Russia Says It's Fulfilled Georgia Pullout Pledge

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

MOSCOW, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Russia said it had completed on Friday the pullout from Georgia of troops it sent in to reinforce peacekeepers, adding that meant it had complied with a French-brokered ceasefire deal.

The Defence Ministry said in a statement that troops manning peacekeeping checkpoints, who will remain inside Georgia proper after the pullout, had begun carrying out their duties.

"Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has reported to the Commander-in-Chief, Dmitry Medvedev, on the completion of the order to pull out from Georgian territory Russian troops sent to reinforce peacekeepers," the statement said.

"The pullout was carried out without any incidents and was completed according to plan at 19:50 Moscow time (1550 GMT)."

"Russian military columns proceeded to the territory of South Ossetia. A part of these units is already at its permanent bases on Russian territory."

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LM424373.htm

[WriteDown]

1. Sounds like an occupation at this point.

I wonder how many "peacekeepers" are actually there.

[Ghost Dog]

2. Seems the number of permitted peacekeepers was not specified

in M. Sarkozy's ceasefire deal.

But further negotiation without shooting ought to now be possible?

[bemildred]

3. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."

"And while you're studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"

[Redstone]

4. Yeah, sure. Those lying sacks of shit. Hey, Rumdum's available; maybe they should hire

him, since he's always been so good at spouting preposterous lies with a straight face.

Redstone

[bemildred]

5. Georgia set for military action - Russian General Staff

MOSCOW, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia is preparing for military action in its breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a senior Russian military official warned Friday.

"We have registered an increase in reconnaissance activities and preparations for armed actions in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian military's general staff, told a news conference.

---

"The number of peacekeepers in Abkhazia will be 2,142 people, and the number of peacekeepers in South Ossetia will be fixed at a later date," Nogovitsyn said.

The Defense Ministry official also said Russia had set up 18 peacekeeping posts in South Ossetia and would build as many in Abkhazia "in order to avert looters and the transportation of arms and ammunition."

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080822/116215518.html

[bemildred]

6. US Ambassador to Moscow: Russia Was Justified in Responding to Georgia Attacks

The former US Ambassador to Bulgaria John Beyrle, who is already in charge of the American Embassy in Moscow, said Russia was justified in responding to the Georgian attacks on the Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia.

In an interview for the Russian newspaper Komersant, Beyrle points out the United States repeatedly tried to persuade the Georgian leadership not to make any offensive steps.

In his words both Russia and America had been trying to resolve the frozen conflicts on Georgia's territory for a long time.

The Russian response to the shelling of the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali by the Georgian forces was justified, according to Beyrle.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=96353

[Igel]

7. One rumor was 500 troops in Georgia.

However, that could be up to 6 or 10 km in. The number seems low, but apparently they believe that they have a legitimate right to a monopoly on force, and that any assault against them is intentional and deserving of response against the Georgian nation as a whole. Without prior warning. They are the peacemaking force. (And, oddly, the response to this kind of naked power and arrogance is has been astonishing.)

In some cases, the main road to larger areas passes through the "controlled" region before proceeding farther away from the border line, and the checkpoints have been stopping traffic to areas more than 6 or 10 km from the border. Rather like closing I-10 near the Mexican border so that large chunks of Texas and New Mexico are essentially impossible to get to, after having cleared out any Americans there.

It's also unclear what "in" means. The de facto borders that held with S. Ossetia are apparently not the ones at issue, even though they were the only ones that mattered to anybody a month ago because, well, ethnicity was all important and lines on paper were just that, lines on paper But when the de jure borders give Ossetia more ground, those are the ones that appear to be crucial, because, well, ethnicity doesn't matter when lines on paper are at issue, people can move. Then there are a few reports of occupation points being set up clearly outside the prescribed area, with Russia saying that they're actually within that magic 6 or 10 km limit--does this constitute redrawing the borders? (And if so, who's going to "negotiate" with them over it?)

However, the real sticking point is the interpretation: It's a unilateral interpretation made under threat of violence, and being billed as "negotiable." The ceasefire was the same way: After the ceasefire, Russian troops were still detaining Georgians in territory that the Russians hadn't occupied, at gunpoint, making raids and confiscating arms, and letting mercenaries in. "Mopping up" is the usual term for this--at best--and I've never taken it as synonymous with "ceasefire".

[Fearless]

8. Why don't they ask the dead? Oh right... My bad.

[gratuitous]

9. There is not one Russian soldier within a hundred miles of Stone Mountain

So there!