World War III???

[Phaedrus]

Bottom line up-front:

Georgia has attacked Ossetia, a breakaway province of Georgia, with their military, today. So, tonight Russia attacks Georgia with their military.

Ummm, Georgia is our ally right now, and the US has troops there, advising their military. I'm pretty darned sure that Georgia didn't exactly consult with us before they attacked Ossetia. In fact, I happen to know that this is as big a surprise to us, as it was to Russia.

Anyone else ever hear of a dude named Ferdinand, and a dude named Gavrilo Princip?

This, no matter how it turns out, is NOT going to be good.

I think prayers and thoughts should be with the leaders of Georgia, Russia and the US, right now.

I know the upcoming football season has everyone hyped, but this has the possibilities of turning out worse than we can imagine.

 

[chadm]

I heard the Olympics will be in that area in a few years. That will hopefully will help settle this down.

 

[bos]

What is the conflict about? I no nothing of these people.

 

[cstrunk]

So if Georgia did not let us know they were going to do this and if we don't condone their action, how does this affect us directly? I would say that Georgia is SOL if they want us to defend them (of course I don't know details).

 

[norseclone]

Ossetia wants to break away from Georgia and join Russia.

 

[bos]

Ossetia wants to break away from Georgia and join Russia.

So why dont they? Whats the big deal?

 

[rhlentz]

wait, I thought georgia was a state...

 

[PGreen ISU '92]

The only way this escalates is if we get involved. We cannot continue to police the world. Not only is it just not right but we do not have the resources.

 

[CyValley]

. . . Georgia has attacked Ossetia, a breakaway province of Georgia, with their military, today. So, tonight Russia attacks Georgia with their military. . . .

Wasn't this pretty much the set-up in the film "Crimson Tide" (Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington), concerning the command decision to fire or not fire SLBMs from the ballistic missile submarine USS Alabama?

To think that the small size of the U.S. Army in the late 1930s ranked something like 37th in the world in number, iirc. In some ways, I long for those days.

 

[ketchupnmustard]

Bottom line up-front:

Georgia has attacked Ossetia, a breakaway province of Georgia, with their military, today. So, tonight Russia attacks Georgia with their military.

Ummm, Georgia is our ally right now, and the US has troops there, advising their military. I'm pretty darned sure that Georgia didn't exactly consult with us before they attacked Ossetia. In fact, I happen to know that this is as big a surprise to us, as it was to Russia.

Anyone else ever hear of a dude named Ferdinand, and a dude named Gavrilo Princip?

This, no matter how it turns out, is NOT going to be good.

I think prayers and thoughts should be with the leaders of Georgia, Russia and the US, right now.

I know the upcoming football season has everyone hyped, but this has the possibilities of turning out worse than we can imagine.

For the hawkeye fans in our audience, Phaedrus is talking about Georgia the small European country. Not the State of Georgia.

 

[CYlent Bob]

Wasn't this pretty much the set-up in the film "Crimson Tide" (Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington), concerning the command decision to fire or not fire SLBMs from the ballistic missile submarine USS Alabama?

To think that the small size of the U.S. Army in the late 1930s ranked something like 37th in the world in number, iirc. In some ways, I long for those days.

Longing for the 30's? WTF?

You DO realize that the 30's were followed by the 40's, right? You may remember some of the events from that decade from your tenth grade history class.

 

[rhlentz]

want to know why we'll get involved?
Russia, Georgia troops battle on border - Russia - MSNBC.com

Georgia has allied itself with the West and is pushing for membership in NATO, a bid strongly backed by the Bush administration. It lies at the heart of a region emerging as a vital energy transit route.

 

[bos]

Why do they always attack the villagers in retaliation. Seriously.

 

[CYlent Bob]

I just read a summary from Gabriel Malor over at the Ace of Spades HQ (www.ace.mu.nu), and he's trying to stay on top of this issue.

I think the reason for Georgia sending troops into Osettia is that separatist militias have been lobbing artillery onto Georgian civilians from the contested territory for quite some time now. Putin & his sockpuppet have been encouraging the separatists, but I don't think anyone should have any question that if Osettia breaks off from Georgia that Russia won't swoop in & grab it for herself.

Gabe did a pretty good "compare & contrast" with this issue vs. Kosovo's independence from Serbia back in the 90's, and the issues aren't nearly as equal as you might think.

One warning: The language over at Ace's gets a little salty at times, so don't say I didn't warn you. I post there occasionally, and I'm always up for blogpimping my friends, especially when they do good work.

 

[jumbopackage]

I don't think it was entirely unexpected. Maybe the scope and scale of it, but Georgia and Russia have been saber-rattling over Ossetia for quite some time. It's not like the Ossetians are all that fond of the Georgians either. Ossetia has largely been a de-facto independent nation for some time now, and they really have no desire to reconcile with Georgia.

Wake me up when the Russians move past Ossetia.

 

[BigM]

sounds like russia needs to keep their hands off and it also sounds like their activley trying to destabilizie georgia's government

 

[Cyclonepride]

Bottom line up-front:

Georgia has attacked Ossetia, a breakaway province of Georgia, with their military, today. So, tonight Russia attacks Georgia with their military.

Ummm, Georgia is our ally right now, and the US has troops there, advising their military. I'm pretty darned sure that Georgia didn't exactly consult with us before they attacked Ossetia. In fact, I happen to know that this is as big a surprise to us, as it was to Russia.

Anyone else ever hear of a dude named Ferdinand, and a dude named Gavrilo Princip?

This, no matter how it turns out, is NOT going to be good.

I think prayers and thoughts should be with the leaders of Georgia, Russia and the US, right now.

I know the upcoming football season has everyone hyped, but this has the possibilities of turning out worse than we can imagine.

I agree completely with your sentiments. This story should overshadow anything else, and everyone will have to advance very, very carefully.

What is the conflict about? I no nothing of these people.

There is a good portion of the Russian power structure that is leftover from the Soviet era, and does not believe that it's former satellites are, or should be, independent. Now that Russia has been resuscitated by oil revenues, they have been posturing to reexert their will. Obviously this does not square well with US policy in the region.

 

[ISUFan22]

I agree completely with your sentiments. This story should overshadow anything else, and everyone will have to advance very, very carefully.

Yeah, but the current cover story on CNN is...

'These aren't Cheech and Chong plants'

So this story can't be that big of a deal! :biglaugh:

Seriously though - wasn't aware it was heating up over there. A person had to know eventually the Russians would pick a fight.

I'm not sure I'm in love with our chances in an all out world war. I mean, we've got a great military - but we have a ton of enemies around the globe and you just never know what some crazy person may do. It certainly wouldn't be pleasant if those lunatics from North Korea teamed up with Russia.

 

[cmoneyr]

What is the conflict about? I no nothing of these people.

I know nothing!

 

[CYlent Bob]

I'm sorry, but I think this is a BIG reminder of why America keeps troops posted in foreign countries.

Even when you figure in all the mistakes we've made in foreign policy over the last 50 years or so, we're STILL the only "big kid on the block" who will help our friends defend themselves and not expect to get a controlling interest in their countries when it's over. And don't get me started with our English buddies and the absolute Mongolian Goat Rodeo they caused in Basra with their "cut deals with Mookie Al'Sadr & his militias then sit it out when America finally comes in to clean up your mistakes" non-strategy.

America gets a lot of crap from foreign governments, but most of it is because we're the only country with semi-superpower status that won't go after the families & friends of those who criticize us with a hammer & a blowtorch.