The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[RSNATION]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

After this bloody beating Georgia got the Georgian population will be even more anti-Russian and Turks/Azeris will be even more afraid of stepping out of line in the Caucasus region. I am glad Armenia stayed out of this mess. Realizing that Russian intentions in Georgia was merely to destroy Tbilisi's war making capability/punish Saakashvili's government and not annex or destroy the country, official Yerevan could not risk ruining its already stressed relations with the Georgian government. Let's not forget that the vast majority of goods and supplies, including gas and benzine, get to Armenia via Georgia.

Although I'm upset that the war ended quite fast, I was, nevertheless, very-very impressed by Russia's war making capabilities both on the battlefield and within the halls of government. This was one of the rare instences in recent history where Moscow actually enjoyed the moral high ground and executed the war flawlessly. Militarily, what Moscow accomplished within a few short days was simply outstanding. Remember that South Ossetia is a rugged and forested territory that favors the defender, in this case the invading Georgian force. Within two short days, the Russian military completely routed a significant Georgian invasion force, a force that was Israel/USA trained and armed with modern multiple rocket launchers, anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles and heavy armor. Without any trouble Moscow also managed to take the war deep into Georgian territory and bring Tbilisi to its knees within three/four days. And, as predicted, NO ONE was able to do anything for Tbilisi.

Which leaves one wondering, what the 'fuck' was Saakashvili thinking when he gave the order to invade South Ossetia??? Could this be a case of treason, insanity or a classic case of miscalculation of blind nationalism... In my opinion, it was a combination of all three: Georgians were blinding by their extreme nationalism and hate and fooled into believing that the West would help them in time of real need. As a result, Saakashvili's government was found to be utterly incompetent and, in a sense, treasonous.

Through all this, Armenia enjoys the highest standing in the region. Anyway, this was the blood letting Moscow needed to do in order to show the world that beyond its harsh political rhetoric, increasing wealth and flashy military parades, it is fully capable of executing major military operations flawlessly using minimal resources.



I got the information from the mother of a young Yerevantsi soldier serving in Martakert. The young man called his mother two days ago to inform her that a significant military operation was undertaken to liberate a strategic hill. According to this information, the liberated hill in question was somehow made famous by the late Monte Melkonian. The operation was successful, the hill was liberated and there were Azeri deaths. Beyond this I don't know much else.

Thanks. I'm enjoying your posts

[RSNATION]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Beaten Georgia Feels Humiliated By Russia

(A soldier gestures from a tank beside his comrade as part of a Russian military convoy travelling on its way on a main road leading to the Georgian city of Zugdidi, which is about 350 km away from Georgia's capital Tbilisi, August 13, 2008. Georgia accused Russia on Wednesday of sending tanks from South Ossetia into the Georgian town of Gori but Russia issued a swift denial and an eyewitness said the town was empty.)

OUTSKIRTS OF GORI, Georgia — - The Russian bombs and shells were falling fast Tuesday afternoon, dropping unseen through mist that clung to the mountains and wisped over the valleys. Panicked refugees pressed the gas pedal to the floor and roared toward the capital city of Tbilisi, trying to outrun the explosions. Russian helicopters hung low over the foothills. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev had already said that the "operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace" was finished. But here in Georgia, the war dragged on. "They want to destroy us," groaned Aftondil Huroshvili, who begged for a drink of water in a crowded hospital ward in Tbilisi. The retired topographer was strolling through Gori's central square when Russia bombed the post office. Shrapnel from the blast shattered his lower leg. The Conflict By The Numbers "They want to invade and take everything," he said, rolling his balding head back and forth in pain. "Why are they doing this?" As a battered country waited Tuesday to see whether a cease-fire would finally come to fruition, it was clear that Russia had already made its point. It took just five days of war to deal a shattering blow to Georgia's collective psyche. People who had started to divorce themselves from the ominous, Soviet-era sense of threat from their massive northern neighbor, who had started to dream of NATO membership and Western-style democracy, have just learned a hard lesson in their own vulnerability.

"We are like an example for the others, that Russia can do the same to anybody," said Nikoloz Kvachatze, a young doctor in Tbilisi's Republic Hospital. "They must be stopped. They won't stop by themselves. They'll start with Georgia, and then it will be Poland and Estonia and Ukraine." Until this week, some Georgians believed that their newly improved armed forces, trained and outfitted with help from the United States, might hold their own against Russia's much larger but aging military. There was a sense that Georgia was moving beyond the reach of Moscow's ire and would soon find a place among Western states. Many thought that Georgia's gestures of solidarity, from the troops sent to fight alongside the Americans in Iraq to the street named after George W. Bush, might induce the United States to back them up militarily if they ever found themselves menaced by Russia. But they were wrong.

