Didn't the mayor, who is of Mexican descent, proclaim that Los Angeles was "a Mexican city?" What if the Mexican-descended population there decided to exercise self-determination and pull out of the United States? Last time that was tried, a very bloody civil war ensued, but after Kossovo, how could we object?

[Igel]

23. You presume that "South Ossetia" is a meanful word.

There are two operational definitions--the line that separated the Russians from the Georgians a week ago, and the line from 1991 and before that is on paper. They're not the same lines.

You also assume that everybody in "South Ossetia" wants the same thing. There are Ossetians, most of which (probably nearly all of which) want independence or unification with Russia. Then there are the Georgians that live there, and they want neither--yet they were born and raised in "South Ossetia".

Then there are the Russians in South Ossetia, which come in two guises: The first are ethnic Russians (just as the Ossetians say that Georgia settled Georgians in "their" territory to cement territorial claims, so Russians also settled Russians there--it's no accident that many of the high officials of "South Ossetia" the republic are Russians, having served in other, non-Ossetian areas). The second are the majority of Ossetians, which have been given Russian passports and are deemed Russian citizens.

How to handle the thousands of Georgians born and raised in "South Ossetia" who were driven out in the early '90s is a question.

[maddezmom]

14. Georgia under all-out attack in breakaway Abkhazia(Separatist rebels & Russian forces launch attack)

Source: The Guardian

The conflict in the Caucasus today spread to Georgia's second breakaway province of Abkhazia, where separatist rebels and the Russian air force launched an all-out attack on Georgian forces.

Abkhazia's pro-Moscow separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh said his troops had launched a major "military operation" to force Georgian troops out of the mountainous Kodori gorge, which Georgian forces control as a strategic foothold in the breakaway Black Sea territory.

He said "around 1,000 special Abkhaz troops" were involved. They were attacking and pounding Georgian positions using "warplanes, multiple rocket launchers and artillery", he said.

"The operation will enter the next phase as planned. And you will learn about that," he promised on Sunday, adding that he would create a "humanitarian corridor" allowing residents living in the district to flee.

The offensive appeared to mark a dangerous new front in the conflict between Georgia and Russia - following Georgia's apparent withdrawal from its other breakaway region of South Ossetia today.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/10/georgia.russia3?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

---

Russia accuses West of bias over South Ossetia 10 Aug 2008 14:08:43 GMT
Source: Reuters
MOSCOW, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Russia on Sunday accused Western countries and media of a biased pro-Georgian position in the conflict in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia and said this might hamper future relations with Moscow.

"Western countries behaved strangely in the first hours of aggression towards South Ossetia, they were silent," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told a news conference.

"This raises very serious questions about sincerity and their attitude towards our country and will of course be taken into account in the future when we hold talks and talk about global issues," Karasin said.

Russia sent troops into South Ossetia on Friday, hours after Tbilisi's forces tried to regain control of the separatist province following clashes between separatist and Georgian troops.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LA506699.htm

[Arctic Dave]

15. Why does the MSM keep calling the

Ossetians "separatist rebels" but the wikipedia considered the Ossetia region autonomous? Looks like someone is trying to frame the conflict to their terms, no who do we know that would do such a thing?

[ohio2007]

19. wikipedia is a revisionist update able source of information

I suspect you will see it being updated hourly as a certain acceptable 'bias' is built into the system.

So watch for what gets updated and who "revises" the text.

[amandabeech]

21. When Georgia separated from the Soviet Union, it included S. Ossetia and Abkhasia.

All but a few U.N. members view the borders of Georgia that way.

In the early '90s, the S. Ossetians held a referendum and declared independence from Georgia. Georgia did not acquiesce like the Soviet Union acquiesced in Georgia's separation.

The Abkhasians have been trying to break away, too, and Georgia hasn't had compete control there for years.

Georgia opposes complete independence for Abkhasia, too, and I believe has offered Abkhasia (and probably S. Ossetia) considerable autonomy within Georgia.

Apparently, Wiki treats the Ossetian referendum and declaration of independence as changing the borders of Georgia.

