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POPSRA's Daily Russian News Blast
US to modify or jettison missile defense plans? NATO chief to meet with Russian envoy; Lukaschenko sends out mixed messages. South Ossetia denies book burning; think tank leader says Putin could be heading for Brehznev-style decades in power; Medvedev finds inspiration on blogosphere. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has suggested the traditional ally of Russia must 'move away from dependence on just one country, even one that is near and dear to us'. The Moscow Times reports that the authoritarian leader has emphasized ties with Russia, whilst on a rare visit to EU-member state Lithuania. The Russian Foreign Minstry has said that the criminal investigation into charges of forgery against RIA Novosti's Tbilisi bureau chief is politically motivated. South Ossetia has denied bonfire-style burning of Georgian books and other classic works at the state university. An op-ed contributor in the Moscow Times is disturbed by what makes it onto Russian bookshelves.
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POPSRussia Charges US Is Rearming Georgia
This is abut the USA, Israel and the West trying to get oil and gas from the Caspian Sea. Georgia is critical for the pipeline. Amazingly, the Georgian Defense Minister is an Israeli (!) and an Israeli general is a prime advisor to their Georgian Army and was involved in starting last year's war. U.S. troops also there, on the ground; and NATO as well, even though Georgia is not in NATO but the West is trying to get it in. This headline is made at the same time, the same day, that Russian nuke subs are reported off the East Coast of the USA, the Cold War quickly being microwaved reheated. I think we should BUY and oil and natural gas we need and invest and develop more alternative energy and our own oil reserves if we have to. I hope we don't have to listen to any more propaganda about fighting for "peace and democracy," or twist it around to make it sound like Russia is the aggressor (on it's own border, while we're 12,000 miles from home) It's another war for B
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POPSMore U.S. Weapons to Republic of Georgia? The Caspian Sea contains the largest know reserves of Oil and natural gas. Those of us who think stealing and exploiting natural resources think this is the reason for U.S. & Israeli military support of Georgia...and the reason for Russia pushing back against Georgia recent failed attempt at expansion. Expansion? -- Expansion to consolidate it's drip on Caspian Sea oil. Expansion for the BTC pipeline (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baku_pipelines.svg) This has routes that would take the greatest reserves of oil and natural gas in the world from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea and to the EU/NATO countries. Also it goes through Turkey to the Mediterranean for export. Formerly all this oil and natural gas belonged to the Soviet Union. The final major part of this plan is an underwater Israeli-Turkish pipeline to the Israeli port of Ashkelon. For more info, contact British Petroleum's (BP) CEO, Lord Browne. This is why our troops kill & die: : for BP, not
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POPSYNet: "War in Georgia: The Israeli connection"
Georgian minister: Israel should be proud "The Israelis should be proud of themselves for the Israeli training and education received by the Georgian soldiers," Georgian Minister Temur Yakobashvili said Saturday. Yakobashvili is a Jew and is fluent in Hebrew. "We are now in a fight against the great Russia," he said, "and our hope is to receive assistance from the White House, because Georgia cannot survive on its own. "It's important that the entire world understands that what is happening in Georgia now will affect the entire world order. It's not just Georgia's business, but the entire world's business." One of the Georgian parliament members did not settle Saturday for the call for American aid, urging Israel to help stop the Russian offensive as well: "We need help from the UN and from our friends, headed by the United States and Israel. Today Georgia is in danger – tomorrow all the democratic countries in the region and in the entire world will be in dang
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POPSLe Monde: "Why didn’t the US step in this time?" In the past, at least in 2004 and 2006, the US had stepped in to stop a potential Georgian invasion. Why didn’t the US step in this time? Why did they not yank the Mad Dog Saakashvili's chain as before? Was the Bush attempting to start WW2 to justify remaining as emperor in decline? Did the Russians save us all from further excesses from the 'Axeman of Evil'? How big a hand had the Zionist in this debacle? Why is blubber-mouth still allowed to cause grief?
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POPS Kremlin: Battles Over Energy May Lead To Wars Medvedev's predecessor Vladimir Putin, who is now Russia's powerful prime minister, often accused the West in the past of trying to expand its clout in the ex-Soviet nations and push Russia out of its traditional sphere of influence. The Kremlin has fiercely opposed NATO's plans to incorporate its ex-Soviet neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia. Russia currently controls most natural gas export routes out of the former Soviet region, but that grip is coming under growing pressure from China and the West. Intensifying rivalry for influence in the ex-Soviet region fomented tensions and helped stage the ground for last August's war between Russia and Georgia, which sits astride a key export pipeline carrying Caspian oil to Western markets. The war erupted when the U.S.-allied Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili sent troops to regain control over the separatist province of South Ossetia, which had close links with Russia.
