Putin Orders 10 Military Divisions to ‘Full Alert’ As US Backed Crisis with Georgia Escalates Towards War

Russia, Georgia spy row escalates



Russia recalled its ambassador from Georgia yesterday and announced the evacuation of Russian personnel and their families from the country, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Russian move follows the detention of five Russian officers on spying charges in Georgia, which further escalated tensions in bilateral relations strained over Georgia's bid to join NATO and Moscow's close ties to two separatist Georgian provinces.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov called the charges against the officers absurd and demanded their immediate release.

"I won't be surprised if today the Georgian side files charges against them of wanting to steal the sun from the sky," Ivanov quipped on Russian television.

"All of this is aimed at provoking the situation and raising the degree of escalation to the maximum level in order to deflect attention from problems that exist in Georgia," Ivanov said. "Russia will react appropriately and responsibly."

Relations between Moscow and have become increasingly tense after President Mikhail Saakashvili came to power following Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution, pledging to take the Caucasus nation out of Russia's orbit.

Georgian officials have also accused Russia of backing separatists in Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and making efforts to undermine Saakashvili's government allegations Russia has denied.

A Georgian political analyst, Ramaz Sakvarelidze, said the detentions could reflect Saakashvili's frustration at being unable to fulfill his promise of regaining control of the renegade provinces.

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on Wednesday four Russian military intelligence officers were detained in the Georgian capital and the Black Sea port of Batumi on charges of espionage. A fifth officer was detained later that day, the ministry said in a statement.

Russia maintains two military bases in Georgia as Soviet-era holdovers. One is to be closed in 2007 and the other a year later.

Merabishvili said a dozen Georgian citizens who were part of the same "very dangerous" spy chain were also detained.

He said the ring was led by a Russian agent who allegedly staged a February 2005 mine explosion that killed three police officers in the town of Gori.

Merabishvili said the suspects had been involved in espionage for several years. Georgian authorities moved to detain the suspects to thwart a "serious provocation" they had prepared, Merabishvili said on Wednesday.

He added that they showed interest in the country's defence capabilities, its plans to join NATO, energy security, political groupings and information about Georgia's military.

Source: China Daily

[link to english.people.com.cn]

Georgian Authorities’' Actions Can Lead to War, Sergey Mironov Says
29.09.2006 13:12 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The actions of the Georgian authorities can lead to war, said Speaker of the Russian Federation Council Sergey Mironov. In his words, in history similar attacks of espionage-mania have served as a start for launching military operations. Meanwhile, according to the latest data, Georgia produced formal accusation to four Russian military, who were detained earlier, reports Lenta.ru.

To remind, on September 27 evening in Tbilisi and Batumi four Russian military were detained. Two other officers were arrested later. One of them, first sergeant Ruslan Skrylnikov was released on September 29 night. According to Shota Khizanishvili, the administration head at the Georgian Ministry of Interior, Skrylnikov is a Georgian citizen. Another prisoner, Amir Aslanyan, is a Georgian citizen too and “he is not ranked among the detained Russian officers.” Khizanashvili confirmed that lieutenant colonel Alexander Sava, lieutenant colonel Dmitry Kazantsev, lieutenant colonel Alexander Baranov and captain Alexander Zavgorodnev have been accused of espionage. Besides, similar accusations were brought against 11 Georgian citizens, who are Armenians, said Chief of the RA Armed Forces General Staff Mikael Harutyunyan.
[link to www.panarmenian.net]

THE HUNGRY BEAR
PART 3: No more Mr Nice Guy
By W Joseph Stroupe

(For Part 1, Promises that can't be kept, click here
For Part 2, Corporate gigantism, click here)

East and West are now irreversibly locked in a monumental struggle for control of the globe's coveted strategic resources - this is the revived Great Game and its players are rapidly approaching the moment of truth. The stakes for both sides are

colossal and both sides fully recognize that fact. However, neither side likes to admit explicitly the existence of such a struggle that will define which side achieves global ascendancy and which side faces the potential of an energy-based economic checkmate.

The United States prefers to strive for advantage in the Great Game while hiding behind the veil of the ostensibly noble policy of spreading "freedom" and "democracy" - yet it is active in such a policy primarily only in countries that are either rich in strategic resources or are strategically located as respects the export of such resources. By military invasion and occupation, by encirclement through proliferation of its military bases, by the spread of "colored" revolutions, by sponsoring oil and gas pipelines that circumvent Russia and its partners, and by various diplomatic drives, the West attempts to roll back Russian control over resources and to consolidate its own.

Russia and the East prefer to make advances in the Great Game while simultaneously and fervently denying any interest whatever in locking up the bulk of the globe's strategic resources and thereby winning the game - yet virtually every diplomatic and economic move on the part of Russia and the East is obviously targeted at and designed incrementally and insidiously to accomplish that very goal, and rapid progress is being made toward that very end.

Are onlookers supposed to conclude that Russia and the East are progressively and rapidly achieving dominance over the globe's resources purely by random chance, through no conscious effort or clever strategy on their part? How could that be the case, especially when the West is actively and fervently working against Russia and the East to try to prevent such an outcome, yet that very outcome is nearly completed?

