[C.M. Burns]

$1:

War Nerd: South Ossetia, The War of My Dreams
By Gary Brecher
The Georgians bided their time, then went on the offensive, Caucasian style, by pretending to make peace and all the time planning a sneak attack on South Ossetia. They just signed a treaty granting autonomy to South Ossetia this week, and then they attacked, Corleone style. Georgian MLRS units barraged Tskhinvali, the capital city of South Ossetia; Georgian troops swarmed over Ossetian roadblocks; and all in all, it was a great, whiz-bang start, but like Petraeus asked about Iraq way back in 2003, what’s the ending to this story? As in: how do you invade territory that the Russians have staked out for protection without thinking about how they’ll react?

Saakashvili just didn’t think it through. One reason he overplayed his hand is that he got lucky the last time he had to deal with a breakaway region: Ajara, a tiny little strip of Black Sea coast in southern Georgia. This is a place smaller than some incorporated Central Valley towns, but it declared itself an “autonomous” republic, preserving its sacred basket-weaving traditions or whatever. You just have to accept that people in the Caucasus are insane that way; they’d die to keep from saying hello to the people over the next hill, and they’re never going to change. The Ajarans aren’t even ethnically different from Georgians; they’re Georgian too. But they’re Muslims, which means they have to have their own Lego parliament and Tonka-Toy army and all the rest of that Victorian crap, and their leader, a wack job named Abashidze (Goddamn Georgian names!) volunteered them to fight to the death for their worthless independence. Except he was such a nut, and so corrupt, and the Ajarans were so similar to the Georgians, and their little “country” was so tiny and ridiculous, that for once sanity prevailed and the Ajarans refused to fight, let themselves get reabsorbed by that Colussus to the North, mighty Georgia.

Well, like I’ve said before, there’s nothing as dangerous as victory. Makes people crazy. Saakashvili started thinking he could gobble up any secessionist region—like, say, South Ossetia. But there are big differences he was forgetting—like the fact that South Ossetia isn’t Georgian, has a border with Russia, and is linked up with North Ossetia just across that border. The road from Russia to South Ossetia is pretty fragile as a line of supply; it goes through the Roki Tunnel, a mountain tunnel at an altitude of 10,000 feet. I have to wonder why the Georgian air force—and it’s a good one by all accounts—didn’t have as its first mission in the war the total zapping of the South Ossetian exit of that tunnel. Or if you don’t trust the flyboys, send in your special forces with a few backpacks full of HE. There are a lot of ways to cripple a tunnel. Hell, do it low-tech: drive a fuel truck in there, with a car following, jackknife the truck halfway through with a remote control or timing fuse—truck driver gets out and strolls to the car, one fast U-turn and you’re out and back in Georgia, just in time to see a ball of flame erupt from the tunnel exit. And rebuilding a tunnel way up in the mountains is not an easy or a fast job. Sure, the Russians could resupply by air, but that’s a much, much tougher job and would at least slow down the inevitable. Weird, then, that as far as I know the Georgians didn’t even try to blast that tunnel. I don’t go in for this kind of long-distance micromanaging of warfare, because there’s usually a good reason on the ground for tactical decisions; it’s the strategic decisions that are really crazy most of the time. But this one I just don’t get.

Read the complete article at the THE EXILED

[Wada]

That little scrap of land closes off another few hundred miles of border with Russia and it's known for three things - gas, oil and manufacturing. That's quite a resourse for Russia to lose and a huge resourse for the US to gain. Everything else is an aside.

[C.M. Burns]

$1:

Ossetia: Great Danes and Great Russians
By Gary Brecher
August 19, 2004

FRESNO (Independent Exile) -- Ames tells me the eXile must now "be more sensitive to Russian interests" and I've got to play along. Tough job. But like any Cold-War brat, I always kinda wanted to be a Russian agent of influence -- just like that all-American boy Hansen at the FBI, who turned traitor just because he was bored at his desk. So I spun the globe a few times and came up with a war where, believe it or leave it, Russia actually comes off like the White Knight. I'm talking about South Ossetia.

Other moral of the story: folks in this part of the world play rough. The Caucasus may be the part of the world that's hardest for Americans to understand, because over there every inch of land is marked off with its own language and basketweaving traditions. We're just the opposite, which is why it's so hard for us to get. In the US you can drive a thousand miles without seeing one thing different. No matter how far you go, it's the same Interstate landscape, like you're in a stuck video game: crops, offramp, Denny's, Mickey D's, AM/PM Minimart, more crops, offramp. You cheer up when you come across a car crash because at least it's a little variety.

Read the full article at THE EXILED

[JustKate]

Streaker Streaker:

JustKate JustKate:

Streaker Streaker:

Think about it: Would it be wise for the Yanks or other NATO nations to risk a conflict with Russia over some little scrap of land in the middle of nowhere?

To that I'll add that it is not a certainty that the Russians are in the wrong here, although their actions seem excessive.

Well, personally, I HATE the Russian's, they tried to destroy North America once, nuke us. I have a memory of that fact as do many others. They need to be stopped again is all I can say.

They never tried to nuke us.