After Georgia launched a surprise attack to seize control of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, killing hundreds of civilians and a handful of Russian peacekeepers, they found themselves alone — and facing Moscow's wrath. "They are invading us, and it's happening in the 21st century, and the whole world is watching," said Teia Tsvertsvadze, a slim paramedic who wore a wooden cross tied around her neck on a string. "We're frustrated. If we were given more active support, maybe Russia wouldn't dare." This war has neatly illustrated that Russia has the military might to overcome Georgia in just a few days. Russian troops have at times appeared to be showing off: Cutting main roads only to relinquish them; occupying towns in Georgia proper and then leaving again; dropping bombs on military and civilian targets at will. "The morale of the people is destroyed," said Vaso Suramelo, 46, staring in dismay at the smoldering hills.

The remains of a hard battle littered the country road leading into Gori from the capital. Burned-out tanks and broken-down artillery canons lay scattered like forgotten toys on the charred roadway. Two hulking personnel carriers had smashed into one another, head-on. Passing cars slowed down and eased around them. But the soldiers were gone. The road to the capital stretched out, half-deserted and stripped of military protection. There were signs Tuesday that the war could be drawing to an end, but many Georgians remain skeptical. Russia will continue to fight, they said, until they take over the entire country, or until the Georgian government falls. "They have no right to do it," said ambulance driver Shalva Gokashvilli. "They want to keep us under control, to keep us from NATO. They never wanted us to be independent." "The Russians never keep their promises," Gokashvilli spat out.

Source: http://www.courant.com/news/nationwo...0,953425.story

Georgia Claims Russian Tanks Enter Key City

Georgia is accusing Russia of sending tanks into the strategic city of Gori despite a cease-fire in the fight over two pro-Russian breakaway Georgian regions. Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia told reporters Wednesday that about 50 Russian tanks and armored vehicles had entered the city. Russia has denied the presence of tanks, but says troops have set up several checkpoints near the largely-abandoned city. There were no reports of combat. Both Georgia and Russia have agreed to the main points of a French-brokered peace plan which calls for the withdrawal of forces from two Georgian breakaway regions and free access for humanitarian aid workers. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says the European Union should deploy peacekeeping monitors to help diffuse the situation. Kouchner spoke Wednesday ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium. Georgia's Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili says that 175 Georgians have died in five days of air and ground attacks. Russia says the death toll is at least 1,500. There are no independently confirmed casualty figures. South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990's but have not been internationally recognized.

Source: http://voanews.com/english/2008-08-13-voa9.cfm

And in related news:

Rice told Georgia to avoid conflict with Russia: report

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice privately warned Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to avoid a conflict with Russia during her trip to Tbilisi in July, The New York Times reported Wednesday. "She told him, in no uncertain terms, that he had to put a non-use of force pledge on the table," an unnamed senior US official who accompanied Rice on the trip told the newspaper. The message was delivered during a private dinner on July 9, the report added. Publicly, however, during the trip Rice blamed Russia as a source of continuing unrest in the country. Russia "needs to be a part of resolving the problem and solving the problems and not contributing to it," she said at a July 10 joint press conference with Saakashvili. Rice's July visit to Georgia came amid increased diplomatic confrontation between the Washington and Moscow over Georgia's desire to join NATO, as well as the status of the separatist provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Despite the public bravado, top US officials warned the Georgians not to allow the conflict to escalate through until hours before Georgia launched its attack, the newspaper reported. The top US envoy for the region, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, received a phone call from Georgia's foreign minister on Thursday saying their country was under attack, the report stated. "We told them they had to keep their unilateral cease-fire," the unnamed official told the newspaper. "We said, be smart about this, don't go in and don't fall for the Russian provocation. Do not do this'." Saakashvili did not inform Washington ahead of the offensive, senior US officials told the newspaper. "The Georgians figured it was better to ask forgiveness later, but not ask for permission first," an administration official told the newspaper. "It was a decision on their part. They knew we would say no'."

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...h8eOXcJKXZwRuw

Georgia's Israeli arms point Russia to Iran

JERUSALEM - With the eruption of fighting between Russia and Georgia, Israel has found itself in an awkward position as a result of its arms sales to Georgia. Israel is now caught between its friendly relations with Georgia and its fear that the continued sale of weaponry will spark Russian retribution in the form of increased arms sales to Iran and Syria. After fighting broke out late last week between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Israel's Foreign Ministry over the weekend recommended suspending the sale of all weapons and defense-related equipment to Georgia, the daily Ha'aretz newspaper reported. The paper quoted an unnamed senior official saying that Israel needed "to be very careful and sensitive these days. The Russians are selling many arms to Iran and Syria and there is no need to offer them an excuse to sell even more advanced weapons."

