Year: 2008

German journalists chronicle South Ossetian war:

The respected German news weekly, Spiegel, has released the results of its own investigation into the war in South Ossetia. It asked the question: who’s to blame? And then asked its journalists in both Georgia and Russia to find the answer. The results may surprise some people.

Spiegel published a series of in-depth articles and interviews in several issues, including “The Story of Tskhinvali’s Resistance” and interviews with former German Chancellor Schroeder and former Georgian President Shevarnadze. One of the articles is called “The Chronicle of a Caucasian Tragedy”.

Back in 2004 Spiegel’s correspondents were the first to carry out a scrupulous investigation of the Beslan siege, the results of which were summed up in a book. Now we might expect another book – this time, dedicated to the conflict in the Caucasus. But it’s already clear that German journalists have done a huge job reconstructing accurately the “road to violence”.

Spiegel does not conceal it used intelligence data, which only adds value to the publication.

Unlike other international media, in its account of the events, Spiegel goes back to the beginning of the year rather than August 7. It was then that the satellites of several countries’ intelligence services picked up images of the first movements of military forces in the South Caucasian region, the weekly says.

The Georgian military had invited American colleagues to Georgia, who made their headquarters at the Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel in Tbilisi. It is worth noting that the German publication’s figures differ from ours here. They counted 160 Americans in Tbilisi, not 126, as mentioned by Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin at a UN session.

Georgia’s military preparations did not remain unnoticed, and this pushed Russia to hold army exercises near its southern borders.

The point of no return, when the war in South Ossetia became inevitable, was reached in April after the NATO summit in Bucharest. During his visit to Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea residence in the resort city of Sochi, the U.S. President George W. Bush passed off Russia’s warning about the danger of NATO’s flirting with Georgia.

On April 20, an unmanned Gergian spy plane was shot down over Abkhazia. Soon after, Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili sent 12,000 troops to the border town of Senaki. Moscow responded by moving 500 paratroopers and a maintenance team of 400 men to Abkhazia to restore rail lines south Sukhum, the Abkhazian capital. These Russian forces were later withdrawn from the republic.

At this time tensions were rising on the border between Georgia and South Ossetia, with shootouts taking place right under the eyes of UN and OSCE emissaries. At the beginning of July, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi for an informal dinner. Russians say this was when last-minute preparations before the upcoming offensive were made.

However, Ms Rice later said that her visit was an attempt to talk Saakashvili out of “military confrontation with Russia”. But the German weekly, without giving an assessment of her words, coolly notes: 28 days remained before the war.

On July 10, Georgia recalled its ambassador to Russia for consultations. On the same day bomb attacks killed four people in Abkhazia and two in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi. Spiegel wrote that the Georgian military is suspected of being behind the explosions.

On July 15, large-scale military exercises began on both sides of the main ridge of the Great Caucasus Range. 1,000 American troops take part in joint Georgia-U.S. manoeuvres named “Immediate Response 2008”. On the same day, Russia launches a military manoeuvre called “Caucasus 2008” north of the Caucasus ridge, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

On July 30, Western special services observed that after the manoeuvre had finished, the 58th army remained on high alert. And there were reasons for that. As the Germans wrote, a striking thing happened – the Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili, being closely supervised by the Americans, does not withdraw troops to their quarters, but sends them directly towards South Ossetia. Two Georgian artillery brigades meet in Gori.

The first exchanges fire with South Ossetia began on August. Five Georgian policemen were hurt by an exploding shell. The Ossetian side suffered heavier losses. Georgian snipers killed six Ossetians who were out fishing. The South Ossetians began evacuating women, children and elderly people.

At about 10.00pm (06.00pm GMT) on August 5, the South Ossetian capital Tskhinval came under massive artillery fire from the direction of the Georgian settlement, Nikozi, 3 km from the city. South Ossetians began a massive evacuation as the bombardment intensified. The Georgian side justified the onslaught by saying Russian soldiers were fighting for the Ossetians. But there is no proof of this.

In the morning of August 7, as western observers admit, the Georgians concentrated 12,000 of their troops at the border with South Ossetia. Seventy-five tanks and armoured vehicles were also at the ready. They were meant to play a special role in the ‘blitzkrieg’ – to advance to the Roki Tunnel and block it in order to stop Russian troops from entering South Ossetian territory. By then, 500 Russian peacekeepers together with 500 South Ossetian policemen and volunteers had resisted the Georgians.

According to data from western agencies, the massive bombardment of Tskhinval started at 10.30pm on August 7. Twenty-seven Georgian ‘Grad’ rocket systems shelled the city. At 11.00pm the Georgian leader, Mikhail Saakashvili, said that his aim was to establish constitutional order in South Ossetia. Ten minutes later the Georgian side informed Russia that it had begun to do this by military means. And to prove it, half an hour later a Georgian shell hit the roof of a three-storey building where Russian peacekeepers were quartered, killing two of them. Then heavy fire rained down on the building, killing 18 more Russian peacekeepers without giving them a opportunity to do anything.

At 11.54pm ‘an assault of the Georgian military against Tskhinval’ began.

The German journalists have also determined when the Russian side responded. The first Russian troops entered the Roki Tunnel at 02.08am on August 8.

