Ser att det varit lite spekulationer kring Konflikten i Georgien.
Istället för att ge mig in i ett meningsutbyte med 600+ inlägg startar jag på ny kula.

Georgien har länge varit av geostrategiskt intresse för både Ryssland och USA av två anledningar.

1: USA har sedan andra världskriget stött en rad sovietiska/rysska utbrytarstater i syfte att minimera deras gränser mot Europa och Centralasien. Detta har man gjort genom att utbilda soldater (ca 50000 i Georgien allena), stödköpa exportvaror och erbjuda tillträde till NATO samarbete. Det är ju trots allt det NATO är till för -att motverka Warsawapaktens expandering.

2: Georgien och Ostessetien är viktiga pipelineruter och transportvägar för olja från Kaspiskahavet - den oljekälla som producerar mest i världen idag. Min högst personliga spekulation är att terrordåden mot en skola i Ostossetien för något år sedan var en Rysk Black Op som syftade till att motivera Rysk militär närvaro i regionen.

Georgiens brutala attacker mot Sydossetien kan ha varit en retaliering eller enkel ogenerad ockupation. Det som är skrämmande är hur snabbt och massivt Internationella media fick det faktum att Ryssland skyddade sin provins Sydosetien till att bli en aggressionshandling.

Men, men inget nytt under himlen...

FRÅN INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE:

Bush's War in Georgia

Will it be the Flyswatter or the Blunderbuss?

By Mike Whitney

“I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings and in cars. It’s impossible to count them now. There's hardly a single building left undamaged.” Lyudmila Ostayeva, resident of Tskhinvali, South Ossetia


11/08/08 "ICH" -- - Washington's bloody fingerprints are all over the invasion of South Ossetia. Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili would never dream of launching a massive military attack unless he got explicit orders from his bosses at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. After all, Saakashvili owes his entire political career to American power-brokers and US intelligence agencies. If he disobeyed them, he'd be gone in a fortnight. Besides an operation like this takes months of planning and logistical support; especially if it's perfectly timed to coincide with the beginning of the Olympic games. (another petty neocon touch) That means Pentagon planners must have been working hand in hand with Georgian generals for months in advance. Nothing was left to chance.

Another tell-tale sign of US complicity is the way President Bush has avoided ordering Georgian troops to withdraw from a province that has been under the protection of international peacekeepers. Remember how quickly Bush ordered Sharon to withdraw from his rampage in Jenin? Apparently it's different when the aggression serves US interests.

Saakashvili has been working closely with the Bush administration ever since he replaced Eduard Shevardnadze as president in 2003. That's when US-backed NGOs and western intelligence agencies toppled the Shevardnadze regime in the so-called color-coded "Rose Revolution". Since then, Saakashvili has done everything that's been asked of him; he's built up the military and internal security apparatus, he's allowed US advisers to train and arm Georgian troops, he's applied for membership in NATO, and he's been a general nuisance to his Russian neighbors. Now, he has sent his army into battle ostensibly on Washington's orders. At least, that is how the Kremlin sees it. Vladimir Vasilyev, the Chairman of Russia's State Duma Security Committee, summed up the feelings of many Russians like this: "The further the situation unfolds, the more the world will understand that Georgia would never be able to do all this without America. In essence, the Americans have prepared the force, which destroys everything in South Ossetia, attacks civilians and hospitals."

True. That's why Bush is flying Georgian troops back home from Iraq to join the fighting rather than pursuing peaceful alternatives. Bush still believes that political solutions will naturally arise through the use of force. Unfortunately, his record is rather spotty.

But that still doesn't answer the larger question: Why would Saakashvili embark on such a pointless military adventure when he had no chance of winning? After all, Russia has 20 times the firepower and has been conducting military maneuvers anticipating this very scenario for months. Does Uncle Sam really want another war that bad or is the fighting in South Ossetia is just head-fake for a larger war that is brewing in the Straits of Hormuz?

Mikhail Saakashvili is a western educated lawyer and a favorite of the neocons. He rose to power on a platform of anti-corruption and economic reform which emphasized free market solutions and privatization. Instead of raising the standard of living for the Georgian people, Saakashvili has been running up massive deficits to expand the over-bloated military. Saakashvili has made huge purchases of Israeli and US-made (offensive) weapon systems and has devoted more than "4.2% of GDP (more than a quarter of all Georgian public income) to military hardware.