Israel's immediate concern is that Russia will proceed with the sale of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Iran, which would help it defend its nuclear installations from aerial attack. Israel, like the US, believes that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at developing a bomb, and Israeli leaders have refused to rule out the possibility of a pre-emptive strike aimed at derailing Iran's nuclear aspirations. Israel recently conducted a major aerial exercise over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece that was widely viewed as a rehearsal for a possible strike against Iran's nuclear installations. But with the US and Europe resorting to diplomatic pressure in the form of sanctions to deter Iran, Israel is loathe to anger Russia, which until now has opposed harsher sanctions on Tehran. Israel's relations with Georgia have been close, partly because there is a large Georgian xxxish community in Israel. In recent years, ties have also taken on a military dimension, with military industries in Israel supplying Georgia with some US$200 million worth of equipment since 2000. This has included remotely piloted planes, rockets, night-vision equipment, other electronic systems and training by former senior Israeli officers.

"Israel should be proud of its military, which trained Georgian soldiers," Georgian Minister Temur Yakobashvili told Israel's Army Radio in Hebrew shortly after the fighting erupted. Israel is not a major supplier of arms to Georgia, with the US and France supplying Tbilisi with most of its weaponry. But the arms transfers have attracted media attention partly because of the role played by some high-profile Israeli figures, including former Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo, who conducted business in Georgia on behalf of Israel Military Industries. According to media reports, Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, a senior commander in the 2006 Lebanon war who resigned after the release of a highly critical report on the way the war was conducted, served as an adviser to Georgian security forces. Further attention was drawn to the Israel-Georgia arms trade earlier this year when a Russian jet shot down an Israeli-made drone being operated by the Georgians.

Even though weapons transfers were modest in scope, Russian diplomats began increasingly relaying to Israel their annoyance over its military aid to Georgia, including the special forces training provided by security experts. Israel decided about a year ago to limit military exports to defensive equipment and training. New contracts weren't approved as the arms sales were scaled back. Georgia's request for 200 advanced Israeli-made Merkava tanks, for example, was turned down. There were reports in Israel that the sale of the tanks didn't go through because of a disagreement over the commission that was to be paid as part of the deal. But Amos Yaron, the former director general of the Defense Ministry, insisted it had to do with "security-diplomatic considerations" - a clear reference to the sensitivity of the arms sales to Georgia. Israel, Yaron added, didn't want "to harm Russian interests too much". Asked about the motivation to initially engage in the sale of weaponry to Georgia despite concerns it might anger Russia, Yaron replied: "We did see that there was potential for a conflagration in the region but Georgia is a friendly state, it's supported by the US, and so it was difficult to refuse."

Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JH14Ak02.html

Great articles!!! I really enjoyed the photo of the Ossetian soldier taking a picture of his comrade next to the carcass of what used to be a Georgian tank.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russian troops roll into key city despite truce

ORJOSANI, GEORGIA - AUGUST 13: Russian soldiers sit atop their armoured vehicles, August 13, 2008 near Orjosani on the main road between Gori and Tblisi in Georgia. Russia has denied reports of Russian troops advancing on Tblisi, as a fragile ceasefire holds in the region.

OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia (AP) — Russian troops and paramilitaries rolled into the strategic Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday, apparently violating a truce designed to end the conflict that has uprooted tens of thousands and scarred the Georgian landscape. Georgian officials said Gori, a central hub on Georgia's main east-west highway, was looted and bombed by the Russians before they left later in the day. Moscow denied the accusations, but it appeared to be on a technicality: a BBC reporter in Gori reported that Russians tanks were in the streets as their South Ossetian separatist allies seized Georgian cars, looted Georgian homes and then set some homes ablaze. "Russia has treacherously broken its word," Georgia's Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said Wednesday in Tbilisi, the capital.

Georgians run away from an approaching Russian military convoy, near Gori, Georgia northwest of capital Tbilisi, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008 Russian troops and paramilitaries rolled into the strategic Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday, smashing an EU-brokered truce designed to end the six-day conflict that has uprooted 100,000 people and scarred the Georgian landscape.

An AP reporter saw dozens of trucks and armored vehicles leaving Gori, roaring southeast. Soldiers waved at journalists and one soldier jokingly shouted to a photographer: "Come with us, beauty, we're going to Tbilisi!" But the convoy turned north and left the highway about an hour's drive from the Georgian capital, and set up camp a mile off the road. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russian troops were near Gori to secure weapons left behind by the Georgians. To the west, Russian-backed Abkhazian separatists pushed Georgian troops out of Abkhazia and even moved into Georgian territory itself, defiantly planting a flag over the Inguri River and laughing that retreating Georgians had received "American training in running away." The developments came less than 12 hours after Georgia's president said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that Russia was halting military action because Georgia had paid enough for its attack last Thursday on South Ossetia.

Smoke rises from a Georgian army base outside Gori, Georgia, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008. About 50 Russian tanks entered Gori on Wednesday morning, according to a top Georgian official Alexander Lomaia. Complete confirmation of Lomaia's claim was not possible, but an APTN television crew in Gori saw some Russian armored vehicles Wednesday morning near a military base there.