It is hard to suspect the Germans of sympathy towards Russia. Spiegel has never been pro-Russian or loyal to Russia to any extent. The magazine regularly criticises the Kremlin. But as far as the facts are concerned, the Germans are punctilious.

But even after giving a timeline of the conflict, they have reached a conclusion that Russian readers may not expect.

The whole Western community is partly to blame for the events in the Caucasus, as it saw the tensions rising. And yet, ‘old Europe’, aware of the fact the Americans were running the show in the region, did nothing to ease tensions, apparently afraid of incurring U.S. anger.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

1. U.S. Threatens Russia with War:
Russia will encounter a violent response, if it attacks Georgia after it joins NATO, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced on Thursday. At the same time, Gates urged NATO not to respond provocatively to Russian actions in relation to Georgia, the British television channel Sky News reported. Gates was speaking before an informal meeting of NATO defense chiefs in London, where a response to post-conflict challenges from Russia was discussed.

2. A Russian missile-carrying submarine successfully launched Bulava RSM-56 intercontinental ballistic missiles at 6:45 p.m. Moscow time yesterday, reports Interfax, citing a representative of the Russian Defense Ministry. According to that source, the missiles hit their target in the Kura military range in Kamchatka. He also noted that telemetric data from the launch of the missile is still being analyzed, but it is already clear that the missiles performed up to expectations.

3. Former U.S. president George H.W. Bush presented former president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday. Bush praised the former Soviet leader’s role in history, saying he “opened up new possibilities for the world to come together and solve its problems in the pursuit of liberty. When Eastern Europeans were living in the dark shadow of the Cold War, he provided a beacon of light. Now, almost twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we are still witnessing the positive impact his efforts have had across the globe. President Gorbachev is always looking ahead at a better future and helping all of us work to get there.”

4. Moody’s Investors Service commented on the situation on Russia’s financial markets. So far, the crisis hasn’t undermined the country’s sovereign score that is still at Baa1.

5. Gold and silver prices surged over 10 percent yesterday, hitting the abrupt-growth records of many years. The crude oil prices are rising again. The analysts attribute the boom on primary markets to panic-stricken investors that pull money out of financial market to invest in precious metal and commodities. The gold rally might end once the financial turmoil in the U.S. is over, the analysts warn.

6. The Davis Cup semifinal matches begin today, September 19, 2008. For Russia, it will be the most difficult standoff of this year. The match is played in Argentina and the team of that country has never been beaten at home for a decade already. In another semifinal, Spain clashes with the United States.

7. Russia’s Energy Ministry hopes that Russia and OPEK will sign a memorandum on cooperation in October 2008 in Moscow, the ministry’s head Sergei Shmatko told journalists today. He reiterated that the organization was currently reviewing a series of Russia’s suggestions, adding the country had been successfully cooperating with OPEC for the last 10 years and the new dialog format looked very promising.

Hello,

I have in Russia watched the USA financial system meltdown into a pool of liqidated assets and then in turn watched the Russian financial system go up in flames. I have watched the Aisian market crash but not quite flame out. I have watched the markets all over the world smolder and sink out of sight.

If you are like me and you are having a little trouble understanding what seems to be behind the complete unraveling of the world’s financial system: Don’t worry you are not alone.

I do not believe in the stock market and now you see why. I believe in precious metals and other very long term stable financial tools. I never get rich but I still have my money!

How did this happen? I think of it as payback. Wall Streeters (All stock markets are wall streets) all over the world, didn’t have to worry about regulation, and they didn’t worry about risk. They had no fear of repercussions, this lack of fear became a hothouse of greed and ignorance on Wall Streets — and on Main Street as well. When greed exceeds fear, trouble follows.

A very Powerful man, Warren Buffett, probably one of the world’s most successful investors, back in 2003 called greed and ignorance, “derivatives” or better yet he said, “weapons of financial mass destruction.” But to the greedy rich wall streeters, what did he know? He was a 70-something alarmist fuddy-duddy who had cried wolf for years. No reason to worry about wolves until you hear them howling at your door, right?

The wolf has started howling…..

We started with Bear Stearns months ago, everyone said whew that was close and the worse is over. That was nothing but the tip of the iceberg because we now are going to see how much ice is under the water level on all these defaulting issues. The folly and fiasco of Fannie & Freddie started the avalance

The USA Government stopped Fannie and Freddie from going belly up. Why? Because many if not most of the mortgages and mortgage securities owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bought by foreign central banks, which wanted to own dollar-based securities that carried slightly higher interest rates than boring old U.S. Treasury securities. A big reason the Fed and Treasury felt compelled to bail out Fannie and Freddie was the fear that if they didn’t, foreigners wouldn’t continue funding our trade and federal-budget deficits.

Lehman’s fall shows the downside of using borrowed money. Even though Lehman has a 158-year-old name, it’s actually a 14-year-old company that was spun off by American Express in 1994. AmEx had gobbled it up 10 years earlier, and it wasn’t in prime shape when AmEx spat it out. To compensate for its relatively small size and skinny capital base, Lehman took risks that proved too large. To keep profits growing, Lehman borrowed huge sums relative to its size. Its debts were about 35 times its capital, far higher than its peer group’s ratio. And it plunged heavily into real estate ventures that cratered.

