Russian forces destroy key Georgian bridge

[bemildred]

Source: LA Times

IGOETI, Georgia -- Russia and its allied forces today destroyed a key railway bridge linking this war-weary country's capital to the Western Black Sea coast, effectively severing all east-west transportation routes within the small country, the Georgian foreign ministry announced.

Russian soldiers occupying the central Georgian town of Gori also pushed forward 14 miles toward the capital, setting up positions on the country's main east-west road 25 miles from the capital. Adjacent agricultural fields were set afire, apparently by Russian soldiers.

Russian soldiers interviewed along the road between Russian-controlled Gori and Igoeti said their mission was to protect the road. They could be scene hiking up toward hilltop positions and setting up checkpoints and tank positions and conducting what appeared to be foot patrols.

---

The destruction of the bridge in the country's Kaspi district "resulted in the severing of railway links between the east and west of Georgia and connections with Georgia's seaports," said a press release issued by the Georgian foreign ministry. The Russian moves came a day after Georgian president Mikheil Sakaashvili signed a French-backed ceasefire proposal during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ossetia17-2008aug17,0,5302823.story

[xchrom]

1. of course. they are not going to leave.

they mean to rewrite at least that geographical map.

[GoesTo11]

2. Why exactly do so many people want to continue *'s approach?

Blew Russia. Blew Iraq. Blew Iran. Blew Israel/Lebanon/Gaza. Blew 9/11. Blew New Orleans. Blew the surplus. Blew our reputation. Blew the constitution.

Not to be a concern troll, but the polls should be 100% to 0% now in all races.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. If anyone is re-writing anything, I hope their spelling is better than the article above.

"They could be **scene**
hiking up toward hilltop positions ...."

It's hard for me to take news seriously when basic spelling errors are printed..makes me wonder how old or how intelligent the writer is.

One of my gripes, of late, is seeing the low quality of English in print. Our local weekly is infamous for it, but I do expect higher standards of big city rags.x(

That's all I got to gripe about today tho.......so far.

(edited for spelling !!....) :silly:

[JDPriestly]

24. Ditto dixiegirrrrl

[Cooley Hurd]

3. They still have the E-to-W highway, but loss of the RR means bulk transportation is crippled...

Clearly, the Russians are playing for keeps.:(

[Submariner]

4. Google appears to have taken down the Google map of Georgia

can't locate the road or bridges. It was up 2 days ago. Is this a Bushco doing?

[Cooley Hurd]

6. Weird, isn't it?

I noticed the same thing. :shrug: Do they ACTUALLY think the Russians DON'T have maps and rely on Google Earth?:eyes:

[Igel]

22. Perhaps because there are more than two groups involved.

Not all the paramilitaries have access to Russian satellite information?

Perhaps, with Georgian jamming abilities, they have trouble getting information?

Why do we think that all the Russian troops on the front line and all the Russian-sponsored paramilitaries have access to recent maps?

Ah.

Because it's snarky.

[Posteritatis]

34. I've never seen the Caucasus republics as anything other than blank

Were you able to see anything other than maybe the capitals? I've looked in the area a bit for awhile before this whole thing flared up and they've always been blank.

[hankthecrank]

5. Peace keeping is such hard work

come to find they are not very good at keeping the peace

we never blew up the bridge those people did it. Really every one just blames us for every thing.

really is just never ends

if they just had maps maybe they could find South ossetia

so how are they going to move all the Georgias to the labor camps not very smart!

[maddezmom]

7. Georgia rail bridge blown up; Russia rejects blame

Georgia rail bridge blown up; Russia rejects blame 16 Aug 2008 12:43:02 GMT
KASPI, Georgia, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Georgia accused Russian troops on Saturday of blowing up a railway bridge on the main line west of the capital Tbilisi, but Russia denied carrying out any such operation.

A Reuters cameraman near the town of Kaspi, 45 km (30 miles) west of Tbilisi, said one end of the bridge had collapsed on to the bank of the Mtkvari River in a tangled mess of metal and rubble.

Villagers said the bridge had been blown up on Saturday by men in uniform who arrived by military jeep, uncoiled wires and detonated explosives remotely.

They said the men responsible were Russians, but the Russian General Staff denied this.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LG333674.htm

[bemildred]

8. I guess they didn't show anybody their IDs.

I can see arguments for either side to blow up that bridge, depending on their assessment of the situation.

[dipsydoodle]

14. lol

I smell a rat too.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. Yep, a rat it could be.

Russian uniforms are very easy to get, the market was flooded years ago when they were having hard economic times. I can still go down to the local army/navy store and get authentic Russian BDUs.

[amandabeech]

15. It seems that the bridge was near Kaspi, 30 miles west of Tblisi.

Gori, held by the Russians and their "friends," has been cited as being 30 miles west of Tblisi, as well.

If the bridge were between the Russians and the Tblisi, I would say that the Georgians did it. Otherwise, I'd say that it was the Russians.