And the days of "fall out shelter's" came about how here at home? Cold War. And we're headed right back there. The Bear is showing his claws. It's being reported on BBC that some bombs landing in Georgia say "To NATO", "To America".

[JustKate]

Boy, us Canadian's had better hope that the Quebec separatists never turn on us to the point that our military needs to fight them off. Maybe France will come and start bombing us. Same shit, different pile, that's what is happening in Georgia.

[Streaker]

JustKate JustKate:

Streaker Streaker:

JustKate JustKate:

Well, personally, I HATE the Russian's, they tried to destroy North America once, nuke us. I have a memory of that fact as do many others. They need to be stopped again is all I can say.

They never tried to nuke us.

And the days of "fall out shelter's" came about how here at home? Cold War. And we're headed right back there. The Bear is showing his claws. It's being reported on BBC that some bombs landing in Georgia say "To NATO", "To America".

The Soviets had fallout shelters too. Were we trying to nuke them?

This just isn't worth getting into a new war - or Cold War - over.

[JustKate]

But they brought their nukes to Cuba!!! Whatever, side with the commies.

[herbie]

And NATO had put some in Turkey along the Russian border. Takes two to tango.
We were fortunate Kruschev and the old men in the Kremlin still had a very sharp memory of what war does to a country and backed down.
Bush has played a very dangerous game of taunting and prodding Russia, who see these republics much as the USA sees Central America, their playground.

[Thanos]

Hey Burnsey, awesome links. That they came from an anti-Russian/anti-Putin site show that this one can't be spun into the usual black/white horseshit that happened with Iraq. All-in-all to me this particular "crisis" looks no more special or long-ranging than when Bush the Elder went into Panama to whack Noriega. Lots of fun for partisans and the none-too-bright to fight over but in the end about as significant as a stinky fart going thru a wind tunnel. Odds are we won't even be talking about this one anymore by the end of next week.

[Scape]

C.M. Burns C.M. Burns:

$1:

Ossetia: Great Danes and Great Russians
By Gary Brecher
August 19, 2004

FRESNO (Independent Exile) -- Ames tells me the eXile must now "be more sensitive to Russian interests" and I've got to play along. Tough job. But like any Cold-War brat, I always kinda wanted to be a Russian agent of influence -- just like that all-American boy Hansen at the FBI, who turned traitor just because he was bored at his desk. So I spun the globe a few times and came up with a war where, believe it or leave it, Russia actually comes off like the White Knight. I'm talking about South Ossetia.

Other moral of the story: folks in this part of the world play rough. The Caucasus may be the part of the world that's hardest for Americans to understand, because over there every inch of land is marked off with its own language and basketweaving traditions. We're just the opposite, which is why it's so hard for us to get. In the US you can drive a thousand miles without seeing one thing different. No matter how far you go, it's the same Interstate landscape, like you're in a stuck video game: crops, offramp, Denny's, Mickey D's, AM/PM Minimart, more crops, offramp. You cheer up when you come across a car crash because at least it's a little variety.

Read the full article at THE EXILED

Great read, eXiled is usually quite entertaining and illuminating as well as eccentric.

[Richard]

JustKate JustKate:

Boy, us Canadian's had better hope that the Quebec separatists never turn on us to the point that our military needs to fight them off. Maybe France will come and start bombing us. Same shit, different pile, that's what is happening in Georgia.

Well then, if it is to be the same thing then we had better get prepared to go to France and kick the shit out off them.

[ShepherdsDog]

$1:

But they brought their nukes to Cuba!!! Whatever, side with the commies.

Holy bat crap Batman!! You must be one old battle axe who lives in a cave to think like this. Where the hell are these Commies that seem to scare you?


I have to side with the Russians on this. This would be analogous with Quebec declaring independence and some Quebec residents choosing to remain Canadian and partitioning off parts of Quebec that they reside in. Now if the military forces of Quebec tried to forcibly integrate these areas into an independent Quebec, I am sure the Canadian military and Canadians in general would intervene to help defend their fellow Canadians. While the Russians may be getting a little overzealous, we have to take their history into consideration.

I guess you would side with the Quebec separatists if they tried this shit on our own people.

[llama66]

While I think the Russians went in a little heavy handed, alot of people forget 12 Russian peacekeepers were killed when Georgia launched a massive rocket attack on the 8th, that is at the very least casus belli. How would any country respond when 12 members of its peacekeepers are killed in an unprovoked attack?

[ShepherdsDog]

$1:

So we are not looking at city killers here but we are looking at nuclear weapons being used to counter conventional threats.

They provide more bang for the buck. The artillery rounds used have a slightly larger yield than a conventional round. Part of it is the intimidation factor of 'big, bad NUKES'. Fallout might be a consideration in such a small area, but then again look how Russian troops 'rescued' hostages in that theatre fiasco in Moscow. Collateral damages may not be too much of a concern.

[llama66]

Chagrin Chagrin:

Oh ye of little faith, you're too pessimistic. No country is stupid enough to launch nukes, except those two times in WW2. But!

Times have changed, I don't think the human race will go out as quickly as people think.

In all fairness, Chagrin the nukes in Japan were the lesser of two evils. Now there is no reason for a nuclear war. But Jesus, if Russia uses nukes....