The Chairman of Russia's State Duma Security Committee, Vladimir Vasiliyev, summed it up like this:

"Georgia could have used the years of Saakashvili's presidency in different ways - to build up the economy, to develop the infrastructure, to solve social issues both in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and the whole state. Instead, the Georgian leadership with president Saakashvili undertook consistent steps to increase its military budget from US$30 million to $1 billion - Georgia was preparing for a military action." Naturally, Russia is worried about these developments and has brought the matter up repeatedly at the United Nations but to no avail.

Israeli arms manufacturers have also been supplying Saakashvili with state-of-the-art weaponry. According to Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz:

"In addition to the spy drones, Israel has also been supplying Georgia with infantry weapons and electronics for artillery systems, and has helped upgrade Soviet-designed Su-25 ground attack jets assembled in Georgia, according to Koba Liklikadze, an independent military expert in Tbilisi. Former Israeli generals also serve as advisers to the Georgian military." ("Following Russian pressure, Israel freezes defense sales to Georgia" Associated Press)

The Israeli news source DebkaFile elaborates on the geopolitical implications of Israeli involvement in the Georgia's politics:

"The conflict has been sparked by the race for control over the pipelines carrying oil and gas out of the Caspian region....The Russians may just bear with the pro-US Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s ambition to bring his country into NATO. But they draw a heavy line against his plans and those of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route the oil routes from Azerbaijan and the gas lines from Turkmenistan, which transit Georgia, through Turkey instead of hooking them up to Russian pipelines.

Jerusalem owns a strong interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan, rather than the Russian network. Intense negotiations are afoot between Israel Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Azarbaijan for pipelines to reach Turkey and thence to Israel’s oil terminal at Ashkelon and on to its Red Sea port of Eilat. From there, supertankers can carry the gas and oil to the Far East through the Indian Ocean." (Paul Joseph Watson, "US Attacks Russia Through Client State Georgia")

The United States and Israel are both neck-deep in the "Great Game"; the ongoing war for vital petroleum and natural gas supplies in Central Asia and the Caspian Basin. So far, Putin appears to have the upper-hand because of his alliances with his regional allies–under the Commonwealth of Independent States—and because most of the natural gas from Eurasia is pumped through Russian pipelines. An article in “Today’s Zaman” gives a good snapshot of Russia’s position vis a vis natural resources in the region:

“As far as natural resources are concerned Russia’s hand is very strong: It holds 6.6 percent of the worlds proven oil reserves and 26 percent of the world’s gas reserves. In addition, it currently accounts for 12 percent of world oil and 21 of recent world gas production. In May 2007, Russia was the world’s largest oil and gas producer.

As for national champions, Putin has strengthened and prepared Gazprom (the state-controlled gas company), Transneft (oil pipeline monopoly) and Rosneft (the state-owned oil giant). That is why in 2006 Gazprom retained full ownership in the giant Shtokman gas field (7) and took a controlling stake in the Sakhalin-2 natural gas project. In June 2007, it took back BP’s Kovytka gas field and now is behind Total’s Kharyaga oil and gas field.” (“Vladimir Putin’s Energystan and the Caspian” Today’s Zaman)

Putin–the black belt Judo-master–has proved to be as adept at geopolitics as he is at “deal-making”. He has collaborated with the Austrian government on a huge natural gas depot in Austria which will facilitate the transport of gas to southern Europe. He has joined forces with German industry to build an underwater pipeline through the Baltic to Germany (which could provide 80% of Germany’s gas requirements) He has selected France’s Total to assist Gazprom in the development of the massive Shtokman gas field. And he is setting up pipeline corridors to provide gas to Turkey and the Balkans. Putin has very deliberately spread Russia’s influence evenly throughout Europe with the intention of severing the Transatlantic Alliance and, eventually, loosening America’s vice-like grip on the continent.

Putin’s overtures to Germany’s Merkel and France’s Sarkozy are calculated to weaken the resolve of Bush’s neocon allies in the EU and put them in Russia’s corner. Putin is also attracting considerable foreign investment to Russian markets and has adopted “a ‘new model of cooperation’ in the energy sector that would ‘allow foreign partners to share in the economic benefits of the project, share the management, and take on a share of the industrial, commercial and financial risks’”. (M K Bhadrakumar “Russia plays the Shtokman card”, Asia Times) All of these are intended to strengthen ties between Europe and Russia and make it harder for the Bush administration to isolate Moscow.

