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Title: US, allies weigh punishment for Russia
Source:
Yahoo News
URL Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_russia_georgia
Published: Aug 12, 2008
Author: By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
Post Date: 2008-08-12 14:56:21 by TwentyTwelve
Keywords: Russia, Punishment
Views: 284
Comments: 21
US, allies weigh punishment for Russia By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 17 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Scrambling to find ways to punish Russia for its invasion of pro-Western Georgia, the United States and its allies are considering expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise, Bush administration officials said Tuesday. But with little leverage in the face of an emboldened Moscow, Washington and its friends have been forced to face the uncomfortable reality that their options are limited to mainly symbolic measures, such as boycotting Russian-hosted meetings and events, that may have little or no long-term impact on Russia's behavior, the officials said. With the situation on the ground still unclear after Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Tuesday ordered a halt to military action in Georgia, U.S. officials were focused primarily on confirming a ceasefire and attending to Georgia's urgent humanitarian needs following five days of fierce fighting, including Russian attacks on civilian targets. "It is very important now that all parties cease fire," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. "The Georgians have agreed to a ceasefire, the Russians need to stop their military operations as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored." At the same time, however, President Bush and his top aides were engaged in frantic consultations with European and other nations over how best to demonstrate their fierce condemnations of the Russian operation that began in Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia, expanded to another disputed area, Abkhazia, and ended up on purely Georgian soil. "The idea is to show the Russians that it is no longer business as usual," said one senior official familiar with the consultations among world leaders that were going on primarily by phone and in person at NATO headquarters in Brussels where alliance diplomats met together and then with representatives of Georgia. For now, the Bush administration decided to boycott a third meeting at NATO on Tuesday at which the alliance's governing board, the North Atlantic Council, was preparing for a meeting with a Russian delegation that has been called at Moscow's request, officials said. On the table for future action is the possible cancellation or U.S. withdrawal from a major NATO naval exercise with Russia that is scheduled to begin Friday, the officials said. Sailors and vessels from Britain, France, Russia, and the U.S. were to take part in the annual Russia-NATO exercise aimed at improving cooperation in maritime security. The exercise, which is being hosted by Russia this year, began a decade ago and typically involves around 1,000 personnel from the four countries, the officials said. In the medium term, the United States and its partners in the Group of Seven, or G-7, the club of the world's leading industrialized nations that also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, are debating whether to effectively disband what is known as the "G-8," which incorporates Russia, by throwing Moscow out, the officials said. Discussions are also taking place on whether to revoke or review the May 2007 invitation to Russia to join the 30-member, Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which consists primarily of established European democracies, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have yet been made and consultations with other countries involved are still ongoing. Bush spoke on Monday and Tuesday with fellow G-7 leaders as well as the heads of democratically elected pro-Western governments in formerly Eastern Bloc nations, some of which are among NATO's newest members and have urged a strong response to Russia's invasion of a like-minded country. On Monday on his way home from the Olympics in China, Bush talked with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Polish President Lech Kaczynski. He then spoke to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the White House said. On Tuesday, he spoke with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Rice, who returned early to Washington late Monday from vacation to deal with the crisis, held a second round of talks with foreign ministers from the Group of Seven countries in which they were briefed on European Union mediation efforts led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who met Tuesday with Medvedev in Moscow. "They believe that they have made some progress and we welcome that and we certainly welcome the E.U. mediation," Rice told reporters at the White House. Despite the flurry of activity, there was still uncertainty about whether Russia had in fact halted its military action in Georgia with reports of continued shelling of civilian and military sites. The State Department on Tuesday recommended that all U.S. citizens leave Georgia in a new travel warning, saying the security situation remained uncertain. It said it was organizing a third evacuation convoy to take Americans who want to leave by road to neighboring Armenia. More that 170 American citizens have already left Georgia in two earlier convoys. Just hours after Bush said in a White House address that the invasion had "substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world" and demanded an end to what he called Moscow's "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence, Medvedev said he had ordered an end to military action. But Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling and White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Tuesday it was too early to comment on Medvedev's move. "We are trying to get an assessment of what a halt means and whether it is taking place, of course," the spokesman added. Typifying the administration's dilemma, a planned late-morning White House briefing by national security adviser Stephen Hadley was postponed "until further notice" due to ongoing developments in Georgia and in Moscow, where Sarkozy was meeting with Russian officials on behalf of the West. The State Department on Tuesday recommended that all U.S. citizens leave Georgia in a new travel warning, saying the security situation remained uncertain. It said it was organizing a third evacuation convoy to take Americans who want to leave by road to neighboring Armenia. More that 170 American citizens have already left Georgia in two earlier convoys. ___ Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven, Anne Gearan and Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
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#1. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
HAHAHA! How're the Euros gonna get their energy supplies? Russia has played Chess rather nicely in this case. The West is checked, unless we want a major war.
