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War, War, War See other War, War, War Articles Title: Georgia offers ceasefire as fighting continues 25 minutes ago TSKHINVALI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgia offered Russia a ceasefire and peace talks on Sunday after pulling troops back from rebel South Ossetia's capital, and mediators began a mission to end the internationally condemned fighting. ADVERTISEMENT Some fighting still gripped parts of the Caucasus region, however, and Russia demanded an unconditional Georgian withdrawal. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Tbilisi at the head of an international team of mediators, the first top level diplomatic mission to fly to the region in an attempt to stem the bloodshed. It was due to move on to Moscow on Monday. The United States maintained its strong criticism of Russia, condemning its "disproportionate and dangerous" military action. Russian troops and tanks took control of Tskhinvali, the region's devastated capital, early on Sunday after a three-day battle. Moscow said 2,000 civilians were killed and thousands made homeless in a "humanitarian catastrophe." There has been no independent confirmation of the number of dead and wounded throughout the region. The simmering conflict between Russia and its small, former Soviet neighbor Georgia erupted late on Thursday when Georgia sent forces into South Ossetia, a small pro-Russian province which threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s. Russia, which had provided support to the separatists and had peacekeepers stationed in the province, responded by pouring troops and heavy amour south through the Caucasus mountains into South Ossetia to drive back the Georgians. The conflict alarmed the West, which views Georgia as a valuable, if volatile, ally because of its strategic location on an energy transit route carrying oil from the Caspian to Europe. On arrival in Tbilisi, Kouchner went straight to a meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. But diplomats played down hopes of a breakthrough. "Expectations at the moment are very low, but we have to try," said Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "Our task is to get a ceasefire in effect and to get the different parties to the negotiation table." FRENCH PRESIDENT TO VISIT MOSCOW The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, current holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, said he would also visit Moscow in the next few days. The French leader has produced a peace plan focusing on both sides pulling back to areas they held before the hostilities. At the U.N., Moscow and Washington traded barbs in the Security Council. U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad suggested Russia was seeking "regime change" by saying Saakashvili should leave office while Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin obliquely suggested some leaders became "obstacles" to their people. The United States said any further Russian escalation of the conflict could have a "significant, long-term impact" on relations and called on Russia and Georgia to cease hostilities and return to their pre-conflict positions. President Dmitry Medvedev said Georgia must withdraw from South Ossetia and formally pledge not to attack the region. Meanwhile, fighting continued. A Reuters reporter in the town of Gori, just south of South Ossetia, reported heavy bombardment of areas around Tskhinvali on Sunday evening, although it was not clear who was firing. Russian planes again bombed the Tbilisi military airport and a nearby aviation plant. One bomb exploded near the runway of the civilian international airport, although Moscow denied targeting that facility. A Reuters photographer entering Tskhinvali with Russian troops on Sunday saw dead Georgian soldiers lying in the streets and the ruins of buildings devastated in the fighting. Georgia and Russia have accused each other of causing widespread civilian casualties since the fighting began. State-controlled Russian television repeatedly spoke of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in South Ossetia after the Georgian attack, with more than 2,000 dead and thousands homeless. A Georgian government source said on Sunday 130 Georgian civilians and military personnel had been killed and 1,165 wounded, many because of Russian bombing inside Georgia. Russia denied hitting civilian targets. DEVASTATION Russian television showed what it said were pictures from Tskhinvali of burnt-out buildings, wounded civilians receiving medical treatment in dilapidated basements and weeping mothers complaining of a lack of food and water. "It started with severe bombing with artillery and planes and helicopters. Our boys, with their guns, could do nothing," resident Alla Dzhiloyeva told RTR state television by phone. "They bombed us so may times all the houses are destroyed... On one street there is only one wall left." Pictures on NTV television showed Tskhinvali's main hospital in ruins and most of its 200 patients crammed into the basement. Patients, many wincing, underwent treatment on tabletops in what looked like unsanitary conditions. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cut short his visit to the Olympics on Saturday and flew to a field hospital in North Ossetia, visiting wounded troops and evacuees, and denouncing what he termed Georgia's "crimes against its own people." Putin later briefed a Moscow-bound Medvedev on his trip, in a televised exchange which underlined Putin's continued dominance of Russian politics and government. Potentially widening the conflict, Sergei Bagapsh, the leader of Abkhazia, another separatist region on Georgia's Black Sea coast, said he had ordered 1,000 troops to push Georgian forces out of the Kodori Gorge, a strategic pocket of territory. He called up reservists. (For special coverage see http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/georgiaconflict) VIDEO: (Georgia) Thousands forced to flee attacks from Russian bombing raids
Poster Comment: Bye-bye, Georgia.
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VIDEO: Russian Surge Inside Georgia Continues
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Heehaw, oh very clever NOT, like that desperate olive branch ruse is going to work with The Bear, who is now spitting furious pissed ( and imo, rightfully so). A few days ago, Georgia decides to attack S. Ossetia on a lark and kills 1500 S. Ossetia civilians and not just kills them actually does some war crime genocide stuff - running over children with tanks, torching people, sawing dead bodies into pieces, and also happens to plug 12 Russian nationals for good fun and sport, who were peace keepers in the buffer zone. Then when Russia delivers big time payback to Georgia for its acts of aggression, and Georgia asks for help from his erstwhile pals - Israel and the US - but no help is forthcoming, and Georgia now finds itself alone in the world and in serious dodo all of its own creation...Georgia says - you know this war thingie was all a bad mistake. Like a bad dream. Let's go back to the way things before I attacked your protectorate and plugged your peacekeepers last week. Let bygones be bygones. LOL! Georgia gambled recklessly and it has lost terribly - not just territory ( newly pumped up separatist areas) and not just infrastructure damage and oil pipeline port damage but also Medvedev is trying to get genocide war crimes charges filed against Georgia. Whoowhoo - it is going to get very very ugly in the near future for the sock puppet President of Georgia.
Worse yet, because of the 'world order' and 'geo political interests', that is 'indispensable' territory that will have to be retaken by the neocons (mcGabe included) from Russia at a future time. Georgia, unless acting alone (doubtful), got hung out to dry by the neocons.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
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