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POPSRussia to Oust Canadian Diplomats Georgian Defense Ministry spokesman David Dzhokhadze said in the capital Tbilisi that no battlefield maneuvers were planned until at least May 11. Until then, organizational meetings would dominate proceedings, he said. Mr. Dzhokhadze said Georgia expects 15 countries to take part in the exercises after official notification from Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Serbia that they wouldn't take part. Armenia, which is dependent on Russia for its economic survival, said Tuesday that its military wasn't taking part. Mr. Dzhokhadze said Georgia had received no official confirmation of that. Georgia put down a mutiny of several hundred army officers of a tank battalion near Tbilisi on Tuesday.
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POPSRussia offer to help U.S. in Afghanistan Russia seems quite adept at smacking you in the face and then offering a helping hand. I rate it as a dangerous country (and the USA no better) just for the fact that it knows how to lie like the UK and USA, etc. -- but I believe it has carefully thought about it's actions and is now using significant power. In one week the U.S. Afghanistan supply base in a former Soviet territory is ordered to shut down; the route for supplies to Afghanistan through Pakistan is shut down due to a major bridge blow up. Oil and gas supplies to Europe are turned on and off at will. It's building bases in the Georgia area, after defeating a U.S. sponsored Georgian invasion of former Soviet territories. It's backed down, I believe, the Bush Evil Empire plans for putting nuclear weapons on it's border, in Poland. It is splitting NATO and re-establishing a second Warsaw Pact. Lying policies of the UK and USA (like the war in Iraq) haven't helped. I think Obama has to fear the 'Fall of Kab
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POPSTel Aviv to Tbilisi: Israel's role in the Russia-Georgia war The question remains as to why Israel was involved in the first place. There are several reasons. The first is simply economic opportunism: for years, especially since the 11 September 2001 attacks, arms exports and "security expertise" have been one of Israel's growth industries. But the close Israeli involvement in a region Russia considers to be of vital interest suggests that Israel might have been acting as part of the broader US scheme to encircle Russia and contain its reemerging power.
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POPSGeorgia's account regarding war inaccurate Attempts to make Russia the Evil Empire proof to be a hoax. Original press coverage N.Y times revealed one sentence in paragraph 35 on Aug, 08 2008 that the war started when Georgian forces bombarded Russian civilians and Peace-Keepers, hardly what I would consider unbiased reporting.
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POPSGeorgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question The war was started at the night of opening Olympic Games in Beijing, when ancient traditions of mankind do requiring to stop any hostile actions anywhere in a world. That did means nothing for challenged medieval vassal, blinded by his grandiose ambitions and brainless geopilitic from overseas. It is the shame Georgian and Russian people, centuries living together in peace and friendship, now become enemies. Who's malicious mind have denigrate them to that low point?
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POPSGeorgia accused of targeting civilians Revenge The BBC saw evidence of the cycle of revenge since the war, with the demolition of most houses in the former ethnic Georgian villages on the northern outskirts of Tskhinvali. Zaur Gagloyev (photo: Alan Tskhurbayev, Institute of War and Peace Reporting) No, it wasn't ethnic cleansing... we just let them go from our land Zaur Gagloyev The houses, whose occupants fled during the war to other parts of Georgia, were burnt by Ossetians immediately after the fighting.
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POPSGeorgia Says Russia Has Massed 7,000 Troops In South Ossetia Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, from Georgia on Aug. 26. Only Nicaragua has followed suit. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sept. 8 that his decision to recognize the regions was ``final'' and ``irrevocable.'' Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the following day that Russia had agreed to deploy about 3,800 soldiers in each region. A European Union-brokered cease-fire agreement that ended the fighting in Georgia requires Russia to remove its forces to their pre-conflict positions. Russia sent about 10,000 soldiers into Georgia during the fighting, according to state-run news service RIA Novosti.
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POPSEthnic Georgians face citizenship dilemma in Abkhazia Not all Gali residents are concerned with the passport situation. Zura B., an unemployed man who asked not to be identified, said he would probably take an Abkhaz passport since he cannot visit Moscow with his Georgian passport. "They won’t take away my Georgian passport and I won’t swear to anything. There are ways to get around such things," Zura said.
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POPSThree major points from Russian-Georgian war
The West appears to have underestimated the strength of the Kremlin’s negative reaction toward NATO’s eastward expansion. Russia’s reluctant acquiescence to the Baltic states’ joining the Atlantic alliance was clearly misleading: Moscow did make some noise, but it was in no position to take any active measures of resistance, as Russia back then was still relatively weak. For the Kremlin, the establishment of a NATO foothold in Georgia would be an intolerable development that could spark a domino effect across the Caucasus. It would start with the internationalization of peace process in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, causing Russia to lose its monopoly on "peacekeeping" operations, and culminate with Moscow losing control over the South Caucasus - with the grave consequences for stability in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus autonomous republics. To prevent this from happening, the Kremlin "preempted" the Western move and, in a risky gambit, radically changed the situation on the ground.
