Georgian Invasion of South Ossetia: The Start of the New Cold War

Jutin Raimondo explains:.

The anti-Russian bias of the Western media is really something to behold: "Russia Invades Georgia," "Russia Attacks Georgia," and variations thereof have been some of the choice headlines reporting events in the Caucasus, but the reality is not only quite different, but the exact opposite. Sometimes this comes out in the third or fourth paragraph of the reportage, in which it is admitted that the Georgians tried to "retake" the "breakaway province" of South Ossetia. The Georgian bombing campaign and the civilian casualties – if they are mentioned at all – are downplayed and presented as subject to dispute.

The Georgians have been openly engaging in a military buildup since last year, and President Mikhail Saakashvili and his party have been proclaiming from the rooftops their aim of re-conquering South Ossetia...


Please don't tell me Saakashvili just woke up one day and decided to attack Ossetia, and that the Americans weren't notified well in advance. Georgia depends on U.S. military and economic aid, and Saakashvili is a savvy operator: he is pulling a Lebanon, having learned from the Israeli example, and the Bush administration is more than glad to oblige him. Georgian tanks would never have rolled into South Ossetia without being given a green light by Washington.

Georgia has embarked on a very dangerous course, and it's important to realize it hasn't done so alone. Saakashvili has the implicit backing of Washington in his quest to re-conquer the "lost" provinces of Ossetia and Abkhazia (and don't forget Adjaria!) – or else what are 1,000 U.S. troops doing engaged in "joint military exercises" with the Georgian military, just as the crisis reaches a crescendo of violence?

Putin Blasts The Unted States; Cheney Calls Saakashvili

Vladimir Putin, now Russia's prime minister lashed out at the US for airlfiting Georgia troops from Iraq. ”It’s a shame that some of our partners are not helping us, and are trying to interfere,” he said. ”I am talking about US military planes airlifting the Georgian military contingent from Iraq practically into the conflict zone.”

”I am suprised by the extent of this cynicism, the ability to pass off white as black and black as white. The ability to present the aggressor as a victim of aggression and to lay the responsibility for the consequences on the victims.”

Earlier, the US, which backs the Georgian government, stepped up confrontational rhetoric in an effort to get Russia to back down. Vice President Dick Cheney telephoned Gergia President Mikheil Saakashvili to express US solidarity in the conflict with Russia and told him “Russian aggression must not go unanswered,” the vice president’s office said on Monday.

Russia Bombs Pipeline

As the South Ossetia war escalates, Russian jets have reportedly bombed a pipeline in Georgia that supplies oil to the West.

The pipeline is 30 per cent owned by BP and supplies 1 per cent of the world’s oil, pumping up to a million barrels of crude per day to Turkey. It is the only oil and gas route that bypasses Russia’s stranglehold on energy exports from the region.

Georgia declared a state of war, recalled all its 2,000 troops from Iraq and ordered a mass call-up with reservists being sent to the war zone to ‘defend the motherland’.

Russia claimed that it had ‘completely liberated’ the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali – a claim denied by Georgia.

Most of the 70,000 South Ossetians hold Russian passports and are allied to Moscow, while Georgia is an ally of the US and has applied to join Nato.

The Georgians are outnumbered and outgunned in every department. Russia has about 697,000 troops, while Georgia has only 19,500 full-time regulars.

And with Russia’s 1,200 combat aircraft confronting Georgia’s seven outmoded support planes, and 6,000 tanks against 100 ageing machines, Georgia appears to have no chance of winning.

Cyber Attacks in South Ossetia War

As part of the war effort, both sides in the South Ossetian war have reportedly launched cyber attacks as part of their war efforts.

South Ossetian officials stated that two Ossetian news media sites were hacked. Dmitry Medoyev, the South Ossetian secessionist envoy in Moscow, claimed that Georgia was trying to cover up reports of deaths.

The National Bank of Georgia website ahs been attacked. It was defaced and replaced with a gallery of known dictators of 20th century with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili added to the mix.

Georgian news portals were under Internet denial-of-service attacks and reportedly the site of the Georgian Ministry of Defence was hacked as well.

The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website was also defaced and replaced with a collage of Saakashvili and Adolf Hitler photos.

Websites of the National Bank and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been knocked offline.

Loose Wire speculates that this may be the first simultaneous physical war and cyber war.

Wikipedia has impressive coverage here.

Is Moscow Learning to Manage News Amercan Style?

On Wall Street they always issue news they want to hide at 4:01 PM Eastern Time on Fridays. Who is going to be around to see that news?

In American politics they issue problem news when the news cycle is busy.

So was it an accident that Russia launched a full scale invasion of Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, under the news cover of the start of the Olympics, when cameras around the world will be focused on Beijing?

UPDATE: Although MSM in the United States reported the Russia/Georgia conflict as an invasion by Russia, and continues to do so,in fact, the conflict was started by American proxy state, Georgia, invading South Ossetia and Russia responded to protect its Russian citizens in South Ossetia. Thus, the timing of the Georgia invasion into S O falls into the lap of U.S. operatives, where PR timing, of course, is standard operating procedure here in America.