Tag: Russia

Ukraine throws up restrictions on Russian Black Sea fleet

Russian Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol, for now.

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 port of Sevastopol until 2017 (follow that link if you want to know more). The Ukrainian government is no friend of Russia and they have announced that Russian naval vessels need to request permission 10 days in advance before returning to the port. Russia says ‘you can’t be serious.’

Four ships of the fleet based in the Ukraine were sent to support Russian operations in Georgia and when they come back, perhaps we’ll see some more fireworks.

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Human Rights Watch calls on Russia to produce evidence of '2,000' deaths

The War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague may hear the allegations raised about both sides conduct.

The War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague may hear the allegations raised about both sides conduct.

Human Rights Watch has started sending investigators into South Ossetia and Georgia and is demanding the Russians begin to provide proof behind their claims of ‘2,000 dead’.

Anna Neistat, one of the researchers, said by telephone from Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, that they had found no evidence so far to substantiate Russian claims of widespread brutality by Georgian troops.

Human Rights Watch has been able to confirm fewer than 100 deaths — a far cry from the death toll of 2,000 regularly cited by Moscow.

“If the Russian government continues to claim that 2,000 people were killed as the result of the conflict, it’s time to provide some evidence, it’s time to provide some data, name, age, gender, the circumstances of death,” Ms. Neistat said.

This demand for accurate numbers is being talked about in the British press as well.

Meanwhile Russiatoday is reporting that people are still in hiding in some places in South Ossetia and that Russian rescuers are still pulling bodies out of the rubble. Pravda is also reporting on memorial services being held across Russia. Pravda’s headline though shows the limits of their English translation abilities:

USA shows its meanness again as Russia mourns victims of genocide

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Russia's Georgia adventure threatens Space Station

Yea, a bit of a stretch, but due to an odd convergence of facts there is trouble with the International Space Station due to Russia’s recent foray into Georgia.

The US Space Shuttle is due to be retired in 2010, with manned flights to the space station being handed over to Russian Soyuz rockets. But the only way that can function is an exemption to the Iranian non-proliferation act (normally Russia would be guilty of violating that but the US grants an exemption for space operations). The current exemption expires in 2011 and chances of it being renewed are ‘dead on arrival’ according to senior aides on Capitol Hill. As our only way on board is the Russian ships until the Shuttle’s replacement is online, we’re looking at a period of limited access to the station until this gets sorted out.

So Senator Bill Nelson is starting to ask some questions–what are we going to do next? Nelson was in Afghanistan last week when the fighting broke out and his flight home had to be re-routed after Russia denied diplomatic overflight rights to his aircraft.

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Bush orders Navy and Air Force to Georgia (on mercy mission)

Photo courtesy of Madam Tussards

President Bush has decided to take advantage of the Russian / Georgian peace agreement allowing for humanitarian aid by sending in the first waves of US C-17 cargo planes loaded up with food and other necessary supplies. US Navy ships will also start offloading supplies (once they find a port I guess). Bush also called on Russia to “honor its word” and pull back its forces, something that is up in the air right now.

A convoy of freighters didn't look as menacing…

On the one hand, this looks pretty weak. I’m sure some of the troops are going to get ‘where were you’ questions while they are on the ground. But on the other, the sooner they can get in there the sooner they become ‘human shields’ basically–guys on the ground that the Russians will not attack. Get them into the airports and ports and hospitals and schools and suddenly bombing Georgia becomes far more costly for the Russians.

The EU is also planning on sending monitors, once they get the ok from the UN (though with Russia’s veto don’t hold your breath).

It’s definitely a frosty time now.

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Bill Richardson trumpets Obama's Georgia policy–looks like fool.

It’s sad to think that Bill Richardson was once our UN Ambassador….

On ABC’s “This Week,” Richardson, auditioning to be Barack Obama’s running mate, disqualified himself. Clinging to the Obama campaign’s talking points like a drunk to a lamppost, Richardson said that this crisis proves the wisdom of Obama’s zest for diplomacy and that America should get the U.N. Security Council “to pass a strong resolution getting the Russians to show some restraint.” Apparently Richardson was ambassador to the United Nations for 19 months without noticing that Russia has a Security Council veto.

Obamatoids are already saying ‘but no, if we were REALLY diplomatic and charming we could get the Russian’s to go along with it’ (eventhough it calls them to the carpet for their actions).

And they say Texas is missing a village idiot?

BONUS: Richardson’s endorsement of Obama, slightly edited:

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Now it will get ugly in Georgia.

Russian officials are claiming all Russian forces are out of Georgia.

Georgian officials (and Western journalists) are reporting the city of Gori is under attack.

Now reports of a tank column heading out of Gori towards Tiblisi.

So who is right? Probably everyone.

