The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Georgia: What happened in the lines of communication?

    By acanuck on Tue, 08/12/2008 - 10:20pm |
    Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said something quite significant on CNN. Here's the link: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/08/12/vo.georgia.flag.re... But I'll roughly quote: "We don't want to believe the U.S. gave Georgia 'the green light.' ... Our American colleagues SAY they are looking into what happened in the lines of communication for Saakashvili to take this reckless action." It's one thing for the State Department to state (probably accurately) that it never gave Georgia the go-ahead to try to retake South Ossetia, with the assurance the U.S. would back him up. It's another thing to admit -- as Churkin implies they have -- that someone on the U.S. side apparently did give Saakashvili such a message. McCain adviser Randy Scheunemann is, of course, the prime suspect. But Scheunemann is also well plugged in to the last of the neocon hard-liners; he may may have had a receptive hearing from someone with more clout than McCain. We know Dick Cheney is not above running his own military and foreign policy operations, when he believes they suit his agenda -- in this case, defeating Obama. Maybe, since his luck seems to running out on provoking a war with Iran, he opted for a clash with Russia as the next best thing.

    Comments

    What happened? My guess; someone in the Bush administration did something stupid and malicious, and now has the blood of Georgians, Russians and Ossetes on his/her hands. There will, gaurenteed, be a cover up and blame shifting.

    It took a generation for the lies about Vietnam to be exposed to the public. Perhaps our children will find out what happened this last week, and wonder, "WTF?!?"


    by Customer0012 (not verified) on Tue, 08/12/2008 - 10:33pm

    If you look at the events preceeding this conflict, this has been brewing for some time. Was this Charlie Wislon's war? No. I saw only today video of Georgian soldier's with surface to air shoulder held weapons and law/rpg's on their backs.

    The Neocons have been so dilligently documented that the assumption is that there was a deception behind this recent event as well.

    Candidly this ranks up there with Olmert's invasion of Lebanon, a military action taken with results agreed from a military standpoint where the act was foolish in hindsight.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian-Ossetian_conflict

    I would say that it seems that the reaction by the Soviets was "punitive" and excessive. A debacle when they bombed Dutch newsmen. Of course the GOP took this as a talking points, but all in all, at the end of the day, the Georgians took an initial beating and now are in a position to hand a pyrrhic victory to Russia if it persists.

    But Georgia took a beating as well, was this orchestrated?

    I don't think so.

    Ossetia will start badgering Russia about independence and become a new Cuba or N. Korea.

    A hole to pour aide dollars down, and Georgia will reap aid as well.

    To the best of my thinking, I think that unless there was a "mouse that roared" strategy involved, that this situation just bubble over.

    The Neocons caught the religion of international law, etc.. this has been interesting to watch, but at a stalemeate with Russia accruing the PR damage and Georgia a miltary black eye.

    Neither side better off for the endeavour and I bet that Poland and Ukraine buy some SAM LAW RPG equipmemt as well.

    I see this as a stalemate and the ruins of these cities terrain to launch attacks from similar to the tactics used in lebanon


    by dilluminati (not verified) on Tue, 08/12/2008 - 11:01pm

    Here's the best blog I've read on this:

    http://www.belgraviadispatch.com/2008/08/mccain_clueless.html


    by Fran (not verified) on Tue, 08/12/2008 - 11:11pm

    I bet we will be hearing in very short order who in the U.S. had Saakashvili's ear. I would certainly put my money on Scheunemann's involvement and wouldn't be surprised to find later that Cheney's office, at least, had some knowledge of it. Putin will look into this and will not keep it quiet.


    by CarolBG (not verified) on Wed, 08/13/2008 - 1:42am

    I'd read Djerejian's piece too -- and yes, it hits the neocon nail on the head.
    Saakashvili obviously believed Scheunemann could speak for future president John McCain, but the State Department special envoy to Georgia kept visiting, month after month, warning him against provoking Russia.
    Condi Rice was in Georgia three weeks before the war erupted, and there is no way she gave Saakashvili the green light.
    So he's getting two conflicting messages.
    He needed someone higher up had to assure him the U.S. had his back if he attacked South Ossetia.
    George Bush loves the Georgian president, but right now he's just running out the clock.
    To my mind, the culprit had to be Citizen Dick.
    His declaration that Russia's actions "can not go unanswered" showed where his dark hopes lie.


    by acanuck (not verified) on Wed, 08/13/2008 - 6:23am