I'll withhold judgment until better information becomes available.

[bemildred]

19. A good theory, that.

I can think of none better without knowing a lot more about the situation. On the whole, I would hazard that the Russians did it, at the moment. I don't have to assume as much to come with reasons for the Russians to do it. For the Georgians to want to do it, they have to have some fancy political agenda or a real, present fear of Russians coming towards Tbilisi.

But you can speculate all day. Hopefully we will get fuller information in a while.

[daleo]

26. It could be Russians or it could be Georgians themselves

The rail link is also useful for an occupation force. It's not like Iraqis haven't destroyed their own infrastructure since the U.S. invasion.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the pipeline. Destroying that would definitely benefit Russia more than Georgia.

[maddezmom]

28. could be separatist as well

Acting without Russian approval per se.

[daleo]

29. That's true too. n/t

[Bodhi BloodWave]

31. it might be silly of me

but i would wager that it was the Georgians who did it or a group that did not follow any orders from the russians. Because if they had done it i do not really see them denying it as they tend to be quite straightforward and blunt when it comes to matters such as this

[Turbineguy]

9. I expect the Russians will keep this up until

Saakashvili resigns and they can put one of their own boys in charge.

If Saakashvili goes he will have nothing to lose by telling the world who advised him to attack.

[bemildred]

10. Saakashvili is toast.

They are still looking for a rail and some tar and feathers, but it won't take long once the dust settles. The Russians are making sure he has no military to back him up as we speak, too. If he is a wise man, he is negotiating his exit strategy. If the US is smart, it will start grooming his replacement.

[merwin]

11. Wasn't it all over the news yesterday that they had come to an agreement

on a ceasefire?

[amandabeech]

16. Yes.

CNN reported last night that the cease fire lasted while Condi was still on the ground. She few out, the Russians started to move.

Take it for what it's worth.

[maddezmom]

12. Georgian rail bridge blast hits Azeri oil exports

Georgian rail bridge blast hits Azeri oil exports 16 Aug 2008 16:56:47 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAKU, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan suspended oil exports through ports in western Georgia on Sunday after an explosion damaged a key rail bridge there.

Georgia accused Russian troops of blowing up a railway bridge west of the capital Tbilisi earlier in the day, saying its main east-west train link had been severed. Russia strongly denied any involvement.

"Transportation of oil and oil products in the western direction by railway has been suspended," Azerbaijan's state railway company said in a statement read out on television.

It gave the bridge explosion as the reason for the suspension. "The last shipment made by this railway contained 15 tanks," it said.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LG433755.htm

[dipsydoodle]

13. Link says

Azerbaijan suspended oil exports through ports in western Georgia on Sunday ? :shrug:

[amandabeech]

18. Azeri oil is no longer reaching tankers, except through Russia, according to the article.

"A pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk currently remains Azerbaijan's only oil export outlet."

This can't make the Azeris happy. If Russia was the party blowing up the bridge, this could be a very, very strong message to them, too.

[dipsydoodle]

20. That lot

have got an even more unfairly elected democratic government than Georgia.

[amandabeech]

25. Thanks for refreshing my memory. n/t

[bemildred]

21. Georgian rail bridge attack echoes beyond borders

KASPI, Georgia, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The attack on Georgia's East-West railway lifeline was over in minutes, a small group of men in battle fatigues laying explosives on a key bridge before fleeing into the hills to detonate them.

Residents of the town of Kaspi, in their accounts of the action, said the fighters were Russians, a charge the Russian General Staff dismissed as Georgian propaganda.

---

"This is huge damage, not just for Georgia, but for Armenia and Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries, which are shipping goods and oil by Georgian railway."

"The Russians, these barbarians, want to destroy our country economically," he told reporters in emotional language characteristic of the conflict around the Russian-backed separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LG396451.htm

[olddad56]

27. Funny, all of these details about what the Russians invasion...

of Georgia and never any details of our illegal invasion of Iraq. Somehow they are evil and what we are doing isn't even talked about.

[dipsydoodle]

30. Russia digs in amid pullout calls

Russian forces have tightened their control of a key highway in Georgia, a day after signing a formal ceasefire.

Russian control on the road from the Black Sea to the capital ends just 30km from Tbilisi, a BBC correspondent says.

blah blah

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7566199.stm

There's something odd about the railway bridge report. None of our news over here in the UK has mrntioned it at all other than Reuters UK . Most international news links seem to derive from the Reuters report - even this one from Israel: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3583245,00.html

Anyway - here's the bridge from this link : http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/08/16/georgia.html?ref=rss

[bemildred]

32. "There's something odd about the railway bridge report."

Yeah, I agree. Mom's suggestion that separatist partisans might have done it is a good idea.

That does not look like the work of somebody who wanted it to stay down. Not a thorough job. Just a nice little break that can be fixed.

[DU GrovelBot]

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