Then AIG collapsed…

The market lost faith in AIG too, but the government was forced to save it. A major reason is that AIG is one of the creators of the aforementioned credit-default swaps. What are those, you ask? They’re pixie-dust securities that supposedly offer insurance against a company defaulting on its obligations. If you buy $10 million of GM bonds, for instance, you might hedge your bet by buying a $10 million CDS from AIG. In return for that premium — which changes day to day — AIG agrees to give you $10 million should GM have an “event of default” on its obligations.

America bailed AIG out. Now we have to remember that Bear Stearns died not long ago and Merrill Lynch bit the dust a few days ago.

Goldman stands, along with Morgan Stanley, as one of the last two giant U.S. investment banks not to collapse (as Lehman and Bear Stearns have) or be sold (à la Merrill Lynch), Goldman too has been pummeled. The firm’s quarterly profit plunged over 70%. New York University economics professor Nouriel Roubini says: “They will be gone in a matter of months as well. It’s better if Goldman or Morgan Stanley find a buyer, because their business model is fundamentally flawed.” (Ouch!)

Now the big three: GM, Ford and Chrysler are knocking on deaths door. They are asking for loans from Uncle Sam to help them out. Then MaWu bank is arranging survival help. The story goes on and on and on and on…

Now in Aisia, Russia, Europe, South America, Austrailia and lets just toss the rest of the world in this pile. The realization that holding American securities was not such a good thing.

So whatever the politicians all over the world do, we as a world society are going to be poorer than we were a month ago. Wall Streets all over the world has lost credibility; everyone will be less likely than before to lend endless amounts of cheap money. America has lost a lot of credibility and that ultimately will lead to higher borrowing costs?

Coping in this new world will require adjustments by millions upon millions of people. We all will have to start living within our means — or preferably below them. If you don’t over borrow or overspend, you’re far less vulnerable to whatever problems the financial system may have. Companies need to start surviving with in their means!

My Grandma allways said, “If you don’t have the money in your pocket, then do not buy it!”

Remember: “greed and ignorance, or better yet, “weapons of financial mass destruction””

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

Today Russia is just doing her thing.

While the USA Financial Crisis is melting down it has spread globally: The Russian financial sector has already entered the sharp phase of the crisis, and is ready to engage the financial ‘airbags’ built for it, says the Russian government. Other words the Russian stock market is toast from the inflamed and crashing American economy…

Then Medvedev has been playing with his new countries, that seem to be a nemesis around his neck.

Russia this morning inked a Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Aid Treaties with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. RF President Dmitry Medvedev, South Ossetia’s President Eduard Kokoity and Abkhazia’s President Sergei Bagapsh sealed the respective documents in the Kremlin Wednesday.

That should stir up some more “I hate Russia sentiment” from America. Then while speaking of America:

Azerbaijani leader Ilkham Aliev confirmed at a meeting with Medvedev that he is not going to get involved in a confrontation with Russia despite multiple attempts by Western powers to persuade him to do just that. Including, at the recent meeting with Dick Cheney in Baku, seems Mr Cheney’s urgings to confront Russia fell upon a cold shoulder and caused Cheney to shorten his stay in Baku!

Now while all this fun stuff is going on:

Russia is to determine northern borders, where Arctic is. The figure is 18 percent of the RF territory, i.e. that region will account for 20,000 kilometers of the state border. They say 25% of the worlds remaining oil is located in Santa Clause land, Santa is Rich!

Of course this information will cause Canada, Norway, Denmark and the United States to act like squeaky wheels. (bad Russia)

Now to end the day with a note on Iran: Russia just figured out something or at least said what it and I was thinking.

The United States and Israel have consistently refused to rule out the possibility of military action against Iran over its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment and Georgia would be an ideal bridgehead for a U.S. invasion of Iran. Then NATO proceeds to comment on the fact that it will rebuild the NATO class airport that was destroyed in Georgia. It will be better than it was and all the latest updated equipment. Russia seems to be getting the picture also, that Ukraine is shipping Soviet T-72 Tanks to Afghanistan for NATO (USA). Seems if I remember correctly (Soviet Times), Tanks are worthless in Afghanistan due to the terrain but they are great in the plains area of Iran.

Maybe just maybe the financial crises will get so bad that the USA will not have anymore money to blow up another crises…… (Naw, they will just print more money)

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

RBC, 16.09.2008, Moscow 13:26:26.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel today. According to the government’s press office, the officials discussed trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, especially concerning the energy sector.

RBC, 16.09.2008, Moscow 13:17:09.Investors are expected to start buying more stocks after the RTS index sank below 1,200 points, analysts told RBC TV, adding that the market is likely to close in negative territory today. However, experts note that if the global oil price does not slide below $90 per barrel, oil company securities are projected to see higher demand.

RBC, 16.09.2008, Kiev 12:59:54.Arseny Yatsenyuk, speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s national parliament, has officially announced today that the governing coalition linked to Ukraine’s 2004 “Orange Revolution” has been dissolved. During the 10 days that have elapsed since the dissolution, the two political parties that made up the coalition, the Yulia Timoshenko Bloc led by Ukraine’s Prime Minister and the Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense Bloc headed by President Viktor Yushchenko, failed to settle their differences and effectively work together.

