Your Pravda spin is so absurd, it does not warrant response from anyone on this board.

I never said Russia's response was rational!
I said any blind man could see it coming!
I also said there is nothing we can do about it, outside of diplomacy!
You were suggesting we could win a nuclear war against them!

Lets all sing "bomb bomb bomb Iran Bomb Iraaaaaannnnnnn

Yet you have suggested that the purported actions of Russia are somehow not worthy of American response?



This sentence is redundant. War is a form of diplomacy, as diplomacy is best categorized as a continuum where war exists at one end with negotiation on another.



This is true, I'm sorry that you cannot accept a strategic fact accepted by even the best of our military analysts. Again, I apologize.

What is worthy of American is negotiation about opening Russian market for American automakers. And nothing else.



These "best of military analysts" already involved USA in big troubles all around the world. It looks like they are KGB spies.

Even Germany and France were not agree to accept Georgia and Ukraine in NATO. So there is nothing to discuss.

Irrelevant. We're talking about the territorial integrity of a sovereign nation here, not the legitimacy of an impotent organization such as NATO.

Iraq?

What's your point? The comparison of circumstances aren't even close. And if you're somehow insinuating that I'm for the current occupation of Iraq, I suggest you invest in some reading glasses.

Greetings, all!

Georgia became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union, and is a member of the UN.

It is illegal for any country to invade another, whether or not they are a member of the UN.

The Georgian situation is a bit more complicated (gee, what a surprise)!

As part of the 'deal' between Russia and Georgia that allowed Georgia to withdraw from the Soviet Union, Russia was to keep several military bases in Georgia.

When the then-president of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze (and, ironically, the well-regarded former Foreign Minister of the USSR under Gorbachev), started making noises about shutting down the bases, the Russians hooked up with the break-away region of Abkhazia, and allowed the first president of a free Georgia to return from exile and launch a civil war against Shevernadze. (Are we all following this?) Shevernadze saw the light and agreed that Russian troops could remain based in Georgia.

But....meanwhile, another break-away area, Ossetia, tried to take advantage of the chaos and declared its independence from Georgia. The Ossetians sought help from the Russians against the central Georgian government in Tbilisi, and received it, a way for Putin to stick it to the Georgians.

This recent flare-up is not 'war' and some of our media have portrayed it, but a continuation of the general low-level of harassment both sides have mounted against each other. That Saakashvili, the current Georgian president, cuddled up to President Bush in the hope of assuring for himself American support against Russia -- this by public embrace and the provision of some 3,000 troops to the US 'coalition' in Iraq (third largest contingent after the US and UK)-- only singled Saakashvili for further attention by Putin.

Now, of course, the Georgians want to bring their troops home from Iraq to try and force the return of Ossetia. Or maybe the Georgians are only threatening to do so to get the US to pressure the Russians to ease up in Ossetia. Or....maybe the Russians realize that the US has exhausted itself militarily, morally, and economically in Iraq and is simply plucking some low-lying fruit in Ossetia. or....

Hope all this sums things up clearly!

Oceans

I think you are referring to some 2,000 people killed 'last night' in Gori, not in Ossetia. Those killed were Georgians, killed by Russia warplanes.

At least, that is what the news reports are recounting.

Oceans

Its strange to see how slanted the news coverage is on this. All we got from our so called free press was the Rah rah rah image in Iraq, now the media actualy showes civilian casulties and is preaching morality. Verry interesting to see how this is all unfolding

humm So, Putin leaves China to deal with this while Bush stays on. Somewhat understandable as this isn't in out back yard. More understandable when you see the man who's really in charge issuing statements like this.

"Cheney: Russian action 'must not go unanswered'

5 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President **** Cheney says Russia's military actions in Georgia "must not go unanswered."

Cheney spoke Sunday afternoon with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. "The vice president expressed the United States' solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratically elected government in the face of this threat to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Cheney's press secretary, Lee Ann McBride, said.

Cheney told Saakashvili "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community," McBride said."

I think Cheneye is nuts, imagine if the Russains had sold stinger missles to the Iraqis Like we did to the afghans. I think they should be thanked for not doing it

Good point. The US gave the Afghani mujahedeen Stingers, didn't sell them. There are still seven Stingers unaccounted for.

Does anyone know if the Russians have the equivalent of the Stinger?

Oceans

No, Russian equipment is poor and sub-par compared to our stuff. Even if they did have a stinger-equivalent, it wouldn't matter in the long run because Japan is building us a slick new tank that is RPG and IED-proof.

stingers are anti air craft. FYI

Yup. I keep expecting to read about one every time I open the paper.

And then there were six...

True, but they can be used on a tank if needed.

Germany, France, Canada, and a couple of others will not support this country on anything. That's what you get for helping the other gur out when they needed it.