Heavy Fighting in South Ossetia

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Video

Article (BBC)

Thoughts? It's a bit of a complicated situation right now, but will all-out war result?

[Tribesman]

Interesting , Israel has told Russia that it is only selling defensive weapons to Georgia and doesn't want to escalate the situation or alter the balance of regional power .
Russia responds by saying it is only selling defensive weapons to Iran and doesn't want to escalate the situation or alter the balance of regional power .
Funny stuff eh .

[Brenus]

What NATO is waiting for to bomb this evil Regime wich attack honest separatists?

[Herkus]

Some South Ossetinians want to be with Georgia, but shaika with Moscow support holds its business ( would be regarded as criminal in many countries) deeply connected Russia.

There is no ethic strife. It is all about the money and inner Ossetinian clan infighting (Some clans get support from Georgians, some from Russians). The same was happening even during USSR times, though we didnt know about it.

The same type of conflict was in Ajaria too (South West Georgia). Check internet for information how it was resolved.

It is all connected with realpolitic, The Caucasus is strategic region because of Caspian Sea oil. Many large countries have different interests there and through mass media they will accordingly focus their population about this conflict.

So far it looks like that Georgians specially want to provoke Russia to invade. And I expect that they will back off immediately. But either way it will be Georgian PR victory over Russia in the eve of Olympic Games.

[HoreTore]

150 russian tanks have entered, 2 russian planes shot down.

According to "experts" in the papers here, this might escalate... What does people here think about that?

[Conradus]

They're actually fighting a war over 70.000 people? That's one or two communities here, hardly worth the effort and bloodshed. Couldt Georgia try to negotiate some more?

I hope it doesn't escalate.

[King Jan III Sobieski]

Interesting , Israel has told Russia that it is only selling defensive weapons to Georgia and doesn't want to escalate the situation or alter the balance of regional power .
Russia responds by saying it is only selling defensive weapons to Iran and doesn't want to escalate the situation or alter the balance of regional power .
Funny stuff eh .

America defends Israel. American troops were training with Georgian troops. Russia defends Iran.

World War 3, anyone?

How about:

Side 1
Georgia
USA
UK
Eastern European
Nations
etc. etc.

Side 2
Russia
Iran
Syria
etc. etc.

It spreads to the Middle East, and we all get screwed.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

My guess?

Some escalation, but not an all-out conflict.

Russia has played this game along with the locals for some time now. Probably some sense of need by Putin to show the iron fist a bit -- gotta keep the former "colonials" in their place, but unlikely he'd want loads of scrutiny or a large scale semi-guerilla conflict ongoing as he continues to consolidate power.

[Dâriûsh]

From Aljaz

Martin McCauley, a London-based Russia analyst, told Al Jazeera: "You can argue that the president of South Ossetia, who wants independence from Georgia, is deliberately provoking Tbilisi and is trying to suck Russia in."

Georgia's national security council warned that Moscow and Tbilisi would be in "a state of war" if the reports of a Russian military convoy entering South Ossetia proved true.

Saakashvili said: "A full-scale aggression has been launched against Georgia [by Russia]. Georgia will not yield its territory or renounce its freedom," he said.

He also announced a full military mobilisation with reservists being called into action.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, promised on Friday to defend Russian citizens in South Ossetia.

"We cannot allow the deaths of our countrymen to go unpunished. The guilty parties will receive the punishment they deserve," he said in televised remarks.

For his part, Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, spoke of retaliation and pledged to protect Russian citizens.

Pompous bombasts, the lot of them.

[KukriKhan]

Interesting , Israel has told Russia that it is only selling defensive weapons to Georgia and doesn't want to escalate the situation or alter the balance of regional power .
Russia responds by saying it is only selling defensive weapons to Iran and doesn't want to escalate the situation or alter the balance of regional power .
Funny stuff eh .

Interesting take on the parallells. What do you think motivates Israel's interest? Oil?

[Viking]

Video

Article (BBC)

Thoughts? It's a bit of a complicated situation right now, but will all-out war result?

Let SO break loose and rid this waste of resources.

[TinCow]

America defends Israel. American troops were training with Georgian troops. Russia defends Iran.

World War 3, anyone?

Not a chance. The US is in no situation to oppose Russia militarily. Unless Georgia somehow pulls out a victory in this war on its own (or survives for long enough for there to be a negotiated ceasefire) this will result in Russia giving the US a major black eye. Assuming they can achieve military victory, this is a good political move by Putin as it would greatly strengthen Russian influence in the region.

[CrossLOPER]

This is all the result of a lot of broken promises and and truly bad diplomacy over the years. Hopefully the change of administration in the US can help fix this, but I don't think that escalation will wait until then.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Our troops have been training for 8 years in a multi-regional, moderate-low, real combat situation. That's better than not having fought a real campaign for 33 years and having something go down. I think we should butt out for the time being. In the next few days, will NATO enter Georgia do you think?

I'd rather have WW3 happen now than in 10-20 years. Anybody else?

[Marshal Murat]

Russian Armored Forces Roll.

Russian news agencies quoted witnesses saying a Russian armored column had rolled across the border.

MOBILISATION

Saakashvili told reporters: "This is a clear intrusion on another country's territory. We have Russian tanks on our territory, jets on our territory in broad daylight." He ordered a full-scale mobilization of military reservists.

