Growing up in the KGB you’d expect someone to be a bit paranoid. Hell growing up in Russia you’d be paranoid. But a good intelligence officer usually has the ability to separate fact from fiction, and take the propaganda with a grain of salt.
That’s not the case with Vladimir Putin.
Putin seems to live in his own little world in his mind. Surrounded by like minded and equally paranoid advisors, Putin has a history of making rather strange comments over the years, despite first-hand knowledge in many cases that they were false. So it should come as no surprise that today he said the entire operation in Georgia was orchestrated by the United States for the benefit of one presidential candidate. Of course he didn’t specify which one, nor is he aware that most people couldn’t find Georgia on a map if they tried, but when you’re a bit off to begin with, things like this don’t really matter.
“Why… seek a difficult compromise solution in the peacekeeping process? It is easier to arm one of the sides and provoke it into killing another side. And the job is done.
“The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US president.”
US officials responded diplomatically but with a growing sense of ‘get this guy some mental help’:
“To suggest that the United States orchestrated this on behalf of a political candidate – it sounds not rational,” White House Spokewoman said.
“Those claims first and foremost are patently false, but it also sounds like his defence officials who said they believed this to be true are giving him really bad advice.”
One wonders how long his grip on power will last.
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You can find some pretty good maps from the National Hurricane Center, but I also recommend looking at the Weather Underground as there you can see the computer models that go into making the NHC track.
Here is a recent computer model (8-27-08). As you can see, these vary quite wildly.
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The original G7 group of industrialized nations, who have an eighth member who is sort of there by default, have called on Russia to pull back their forces from Georgia
We, the Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom,condemn the action of our fellow G8 member. Russia’s recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia violates the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and is contrary to UN Security Council Resolutions supported by Russia. Russia’s decision has called into question its commitment to peace and security in the Caucasus.
We deplore Russia’s excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia. We call unanimously on the Russian government to implement in full the six point peace plan brokered by President Sarkozy on behalf of the EU, in particular to withdraw its forces behind the pre-conflict lines.We reassert our strong and continued support for Georgia’s sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders and underline our respect and support for the democratic and legitimate government of Georgia as we pursue a peaceful, durable solution to this conflict
Russia continues to ignore most of the world’s call for a troop withdraw. They’ve pretty much given up on WTO membership but the threat of expulsion from the G8 might resonate a bit with those in Moscow who like international organizations. China issued a rather curt statement against the Russian actions today. Russia thought they could find a supporter with the Chinese, apparently oblivious to the fact that China has several regions of their own that wish to be independent.
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Duck and cover New Orleans. Katrina was your warmup exercise, if you trust this NHC track.
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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 need for an alternative route was highlighted by recent attacks on Nato supply convoys, including one that destroyed 36 fuel tankers in a northwestern Pakistani border town in March. Four US helicopter engines worth $13 million (£7 million) went missing on the way from Kabul to Pakistan in April. Last week militants killed ten French soldiers on the same route 30 miles from Kabul.
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Well, this was odd. Woke up this morning after a night of rough seas to discover this little thing stuck on my seawall. Called the Coast Guard who had no reports of a missing boater, but still did a yucky hike through the water and shore to look for any other things (lifejackets, paddles, bodies). Turned up negative so I flipped this up onto the seawall, filed a ‘found boat’ report and can claim it in 30-60 days or so if no one else reports it missing.
The strange world of life in the country…
Would have been nicer if it was a yacht
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You should check out wordle.net to get an idea of what people are talking about. Visual representations of blogs and other sources. Very cool
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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 ‘in a flea market’.
Stars and Stripes reports the Cutter Dallas is in the area and delivering aid, and while officials haven’t said which ship will goto Poti you can probably surmise there are not a lot of US Coast Guard ships in the region. The Dallas dates back to Vietnam where it shelled sampans with her five inch guns and also took part in US operations in Kosovo. The Dallas has also trained with many of the Naval forces of countries in the Black Sea so she has some familiarity with operations there.
Still, this is going to be an interesting few days.
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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 whereas she was once Russia’s best contact in Europe
The Russians had won the short war and were now rolling their tanks through the Georgian heartland. Merkel watched the TV with dismay as Russians looted and did everything they could to destabilize the country.
Her attitude changed. It was no longer dominated by annoyance over Saakashvili. Now she was enraged at the highhandedness of the Russians. It seemed to her that they wanted to oust the Georgian president from office. Merkel is extremely sensitive to the issue of regime change. She knows how long and difficult it was to bring democracy to Eastern Europe. Merkel sees Saakashvili, for all his faults, as a democratically elected, legitimate president. Georgia became for the chancellor a country that has to be helped.
Nevertheless, she remained skeptical when she flew to Tbilisi. She spoke with Saakashvili, and something must have happened during their two-hour meeting because, afterwards, Merkel gave a press conference that made headlines around the world.
Just another example of former Eastern Europeans (Merkel is from East Germany) being a bit more worried about the Russian’s actions than some in the West.
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