In Washington, President Bush said he was skeptical that Moscow was honoring the cease-fire and announced that a massive U.S. humanitarian effort was already in progress, and would involve U.S. aircraft as well as naval forces. "To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," Bush said. The EU peace plan calls for both sides to retreat to the positions they held prior to the outbreak of fighting late Thursday. That phrasing apparently would allow Georgian forces to return to the positions they held in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and clearly obliges Russia to leave all parts of Georgia except South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili criticized Western nations for failing to help Georgia, a U.S. ally that has been seeking NATO membership. "I feel that they are partly to blame," he said Wednesday. "Not only those who commit atrocities are responsible ... but so are those who fail to react. In a way, Russians are fighting a proxy war with the West through us."

Russian at first denied that tanks were even in Gori but video footage proved otherwise. About 50 Russian tanks entered Gori in the morning, according to Lomaia. The city of 50,000 lies 15 miles south of South Ossetia, where much of the fighting has taken place. Russian deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn admitted that Russians went into Gori, but not in tanks. He said Russians were looking for Georgian officials to talk to about implementing the EU truce but could not find any. A Russian government official who wasn't authorized to give his name said Russian troops checked a Georgian military base near Gori and found lots of abandoned weapons and ammunition, then moved the ordnance to a safe place as part of efforts to demilitarize the area. Some of the Russian units that later left to camp outside the city were camouflaged with foliage. The convoy was mainly support vehicles, including ambulances, although there were a few heavy cannons. There were about 100 combat troops and another 100 medics, drivers and other support personnel.

About six miles away from the camp, about 80 well-equipped Georgian soldiers were forming what appeared to be a new frontline, armed with pistols, shoulder-launched anti-tank rockets and Kalashnikovs. Sporadic clashes continued in South Ossetia where Russians responded to Georgian snipers. "We must respond to provocations," Nogovitsyn said. Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia has handed out passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and stationed peacekeepers in both regions since the early 1990s. Georgia wants the Russian peacekeepers out, but Medvedev has insisted they stay.

In the west, Georgian troops acknowledged Wednesday they had completely pulled out of a small section of Abkhazia they had controlled. "This is Abkhazian land," one separatist told an AP reporter over the Inguri River, saying they were laying claim to historical Abkhazian territory. The fighters had moved across a thin slice of land dotted with Georgian villages. "The border has been along this river for 1,000 years," separatist official Ruslan Kishmaria told the AP on Wednesday. He said Georgia would have to accept the new border. Nogovitsyn admitted Wednesday that Russian peacekeepers had disarmed Georgian troops in Kodori — the same peacekeepers that Georgia wants withdrawn.

Abkhazia lies close to the heart of many Russians. Its Black Sea coast was a favorite vacation spot in Soviet times and the province is just down the coast from Sochi, the Russian resort that will host the 2014 Olympics. For several days, Russian troops held the western town of Zugdidi near Abkhazia, controlling the region's main highway. An AP reporter saw a convoy of 13 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers in Zugdidi's outskirts Wednesday. Later in the day, Georgian officials said the Russians pulled out of Zugdidi. "They just don't want freedom, and that's why they want to stamp on Georgia and destroy it," he declared to thousands at a jam-packed square in Tbilisi. Leaders of five former Soviet bloc states — Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine — also appeared at the rally and spoke out against Russian domination.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree Wednesday saying that Russian navy ships deployed to the Georgian coast will need authorization to return to the navy base Russia leases from Ukraine. The World Food Program sent 34 tons of high-energy biscuits Wednesday help the tens of thousands uprooted by the fighting. Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in South Ossetia. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died. Georgia says at least 175 Georgians have died in Russian air and ground attacks. The Russia-Georgia dispute also reached the international courts, with the Georgian security council saying it had sued Russia for alleged ethnic cleansing.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g..._6oVwD92HHK0G1

Russian convoy drives fresh fears of war

THE fragile ceasefire between Georgia and Russia was in jeopardy overnight after a Russian convoy headed towards the nation's capital. The BBC reported that a convoy of about 60 vehicles, mainly troop carriers, progressed 15 to 20 kilometres east from Gori along the road to Tbilisi. But it said the convoy then turned north, away from the capital. A spokesman for the Russian Government said the convoy was not bound for the Georgian capital, but was demilitarising the area near the South Ossetian border so that Georgia could not launch new attacks. The troops, which had been on Georgia's main east-west highway between Gori and Tbilisi, "never planned" to travel to the capital, the spokesman said. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili earlier told CNN that forces were moving towards Tbilisi, and were trying to encircle the city. "The Russians are encroaching upon the capital. They are making a circle," Mr Saakashvili said, adding: "We will protect our capital until the last drop of our blood. We will never surrender to the Russians." Mr Saakashvili said Georgian forces were stationed in and around Tbilisi and vowed an "all-out resistance" to the Russian forces. His comments came just hours after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Russia and Georgia had agreed a fragile ceasefire after five days of bitter conflict.