Putin has played his cards very wisely, which makes it look like the fighting in South Ossetia may be Washington's way of trying to win through military force what they could not achieve via the free market.

On Saturday, President Bush issued this statement from Beijing: "We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops. We call for an end to the Russian bombings and a return by the parties to the status quo of August 6th."

That was it. Bush then quickly returned to the Olympic festivities. He was last spotted at a photo op with the US girls volleyball team jumping up and down on the beach-sand in his wingtips. The pretense that Bush is leading the country has seemingly been abandoned altogether. Cheney is in charge now.

Meanwhile, Putin boarded a plane to Moscow as soon as he heard about the Georgian invasion and after angrily waving his finger in Bush's face. It's doubtful that the friendship between the two leaders will survive the present storm. America's gambit in the Caucasus has aroused the sleeping bear and put Russia on the warpath. There's no telling when the hostilities might end. The conflagration could sweep across the entire region. Currently, news agencies are reporting that Russian warplanes are pounding Georgia's military bases, airfields, and the Black sea port of Poti.

According to Bill Van Auken on the World Socialist Web Site:

"Much of the city (Tskhinvali) was reportedly in flames Friday. The regional parliament building had burned down, the university was on fire, and the town’s main hospital had been rendered inoperative by the bombardment."

Vesti radio reported that Georgian forces burned down a church in Tanara in South Ossetia where people were hiding, to the ground, with all the people inside. The Deputy Director of an information agency as an eye witness reported that fragments of cluster bombs of were found in Tskinvali. There have also been reports by a South Ossetian reservist that civilians who were hiding in basements were shot dead by Georgian soldiers.

Wikipedia reports that, "Russian soldiers captured group of American mercenaries on territory of South Ossetia. Group was captured near of Zare village."

An estimated 1,500 people have died in the onslaught and 30,000 more fled across the Russian border. Large swaths of the city have been reduced to rubble including the one hospital that was pounded by Georgia bombers. Georgia has cut off the water supply to the city.The Red Cross now anticipates a "humanitarian catastrophe" as a result of the fighting.

“I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars,” Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, told the Associated Press after fleeing the city with her family to a village near the Russian border. “It’s impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged.”

At least 15 Russia peacekeepers were killed in the initial fighting and 70 more were sent to hospital. Georgia's army stormed the South Ossetia capital, Tskhinvali, killing more than 1,000 fleeing civilians. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told news agencies in an interview how the hostilities began:

Russian peacekeepers "were killed by their own [Georgian] partners in the peacekeeping forces. There is a Russian battalion, an Ossetian battalion, and a Georgian battalion... and all of a sudden the Georgians, Georgian peacekeepers, begin shooting their Russian colleagues. This is of course a war crime. I do not rule out that the Hague and Strasbourg courts and institutions in other cities will be involved in investigating these crimes, and this inhuman drama that has been played out."

According to South Ossetia's president, Eduard Kokoyti, Georgian troops had been taking part in NATO exercises in the region since the beginning of August. Kokoyti claims that there is a connection between the NATO's activities and the current violence.

Clearly, no one was expecting Russia to react as quickly or as forcefully as they did. In a matter of hours Russian tanks and armored vehicles were streaming over the border while warplanes bombed targets throughout the south. The Bush-Saakashvili strategy unraveled in a matter of hours. The Georgia president is already calling for a cease-fire. He's had enough.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has promised to spend $400 million to rebuild parts of South Ossetia. Large shipments of food and medical supplies are already on the way.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday:

"The actions of Georgia have led to deaths - among them are Russian peacekeepers. The situation reached the point that Georgian peacekeepers have been shooting at Russian peacekeepers. Now women, children and old people are dying in South Ossetia - most of them are citizens of the Russian Federation. As the President of the Russian Federation, I am obligated to protect lives and the dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are. Those responsible for the deaths of our citizens will be punished."

Indeed, but how will Medvedev bring the responsible people to justice; with tanks and fighter pilots or is there another way?


PUTIN'S OPTIONS: Flyswatter or Blunderbuss?

