Pat Dollard

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9:57 P.M. August 12, 2008

Bloomberg:

“A substantial part of our military power has been destroyed,” said Georgian National Security Council chief Kakha Lomaia. “However, we did preserve the core of our army, and have managed to regroup it close to the capital.”

An airbase in Senaki was destroyed and three Georgian ships blown up in the Black Sea port of Poti, he said.

A month ago, about 1,000 U.S. soldiers joined 600 Georgians and 100 from Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia in joint exercises at the Vaziani military base near Tbilisi. Russia repeatedly bombed the base during this month’s war.

“The American role in the region has been weakened,” Jan Techau, a European and security affairs analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said in a telephone interview. “It’s a reassertion of Russia’s dominant role in the region.”

Ian Hague, a Bank of Georgia board member and fund manager with $1.8 billion in the former Soviet Union, said the attack on Georgia discouraged Western investments in energy infrastructure by raising the risk premium.

“It’s somewhat reminiscent, in 1939, when Stalin attacked Finland,” former U.S. national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told Bloomberg Television. “I think this kind of confrontation is the best kind of answer as to why they are seeking to be members of NATO.”

BREAKING:  August 12, 2008 3:00 

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) – Georgian president says he accepts cease-fire plan with Russia brokered by France .
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 

 10:30 A.M. Tuesday, August 12

Kremlin Accepts Sarkozy Ceasefire Deal

President Sarkozy won the Kremlin’s agreement today on the conditions for a cessation of hostilities in Georgia that would see both sides return to their initial positions before fighting erupted last week.

A six-point plan endorsed by President Medvedev during a visit by the French leader to Moscow calls on both Russia and Georgia to end all hostilities and allow free access for humanitarian assistance.

10:09 A.M. Tuesday, August 12

TBILISI, Georgia — Russia ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia’s army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering. Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.

Despite the pledge by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia launched an offensive Tuesday in the only part of Abkhazia still under Georgian control.

4:00 A.M. Tuesda, August 12

MOSCOW (AP) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that took Russian forces deep into its small U.S.-allied neighbor in the Caucasus.
Medvedev said on national television that the military had punished Georgia enough for its attack on South Ossetia. Georgia launched an offensive late Thursday to regain control over the separatist Georgian province, which has close ties to Russia.

“The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored,” Medvedev said. “The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized.”

The Russian president, however, said he ordered the military to defend itself and quell any signs of Georgian resistance.

“If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them,” he told his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, just arrived in Moscow carrying Western demands for a Russian pullback, welcomed the decision to halt the fighting but said Georgia’s sovereignty, integrity and security must be protected. There was no immediate comment from the United States.

As he started talks with Sarkozy, Medvedev said Georgia must pull its troops from the breakaway regions and pledge not to use force again to solve the conflict.

10:30 PM Monday August 11

Raw: Intense Firefights Unfolds Between Russian and Georgian Soldiers

Bush demands Russia withdraw from Georgia, end ‘brutal’ escalation of violence

8:29 P.M. Monday, August 11

Georgia Asks China for Help With Russia

Daily Mail

Georgia has asked China to use its influence to push for a resolution to a territorial flare-up with Russia. Georgian troops have pulled out of the breakaway province of South Ossetia after being overwhelmed by Russian forces. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.

7:52 P.M. Monday, August 111

Georgia ‘overrun’ by Russian troops as full-scale ground invasion begins

WAR FOR OIL!

Gordon Brown urges Moscow to order a ceasefire

Putin lashes out at the U.S. for ‘helping Georgia’

Georgia ‘restarts shelling’ after ceasefire call ignore

Refugee crisis as 40,000 flee

UPDATE: 2:32 PM 8/11/08

Georgian President’s Web Site Moved to Atlanta After Russian Hackers Take Aim

UPDATE: 1:00 PM  11/8/08

(AP)

GORI, Georgia – Russian forces seized several towns and a military base deep in western Georgia on Monday, opening a second front in the fighting. Georgia’s president said his country had been effectively cut in half with the capture of the main east-west highway near Gori.

Fighting also raged Monday around Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Russian warplanes launched new air raids across Georgia, with at least one sending screaming civilians running for cover.

The reported capture of the key Georgian city of Gori and the towns of Senaki, Zugdidi and Kurga came despite a top Russian general’s claim earlier Monday that Russia had no plans to enter Georgian territory. By taking Gori, which sits on Georgia’s only east-west highway, Russia can cut off eastern Georgia from the country’s western Black Sea coast.