Except Russia and a few of its friends, the governments of the world disagree.

Really, Wiki should make that more clear.

[Posteritatis]

24. Wikipedia's worthless for things like this

Every group that has an interest in the conflict will be there hauling relevant entries in the direction they want them to go.

It's just another front in contemporary warfare.

[Arctic Dave]

26. It wasn't just wikipedia,

pretty much all the listing in google said the same thing. As for putting in relevant entries, they must have been putting in overtime trying to put them in then.

[maddezmom]

16. Russia presses attack as Georgia pulls back from key city

Russia presses attack as Georgia pulls back from key city
By Tom Lasseter | McClatchy Newspaper
BATUMI, Georgia — Georgian military units pulled back to new positions near Tskhinvali, the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, after a night of heavy Russian bombing, a Georgian official said Sunday. But the move was unlikely to halt an escalating Russian assault on the U.S.-allied former Soviet republic.

Russia and its allies pressed a multi-prong attack, pounding Georgian soldiers from the air in the north and unleashing a new front from the west by separatist forces. Russia's powerful Black Sea fleet moved into position to blockade Georgia's ports to prevent any resupply.

In the west, the rebel province of Abkhazia resumed "massive artillery fire" against Georgian units there, an Abkhaz defense official told Interfax, a Russian state news service.

The repositioning of the Georgian soldiers in Tskhinvali, which Georgia tried to wrest from separatist control in a blitz of rocket and artillery fire beginning Thursday night, might have opened the way for a ceasefire. But Russian officials gave no indication they were interested.


more:http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/47345.html

[ohio2007]

17. Russia Increases Military Force with Chechen Mercs

Russia Increases Military Force with Chechen Mercs
- Post Media Reply
Aug 10, 2008
Russia is increasing its military force against Georgia as the conflict intensifies. There have been reports from Georgia's national security chief that Russian troops are now heading towards the town of Gori in Georgi itself. Sky's Stuart Ramsay reports.



http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=944_1218378129

The song remains the same

[SpikeTss]

20. Oh, another Hitler!

http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20060425.htm

On the NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia

[amandabeech]

22. A new post on your link claims that the Russians have captured and African American demolition

expert and are questioning him. He was part of the NATO advisory team, apparently.

If this is true, the U.S. has less wiggle room that it did yesterday.

I don't like to curse online, but this is looking like a total cluster***k for the U.S.--just another going-away present from Jorge Arbusto.

[bemildred]

18. Time for regime change in Georgia?

Perhaps the final resolution of what is and is not part of Georgia? There was a statement from some Russian yesterday to the effect that they were not going back to the status quo ante.

[amandabeech]

25. My Turkish roommate's mother is actually Abkhasian.

Roommate told me that young men from the Turkish Abkhasian community are going to Abkhasia to fight. They may be traveling by boat. Reports of Turkish ships going to Georgia may actually be charters filled with Abkhasians.

Roommate's mom is ecstatic about Abkhasia becoming its own country. I wish them luck, but relying on the Russians may not actually result in a separate country, but one totally controlled by the Russians. The Russians have been there for a while, so maybe it would work out well. However, sometimes one has to be careful of what one wishes for.

[maddezmom]

27. Russia boosts forces in Abkhazia to 9,000-Ifax

Russia boosts forces in Abkhazia to 9,000-Ifax 11 Aug 2008 05:05:21 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds background)

MOSCOW, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Russia has boosted its forces in Abkhazia, a second rebel region of Georgia, and now has more than 9,000 paratroopers and 350 armour there, Interfax news agency quoted an aide to the commander of Russian peacekeepers as saying on Monday.

"The strengthening of the peacekeeping force is aimed at ruling out a repetition of the situation Russian peacekeepers faced in Tskhinvali," Alexander Novitsky was quoted as saying.

Tskhinvali is the capital of South Ossetia, another breakaway region of Georgia where Russian forces are now in control after a failed military operation by Georgia to re-assert government control.

"Our troops have to defend ... civilians and avert a humanitarian catastrophe," he said.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LB622661.htm