Sometimes war provides clarity. That's certainly true in this case. After this weekends fighting, everyone in the Russian political establishment knows that Washington is willing to sacrifice thousands of innocent civilians and plunge the entire region into chaos to achieve its geopolitical objectives. Bush could call the whole thing off right now; Putin and Medvedev know that. But that's not the game-plan. So, the two Russian leaders have to make some tough decisions that will end up costing lives. What choice do they have?

Putin needs to carefully weigh his options. Then, on Monday, he should announce that Russia will sell all $50 billion of its Fannie Mae mortgage-backed bonds, all of it US dollar-backed assets, and will accept only rubles and euros in the future sale of Russian oil and natural gas. Then watch as the Dow Jones goes into a death-spiral. Why use a blunderbuss when a flyswatter will do just fine.

Ögglade igenom en gammal tråd från 2006/2/16 14:25

Där skrev du följande:

"Brzezinski är idag också involverad i en "Georgisk demokratirörelse" som i princip är en täckmantel för att utbilda 50.000 Georgiska soldater enligt Amerikansk model. Suftet här är det samma som med Mujahedin; att skapa ett motstånd mot Rysslands intressen kring Kaspiska havet."

Blev lite smått förvånad nu när jag såg det med tanke på att det var för snart 3 år sen och utvecklingen i Georgien idag.

Du råkar inte ha en blogg?

Quote:

Larouche-rörelsen har varnat för detta i 15 år, UTAN att någon lyssnar.

http://www.larouche.se/

Russia Wins China's Support - SCO Ready To Fight BUSHCO..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcWE6ranRqM


*************************************
Russia wins backing from China
*************************************

AFP Agence France-Presse
By Alexander Osipovich
August 28, 2008

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24256861-401,00.html

RUSSIA today won support from China and Central Asian states in its standoff with the West over the Georgia conflict as the European Union said it was weighing sanctions against Moscow

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the "united position'' of a summit of Central Asian nations would ....serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white''

The West has strongly condemned Russia's military offensive in Georgia this month and Medvedev's decision to recognise the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states

Ratcheting up pressure on Russia, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union, said the 27-nation bloc was preparing sanctions on Moscow

EU leaders meet on Monday in Brussels for an emergency summit to press demands for a further Russian withdrawal from Georgia

"Sanctions are being considered, and many other means,'' Kouchner said in Paris

China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan voiced support for Russia's "active role'' in resolving the conflict in Georgia, according to the draft of a joint statement released by the Kremlin

Leaders from the countries met in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional group set up in 2001 to counter NATO influence in the strategic Central Asia region

Yesterday, the Group of Seven industrialised powers strongly condemned Russia's recognition of the two rebel regions

"We deplore Russia's excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia,'' said the statement from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith today summoned Russia's ambassador to Canberra to urge Moscow to pull its troops in Georgia back to the positions they held before the conflict began

Smith told Ambassador Alexander Blokhin that Russia's decision to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent was unhelpful for Russia's ties with the world

"They had a frank exchange of views,'' the spokeswoman for Smith said

"Mr Smith stated that Australia respects the territorial integrity of Georgia and believes that Russia should abide by ceasefire arrangements and return to the positions they occupied (before the conflict began)''

Former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze warned meanwhile that Russia's recognition of the regions would boomerang on Moscow

"They will live to regret it,'' Shevardnadze said in an interview in Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper, adding that the move would "encourage separatist movements within ethnically diverse Russia''

Russia claims it had to act after Georgia on August 7 launched an offensive to retake South Ossetia, an attack that South Ossetia's prosecutor general said today had killed 1,692 people, according to the Interfax news agency

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier today called on Moscow to allow an international probe into the allegations of abuses

''(Moscow) alleges that there atrocities were meted out on the South Ossetian population.
Russia or South Ossetia must document whether this is the case and to what extent,'' Steinmeier told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily

On a visit to Ukraine yesterday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned Russia not to start a new Cold War

But he also conceded that isolating Russia would be counterproductive because the West relied on cooperation with Moscow to tackle global problems like climate change and nuclear non-proliferation

"The Russian president says he is not afraid of a new Cold War.
We don't want one,'' Miliband said, adding: "He has a big responsibility not to start one,'' he added

Russia has lashed out at the West for ratcheting up tensions in the Black Sea and warned that attempts to isolate Moscow could lead to an economic backlash