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UPDATE:  8/11/08  11:00

Georgian President: Russia Endgame ‘Ethnic Cleansing’

“The consequences for world security, human rights and energy security are tremendous and huge.”

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UPDATE MONDAY 8/11 9:15 AM PST: It is being reported that Russian troops have captured the city of Gori and are pressing to Georgia’s capital city of Tbilisi. This is not good, folks.

Thousands running in terror in the streets, burning tanks and bodies everywhere, hell raining down from above, Georgian artillery slamming into the barracks of sleeping Russian “peacekeepers”, pierced aircraft flopping and disintegrating through gravity’s burning white death spiral, hospitals unable to treat the swarming bloody hordes…. welcome to the return of the European war, a glimpse of the ones that were and the one we almost had… the faded and looming specters that Mr. Putin has built a career on.

UPDATES TICKER RUNS MOST RECENT AT TOP

7:50 AM Monday August 11

Bush Blasts Russians for Escalating Conflict With Georgia

4:19 A.M. Monday, August 11

Reuters staging fake photos?

3:02 P.M. Sunday, August 10, 2008

Russia says Georgia’s claims of retreat are not true:

1:19 P.M. Sunday, August 10

Georgia Calls It Quits, Russia Says “Not So Fast”

Georgia called a cease-fire and said its troops were retreating Sunday from the disputed province of South Ossetia in the face of Russia’s far superior firepower, but Russia said the soldiers were “not withdrawing but regrouping” and refused to recognize a truce.

Russia expanded its bombing blitz to the Georgian capital, deployed ships off the coast and, a Georgian official said, sent tanks from the separatist region of South Ossetia into Georgian territory, heading toward a border city before being turned back.

9:50 A.M. Sunday August 10

Russian bomb falls near runway at Tbilisi airport: ministry. Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia.

7:33 AM Sunday August 10, 2008

BEIJING —  The White House is warning Russia to halt its attacks on Georgia or risk “significant” and enduring damage to its relationship with the United States. 

Russia expanded its bombing blitz Sunday against neighboring U.S.-allied Georgia. Georgian troops pulled out of the capital of the contested province of South Ossetia under heavy Russian shelling.

The U.S. has called on Russia to stop its military offensive.

Jim Jeffrey, President Bush’s deputy national security adviser, said the U.S. has made it clear that “If the disproportionate and dangerous escalation on the Russian side continues, that this will have a significant long-term impact on U.S.-Russian -relations.”

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5:52 AM Sunday August 10, 2008Georgia Says Troops WithdrawnRussia disputes Georgia’s claim that it’s withdrawn its forces from South Ossetia and pours thousands of troops and heavy armour into the conflict zone.Russia has bombed a military airfield outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi and government officials there say Moscow is massing troops in its other breakaway region Abkhazia. and a Russian navy source says warships have set up a Black Sea blockade to keep arms and military supplies from reaching Georgia.9:05 PM August 9. 2008Ceasefire Hopes Dashed By RussiaHopes for an end to the fierce fighting over breakaway republic South Ossetia were dashed when Russia refused to agree to a ceasefire or a diplomatic agreement.The impasse means the fighting with Georgia will keep spilling over to other regions such as Abkhazia’s Kodori Ridge, where 15 United Nations military observers were told to evacuate.“A ceasefire would not be a solution. The fighting is still going on. The Georgian forces are continuing to be on the South Ossetian territory,” Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.(The Press Association)8:07 PM August 9, 2008Russia bombs military airfield near Tbilisi: Georgian officialRussian planes on Sunday attacked the runway of a military airfield near Tbilisi international airport, a senior Georgian official told AFP.“Russian planes dropped several bombs on a military airfield not far from Tbilisi International Airport,” the secretary of Georgia’s national security council, Alexander Lomaia, told AFP.“There were no planes there, their task was to damage the runway,” he added.UPDATES THREAD:4:27 P.M. Saturday, August 912:20 P.M. Saturday, August 9

Video: Russia Blames U.S., “What you are watching is really a confrontation between Russia and the West.”

Is this really a U.S. vs Russia war, with Georgia as our proxy?

10:23 A.M. Saturday, August 9

9:49 A.M. PST Saturday, August 9

Source: Reuters

TBILISI, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Russian fighter jets targeted the the major Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline which carries oil to the West, including Europe and the U.S., from Asia but missed, Georgia’s Economic Development Minister Ekaterina Sharashidze said on Saturday.

“This clearly shows that Russia has not just targeted Georgian economic outlets but international economic outlets in Georgia,” she said at a news briefing.

