Not a pleasant drive Russia is upping the ante in their current standoff with NATO by threatening a backup supply route for NATO forces in use in Afghanistan, according to the London Times. The road would allows supplies to avoid the ‘bandit country’ of the Khyber pass where things have gotten a bit hairy: The [...]
The USCGC Dallas will soon be in Georgia A US Coast Guard cutter will be arriving in the Georgian port city of Poti despite the presence of Russian forces throughout the outskirts of this Georgian city. Russians have called this plan ‘devilish’ and the amount of aid being delivered comparable to what you could buy [...]
Changing her tune? Der Spiegel is noticing a change in Germany’s relationship with Georgia in light of the Russian invasion last month. Never a warm ally of Georgia and not a fan of NATO membership, it now seems the Russian’s have overplayed their hand such that Angela Merkel is now being forced closer to Georgia [...]
Humanitarian aid ship By now you’ve probably heard the USS McFaul has arrived in port in Georgia as part of a three ship convoy of humanitarian supply ships. What I didn’t know until checking the website of the vessel is that both the Captain and Executive Officer on the McFaul were graduates of Ohio State. [...]
This is not Georgia despite the similarities. Russian tanks smash over the border into a satellite state. NATO at a loss to explain why or how, or more importantly, what to do about it. You think Georgia / South Ossetia was the first time this has happened? Not hardly. This week is the 40th anniversery [...]
In response to international pressure to come forward with the truth behind their claims of ‘mass casualties’ in South Ossetia, the Russian government has finally admitted that initial death toll estimates of nearly 2,000 dead were overstated. New figures released today show that 133 civilians died in South Ossetia. South Ossetian officials said 1,492 civilians [...]
We’ve been questioning the ‘2,000 dead’ claim by Russian media, and to date they haven’t come up with any reliable numbers about just how many were killed in South Ossetia. It does appear clear the Russian media was way out of the ballpark with the claim of 2,000 dead, by a factor of about 40 [...]
Awe inspiring, isn't it? NOT Waiting with baited breath here…Not really. But NATO is going to have an emergency session in which they discuss the Russian-Georgia situation. US diplomats have demanded a meeting and will likely press for some flashy but ineffectual sanctions against Russia, such as suspending the NATO-Russia conferences and appointing a NATO [...]
The Washington Post attempts to put together a timeline of how the Russia-Georgia war started. It gives a pretty good outline of some of the pre-war duels that took place before the introduction of armor units. Like any battle, there is a definite fog of war that shrouds the events. We may never know the [...]
Sometimes Russians actually believe their own propaganda. Proof of this is General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the Russian armed forces’ deputy chief of staff, who basically threatened to nuke Poland for their participation in the US missile defense program. “Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to a strike – 100 per cent,” he was quoted [...]
Poland doesn't look like this, but this is the missile they are getting. Russia is up in arms and threatening to ‘punish’ another former satellite nation for daring to go against the Russian views of the world. Under a deal signed yesterday, Poland will host 10 missile interceptors designed to knock out short-range ballistic missiles [...]
The recent crisis in Georgia has revealed the impotence of ‘Old Europe’ and NATO. Is it time for something new to meet the needs of New Europe? Deja vu all over again? While Russian tanks were crossing through the tunnels and passes (memo to Georgia: everyone knows you blow up the tunnels and bridges first), [...]
Because you probably don't know where it is either. Debka, which is NOT one of the most accurate websites in the world (but still pretty interesting) is reporting that the quasi-breakaway region of Adjara (also spelled Ajaria and Ajara) in the Southwest corner of Georgia may be ripe for the pickings by Russian naval forces. [...]
Russian Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol, for now. The Ukraine is pretty annoyed with Russia’s operations in Georgia and has started to strike back, this time with some ‘regulations’ on the use of the Ukrainian port in the Crimea. By way of background, the Russian Black Sea fleet is based in the Ukraine at the [...]
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