Russia, however, has accused Georgia of failing to pursue an "active withdrawal" from South Ossetia. "Georgian forces have begun their pull-back toward Tbilisi but no active withdrawal has yet been observed," General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the staff of the armed forces, told reporters. Bowing to vastly superior military might, Mr Saakashvili had earlier said he would accept a Russian ceasefire agreement to end a five-day conflict, despite terms some have described as humiliating. Mr Saakashvili appears to have all but given up his bid to reclaim two disputed regions on the Russian border. Russia, which said it had suspended military operations, continued bombing sites deep in Georgia hours later. The head of its national security council, Alexander Lomaia, said about 50 Russian tanks had entered Gori, 25 kilometres south of South Ossetia, about eight hours after Georgia accepted the ceasefire. Russia denied the claims.

The United States has cancelled planned joint military exercises with Russia, as officials consider broader reprisals in protest at Moscow's offensive. The August 15-23 exercises were to involve ships from Russia, France, Britain and the US in the Sea of Japan, and an onshore component in the Russian port of Vladivostok. Top US officials were studying responses to Russia's "disproportionate" attacks on Georgia, after demanding Moscow make good on its promise to halt the offensive. Analysts said the peace plan, backed by France and the European Union, left no doubt Russia had won the conflict. Russia clearly saw it as an opportunity to reassert dominance over an area it viewed as part of its historic sphere of influence. Georgia, a former Soviet republic, gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/world/russi...j.html?page=-1

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Ukraine imposes restrictions on Russian navy

Ukraine imposed new restrictions on Russian naval vessels based at Sevastopol on the Black Sea as former Soviet bloc states lined up to show support for Georgia in its fight with Russia.

President Victor Yushchenko raised the prospect of revoking an agreement that allows Russia to use the Crimean port until 2017 if Russian commanders defy the new restrictions. The presidential decree requires vessels blockading Georgia to ask Kiev's permission to return to the treaty port. Reasserting control over its near neighbours is at the heart of Russia's foreign policy. It has ruthlessly cut winter energy supplies to secure compliance from Eastern Europe and used Russian-speaking minorities from the Baltics to Central Asia as leverage against states courting the West. Mr Yushchenko joined the leaders of Poland and the Baltic states on a solidarity mission by a self-described group of "captive nations" of the USSR, to Tbilisi on Tuesday. Even before yesterday's decree, Mr Yushchenko had faced domestic criticism for adopting positions that inevitably antagonise Moscow. Ukrainian political analyst James Hydzik said the president had put the country in Moscow's crosshairs. He said: "Protestations of neutrality from the Ukrainian government are not helped by the visit [to Tbilisi], at least from the Russian standpoint."

Russia has used a mixture of bluster and threats to resist efforts by Georgia and Ukraine to join Nato. But even states that are members of the EU are not immune from Kremlin intimidation. "In the Baltic states and Ukraine, independence is still seen as something fragile and not necessarily built to last," said Bartosz Cichocki, an expert at the Polish Institute for International Affairs. "So if it's not defended actively, it can't last." In the aftermath of the Russian assault on Georgia, many former Soviet citizens doubt that the West can restrain Moscow. Even confidence in Nato's charter guarantee that all states will aid any member attacked from abroad has been shaken. "People are certainly afraid that Russia could attack Lithuania just like Georgia," said Lithuanian political scientist Kestutis Girnius. "And you see that kind of view among politicians," The legacy of Soviet domination still haunts Russia's relations with its former allies. "We came to fight since our old neighbour thinks that it can fight us," Polish President Lech Kaczynski said in Tbilisi. "This country thinks that old times will come back, but that time is over. Everyone knows that the next one could be Ukraine, then Poland." Poland and the three Baltic countries yesterday raised objections to a French ceasefire plan, criticising it for not explicitly guaranteeing Georgia territorial integrity.

Not all ex-Soviet states are anti-Kremlin democracies. But even pliable Belarus, a Soviet-style dictatorship with a mutual support pact with Moscow, was admonished by the Kremlin for not offering enough support. Moscow has challenged world opinion before, most notoriously its agents used radioactive material to poison defector Andrei Litvinenko in a London hotel. But the Russian operation in Georgia has raised calls to isolate Russia to the forefront of international politics. Both candidates in the US presidential election have condemned Moscow's aggression. Senator John McCain had already signalled he would toughen policy towards Russia if elected by securing its expulsion from the G8. Guided by the foreign policy specialist Robert Kagan, Sen McCain hopes to establish a league of democracies to contain authoritarian states, principally Russia and China.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...sian-navy.html

Russian forces sink Georgian ships

Russian forces have sunk several vessels in Georgia's military port of Poti, Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid has reported from the scene. The attack on Wednesday follows a day of dramatic developments in the Russia-Georgia conflict amid what appears to be an escalation of military action on the ground. Abdel Hamid said: "Russia is clearly on the offensive." "We have seen more and more Russian troops coming into the area all day - a continuous build up of forces including columns of tanks and truck all along the roads here. "They came into this area and destroyed six Georgian vessels." "From what we understand, they came with the specific task of destroying all the military facilities of the Georgians," she said. Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull said: "Poti is one of the most important ports in the Black Sea. "The offensive means that the ceasefire is dead - back to ground zero."

Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/eu...517926662.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia-Georgia conflict raises worries over oil and gas pipelines

Several important lines pass through Georgia, and for Europeans and others, the routes represent a crucial counterbalance to Russia's control of energy resources.

Russia's invasion of neighboring Georgia has raised doubts about the security of oil and gas pipelines that cross through the former Soviet republic and the wisdom of further investment in the transport lines. The foray also put an emphatic stamp on Russia's growing influence over the region's natural resources and, by proxy, over Europe. MapThe pipelines, supplying about 1% of the world's daily oil needs, have not been damaged by the fighting, but the prospect of that led pipeline part-owner BP to shut down one of the oil lines as a precaution Tuesday. A second oil export line has been out of commission since last week because of a fire in Turkey. "The Russians have clearly demonstrated their military capability of getting very close to the pipelines," said Edward Chow, an energy expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And they also sent the Black Sea fleet off the Georgian coast, so they also have demonstrated that they can blockade Georgia anytime they want."

The pipelines begin in Azerbaijan and pass through Georgian territory en route to ports on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, where tankers take the crude mostly to Western Europe. Chow worries about whether transit lines through Georgia will remain secure in the long run and whether additional foreign investment would be safe. Russia is an energy giant on two continents through the state-controlled Gazprom, its largest company. Gazprom produces 85% of the nation's natural gas, controls 17% of the world's reserves and is a major supplier to countries across Central Asia and Europe. Its former chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, was elected Russia's president in March.

For Europeans and others, the routes through Georgia represent a crucial counterbalance to Russia's control over pipelines and energy resources. Some hoped expansion projects throughout Georgia might further loosen Russia's grip over European energy supplies. Those projects were not far along, Chow said, but in light of Russia's actions, "investors would have to reconsider how attractive those projects are." James L. Williams, publisher of the Energy Economist newsletter, was blunt about the possible repercussions. "For Russia, control of Georgia and the pipeline would restore much of its influence over many of the former satellites of the U.S.S.R.," he said. "It would have the clear benefit of increasing Russia's energy chokehold on Europe."

Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute, believes an assertive Russia flush with oil and natural gas revenue can exercise its power by controlling crucial resources. "When the Russians are trying to claw back their power, energy is the major lever in their pursuit to do so," she said. However, political and economic analyst Natalia Leshchenko of consultant Global Insight believes the pipeline issue has been overblown. "The Georgian president brought in the whole pipeline issue to probably send more worries to the West, and especially to the European consumers, to draw more attention to the conflict," she said. "It's not that we should ignore it, but it's certainly not a cause to panic." So far, energy markets have shrugged off the risk. The cost of oil fell again Tuesday, dipping $1.44 to $113.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The closing price was more than $34 below the peak posted on July 11. The most prominent among the existing pipelines is the 1,000-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan line, which can carry up to 1 million barrels of crude a day from the Azerbaijani coast on the Caspian Sea, through Georgia and Turkey to the port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.

The BTC is owned by a consortium of companies. It was expected to carry more than 900,000 barrels of oil a day this month for export, bypassing routes that would have taken the oil through Russia and subjected it to that country's transit fees. Deliveries through the BTC pipeline were halted Aug. 4 after a fire along the Turkish portion of the route. A Turkish separatist group claimed responsibility for the incident. BP also shut down a smaller line, the Western Route Export pipeline, which was recently overhauled. It can carry up to 160,000 barrels of oil a day from Baku on the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan to the Georgian Black Sea port of Supsa. Also as a precaution, BP also shut down the South Caucasus gas pipeline, which transports natural gas from Baku through Georgia into Turkey. That gas is not exported.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,3564413.story

Russia's Strike Shows The Power Of the Pipeline

It was surely not lost on Russia's bully in chief, Vladimir Putin, that the oil giant BP decided to shut down the pipeline that runs through parts of Georgia controlled by Russian troops. Indeed, that was one of the aims of the cross-border incursion. Putin understands better than anyone that oil and gas are the source of Russia's resurgence as a military and economic power and his own control over the Russian government and key sectors of its economy. It is oil and gas that provide the money to maintain Russia's powerful military, along with a vast internal security apparatus and network of government-controlled enterprises that allow the president-turned-premier to maintain his iron grip on the levers of political and economic power.

A little pipeline history: It was just as Putin was coming to power in 1999 that an agreement was reached to create the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. The project would allow Azerbaijan and its production partner, BP, to bypass Russia and transport their newly drilled oil instead through Georgia and Turkey to a port in the eastern Mediterranean. Because of its control of the only pipeline system linking former Soviet republics with the West, Russia had been able to extract most of the profit from any oil and gas that these newly independent countries could produce. But with BTC, which had the active support of the U.S. and European governments, Russia would lose its monopoly chokehold, opening the way for Western oil companies to make multibillion-dollar investments in the energy-rich Caucasus states.