RBC, 16.09.2008, Moscow 09:58:30.President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev will hold talks today with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev who arrived yesterday in Moscow on a working visit. The two leaders are expected to look into the situation in the Caucasus and ways to expand trade and economic cooperation. Today’s will be their third meeting this year, after two more in St. Petersburg during the informal summit of CIS leaders in June and during the Russian President’s official visit to Baku in July.

RBC, 16.09.2008, Moscow 09:32:21.Russia’s governmental delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin has arrived on a working visit in Cuba with a view to assess the degree of destruction and aid to overcome hurricane consequences in the republic, the Mayak radio reported. Cuba has recently been ravaged by three hurricanes, Gustav, Ike and Hanna, which severely damaged its economy.

RBC, 15.09.2008, Moscow 17:31:02.Russia guarantees, as an OSCE member, that no issues regarding South Ossetia will be discussed within the organization without the republic’s own representatives taking part, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists today.

Hello,

Lets start with an airline tragedy:

A Boeing 737-500 belonging to an affiliate of Aeroflot, a company called “Aeroflot-Nord”, crashed in Russia. It was evident by witnesses that the pilots were trying to steer the falling aircraft away from dwellings on the ground, so they chose to try a crash-landing on the railroad tracks, with their safety zone 200 meters wide on both sides. Thanks to that maneuver, no life was lost on the ground. The crash is attributed to an engine failure.

Then in Moscow more senseless loss of life:

Four people including a schoolboy and an elderly woman were injured in a bomb blast in a market in northern Moscow, believed to be part of a turf war between retailers, a police source said on Monday.

Then Russia has woke up and realized that the West is not a Future:

A change in Russia’s foreign policy is imminent. It’s a pity, that our calls and requests which included in a most pleasant and considerate way into our Foreign Policy Concept, went totally unheard and unheeded by many of our “partners” (the West), so our declarations of partnership or even alliances produced no effect. It means, that it’s time to seriously reconsider our foreign policy priorities and look else ware for future partners…..

Which leads us to: China!

China is very much interested in the events in the Caucasus. The recent visit by a delegation of officials of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist party showed that China is watching the energy scene with utmost attention. In the case of a long-term conflict between Russia and the West, China could not only count on acquiring a system of pipelines for direct gas and oil supply from Russia but it could also be sure of securing for itself a much bigger share in Central Asian oil and gas than it can afford at the moment. (Say Goodbye Europe to Russian Gas! )

Now lets talk about Abkhazia:

Russian peacekeepers who have already abandoned their positions in Georgia proper and did it two days ahead of the schedule agreed upon in Moscow by Presidents Nicholas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev. Have reported that Georgia plans to deploy its special forces in the areas previously held by Russian peacekeepers inside the “security zones”, i.e. much closer to the borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia than Russia is prepared to tolerate. This step, showing that the Georgian president is not ready “to let it go” at all, may well become the trigger of another armed conflict at the border between Georgia and Abkhazia. Russia also plans to open an embassy in Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia by the end of the year, a senior Foreign Ministry official said on Monday.

A little more about Georgia:

“The Georgian leadership tries to hide the real scale of military losses. Our data gathered from various sources indicates that Georgia lost up to 3,000 servicemen and police in attack on South Ossetia,” said a source, also claiming that Georgia’s Western allies have been aware of the numbers of Georgian casualties.

That is what is happening in Russia…

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Here is more information that the west will not print: With all the trash the Western media does print, you would think to print a little truth would not hurt….

Tshinval tragedy: eyewitnesses’ testimonies:

South Ossetians who survived the bombing in August, 2008 will never forget the terrible days they had to go through. And the children who saw the death of their loved ones will not remain children, they were forced to grow up too quickly.

Zasseeva Liana, 47 years old, tskhinval resident

Our house was located on the southern outskirts of the city, almost on the border. On August 7, in the evening everybody who lived in the house gathered in the basement. The elderly, women and children, they were all there. We had to put chairs in the passage as seventeen people were sitting there. Some have already spent four days in the basement.

There was a terrible bombing during the night. The morning was a bit calmer so some went into the yard to see what had happened to their flats. There, the barn was hit by a sell and caught fire, which could spill over to the building. We began to extinguish it. The entire south wall of our house was destroyed.

After 9 pm the shelling resumed and we returned to the basement. At 10-15 one of our neighbors looked out through a crack in the basement and said that there tanks with writing in Georgian on them follow by infantry all dressed in black – apparently, Special Forces. We heard Georgian speech.

The first Georgian column was passing near us until 2 am. They moved towards the centre of Tskhinval. The tanks at the streets turned around and fired at apartment blocks. The neighbor looked outside again and saw that a large number of Georgian troops had gathered near the Home for the Disabled. Then they started to search the flats.

In the nearby house an old man lived. His name was Kabulov and he was 70. The Georgian troops broke into his flat. A man for our basement went out and asked the Georgian troops not to kill Kabulov. But a Georgian soldier said that it was too late. The old man was already dead – killed after a tank fired at the building.