One should not under-estimate the Russians.
The old bear falls into the old trap. -- Russian Proverb
This has had the whiff of engaging in a full out war with Russia and I would say stay tuned! 8-8-8 ;-)
"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
Straight out of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and?
"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
Perhaps. But the Russians ship 'em natural gas. And that's what they depend on. Arab Sheikhdom gas may not be an option.
I'll have to look into this. I have no certain idea right now, other than S.A.'s gas has some unique properties iirc.
"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
Even if Europe says no to Russian oil and gas, Russia can always redirect its pipelines to an eager Chinese market.
If Mad Mac were President, the nuclear bombs would already be going off on both continents.
You got it. Russia has lotsa natural gas and so does one ME nation - alas its not our sock puppet Arab Sheikdom - it's Iran - and if I'm not mistaken I thought I read an article a short time ago that Russia and its emerging good business partner were going to sign some kind of big contract to merge their 2 nations' lock on natural gas resources - that the EU China and India need.
The only way any of these Rockefeller clowns gets to light one off is when they're told they can. ;-)
"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
What a bunch of lying crooked fucks. South Ossetia gets attacked after the sneaky bastard president of Georgia declared a cease fire, then ordered the Georgian military to launch a genocidal attack, targeting the hospital and university, running over innocent kids and adults with tanks, setting them on fire while alive, throwing hand grenades into basements where people were hiding, and Georgia is supposed to be the VICTIM here, and the deaths of those civilians are being pinned on RUSSIA? It's not surprising, given the corrupt bastards who run this country and the media, but for God's sake, this is right out in the open and blatent. Then again, it's probably Bush/Cheney and their gang of despotic maniacs who gave Georgia the green light for the attacks in the first place, so of course they need to blame their victims.
Yes to all - the current Georgian government trilateralist created, PNAC approved. And don't forget that the Georgian military was trained by the IDF for such a "special operation."
It's not surprising, given the corrupt bastards who run this country and the media, but for God's sake, this is right out in the open and blatent. Then again, it's probably Bush/Cheney and their gang of despotic maniacs who gave Georgia the green light for the attacks in the first place, so of course they need to blame their victims. Georgia is a puppet of the U.S. Georgia's handler had to ok everything first before they acted. Bush/Cheney are pure evil.
The Official Government Story® ?: Against this backdrop, Inner City Press on Monday afternoon asked the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, Russian media is reporting that foreign fighters including Americans were involved in Tskhinvali. "Some say this is propaganda, some say this is true. What do you say?" Video here, from Minute 8:44. Khalilzad answered that "we hear a lot of propaganda. We've heard the U.S. gave the green light to this operation... I have nothing specific with regard to these report, but I would not conclude that they are true. We did not have any prior knowledge or were not consulted by Georgia." He encouraged agnosticism as to what happened on August 6, that one "not necessarily buy the line that Georgia initiated a conflict." We'll see. Klizard is a Liar! LOL
"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
It looks like the ONLY Georgian in their government is: "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
Totally ;-)
"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
Iran will be happy to ship gas to India, Pakistan and China if a pipeline gets built. They'd rather sell it to anyone except the Euros. Qatar and UAE and even Saudi have major new gas fields to come online, but not quick enough if the Russians make the Euros freeze this winter.