No sooner was BTC completed, however, than Western officials began exploring the possibility of other pipelines that could reach beyond Georgia and Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan, which was thought to have some of the world's largest gas reserves. Their interest was not only in "energy security" and the prospect of oil riches for Western energy companies, but also in promoting Western-style democracy and free-market capitalism in the former Soviet republics. In time, much of their efforts focused on a $12 billion project known as Nabucco, named after the Verdi opera, that would take gas across the Caspian sea, through Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, finally reaching a terminal near Vienna. With Europe already dependent on Russia for a quarter of its natural gas, and that number set to rise with construction of a new northern pipeline running under the Baltic Sea to Germany, European leaders were keen to find alternative sources of natural gas. The effort took on greater urgency in winter 2006 after Russia briefly cut off supplies in its gas-pricing dispute with Ukraine.

Nabucco also became a top priority of the Bush State Department -- in particular, of Matt Bryza, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and C. Boyden Gray, a Bush family confidante who was named a special envoy for Eurasian energy, who began actively courting the leaders of Azerbaijan. Putin, quite correctly, viewed Nabucco as part of a larger campaign by Washington to contain and isolate Russia and limit the expansion of its burgeoning energy empire. With Gazprom, the state gas monopoly, Putin launched his own competing proposal called South Stream to build a new pipeline to the Caucasus. Suddenly the Russians were offering to pay Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan multiples of what they had previously offered to secure long-term supply deals. They penned an agreement with Italy and its oil company, Eni, to build a pipeline that would run under the Black Sea from Russia to Europe and end up at the same Austrian terminal as Nabucco. And Russian officials offered highly favorable transit agreements, ownership shares and guaranteed gas supplies to secure transit agreements from Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.

To industry observers like Ed Chow, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Nabucco has always looked more like a diplomats' pipe dream than a viable economic project. Its promoters had not only failed to secure supply and transit agreements but also had yet to identify an oil company eager to champion the project and finance the pipeline. Now, with its successful military incursion, Russia has raised serious doubts in the minds of Western lenders and investors that a new pipeline through Georgia would be safe from attack or beyond control of the Kremlin. What we've been reminded once again is that Vladimir Putin is perfectly willing to sacrifice the rule of law and the good opinion of others to protect the Russian empire and the energy monopoly that sustains it. The techniques he used to bring Georgia to heel, while more lethal and destructive, have the same thuggish quality as the techniques Putin uses to silence domestic opposition and to expropriate the energy assets of Yukos, Shell and BP.

For the United States and Europe, this ought to be sufficient warning about the folly of extending membership in NATO or the European Union to every one of Russia's neighbors, particularly when they are unwilling to back it up with military action. But it also is a reminder of the futility of trying to co-opt Putin by offering him a seat at the G-7, membership in the World Trade Organization or the honor of hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics. We may not be willing to send troops to Tbilisi, but at the least we should be willing to deny Russian companies the right to raise capital on Western stock exchanges, extend their pipelines into Western markets or use their energy profits to buy up major Western companies. Vladimir Putin thinks he has looked into the soul of the West and discovered that we need him more than he needs us. It's time to convince him otherwise.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...203003_pf.html

RUSSIA ATTACK: CONSEQUENCES FOR GEORGIA PIPELINE AND POTI PORT

The British Petroleum pipeline that brought Georgia into the international spotlight has been turned off after six days of sporadic Russian bombing in the country. BP spokesperson Rusiko Medzmariashvili stated that the Baku-Supsa pipeline, the older of two BP pipelines that cross Georgia, has been shut down "as a precautionary measure." She did not specify a date for the decision. The larger Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is also not operating due to a fire in eastern Turkey, she said. Medzmariashvili confirmed that no oil is currently heading out of Baku for the Black Sea cost, although he added that "alternative routes are being considered right now." Among the alternatives are rail lines and other, smaller pipelines crossing Georgia.

The decision comes after nearly a week of fighting between Georgia and its northern neighbor, Russia. Russian bombs have hit the western coast of Georgia, including the towns of Senaki, Zugdidi and Poti, which is just 13 kilometers from the Supsa terminal. Early on August 13, a land attack sank two ships adjacent to the port, according to Alan Middleton, chief executive officer of the Poti Port Corporation. The strike was the second Russian attack on Poti since full-scale hostilities began on August 8. On August 9, approximately 20 bombs were dropped on the commercial port and the surrounding area. While the port was largely unharmed, the bombs reportedly killed 11 people and injured nearly 80 others. Port employees told EurasiaNet that the bombs disintegrated into shrapnel-like metal balls upon impact. "[Russia] purely just dropped the bomb to try to kill people and cause mayhem, " Middleton said in an interview the following day. "[It] certainly did." The port, however, remains "fully operational."