Officials said they were monitoring a growing NATO naval presence in the Black Sea, as the second of three US ships sent to deliver aid arrived in Georgia

Moscow has accused the West of using aid shipments as a cover for rearming Georgia after the Russian military surge into Georgia this month left much of the Georgian military in tatters

"Certainly some measures of precaution are being taken,'' said a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov

"It's not a common practice to deliver humanitarian aid using battleships''

In a reminder of Russia's energy muscle, he also warned against trying to isolate Moscow

"Any attempts to jeopardise this atmosphere of cooperation ... would not only (have) a negative impact for Russia but will definitely harm the economic interests of those states,'' Peskov said

Russia moved its own naval forces to the Abkhaz port of Sukhumi, where they got a rapturous reception from Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh

In Tbilisi, the secretary of the Georgian national security council, Alexander Lomaia, said Russian troops would leave the key Black Sea port of Poti today or tomorrow "as a result of international pressure''

No confirmation of such a move was forthcoming from the Russian side

In the Georgian port of Batumi, the second of three ships sent by Washington arrived with aid for some of the 100,000 people that the UN refugee agency estimates have been displaced in the conflict

Russia: US still looking for WMDs in Iraq?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:11:32 GMT

Russia has slammed what it calls the UN Security Council's hypocritical stance on the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.


Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin has accused the world body of adopting a double standard approach in dealing with the issue.


He said members of the Council are ignorant about the essence of the Caucasus conflict, Russia Today reported on Friday.


The remarks were made after a Thursday's meeting of the Security Council during which the Western powers criticized Moscow's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.


"Russia violated the security zone patrolled by UN peacekeeping forces deployed by the UN Security Council," said Alejandro Daniel Wolff, US Representative to the UN. "In Abkhazia, Russia is violating not only the territorial integrity of Georgia, but also the integrity of this Council.
"

The US also said Russian troops should have never entered the territory of Georgia, a sovereign member of the international community.


Churkin, however, hit back by referring to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.


"I would like to ask the distinguished representative of the United States about....Weapons of Mass Destruction. Have you found them in Iraq yet or are you still looking for them"? Churkin said.


Churkin, however, said the international community had failed to act in response to Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia earlier this month.


"The US and some European states promised (Georgian President) Mr Saakashvili NATO's protection and have started supplying him with new weapons. It obviously invites fresh provocations," the Russian envoy said.


He also said that Moscow had called for a ceasefire in the early hours of the conflict but no one had supported it.


SB/DT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=67878

Eric Margolis: The US Created a Crisis in Georgia

Posted on August 30, 2008

Dandelion Salad

briggsmedia

The US-backed regime in Georgia disregarded the principle of self-determination and invaded the Russian population of So. Ossetia using Israeli arms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=870pTc_23lU

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2 ... ated-a-crisis-in-georgia/

Quote:


LaRouche är alltid en intressant källa----

Quote:

Nej!
Har dock lagt upp lite av vad jag skrivit här och var på nätet.

Som någon annan pekade ut har konflikten mellan Ryssland och Georgien pågått i det dolda, och med det dolda menar jag i marginalerna. För nästan inget är riktigt dolt. Det är alltid någon artikel i utrikesspalterna eller liknande som man kan researcha kring.

Det som är varningssignaler är när det blir storlöp i alla medier, Amerikanska & Brittiska administrationen, och sådana som Carl Bildt, talar samma språk -samtidigt. Då vet vi att det är Public Perception Managment på gång och då gäller det att kolla närmare på vad som är i görningen ;)

Som vanligt är sanningen ganska enkel och inte så dunkel som man kan tro. Titta på kartorna i pdf'en så ser ni vart pipelines måste gå för att nå medelhavet.

http://imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2004/wp04209.pdf
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2001/5116.htm

http://www.presstv.ir/default.aspx

Georgia airfields earmarked for war on Iran

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:48:47 GMT

An Israeli air force F-15I
Georgia permitted Israel to use two military airfields for 'a potential pre-emptive strike' against Iranian nuclear sites, a report says.


The revelation came after Georgia's offensive into South Ossetia in early August prompted Russia to march its Special Forces into the region, United Press International reported.


Russian Special Forces raided the airfields - in addition to other Israeli facilities in southern Georgia -, where Israeli drones were captured.