The Official Government Story® ?: Against this backdrop, Inner City Press on Monday afternoon asked the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, Russian media is reporting that foreign fighters including Americans were involved in Tskhinvali. "Some say this is propaganda, some say this is true. What do you say?" Video here, from Minute 8:44. Khalilzad answered that "we hear a lot of propaganda. We've heard the U.S. gave the green light to this operation... I have nothing specific with regard to these report, but I would not conclude that they are true. We did not have any prior knowledge or were not consulted by Georgia." He encouraged agnosticism as to what happened on August 6, that one "not necessarily buy the line that Georgia initiated a conflict." We'll see. Klizard is a Liar! LOL Video: CNN use footage of Tskhinvali ruins to cover Georgian report RussiaToda Qatar and UAE and even Saudi have major new gas fields to come online, but not quick enough if the Russians make the Euros freeze this winter. I guess as it is Iran exports natural gas to the EU via Turkey, so right now Iran is not too picky. Even Israel buys Iran's natural gas or maybe it's Iran's oil via Turkey because I read a big hub bub in Haaretz a couple of months ago when this "unusual" - ahem - business relationship was revealed. But Gazprom has just signed a deal to have Iran's natural gas online and for sale out East by 2014. Then Russia and Iran will have the EU by the balls. www.russiatoday.com/business/news/27518 Iran's natural gas resources are ranked at something like #2 or #3 in the world. I don't know where Quatar and UAE and SA fit in the rankings. Iran's big problem though is its high domestic natural gas fuel consumption for heating - that's why Iran desperately wants to get nuclear power plants set up so it can sell its natural gas and get $ for it, not use it/waste it domestically.
Sickening, but not surprising.
#2. To: swarthyguy (#1)
Russia has played Chess rather nicely in this case.
#3. To: swarthyguy (#1)
The West is checked, unless we want a major war.
#4. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
#5. To: swarthyguy (#1)
How're the Euros gonna get their energy supplies?
#6. To: Rotara (#5)
#7. To: swarthyguy (#6)
Arab Sheikhdom gas may not be an option.
#8. To: swarthyguy (#1)
#9. To: Rotara (#4)
#10. To: swarthyguy (#6)
Perhaps. But the Russians ship 'em natural gas. And that's what they depend on. Arab Sheikhdom gas may not be an option.
#11. To: Rupert_Pupkin (#9)
If Mad Mac were President, the nuclear bombs would already be going off on both continents.
#12. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
U.S. officials were focused primarily on confirming a ceasefire and attending to Georgia's urgent humanitarian needs following five days of fierce fighting, including Russian attacks on civilian targets.
"The real deal is this: the ‘royalty’ controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
#13. To: FormerLurker (#12)
(Edited)
it's probably Bush/Cheney and their gang of despotic maniacs who gave Georgia the green light for the attacks in the first place
#14. To: FormerLurker (#12)
What a bunch of lying crooked fucks. South Ossetia gets attacked after the sneaky bastard president of Georgia declared a cease fire, then ordered the Georgian military to launch a genocidal attack, targeting the hospital and university, running over innocent kids and adults with tanks, setting them on fire while alive, throwing hand grenades into basements where people were hiding, and Georgia is supposed to be the VICTIM here, and the deaths of those civilians are being pinned on RUSSIA?
#15. To: FormerLurker (#12)
Then again, it's probably Bush/Cheney and their gang of despotic maniacs who gave Georgia the green light for the attacks in the first place, so of course they need to blame their victims.
#16. To: Rupert_Pupkin (#13)
Yes to all - the current Georgian government trilateralist created, PNAC approved. And don't forget that the Georgian military was trained by the IDF for such a "special operation."
#17. To: TwentyTwelve (#14)
Georgia is a puppet of the U.S.
#18. To: scrapper2 (#10)
#19. To: Rotara, FormerLurker (#15)
Then again, it's probably Bush/Cheney and their gang of despotic maniacs who gave Georgia the green light for the attacks in the first place, so of course they need to blame their victims.
#20. To: swarthyguy (#18)
Iran will be happy to ship gas to India, Pakistan and China if a pipeline gets built. They'd rather sell it to anyone except the Euros.
#21. To: TwentyTwelve (#19)
Video: CNN use footage of Tskhinvali ruins to cover Georgian report RussiaToda
"The real deal is this: the ‘royalty’ controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
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