Russia Continues Occupation, Foreign Minister Says, “Forget” Georgia’s Territorial Integrity, U.S. Military to Deliver “Aid”
August 14th, 2008It’s not over yet.
Washington Post: Russian Troops Hold Key Georgian City:
Russian troops remained in control of a key Georgian city on Thursday and a Kremlin official suggested that two breakaway provinces will never return to Georgian control.
Two days after signing a French-brokered ceasefire and with U.S. and European efforts underway to end the week-long crisis, Russian troops showed no immediate sign of vacating positions around the central Georgian city of Gori, where they arrived in force a day before.
According to the Georgian government and wire service reports from the area, Georgian police had approached the city for the start of a handover, expected from the Russians under the terms of the ceasefire and demanded by Western leaders.
However the Georgians left after it became apparent that the Russian troops planned to remain, at least for now, in control of Gori, a city near the disputed province of South Ossettia and one that sits near the country’s major east-west transportation routes.
The status of Russia’s presence in a second strategic town, the port city of Poti, and in other locations around the country was unclear. Georgian officials said that Russian troops remained in Poti, while a Russian military spokesman denied that was the case. According to the Georgian government, Russian troops also remained in the towns of Senaki and Zugdidi in the western part of the country.
Scattered explosions were still reported. In Washington, a U.S. official told the Associated Press that the Russian military was apparently destroying airfields and other Georgian miltiary equipment.
The confusing events on the ground were matched at the diplomatic level, with Kremlin officials seeming to back the breakaway aspirations of two Georgian provinces, in opposition to U.S. and European demands that the country — closely allied with the West — remain intact.
Following the events of the last week, “One can forget about any talk about Georgia’s territorial integrity,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Associated Press reported from Moscow. “It is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state.”
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met on Thursday with leaders of the separatist movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and pledged to support them in discussions about the future of the two disputed regions.
“We will support any decision made by the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” Medvedev said, following a meeting in which the separatist leaders signed the French ceasefire plan in Moscow.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a trip to the region on Thursday, beginning with talks in France on her way to Tbilisi.
Russia on Tuesday agreed to stop offensive operations and pull its troops out of Georgian territory, but a day later took over the frontline city of Gori, seized munitions at Georgian military bases and set up positions along the country’s main east-west highway. Paramilitary fighters accompanying the troops looted homes and stole cars, witnesses said.
BBC: U.S. Forces to Deliver Georgia Aid:
President George W Bush has said the US will use military aircraft and naval forces to deliver aid to Georgia following its conflict with Russia.
Speaking in Washington, he expressed concern about reports of continuing Russian action in Georgia, and urged Russia to respect a ceasefire accord.
Mr Bush hinted that Russia could be jeopardising its international ties.
The first US C-17 military aircraft has landed in Tbilisi carrying medical and other supplies.
The Kremlin said the US must choose between partnership with Moscow, or with the Georgian leadership.
“At some time it will be necessary to choose between supporting this virtual project and [a] real partnership on questions which actually require collective action,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The BBC’s Caroline Wyatt, in Moscow, says the Kremlin’s reaction suggests they have been bitterly stung by Mr Bush’s comments.
But she says Mr Lavrov spoke in the knowledge that the US is unlikely to back up its verbal support for Georgia with any more concrete action.
Ever since this insanity in the Caucasus region began, I’ve been watching segments of Threads and The Day After on YouTube. (Yes, I have a masochistic streak a mile wide. Why do you ask?)
If something like that happened and I was at work at the grocery store at the time, the place would probably be mobbed by people dumb enough to think there is anything remotely desirable about surviving a full-on nuclear war. However, the place is close enough to General Mitchell International Airport (which is used by the military, which I know because of the huge number of military planes I have seen flying over the store coming and going from there) that we would probably be vaporized immediately. Just remember too keep looking down at the ground, and if you’re remaining standing in one place, close your eyes. If you do survive the blast, you don’t want to be flashblinded in a post-apocalyptic world.