There have been no independent verifications of Russian jets targeting the BTC pipeline.

9:00 A.M. PST Saturday, August 9

(AP) -Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain. But President Saakashvili has called them home in the face of the war on the homefront. The Georgian commander of the brigade in Iraq said Saturday they would leave as soon as transport can be arranged.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Georgia may pull its 35-strong Olympic team out of the Beijing Games because of Russian military attacks on its territory, the country’s National Olympic Committee told Reuters on Saturday.

“We’re talking about it now. It will be the decision of the president of the country (Mikheil Saakashvili),” spokesman Giorgi Tchanishvili said in the Chinese capital.

8:39 A.M. PST, Saturday, August 9

President George W. Bush said Russian attacks on Georgia marked a “dangerous escalation” of the crisis and urged Moscow to halt the bombing immediately.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Bush the only solution was for Georgian troops to quit the conflict zone.

“I call for an immediate ceasefire,” Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in Tbilisi. “Russia has launched a full scale military invasion of Georgia.”

Russia’s military response to the crisis dramatically intensified a long-running stand-off between Russia and the pro-Western Georgian leadership that has sparked alarm in the West and led to angry exchanges at the United Nations reminiscent of the Cold War.

Bush, Saakashvili’s main ally in the West, said Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected.

“The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis,” said Bush, who is attending the Olympics in Beijing.

In a telephone call with Bush, Medvedev “stressed that the only way out of the tragic crisis provoked by the Georgian leadership is a withdrawal by Tbilisi of its armed formations from the conflict zone,” a Kremlin statement said.

Russian officials said there could be no talks until Georgian forces pulled back.

7:58 A.M. Saturday, August 9

6:48 A.M. Saturday August 9

Bush and Putin discuss settling war over lunch at Olympics

President George Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict in Georgia, the White House confirmed.

Both men were attending the opening of the Summer Olympics in the Chinese capital and spoke during a luncheon hosted by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto did not provide any additional details.

But Putin, according to his spokesman, said: “There are lots of volunteers being gathered in the region, and it’s very hard to withhold them from taking part. A real war is going on.”

6:45 A.M. Saturday, August 9

Georgian President Calls For Cease Fire, Russia Bombs Whole New Province

Voices Of America – Georgia’s leader is calling for an immediate cease-fire in the breakaway region of South Ossetia, as reports come in that fighting has spread to another disputed region.

President Mikhail Saakashvili called for an end to the fighting Saturday, shortly before getting approval from the Georgian parliament to declare martial law.

At the same time, officials reported Russian warplanes hit targets in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Like South Ossetia, Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s. Georgia has vowed to bring both territories back under central government control.

6:33 A.M. Saturday, August 9

Georgia officially declares state of war with Russia.

6:28 A.M., Saturday, August 9

Georgia Accuses Russia Of Ethnic Cleansing

MOSCOW, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Georgia’s National Security Council accused Russian troops on Saturday of conducting”ethnic cleansing” in separatist South Ossetia, saying pulling out Georgian forces from the region would lead to more violence.

Asked whether Georgia had information that Russian forces were involved in ethnic cleansing, Kakha Lomaia, the National Security Council secretary, told a conference call:

“No doubt about that. Villages that fell under Russian invasion, those villages are being cleaned out. … Pulling out our troops would lead to more ethnic cleansing by Russian troops.”

Earlier in the day, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Georgian forces of conducting ethnic cleansing. Both sides have denied each other’s accusations as the fighting continued.

Georgia accuses Russia of ethnic cleansing

2:50 A.M.

Russia assigns blame for war on the United States. Georgia recalls it’s 2,000 troops from Iraq to join the battle at home.

(AP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists the United States bears much of the blame for arming and training Georgian soldiers.

Russia, which has granted citizenship to most of the region’s residents, appeared to lay much of the responsibility for the outbreak of fighting, and now for somehow stopping it, on Washington.

Georgia was ruled by Moscow for 200 years before the breakup of the Soviet Union. Georgia has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership—a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken its influence in the region.

Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated lawyer, long has pledged to restore Tbilisi’s rule over South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and have built up ties with Moscow.

Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain. But President Saakashvili has called them home in the face of the war on the homefront. The Georgian commander of the brigade in Iraq said Saturday they would leave as soon as transport can be arranged.

Georgia has accused Russia of bombing its towns, ports and air bases and has asked the international community to help end what it called Russian aggression.

Kakha Lomaya, the head of Georgia’s Security Council, said Georgia has shot down 10 Russian planes, including four brought down Saturday.