Gabueva Larisa, 40 years old, Tskhinval resident

On August 8, at 11-30 pm the shelling of the city with heavy weaponry began. My body is shaking when I recall these events. We thoughts it was going to be O.K. We were told that South Ossetia can cope with the aggression on its own. But we were not ready for such type of war, any Tskhinval resident will tell you this. We could not imagine that they would aim at peaceful citizens.

The shelling went on and on. It got quiet only in the morning and every body went out of the shelter to grab food, water and blankets. But then everything repeated. The massive shelling began again, and Grad ” rocket systems were used. We saw how the sells hit the nearby buildings, where our neighbours – Murat Byazarov and Lerika Tedeeva – lived. After a strike by “Grad” the house burned to the ground in 20 minutes. We could not help them with buckets and rockets were flying in the air. Besides, we had no water to put out the fire. There was no water in the city. Even drinking water.

I’ve been to the burial of Kachmazov sisters. They had no basement and they were hiding on the first floor. Then a rocket hit their house and they were burnt alive. The people of Tskhinval were not ready for this war. We were left completely alone. It seems we like we were sacrificed.

Tshovrebova Zalina, resident of Tskhinvali

Two members of our family have died – my cousins Diana Kadzhaeva and Hsar Dzhidzhoev. Diana worked as a teacher in primary grades at School number 5. She recently had surgery and didn’t have time to fully recover. So she could not leave the city quickly. On August 9, during the night Diana decided to flee along with the neighbors. Of course, this was very dangerous.

Most of the refugees, who left that night, were killed. A Mercedes in which Diana was traveling with the members of Gagloevyh family was burned at Zarsky road. I saw what was left of the car. I never thought that metal can burn up to such a thin shell. Only ashes were left of Diana.

Her father was blinded seven years ago and at the funeral Diana’s sister was saying: “You are lucky to have lost your sight, because you do not see what we are burying”.

Valieva Dzerassa, Tskhinval resident

On August 8, the shelling of the city lasted through the night and morning. All of the neighbours gathered in the basement of our house. In the morning there was a strong explosion near our house on the Isak Kharebov street and after it we’ve heard women screaming. The family, which wanted to leave the city, came under strong shelling, a rocket hit their car and they all were burned alive. We watched the people, parents and their children, dying inside the car and could do nothing to help them. Only after some time were we able to come out to them, but there was no one to save. After this terrible picture, we waited in the basement for our fate.

Around 10 o’clock in the morning the Georgian tanks entered the city and began to kill peaceful people and destroy their home. The bombardment by “Grad” rocket system was so heavy that we had to cover our ears, because the noise could have torn our hearts to peaces.

Once the city was liberated, the sad news came. Our neighbour, Bagaev Amiran Pavlovich, was killed. His body was brought in a coffin, with was very difficult to find. We even didn’t have candles we could light for him. The shelling didn’t stop and Amiran’s parents had to leave the coffin and hide in the basement. On the next day we dug a grave in the garden and buried him. The ceremony took place under constant fire.

After the Georgian infantry and tanks abandoned the city, their snipers, who stayed, killed another of our neighbours, Inal Gazzaev.

Hubulov Sarmat, 18 years old, Tskhinval resident

I was in Tskhinval on August 7. There were seven of us – my grandmother, grandfather, aunt, two younger sisters and a nephew. We all went to sleep, because Saakashvili, said that he declared cease fire. Suddenly explosions began. One of the mortar shells fell on our balcony. We immediately ran into the basement. Two hours after that, the shooting stopped. I got out of the basement and went to sleep, because we got used expected that the shooting would stop after some time. I was asleep when they started to shell the city with “Grads”. I returned into the basement and this time spent four days there.

In the morning at about 9 am the Georgian tanks entered Tskhinval. Lenin Street was burning. There were four tanks on our Tabolov Street and they were firing at our home.

In the evening a car appeared on our street – a father was trying to save his child from this hell. They stopped at the crossing and a tank shot at them from behind. And they knew that the child was inside the car. Everybody saw it. This incident is well known in the city.

When the shooting calmed I ran home and returned with water. Then I searched for my relatives, and I also managed to contact my uncle by phone. He came to us on the fourth day – hungry and without water. He said he had a car at his work and that he would pick us up. We were driving to the hotel in a jeep, picking up another woman in Tbet.

When we reached the Zarsky road they began to shoot at us. The two cars that took off before us, were standing on the road, burned. My uncle looked into one of them and said it was empty. After that I examined another car: its roof was torn and people inside were burnt and blood was on the seats. We returned to our car and drove further.

The car behind us was driving with headlights turned on, and the Georgian troops fired at it. But my uncle told them to switch the headlights off and the shooting stopped.

Ualyty Marina, 17 years old, student Tskhinval resident

On August 7, at 11-30 pm we were getting ready to go to sleep and expected a quite night, because Georgian President Saakashvili promised to stop the shelling and start negotiation. And then we heard the explosion. We went straight to the basement and set there in the dark, thinking that the bombardment will end by morning as usual. But it was morning already and the shooting was far from over. And this time they were using “Grad” rocket systems. It seemed they were firing straight at the roof of our house. We started to phone our relatives, to find out about their fate. Later we found out that the Georgians were tracking mobile signals and then fired at the places where they came from.