This is really terrible, and I think that someone should try to mediate this. I can only hope that Georgia takes to heart the lessons of all small countries.

Strike fast, strike hard. Inflict as many casualties as possible. Maybe we should create a polygot mercenary force to help them.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Russian Armored Forces Roll.



This is really terrible, and I think that someone should try to mediate this. I can only hope that Georgia takes to heart the lessons of all small countries.

Strike fast, strike hard. Inflict as many casualties as possible. Maybe we should create a polygot mercenary force to help them.

You mean like NATO?

[rvg]

Well, now we know for sure which country is the first one to be absorbed into Comrade Putin's new Soviet Union.

[TinCow]

You mean like NATO?

Their reaction will be very interesting. In April, NATO promised Georgia that they would be invited to join in the near future. On one hand, a promised invitation is not membership, so NATO is not bound to defend Georgia. On the other hand, it's also a guarantee of future membership, and thus allowing Russia to invade Georgia would be a direct challenge to NATO itself. Not a good situation to be in.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Areas around Georgia's capital seem to have been bombed by Russian forces. Georgia is removing its 2000 strong fighting force from Iraq.

This action seems to be in response to knowledge by Russia that Georgia will be part of NATO as of next year. If they had been part of NATO now this would have never happened, but if it had we would be at war with the Russian Federation.

I guess we know where Medvedev is coming from now, eh? I hope Putin is enjoying himself in Beijing.

Also there seems to be a trend in calling violent occupational forces "peace keepers". 10 Russian "peace keepers" seem to have been killed earlier this morning as other "peace keepers" bombed bases near Tbilisi...

Georgia put 2000 of its dudes on the line in Iraq and is being promised NATO membership discussion. To let them fry would be despicable.

[Geoffrey S]

Georgia put 2000 of its dudes on the line in Iraq and is being promised NATO membership discussion. To let them fry would be despicable.

It would be, wouldn't it?

[Husar]

Yes, the best thing to do is to start a huge war with Russia now, a nuclear war if possible, only because Georgia had to shell some 70,000 breakaway nutters in nooneknowswhere.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Yes, the best thing to do is to start a huge war with Russia now, a nuclear war if possible, only because Georgia had to shell some 70,000 breakaway nutters in nooneknowswhere.

Not a huge war. Just an idy-bity one.

We could send in NATO Peacekeepers like we did in Serbia before things got way too hot. That was a good move that worked out well. Russia wouldn't attack NATO right now. Unless they are insane - in which case a massive war is rather unavoidable anyway, eh?

I just don't understand why they are bombing around Tbilisi. Get a map and see how absurd that is.

[rvg]

Yes, the best thing to do is to start a huge war with Russia now, a nuclear war if possible, only because Georgia had to shell some 70,000 breakaway nutters in nooneknowswhere.

Not quite as radical, but it won't hurt to show some spine and at the very least issue a condemnation of Russian invasion, followed by some financial and logistical assistance to Georgia.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I think Full Blown War will happen. Russia is just mad that they aren't as big as they were 40 years ago..

[Tribesman]

Oh well onto more interesting subjects .
Did anyone see the opening ceromony of the Olympics ?
I did , they put it on in the pub just after arrived after I had taken he kids for their morning dip in the Atlantic .
It was quite good , it certainly give the Macnas parade a run for its money , but then again I don't think the Macnas parade gets quite the level of money that the Olympics get and the performers don't end up in labour camps if they screw up .
But anyway after a while the racing started so the opening ceremony got switched off as I don't think there is a bookie that is taking bets on how many flags are waved or what sort of patterns the performers can make in the sand .

[ICantSpellDawg]

When China recieved the Olympics I thought it was a good idea because of the positive geopolitical effects. Those effects were not forthcoming, so I'm not going to watch a man dance around in his skivies on ice. Unless he is doing it in South Ossetia.

Olympics shmolympics. This is a Total-War forum, not a Total-Olympics forum.

Update - the dancing hot chinese girl band was good. Olympics are as boring as hell. I'd rather watch the World Cup.

[yesdachi]

NATO dragged their feet too long, let Russia have Georgia.

[Innocentius]

I've been hoping for a Russian war since the day I understood there was a huge country with massive resources and a rather bad-ass military history next door, so any conflict involving Russia in any way is interesting to me. Shame they don't use the good old Red Army tactics anymore where they'd attack en masse, just that only half of them would actually have guns.

[Tribesman]

Olympics shmolympics. This is a Total-War forum, not a Total-Olympics forum.

Update - the dancing hot chinese girl band was good. Olympics are as boring as hell. I'd rather watch the World Cup.

Oh come on Tuff , it was very good .
one fella on seeing the puppeteers actualy suggested that the puppets were really small chinese people as they were so lifelike , entertainment like that is priceless .
Well not the puppeteers but the comment by the idiot in the pub .

[ICantSpellDawg]

Oh come on Tuff , it was very good .
one fella on seeing the puppeteers actualy suggested that the puppets were really small chinese people as they were so lifelike , entertainment like that is priceless .
Well not the puppeteers but the comment by the idiot in the pub .

Haha. They could easily be construed as puppets.