According to the report, Israel had used the airfields to 'conduct recon flights over southern Russia, as well as into nearby Iran'.


"A secret agreement between Georgia and Israel had earmarked two military airfields in the south of Georgia for use by Israeli fighter-bombers in a potential pre-emptive strike against Iran," read the report.


Tel Aviv has threatened to launch air strikes against Iranian nuclear installations under the pretext that Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has plans to develop nuclear weaponry.


This is while the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran enriches uranium-235 to a level of 3.7 percent - a rate consistent with the construction of a nuclear power plant. Nuclear arms production requires an enrichment level of above 90 percent.


Iran currently suffers from electricity shortage and has been forced to adopt a rationing program by scheduling power outages - of up to two hours a day - across both urban and rural areas in the country.


In early June, Israel conducted a military maneuver over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece in preparation, according to Pentagon officials, for an aerial bombardment of Iranian nuclear facilities.


Over 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s partook in the exercise, which spanned some 900 miles, roughly the distance between their airfields and a nuclear enrichment facility in the central Iranian city of Natanz.


"(The Georgian airfields) would sharply reduce the distance Israeli fighter-bombers would have to fly to hit targets in Iran," continued the report.


Israel, in return, has been providing Georgia's pro-Western government with considerable amounts of training and armament for its military.


Georgian Minister of Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili, an Israeli citizen, said on August 10 that Israeli efforts to strengthen the Georgian army caused Russia 'enormous damage'.


Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili declared on August 13 that 'effective' Israeli weapons would ensure his country's success in the military conflict with Russia.

US tries to create an ‘iron curtain’ around Russia

The Real News Network
September 4, 2008

President Dimitri Medvedev criticized the European Union for having a biased approach in regards to the Georgian conflict Medvedev however stated that the EU acted in a rational manner by not implementing sanctions against the Russian Federation F William Engdahl believes the EU response mirrors its dependence on Russian oil and gas Engdahl goes on to further state that the US provoked Russia to respond militarily and the US as the dominant power is beginning to stumble and “to look desperately for ways to hold on to that power”

http://www.infowars.com/?p=4318

A Major War: Not Just Rumors

Srdja Trifkovic
Global Research
September 4, 2008

The crisis in relations between the United States and Russia over Georgia heralds a particularly dangerous period in world affairs: the era of asymmetrical multipolarity. A major war between two or more major powers is more likely in this configuration than in any other model of global balance known to history. The most stable system is bipolarity based on the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), which was prevalent from the 1950s until the end of the Cold War. The awareness of both superpowers that they would inflict severe and unavoidable reciprocal damage on each other or their allies in a nuclear war was coupled with the acceptance that each had a sphere of dominance or vital interest that should not be infringed upon.


With Brest-Litovsk and the Barbarossa in mind, Stalin "intended to turn the countries conquered by Soviet armies into buffer zones to protect Russia" (Kissinger). The Western equivalent, also essentially defensive, was defined by the Truman Doctrine (1947) Proxy wars were fought in the grey zone all over the Third World, most notably in the Middle East, but they were kept localized even when a superpower was directly involved (Vietnam, Afghanistan). This model was the product of unique circumstances without an adequate historical precedent, however, which are unlikely to be repeated in the foreseeable future.


The most stable model of international relations that is both historically recurrent and structurally repeatable in the future is the balance of power system in which no single great power is either physically able or politically willing to seek hegemony. This model was prevalent from the Peace of Westphalia (1648) until Napoleon, from Waterloo until around 1900, and from Versailles until 1933. It demands a relative equilibrium between the key powers (usually five to seven) that hold each other in check and function within a recognized set of rules that has come to be known as "international law." Wars between great powers do occur, but they are limited in scope and intensity because the warring parties tacitly accept the fundamental legitimacy and continued existence of their opponent(s).





If one of the powers becomes markedly stronger than others and if its decision-making elite internalizes an ideology that demands or at least justifies hegemony, the inherently unstable system of asymmetrical multipolarity will develop. In all three known instances—Napoleonic France after 1799, the Kaiserreich from around 1900, and the Third Reich after 1933—the challenge could not be resolved without a major war.


