As a follow-up to some of my earlier OT postings, as an apparent symmetrical move to the increased US Naval activity in the Black Sea off Georgia, the Russian navy will take part in joint naval manoeuvres with Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea later this year,including several Russian ships and 1,000 soldiers.
What is going wrong here?
-------- Venezuela to host Russia navy exercise Reuters Published: September 7, 2008
CARACAS: Several Russian ships and 1,000 soldiers will take part in joint naval manoeuvres with Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea later this year, exercises likely to increase diplomatic tensions with Washington, a pro-government newspaper reported on Saturday.
Quoting Venezuela's naval intelligence director, Salbarore Cammarata, the newspaper Vea said four Russian boats would visit Venezuelan waters from November 10 to 14.
it shouldn't be of any concern to the us; it should be more of a concern to the russian federation that deals and connections to import contraband will be made as a result
What's going on is that the stupid asses who run US foreign policy (Chenney and the Neo-Cons) have finally pissed off the Russians with their continued insistence on NATO expansion without regard for earlier administration's promises not to do so in a way which would threaten or humiliate the Russians.
And if these stupid dick-heads don't knock it off, they will get NATO and the West a real war with nuclear weapons going off.
The story that Russia attacked Georgia is total BS. Georgia attacked Russian peacekeepers stationed in Georgia first....and did so with a sneak attack. Totally uncalled for provocation. Dave
This was definitely an Israeli-neocon operation, another massive screwup that played well to the Republican base. Is anyone else concerned that McCain's man Randy is on Georgia's payroll?
I am not sure what Israel had to do with it, but yes, McCain's campaign people are being paid a lot of money by Georgia. This may explain why McCain returns the favor to the Georgian "leadership".
By the way, the "democracy" in Georgia is of a peculiar kind, where elections were held during martial law and main opponents of the current Georgian "president" were either jailed, or expelled from the country.
Follow up to the follow up -- these weren't "boats" after all.
-------------- Updated information ....
Translation in original article was 4 Russian "boats." At least one of the 4 "boats" is actually a heavily-armed nuclear-powered first-line cruiser.
----------- Russia says to send nuclear warship to Caribbean Mon Sep 8, 2008 1:02pm EDT By Conor Sweeney
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it would send a heavily-armed nuclear-powered cruiser to the Caribbean for a joint naval exercise with Venezuela, its first major maneuvers on the United States' doorstep since the Cold War.
Russian officials denied the mission was linked to a naval standoff with U.S warships in the Black Sea, but it will take place at a time of high tension between Washington and Moscow over the conflict in Georgia.
Washington has played down the significance of the exercise.
Russia has criticized the United States for sending a command ship and two other naval vessels to Georgia, on its southern border, to deliver aid and show support for President Mikheil Saakashvili after Moscow sent troops into Georgia.
Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev asked on Saturday how Washington would feel "if we now dispatched humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean ... using our navy".
------- for complete article click on
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Like Yogi Berra said "It's Deja Vue all over again."
The newspaper I read her in DFW said the Georgians attacked first, Shelling cities, killing lots of civilians. Pretty reckless of them, to say the least.
Saakashvili: "Both war and peace are in the hands of Israeli Jews"
³The Israeli weapons have proved very effective,² he said at a press conference at his office. When asked whether the Israeli arms played a role in the military successes he claimed the Georgian army had achieved, he joked: ³Are you asking me as a representative of Elbit or of Israel Aerospace Industries?²
To a reporter's question about Jews who have fled the fighting and come to Israel, he said: ³We have two Israeli cabinet ministers, one deals with war [Defense Minister David Kezerashvili], and the other with negotiations [State Minister for Territorial Integration Temur Yakobashvili], and that is the Israeli involvement here: Both war and peace are in the hands of Israeli Jews.²
-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller
============ Impossible at this point because of the propaganda efforts on all sides.
However, considerable "¿evidence?" does exist on the web. Google on for >7k hits. a few of these include
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I think it is likely that at least some of the Georgian lads full of p**s and vinegar [and possibly vodka] decided to kick the ethnic Russians out of the traditional Georgian territories where they had settled during the USSR era. [Remember, Stalin was a Georgian].
This appears to have been an usually poorly planned and coordinated effort, and may well have been known to the Russians in advance, given their speed of response. Indeed, it is well within the realm of possibility that this was a provocation action financed and directed by the Russians. Putin is ex-KGB and knows his trade well.
The US does not appear to have clean hands either, as they have a long history of making promises that they never intend to fulfill, for example the two Kurdish revolts incited prior to the last Iraq invasion. Indeed the last one was a war rationale.
What is clear is that one of the few alternative oil/gas pipeline routes to Europe not across Russian territory are [or were] on nominally Georgian territory.
Georgia is a poor country, with hardly a pot to p**s in, but seems to have been supplied with large quantities of relatively new (and expensive) anti-armor armament and artillery. The question is who paid for this equipment and where did it come from?
I smell another big dead rat in the types of tactics and [implied] doctrine used by the Georgians, which from the very little information available appear to be those of a force with air supremacy. This the Georgians lacked and their invasion forces were almost immediately destroyed and driven back by alerted and prepared Russian armored and motorized units.
This leads to another question "was this another 'bay of pigs,' where promised air cover was withheld?" There are after all numerous US constructed/maintained and controlled airfields on Georgian territory. Indeed, persistent rumors indicate that at least part of the widely anticipated anticipated pre-emptive air strike against Iran was to be launched from these bases.
Clearly this area is a powder keg [or leaky propane tank] and the last thing we need are people lighting matches.
Some follow-up on the "Democratic" election that put Saakashvili in power in Georgia. It appears Georgia used US election consultants from Cook County Illinois....
-------- Stuffed ballots, biased campaign tainted Georgia vote: OSCE Tue Sep 9, 2008 11:42am EDT By Michael Stott
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ballot-box stuffing, beatings of opposition activists, biased news coverage and government officials campaigning for President Mikheil Saakashvili's party tainted Georgia's parliamentary elections this year, Europe's main election watchdog said on Tuesday.
The United States praised Georgia as a "courageous young democracy" after its brief war with Russia last month; but the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) ODIHR arm said there were many significant shortcomings in a May
21 election, when Saakashvili's party won a big majority.
Its final report was significantly tougher than the monitors' initial report, which described election day as calm and generally positive, although with some shortcomings.
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