Proxy War Breaks Out Between US/Israel And Russia
Georgia Declares State Of War With Russia
UPDATE : From the BBC, Georgia declares state of war with Russia. Russian jets destroy Georgian oil port facilities. US President Bush demands Russia respect Georgian souvereign territory. Cities across Georgian being hit by Russian jets, reports CNN.
UPDATE : A quick summary of news from the Interfax news agency, 8pm Sydney time :
* 1600 are now believed to have been killed in the South Ossetia capital under a missile barrage by Georgia, purposely targeting civilians.
* 50 Georgian soldiers have been killed in South Ossetia, more than 400 wounded.
* Georgian soldiers are now surrendering in the SO capital Tskhinvali
* Martial law is expected to be enacted in Georgia.
* Russia claims it is not waging war on Georgia, but a "peacekeeping mission."
* South Ossetia forces claim to have shot down two Georgian jet fighters.
* Georgia claims it has shot down 10 Russian jets, and is interrogating a captured pilot.
* 15 Russian peacekeeping troops are believed to have been killed in the Georgian attack on Tskhinvali.
PREVIOUSLY....
If you're a dictatorship backed by the US and Israel, there's no time like the Olympics to pick a fight with Russia.
Before we are lost in an ocean of anti-Russian propaganda from the mainstream Western media, as a new war in the Caucuses erupts, it's important to remember that Georgia hit South Ossetia first, smashing its capital and reportedly killing more than 1400 civilians and a dozen Russian peacekeepers.
The attack by Georgia followed weeks of rising tensions between the Georgian dictatorship and the breakaway South Ossetia region, including the killing of Russian soldiers inside South Ossetia and the mortaring of villages by Georgia across the border.
Georgia has been building up a massive arsenal of weapons, helicopters, tanks and jets in the past two to three years, most of which were supplied by the Ukraine and the West. In recent months, American and Israeli troops have been on the ground in Georgia, training its military. Israel and the United States still have troops in Georgia, and are believed to have been involved in more than an 'advisory capacity' in the attacks on South Ossetia.
Energy pipelines flowing through South Ossetia are, once again, the focus of the war behind the war, as Israel and the US sets their sights on wrestling control of the key pipelines away from Russia and its allies.
This conflict has been building for years, and the apparent sudden outbreak of fighting is anything but sudden. Clearly, the timing of Gerogia's attacks on South Ossetia were meant to coincide with the Olympics, when much of the world is distracted by televised sports. US and Israeli military trainers and advisors have been preparing the Georgian military for this new conflict for many months.
This is likely to get extremely ugly, and far more deadly.
More details and sources at The Fourth World War blog.