Middleton estimated daily losses for both the Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), which operates the port, and the government, at a "conservative" $1 million per day. Ras Al Khaimah, a United Arab Emirates concern, purchased a 51 percent stake in the port this past April; the government holds a 49 percent share. During a recent guided port tour, no serious damage to facilities could be seen. The bombing resulted in some holes in metal cargo containers and broken windows in the customs office. Middleton said that the port is working at "limited capacity" because workers refuse to come back. That sense of wariness can be felt throughout Poti. A day after the August 9 bombing, the usually busy central market was quiet. Most cars were headed out of town, after a government warning that more bombing was expected. At the Maltaqza Hospital near Poti, doctors remained on high alert. All injured bombing victims were being relocated to other hospitals in the area in preparation for more wounded, according to hospital director Zeinab Charchalia.

Although the hospital had kept over 40 doctors and surgeons on call, the facility suffered from a lack of personnel and equipment, she said. The attack, according to Nino Mcheglishvili, the assistant director of Poti’s health service, was a surprise for the town. "We expected to take injured from Tskhinvali or Senaki. Not our own," she said, adding defiantly that "whatever happens, we will not leave town." Middleton also expressed optimism that life at the port would soon return to normal. RAKIA’s $200 million investment plans are still on track, including the development of a free economic zone near the port, he stressed. "We are in it for the long-term," he said. Editor’s Note: Molly Corso is a freelance reporter currently based in western Georgia.

Source: http://www.eurasianet.org/department...av081308.shtml

[Azad]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Well, it is official now. The cold war is back on.

"U.S. and Poland sign missile shield deal

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland finally agreed on Thursday to host elements of U.S. global anti-missile system on its territory after Washington improved the terms of the deal amid the Georgia crisis."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080814/pl_nm/shield_poland_dc

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

After this bloody beating Georgia got the Georgian population will be even more anti-Russian

Bah, I don't see how that is even possible.

[Armanen]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Link to video of Medvedev and Merkel conference.

http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/29067/video

[North Pole]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Poland risks nuclear attack because of US missiles, says general

By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writer

58 minutes ago

MOSCOW - A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.

The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations.
Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile interceptor base as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations. Moscow, however, feels it is aimed at Russia's missile force.

"Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent," Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.

He added, in clear reference to the agreement, that Russia's military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them." Nogovitsyn that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems, he said, according to Interfax.

At a news conference earlier Friday, Nogovitsyn had reiterated Russia's frequently stated warning that placing missile-defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic would bring an unspecified military response. But his subsequent reported statement substantially stepped up a war of words.
U.S. officials have said the timing of the deal was not meant to antagonize Russian leaders at a time when relations already are strained over the recent fighting between Russia and Georgia over the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia.
Russian forces went deep into Georgia in the fighting, raising wide concerns that Russia could be seeking to occupy parts of its small, pro-U.S. neighbor, which has vigorously lobbied to join NATO, or even to force its government to collapse.
Under the agreement that Warsaw and Washington reached Thursday, Poland will accept an American missile interceptor base.

"We have crossed the Rubicon," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, referring to U.S. consent to Poland's demands after more than 18 months of negotiations.
Washington says the planned system, which is not yet operational, is needed to protect the U.S. and Europe from possible attacks by missile-armed "rogue states" like Iran. The Kremlin, however, feels it is aimed at Russia's missile force and warns it will worsen tensions.
In an interview on Poland's news channel TVN24, Tusk said the United States agreed to help augment Poland's defenses with Patriot missiles in exchange for placing 10 missile defense interceptors in the Eastern European country.
He said the deal also includes a "mutual commitment" between the two nations to come to each other's assistance "in case of trouble."

That clause appeared to be a direct reference to Russia.

Poland has all along been guided by fears of a newly resurgent Russia, an anxiety that has intensified with Russia's offensive in Georgia. In past days, Polish leaders said that fighting justified Poland's demands that it get additional security guarantees from Washington in exchange for allowing the anti-missile base on its soil.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080815/ap_on_re_eu/russia_us_missile_defense;_ylt=ApGJp4LpJ4D1wJD9hbTMYEus0NUE

Well, they have been warmed..... stand by now....

[Angessa]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Well, it is official now. The cold war is back on.

"U.S. and Poland sign missile shield deal

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland finally agreed on Thursday to host elements of U.S. global anti-missile system on its territory after Washington improved the terms of the deal amid the Georgia crisis."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080814/...ield_poland_dc

While the citizens of Poland protest in street and only small miniroty want the missile shield there. I even her that many have sided with Russian.

If the Ukrainians ever did there bluff about the port and allowed more nato. The people of the eastern part would riot in the streets and cossacks there will attack the Ukrainian government. Which is funny becuase the Ukrainians likes to claim the Cossacks as there but you never find one that is loyal or will fight for them. They all loyal to Russia and even press the Russian government to allow them to send men to the Russian militery cossack units.