Tag: South Ossetia

Live blogging the Georgia / South Ossetia war

The Georgian Messenger is the English language daily that is ‘live blogging’ events from South Ossetia. There latest blog post is pretty interesting.

Georgia’s Rustavi 2 television station, citiing Russian news reports, just announced that Georgian troops have taken Tskhinvali.

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Cold War turns hot in South Ossetia / Georgia as troops commence invasion

Well all pretense of negotiated settlements and cease fires has seem to go out the windows.

Georgian troops and South Ossetian forces have engaged in some pretty heavy shelling today that’s left at least 10 Georgian troops dead. The BBC is also reporting that fighters from around the region are gearing up for battle and heading to the scene:

Moscow-based Interfax news agency quoted the head of Russia’s province of North Ossetia, Taimuraz Mamsurov, as saying: “Hundreds of volunteers from North Ossetia are on their way to South Ossetia. We cannot stop them or prevent them from going.”

It also quoted Sergei Bagapsh, the head of Georgia’s other breakaway province of Abkhazia, as saying: “About 1,000 Abkhaz volunteers are leaving for South Ossetia.”

Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, is under attack from many sides, according to published reports.

The London Telegraph is going so far as to call this a full scale invasion by Georgian forces, including photos of troops on the move.

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When will the Georgia v. Russia war start?

For those who haven’t been paying attention, the war of words is escalating to guns, car bombs, and hostage taking in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Condi Rice has just landed in Tibilsi in some last minute diplomatic push to settle down things before troops get involved. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks.

Georgia Messenger is a good English language paper from Georgia. Moscow Times is a good one from Moscow.

UPDATE: For recent visitors, it is worth noting this post came a month before actual ‘hostilities’ commenced on August 7, 2008, but the situation in the region has been tense for years.

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