On August 9, we left Tskhinal and set for Vladikavkaz. We’ve left the city by car and then walked by foot to Dzhava. Cars that drove near us were packed. In one car people were sitting inside the cabin – two on the front seat other were on the back seat – and two more were in the trunk with their legs hanging out. Fortunately, when we were driving the road was not shelled, but those who went after us came under fire.

My relative from Moscow came to Tskhinval to her parents. She wanted to leave on August 7 but couldn’t find a car. So she had to stay. The house owner hid her in the basement behind the iron boilers. She was sitting there when Georgian troops entered the house. They drank wine and ate all the food they could find.

The house was in mourning because less than a year ago a family member had died – his photo was hanging on the wall and they were shooting at it. They were just mocking; I can’t find any other word. And when they were leaving they dropped a couple of grenades into the cellar, just in case. My relative was lucky as the iron boilers saved her.

Olga Ataeva, 30 years old, Moscow resident

My brother Alan Atayev, born in 1971, worked as a dentist in the town’s clinic. He was not in military service. During the heavy shelling of Tskhinval on August 8, he, together with my parents and sister, was hiding in the basement of our house in the city’s centre. On August 9, during a relative lull, Alan went out of the house to see whether anyone needed medical treatment and never returned. The next morning, my mother, despite heavy shelling, left the basement to search for her son. And she found his remains about 300 meters from our house. He was torn to pieces; apparently it was a deliberate shot by heavy weapons, a tank maybe. My mother identified Alan by his shoes. Together with her sister they collected the remains and a few hours, under fire, buried them in the garden. They were not sure that they would survive, the main thing for them was to bury what was left of Alan.

Gabueva Laura, Tskhinval resident

On the next morning after the shelling a neighbours son came and said that they would grab their things and hurry to the peacekeepers posts as Georgians were already in the city. My parents and I were in the basement and heard a noise. We went outside to find out what was going on. Then I ran to my sister – her family lives a few houses away from us – to find out whether they were alive. They were ok and I raced back to the cellar. And suddenly I saw our other neighbour, who looked at me very sadly from the window. I told her that she must hide in the basement because the shelling would be resumed. She said: “We have no cellar”. “Hide in ours”, I answered.

She lingered and asked in a most hopeless voice: “My husband is Georgian. Will you let him in?”

“Immediately take your husband and come to us,” I answered.

We all gathered in our basement and, under the noise of the tanks, waited for a miracle of God. And then the hail of shelling started, I don’t know how else to describe it, the noise was terrible, and the shells roared and the bullets were whistling. Everything was burning where “Grad” rockets fell. There were 12 people in the basement. None of us could eat, we only drank water. The funniest thing, if there can be anything funny in such situations, was that there were neighbours who had refused to talk to each other for more than ten years, and under the shelling got on very well together and cared for each other like they were relatives. You never know how life can turn out. (Link)

What happened in South Ossetia was Sad. So I guess that is why we ignore it, in the Western world….

Kyle & Svet

Georgian aggression: chronology of war:

About 7 PM on August 7, 2008 Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said live on TV: “Let’s stop the escalation and begin negotiations – direct, multilateral, what else. Let us give peace and dialog a chance”. Saakashvili added that a few hours before he, as the commander of Georgian army, had ordered all units of the Georgian Defense Ministry and police not to open fire.

The statement calmed the citizens of South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval, who were living in anticipation of escalating conflict. The people believed that there were ways out of crisis and that the Georgian leadership would do all everything necessary for a peaceful settlement.

But within the next few hours tons of hot lead from artillery, howitzers and “Grad” rocket systems were hurled on the peacefully sleeping and defenseless city. Tskhinval plunged into chaos. People died in their beds, on the streets, and in the basements of the houses where they tried to escape the ruthless bombing.

“The Georgian side has virtually declared war on South Ossetia”, – said the commander of the peacekeeping contingent in South Ossetia, Marat Kulahmetov, after the firing commenced.

The operation conducted by Georgian troops aimed “to establish constitutional order in the Tskhinvali region” and received the code name of “Clear Field”. There are no doubts about what should have been a result of these actions. There are no buildings, infrastructure, human beings in the clear field. Following the logic, none of this should stay in the zone where the Georgian army was firing. The carpet bombing of civilian building were labeled “the destruction of a criminal regime” by Georgian Minister Temur Yakobashvili. But he didn’t specify how he suspected the residents of Tskhinval of being criminals.

Early in the morning of August 8, another massive wave of shelling from all kinds of weapons commenced, hitting the town. Georgian artillery was aiming at the Tshinval Republican hospital, where the wounded were brought throughout the night. In the middle of the day there were 270 people with gunshot and shrapnel wounds. Medical Personnel were unable to take new patients and had to evacuate the injured to the building basement.

Georgian tank columns entered Tskhinval. The Russian peacekeepers didn’t return fire, but the Georgian tanks, and artillery, attacked their positions. The first tank shot destroyed the observation post on the roof of the barracks of the Russian peacekeeping battalion, located in Tskhinval. As a result, Russian soldier, Sergey Kononov, was killed. The next series of bursts destroyed the battalion’s equipment, including hospital vehicles, which were clearly marked with Red Cross signs.

After this began a massive offensive on the battalion position, by infantry backed with tanks and artillery. In the first hours of battle, Russian peacekeepers suffered serious casualties – ten people were killed, and 25 wounded.