The first Russian confirmation that any of its planes had been shot down came Saturday from Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of the General Staff, who said two Russian planes were downed. He did not say where or when.

Aug 8 11:10 PM US/Eastern

Fierce fighting reported in Georgia after Russian troop surge

34 minutes ago

JAVA, Georgia (AFP) — Russia and its pro-West neighbour Georgia engaged in fierce fighting Saturday in the disputed region of South Ossetia, reports said, as the international community scrambled to prevent an all-out war.

Georgian forces early Saturday launched the latest in a series of artillery attacks on Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway Georgian region, a south Ossetian government spokeswoman said. Russian forces said they had counterattacked.

Fierce clashes between Russian and Georgian troops in the southern suburbs of Tskhinvali were reported by Russian news agencies during the night.

Georgia said it was under Russian aerial bombardment in what the country’s UN Ambassador Irakli Alasania described as “a full-scale military invasion.”

Moscow on Friday sent troops into the province to defend Russians under fire from a Georgian offensive to regain control over the province that broke away from Tbilisi’s control in the early 1990s.

The United States, the European Union and the OSCE were preparing to send a joint delegation to Georgia to try to broker a ceasefire, the EU said Friday.

As fighting continued, both sides said they had the upper hand.

“Georgian forces are controlling the entire territory of South Ossetia except Java,” a city north of Tskhinvali, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in a televised address on Friday.

The rebels shortly afterwards announced that they were in control of the capital Tskhinvali, Interfax news agency reported.

Saakashvili said 30 people had died on the Georgian side, but separatist leader Eduard Kokoity put the overall death toll from Friday far higher.

“Slightly more than 1,400 people have died,” Kokoity said, cited by Interfax. “This information will be checked, but this is the approximate number, based on information from relatives.”

Early Saturday fighting was centred on the capital Tskhinvali.

“The Georgian side is right now firing on residential parts of Tskhinvali,” South Ossetian government spokeswoman Irina Gagloyeva said in televised comments after nightfall.“We responded to the last volley that hit Tskhinvali and our peacekeepers positions with a counter strike from our artillery and tanks,” said Russian Ground Forces spokesman Igor Konashenkov, speaking on Russian television.In a claim that Moscow denied, Georgia’s interior ministry said five Russian aircraft had been shot down.The Russian military said in a statement that more than 10 Russian peacekeepers had been killed in Tskhinvali as Georgian ordnance slammed into their barracks.Other Georgian officials said that Russian planes on Friday had bombed near a military base in Vaziani, a military airport in Marneuli, the port of Poti and a railway junction and an airport in Senaki. There was no immediate reaction from Russian forces.President Saakashvili on Saturday was preparing to declare a state of emergency, senior administration official Alexander Lomaia told AFP.Authorities have evacuated the presidential building and other government offices in the capital Tbilisi amid fears of Russian bombardment, Lomaia said.On the diplomatic front, the United States — a champion of Georgia’s bid to join NATO — called for an immediate ceasefire and Russian withdrawal.“We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia’s territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement.The European Union and NATO also called for a halt to hostilities.In em ergency talks in New York on Friday, the UN Security Council failed to agree a call for an immediate ceasefire as Russia and Georgia blamed each other for the conflict. Talks were due to resume Saturday.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in Beijing for the start of the Olympic Games along with other world leaders including US President George W. Bush, blamed Georgia.“They have in effect begun hostilities using tanks and artillery,” said the former president, still a powerful figure in the Kremlin. “It is sad, but this will provoke retaliatory measures.”Television images showed Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and trucks rumbling towards South Ossetia — plus Georgian ground forces hammering rebel positions with lorry-mounted rockets.In the streets of Tskhinvali, home to an estimated 20,000 people, tanks were seen burning, and women and children ran for cover, hunched over in terror.An AFP reporter in South Ossetia saw women, children and elderly people riding buses toward the Russian border, fleeing the fighting.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said hospitals in Tskhinvali were teeming with casualties.“Ambulances cannot move, hospitals are reported to be overflowing, surgery is taking place in corridors,” an ICRC spokeswoman said, adding inhabitants were taking shelter in basements with no electricity or phone service.South Ossetia broke from Georgia in the early 1990s. It has since been a constant source of friction between Georgia and Russia, which opposes Tbilisi’s aspirations of joining NATO and has de facto supported the separatists although not recognised their independence.South Ossetia has long sought unification with North Ossetia, which is inhabited by the same Ossetian ethnic group but ended up across the border in Russia after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.