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POPSNATO to Georgia-war with Russia won't stop membership push Moscow, however, takes a different line. The Kremlin has made clear that it believes that a NATO membership for Georgia would pose a threat to its own security, and has categorically denounced the country's NATO aspirations. The Alliance, for its part, has refused to restore ties with the Kremlin until Russian troops withdraw from Georgia's disputed territories in compliance with the August 12 European Union-brokered peace deal.
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POPSRepublican Congressman: Russia was Right! But you won't hear this from McCain or Palin, nor Obama or other democrats, who all parrot the LIE of the neocon's official story. A bold republican Congressman is quoted, virtually paraphrasing the piece written by Pat Buchanan earlier (which I clipmarked, "Georgia Started It, Russia Finished It"). The tide against the propaganda is turning. Buchanan, Savage, now this Congressman and many more. Now this is from a Russian news agency, so to be objective I see no citation of the title that "US Intelligence" (not just the Congressman quoted) takes this view. But then the MSM does not report intelligence usually. They usually parrot the neocon propaganda. Note the unreported toll on civilians in just a few days in S. Ossetia, from Georgia's assault! More than 1500 civilians were killed in that time, according to South Ossetian authorities.
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POPSGeorgia's war planning questioned Similarly, soldiers who fought in South Ossetia suggest that decisions about Georgian army movements were made on the fly. At worst, a proxy confrontation with Russian forces -- akin to the first South Ossetian conflict in 1991-1992 -- was considered, said Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia. After the debacle of Russia’s two wars in Chechnya, no one thought that Moscow would further risk its international reputation by invading a sovereign country, said Deputy Defense Minister Batu Kutelia. "We expected that the Russians would fight with the hands of the separatists," Lomaia told EurasiaNet.
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POPSUS to invade Iran any day now? Hmmm lets see if we make it to the 2008 elections.. I predict that IF Obama wins we will see something occur which will allow bush to suspend elections under his Presidential Directive which actually gives him the right to do this without congressional approval >> please read this white house.gov document.. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html << I'm not kidding!
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POPSAbkhazia, Ossetia and Iran – Risks of Spreading Conflicts What is puzzling after reading all the press on Ossetia and the US involvement is why does the US really have interest. Thinking more and doing some Google Earth it seems that Georgia area has great position in terms of range to Iran. So what if the US an ally worked out a deal to use that as a launching point on Iran? Might that not piss off Putin and Russia who has publicly acknowledge providing nuclear power guidance,etc. So with that in mind, Putin/Medeved could easily say - get out of our region. Not sure what is more scary - the idea that the US/allies might have been planning to attack Iran or the fact Putin and crew are willing to possibly defend Iran.
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POPSUS Trained Georgia Commandos that Attacked S. Ossetia "the assault on South Ossetia" by Georgia, this Financial Times article states. The media is beginning to come closer to the truth. But then there is the curious disclaimer that "there is no evidence the contractors...or Pentagon knew" they would be used in an attack on S. Ossetia. What! Then what were they training them for? There is no evidence the Financial Times looked for any evidence either. Please try and convince us that no one in the Pentagon (filled with neocons like Feith, and neocon contractors like James Woolsey of Booz Allen Hamilton with access to the Pentagon) knew that Georgia would attack--when the U.S. is its full ally! Meanwhile Putin: The US orchestrated the war on South Ossetia.
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POPSCaucasian Realpolitik The recent Caucasian conflict shows that among the great powers, Realpolitik still trumps principles and morality.
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POPSMoscow’s Plan is to Redraw the Map of Europe: Mikheil Saakashvili Since Russia’s invasion, its forces have been “cleansing” Georgian villages in both regions – including outside the conflict zone – using arson, rape and execution. Human rights groups have documented these actions. It hopes the west will forget ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia drove out more than three-quarters of the local population – ethnic Georgians, Greeks, Jews and others – leaving the minority Abkhaz in control. Last week Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president, put us on alert: “Russia does not really know where it begins and where it ends.” He noted that the Moscow regime is “a lot more sophisticated” than the Soviets under Leonid Brezhnev. He should know – he was on the front line the last time Russia invaded a European country. Backing Georgia with Europe’s political and financial institutions is a powerful response. The most potent western response to Russia is to stay united and firm by providing immediate material and political support.
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