The shelling of South Ossetia was accompanied by an attack from the air. Five Georgian Su-25 aircraft attacked the village Tkverneti. In addition, planes were dropping bombs on the village of Kvernet and bombed a convoy with humanitarian aid, which was going into Tskhinval by the Zarskaya road.

In Tskhinval, now cut from the outside world, Georgian punishers were restoring “the constitutional order” with fire and sword. Saakashvili’s soldiers were opening fire at all moving targets: men, women, elderly people and children. Georgian tanks were shooting at vehicles stuffed with panic-stricken people trying to escape the burning city. Heavy vehicles ran over burning cars with people inside them. Basements, which sheltered those who could not run away, were bombarded with grenades. Georgian snipers occupied the key heights, showering the city with bullets from all the sides.

The essential priority in the protection of human rights is the right to life. Killing for the sake of a national idea cannot be justified. In South Ossetia, the key legal and human values, worked out by the world community over the course of centuries were crossed out by barbarity, by absurd and blind aggression, in one night.

The war in South Ossetia, Georgia unleashed on the opening day of the Olympic Games in Beijing, only produced the concern of the international community. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated that he was extremely concerned by the outbreak of violence in South Ossetia. Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council, called for an emergency session on South Ossetia, was unable, not only to stop Georgia’s aggression but even come up with a joint resolution on the situation in South Ossetia. EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana had a telephone conversation with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, urging him to take all necessary measures to stop violence in South Ossetia.

The reaction of the international community did not stop the Georgian military machine. On August 8, fighting went on for the whole day. A small group of Ossetian militia and police resisted the Georgian army – trained by American and Israeli instructors and equipped with brand new arms. Georgia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Gurgenidze stated that “government troops must establish guaranteed peace” and that the military operation would continue until the population is in security.

While exterminating the residents of Tskhinval and South Ossetian villages, the Georgian leadership made repeated statements insisting on a peaceful settlement of the conflict. By 3 p.m. on August 8 the Georgian authorities announced a shooting moratorium for the organisation of a refugee corridor. However, peacekeepers who stayed in the area refuted these statements, saying that the city was under constant shelling.

Could Russia not give an adequate response to the unprovoked, barbaric actions of the Georgian leadership? Thousands of Russian citizens live in South Ossetia, Russian peacekeepers with international status have been ensuring security in the region over the course of 15 years. All earlier agreements reached between Georgia and South Ossetia, with the participation of Russia, the European Union, and OSCE, were cancelled by war crimes which could not be left unpunished. The residents of South Ossetia wanted to survive at all costs while the Georgian authorities were doing their best to keep their grip on the occupied territory.

Taking into account the indistinct stance of the U.S. and the EU, the extermination of the South Ossetians could only be stopped by the tough and proportionate use of force. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev took the decision about a “peace enforcement operation”. On August 8, units of Russia’s 58th army entered the territory of South Ossetia.

In the evening of August 9 the Russian army started pushing Georgian forces out of Tskhinval. By this time, the peacekeeping camp was almost destroyed. At seized observation points Georgian soldiers were shooting at peacekeepers and local residents, preventing medical services from evacuating the wounded from the combat area. Hundreds of refugees were seeking rescue at the Zarsk road. Noticing tanks, people would rush to soldiers for help and protection. However, taking advantage of the similar look of the military equipment being used by both sides, the Georgian military coolly shot and burned defenseless people in their cars.

Supported by the South Ossetian militia, the Russian army was able to push the Georgian aggressors to the outskirts of the city, and a part of Georgian army was encircled. The Russian air force struck Georgian air bases from where Georgian planes were carrying out regular air strikes on Tskhinval. The fighting continued on August 10 and 11. On these days the Georgian military continued shelling the capital and villages of South Ossetia. On August 12 Georgian military bases near the city of Gori were destroyed. It was not until August 13 that the first columns with the humanitarian aid could make their way to Tskhinval and affected villages.

Georgian aggression claimed the lives of hundreds of South Ossetian civilians. Hundreds of injured filled the hospitals of Vladikavkas, in Russia’s republic of North Ossetia. In the first days of the war thousands of refugees crossed the border to North Ossetia. People were forced to leave their houses and belongings. They had to flee, leaving the bodies of their killed relatives unburied. By August 14 there were 34,000 people in refugee camps in Russia’s republics of North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and its Stavropol, Krasnodar and Rostov regions.

The Georgian military blew up the water pipeline in Tskhinval, which severely exacerbated the humanitarian disaster. People who stayed in the city during the military operation and the following week had no fresh water and food. Emergencies workers set up hospitals in Tskhinval and the village of Java, and started providing assistance. They also organised water supply and distribution of food.

The investigation of crimes in South Ossetia shows that the shelling residential areas by Georgia’s military used cluster bombs as well as various multiple artillery rocket systems; notably the GradLAR-160, and the 262 mm Orkan. A 46-kilogramme rocket launcher contains 104 dual purpose M85 cluster bombs produced in the U.S. One shell can cover a massive area. These are exactly the shells in service with the Georgian army.