The government of the United States is now acting in a manner structurally reminiscent of those three powers. Having proclaimed itself the leader of an imaginary "international community," it goes further than any previous would-be hegemon in treating the entire world as the American sphere of interest. As I pointed out two weeks ago, the formal codification came in the National Security Strategy of September 2002, which presented the specter of open-ended political, military, and economic domination of the world by the United States acting unilaterally against "rogue states" and "potentially hostile powers" and in pursuit of an end to "destructive national rivalries." To that end, the administration pledged "to keep military strength beyond challenge, thereby making the destabilizing arms races of other eras pointless, and limiting rivalries to trade and other pursuits of peace.
"

Any attempt by a single power to keep its military strength beyond challenge is inherently destabilizing, and results—sooner or later—in the emergence of an effective counter-coalition. Napoleon finally faced one at the Völkerschlacht at Leipzig in 1813. "There is no balance of power in Europe but me and my twenty-four army corps," the Kaiser famously boasted in 1901. Within years he was also building a high seas fleet. By 1907, Wilhelmine Germany engendered a counter-coalition that prompted even traditional rivals like Britain and Russia to join forces (the latter to be replaced by the United States in 1917). And as for the most recent Griff nach der Weltmacht, by the second week of December 1941 Germany was irrevocably doomed to another defeat.


An early yet certain symptom of destabilizing asymmetry in action is the would-be hegemon’s tendency to claim an ever-widening sphere of influence or interference at the expense of his rivals. In the run-up to 1914 this was heralded by the Kruger Telegram (1896) and exemplified by the German bid to build the railway from Berlin to Baghdad (1903) and by the First Moroccan Crisis (1905). Neither Napoleon nor Hitler knew any «natural» limits, but their ambition was essentially confined to Europe. With the United States today the novelty is that this ambition is extended—literally—to the whole world. Not only the Western Hemisphere, not just the «Old Europe,» Japan, or Israel, but also Taiwan, Korea, and such unlikely places as Georgia, Estonia, Kosovo, or Bosnia, are considered vitally important. The globe itself is now effectively claimed as America’s sphere of influence, Russia’s Caucasian, European and Central Asian back yards most emphatically included.


Four weeks ago the game itself became alarmingly asymmetrical. For America it is still ideological, but for Russia it has become existential. Russia is now acting as a conservative, pre-1914 European power in seeking to protect its "near abroad." America is acting like a global revolutionary power, whose "near abroad" is literally everywhere.


It is therefore futile for Russia to try to "manage" the crisis in a pre-1914 manner and hope for some elusive softening on the other side, because the calculus in Washington is not rational. The counter-strategy of unpredictability, exemplified by Medvedev’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, is an eminently rational response, however. It may yet force the remnant of sanity inside the Beltway to try and exercise some adult supervision over the bipartisan "foreign policy community" of smokers in the arsenal.

http://www.infowars.com/?p=4322

US to replenish Georgian weaponry

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:27:37 GMT


Cheney before catching the flight to Georgia
The US is to help Georgia strengthen its military power and Vice President Dick Cheney's visit there has been planned with this aim in view.


Cheney weighed the views of "the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and other officials about how the US and its allies could help strengthen economic and military capabilities," the Wall Street Journal said.


The vice president, currently on a tour of the region, was profuse in his expressing support for Tbilisi and condemning Russia's involvement in the recent conflict in the region. "Georgia will be in our alliance," he said.



Cheney and Saakashvili meet conveyors of US 'aid' to Tbilisi
He added that 'the free world' had to return Georgia's contributions to US' operations in Afghanistan.


The New York Times also wrote that "an initial step" in line with the US' military assistance to Georgia “could be to increase the number of US military trainers.
"

This is while the US' avowed ally was left to sink or swim after the Russian forces responded to Georgia's August 8 invasion of its breakaway republic of South Ossetia which was launched to restore the Georgian grasp on the republic.


Whispers of military assistance grow louder and sweetness and smiles seem to characterize Washington-Tbilisi ties as Russia raises fears of a recurrent Georgian attack.


"Just weeks after Georgia's military collapsed in panic in the face of the Russian Army, its leaders hope to rebuild and train its armed forces as if another war with Russia is almost inevitable," the newspaper wrote echoing Russia's concerns about the attack.


Cheney has just arrived in Ukraine in the latest leg of his visit.


HN/RA

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=68465§ionid=351020606

Russia Gives NATO 21 Days To Leave Black Sea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uflMj7cD3QY

28/9 och månen är i nedan......