The tank convoy is probably composed of South Ossetian ‘volunteers’–basically bandits, running around in ‘donated’ tanks seeking to settle scores and loot and pillage. With the Georgian army basically in disarray, let alone the police, it’s going to get positively medieval in some of these areas. Guns will rule and the only protection will likely come from armed neighbors and ad hoc militias.

This sort of warfare is not known for their observance of the Geneva Convention or other rules of war. It’s likely the human rights abuses we’re going to see in the next few days will far and away exceed any of the ‘claimed’ abuses over the last week.

It’s going to be ugly.

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Russian sportsmanship sadly lacking in loss to 'Georgian' volleyball team

Russia and ‘Georgia’ took to the imitation ‘beach’ in Beijing and played a rather close match which saw the Georgians win and the Russians get knocked out of the tournament. Despite the pleasantries on the sand with hugs and handshakes, when the Russians got to the microphones they let lose a tirade that can only be described as ’sore losers’

“They are not even Georgians,” said Shiryaeva.

“Sore losers,” said the president of the Georgian Volleyball Federation, Levan Akhvlediani. “The Russians should go home.”

“It is very stupid for Georgia to start a war with Russia because we are very big and they are very small, but that is always the way in history with Georgia,” said Uryadova.

“They probably don’t even know the name of the Georgian president,”
snapped Shiryaeva.

“Mikhael Saakashvili,” said Santanna who — for the record — was born in Brazil, lives in Brazil, has a Georgian passport and has been there twice. “I met his wife at the athletes’ village the other day. She was lovely.”

“They are Brazilians,” repeated Shiryaeva.

Wherever they are from, they won.

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Russian tanks and looting Ossetians in Georgian town despite cease-fire

Reports are coming in about Gori, Georgia and the presence of Russian tanks and South Ossetians who are looting and sacking all that they can find.

Violence has flared up in Georgia, where Russian tanks have been seen patrolling the town of Gori, says the BBC’s Gavin Hewitt near the scene.

People leaving the town say there is looting going on involving South Ossetian separatists.

There are reports of residents being stripped of everything at gunpoint on the entrances to the city.

Western journalists reported 10 Russian tanks attacking parts of the city despite the cease fire.

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Obama's weakness apparent in response to Russia-Georgia war

Commentators are starting to pick on Barrack Obama’s missteps in his statements regarding the Russian / Georgian war. Obama has issued three statements while on vacation in Hawaii, with the first one being a wishy-washy calling for restraint on all sides, but then taking a grade-school level jab at McCain’s policy because one of his advisors once lobbied on behalf of Georgia (please…). Then he issued another statement blaming Russia for most of the violence, and then he caught up to McCain’s level of rhetoric a few days later.

It took first-term Sen. Barack Obama three tries to get it right. Headed for a vacation in Hawaii, the presumed Democratic candidate for commander in chief issued an even-handed statement, urging restraint by both sides. Later Friday, he again called for mutual restraint but blamed Russia for the fighting. The next day his language finally caught up with toughness of McCain’s.

Obama had a free shot to ‘act’ like a President. Say the right things, advocate a strong position and go forward pushing that position. This was a total free throw–not a single thing he said had to become policy or enforced or, to be honest, have any impact on the situation on the ground in Moscow and Tiblisi. It was a chance for him to, at the very least, act Presidential. He could have said anything–A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G–to show how he stood out on matters of foreign affairs. And when he had this chance, he frittered it away with blandness and petty politics. A policy as sharp as a dull crayon.

Leaders in the Ukraine told the Russians the Black Sea fleet would not be welcome to return to Ukranian waters if they participated in the Georgian operations. Yea, the Ukraine took a tough stance, despite Russian FSB contacts trying to kill their President a few years ago and the same sort of sabre-rattling going on with Soviet Russian armored divisions at their door step. The leaders of the Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Estonia and Latvia flew to Tiblisi at the same time it was being bombed after they called on NATO to “stand up against the spread of imperialist and revisionist policy” by Russia.

And Obama just told everyone to play nice together and one of his aides did a moron trying to drag lobbying into the issue of Georgians, Russians and South Ossetians dying en masse.

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Estonian network engineers rush to Georgia to help fight Russian cyberwar attacks

Computer engineers from another former Soviet republic are rushing to the aid of Georgia, armed not with weapons but with computers. Russia and Georgia are engaged in a ‘cyberwar’ of sorts attacking each others networks and websites, and now some computer networking engineers from Estonia are rushing to aid their Georgian colleagues who are dealing with hacking, Denial of Service attacks and other networking issues.

Two of the four experts that staff Estonia’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) were waiting Tuesday morning in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, seeking permission to drive into Georgia, said Katrin Pärgmäe, communication manager for the Estonian Informatics Center. The two officials are also bringing humanitarian aid, she said.

Estonia is also now hosting Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, which has been under sustained attack over the last few days.

Russia was accused of hacking Estonian computer systems in response to that country removing statues of former Soviet leaders.

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