From August 7 to 8, 18 Grad units, each containing 40 rocket missiles, were shelling Tskhinval. 720 missiles were fired in 30 seconds. The large coverage area of the shells coupled with the non-specific targeting resulted in multiple civilian casualties and victims in Tskhinval, and other cities and villages in South Ossetia.

According to the specialists’ assessment, 70 per cent of the South Ossetian capital was ruined. A calm and cozy city turned into Stalingrad, destroyed by the Nazi in 1942-1943. As a result of Georgia’s aggression, industrial facilities and government buildings are destroyed. Cultural and historic monuments suffered particularly, as they were deliberately targeted by the artillery and tanks. This shows that the Georgian military aimed to annihilate not only the people but their cultural heritage.

The historical part of the city, considered to be an architectural conservation area, has been completely wiped out. During the war of 1991-92 it was severely damaged, and this time it has been completely burnt down. After Grad shelling no joist has been left which would allow an assessment or determination of the age of the buildings, many of which having a thousand-year history. The city’s synagogue survived the bombing but was severely ravaged. Blast waves have caused deep cracks in the walls of the orthodox church of Georgy Kavtinsky, which dates back to the 9th century. The foundations of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, built in 1718, have been shaken.

The memorial house museum of prominent Iran researcher Vasily Abayev has been burned down, while his monument, in Teatralnya square in central Tskhinval, was beheaded. Georgian tanks virtually wiped off the face of the earth a memorial cemetery, in the courtyard of school #5, where those perished in the war of the 1990s are buried. All cultural institutions in Tskhinval suffered. The local history museum, “Chermen” and cinema are ruined, the Culture Ministry building with documents concerning South Ossetia’s more than 700 historical and cultural monuments, is burnt down. The Parliament building of South Ossetia, which is an architectural monument constructed in 1937, has also been reduced to ashes. (Link)

This is how it really happened, no more – no less!

Kyle & Svet

Hello,

Try this interview from Medvedev: It is great!

President Medvedev revealed in a frank and close to public discussion with the members of the Valdai Discussion club how news of war in South Ossetia came to him, why Russia will not deal with the Georgian president, what George W. Bush said in his latest phone call, and why he won’t see Russia turn into a state behind an iron curtain.

‘I’ll never forget that night’

“I was on vacation. They say, Russia was preparing for war – that’s a lie! The Defence Minister called me at 1 a.m. and said, the Georgians have told the Ossetians that they were starting a war. And while all those troops were moving towards South Ossetia, I took no decision and hoped those dimwits would have enough brains to stop. They didn’t! We held ourselves until they started firing rockets, shelling residential blocks, and shooting at peacekeepers. Even then we didn’t respond.”

“I’ll never forget that night. It was very hard to order the use of force, while knowing the consequences. We did everything right. And I’m proud of it. Our response was symmetrical and proportional.”

“For me the events in August put an end to any illusion that the world is just. For me personally it was the loss of my last illusions. For Russia, August 8 is like 9/11 for America.”

“The war took the whole last month of my life, and there were more productive ways to spend it. We didn’t want it, didn’t want it at all! For 17 years we’ve being mending what had broken apart a long time ago. And they didn’t thank us for that – rather they started shooting at us.”

“Russia was not expected to react like that. Georgia got the idea: do whatever you want, Russians won’t meddle. That’s a diplomatic mistake that belongs to textbooks for diplomats. It’s a mistake – and for Georgia it’s also a crime.”

George Bush would do the same

“When I talked to Bush on the phone last time I told him: you’d have done the same in a situation like this, just in a more harsh way. He didn’t argue.”

“Bush asked me: ‘Why do you need it? You’re a young president with liberal background!’ I don’t need it at all. But there are situations where image is nothing and real actions are everything.”

‘I don’t want to live behind an iron curtain’

“We discussed the rearmament of the Russian armed forces yesterday. We’ll have to change some priorities, but all the rest remains the same. We don’t need a closed, militarised country behind an iron curtain. I don’t want to live in a country like that. I used to. It was boring and dull.”

“They should have invited Russia into NATO a long time ago. Were they afraid? Now we’d certainly have fewer problems. That was a serious mistake. And the second mistake is that any country prepared to get rude with Russia gets the right to be in NATO.”

“If Georgia had a NATO membership action plan by August 8, I would have done the same without a second thought. And what would the consequences have been? They would have been way more complicated.”

“The situation was humiliating for Russia some time ago, and we can’t take it any more. It’s a difficult choice for us, but we can’t take it.”

“I don’t think the confrontation phase would last long. We don’t want to create new alliances to tease Europe and America. Foreign policy should be pragmatic. The concept that the U.S. State Department embraced is pure ideology. We all need to take effort and drive ideology away from foreign policy. The current U.S. administration’s problem is that they have too many sovietologists and to few experts on Russia.”

“I’m not an advocate of creating alliances to spite anyone. There’s no sense in creating new alliances. If you think that Russia has decided to change its vector of development, that’s not true. At least as long as I’m the head of state. There’s no cold war now.”

Saakashvili is a drug abuser

“The Georgian head of state is not just a man we won’t do business with. He’s an unpredictable pathological and mentally unstable drug abuser. Western journalists know it! A two-hour-long interview on the high – that’s over the edge for a head of state. Does NATO need such a leader?” (Link)

Gotta love it…..

Kyle & Svet