In the Great Game the loser will forfeit virtually everything of value, or will be held backward on its heels in a position where there is no escape from the threat of such forced forfeiture. If Russia loses the game, then the West, sitting in de facto control of massive reserves of oil and gas around the globe, will be sufficiently able to control the global price and availability of oil to bring the price down to a point where Russia's economy will begin to falter, or worse.

Of course, a win by the West at this late date in the Great Game would take much more than a Hail Mary pass. [1] However, the West in general and the US in particular will never willingly forfeit the game, even though the odds are massively against it now. The game will be played out to its finish and the US will stop at nothing to pull out a win, even at the last moment if possible.

By additional military adventures and "colored" revolutions, threatening even Russian and Chinese territorial integrity and economic stability themselves, the West can fully be expected to strive to forestall its own forfeiture of the game as it increasingly sees the clock running out on its energy security fortunes. Considering the current occupant of the White House, no one should make the mistake of assuming further US military adventures are not likely, because as the clock runs out on the US, the likelihood of such adventures increases radically.

Russia and the East will thus be given no choice by the West but to resort to the full and potent use of their growing energy leverage. For reasons far beyond President Vladimir Putin's control, therefore, his promise to "play nice" with energy is entirely an empty one.

How is Russia already bringing its global leverage as an "energy superpower" to bear on the global markets and on political leaders to oblige the West to come around to its preferred terms, and what are the implications? Perhaps the analogy below will help explain.

Inside the two-minute warning
Folks, we're back. You're watching the Petroleum Bowl world championship game being played out between these two longtime rivals, East and West, right here at the grand old stadium at Mineral Field. This grand stadium was always the venue of choice for these two rivals until 1991 when the East's program virtually collapsed. This whole complex has deteriorated through disuse since then. But the East is back now, and how, and Mineral Field has recently been restored to a glory greater than ever.

The West was heavily favored coming into this game, but what a reversal we've seen today! To recap, during the first half the West got deep penetration into the East's territory with runs and pass plays up the gut and to the outside and was able to get into the n-zone several times. But late in the second half of the game the East has quickly capitalized on multiple fumbles by the West in a come-from-behind impending win like we've never seen before.

The East is getting deep penetration all the way down to the n-zone of the West, but not up the gut - those end-runs and trick passing plays to the outside have taken their toll on the West, and they're down by a touchdown late in the game. The West is virtually beating itself in this pivotal game. We're inside the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter of the game and the East is inside the 10-yard line with a first down, driving toward another touchdown.

The West has burned all its timeouts and can't stop the clock, and most of the West's best defensive players along with both its quarterbacks are out of the game with injuries. The East looks unstoppable. Even if the West gets the ball back before the clock runs out, it's very unlikely to be able to advance the ball down the field against the powerful, combined defense of the East. Make no mistake about it, though, this West team is going to fight down to the bitter end with everything they've got. They've been in a similar bind before and there's no "quit" in them. The East knows they've got their hands full in the closing minutes of this game.

And what do you think of the late comments coming in from the East's head coach, Putinov? That East team has endured slam after slam about its dirty play from the West's assistant head coach Mick Shaney, and now the offensive coordinator Pritchard Shugar has gotten into the act, saying the East should have been penalized several times on its last drive to the n-zone. But the penalties and personal fouls racked up by this West team aren't anything to be proud of, either. Head coach Putinov just smiled wryly and promised that his team would "try to be more courteous on the field", and that when it comes right down to it winning the game cup doesn't matter to the East.

Don't you believe it for one minute, folks! You don't get to this level of play and competition unless you train harder than anyone else, strategize harder, play harder and want victory more than you want anything else. Head coach Putinov is just having some fun at the expense of coaches Shaney and Shugar. And Putinov knows full well that as the clock runs down he's going to have to pull out the stops and give it all he's got in the last two minutes of the game to seal a victory. It has all come down to what happens in the next two minutes, folks. Stay glued to your screens because we're not going anywhere until one of these two teams achieves victory.

Note
1. In American football, a Hail Mary pass is a long, desperate forward pass of the ball when it is clear no other play will work; it is so called because chances of its success are low enough to suggest the need for divine intervention.

Tomorrow, Part 4: The West's thorny crown

W Joseph Stroupe is editor of Global Events Magazine online at www.GeoStrategyMap.com. He has authored a new book on the implications of ongoing energy geopolitics, Russian Rubicon: Impending Checkmate of the West.
[link to www.atimes.com]

Sorcha is a good fiction writer. Used to think there was something to what was writtent by Sorcha now just put Sorcha in the same catagory as EAT only a better writer.


.

Comments like this I can only think come from the road of 'what can't be understood is mocked and feared.'

As for me, when that Sorcha Faal report from last month pointed out that when the Muslims controled Jerusalem in 630AD their capital, Istanbul, was 630 miles away.

When the French controled Jerusalem in 1789 their capital of Paris was 1789 miles away.

When the British gave up control of Jerusalem in 1948 their capital of London was 1948 miles away.

There's always more than meets the eye you know.

In 630 AD the Muslim capital was Damascus.

Well then, here's a simple question. If what Sorcha Faal's saying is BS then how did she get all the European/Russian/Georgian press to report the same thing?

Russian embassy in Georgia is closed.

Moscow has recalled its ambassador to Tbilisi and has begun pulling out its officials and diplomats. The ambassador said he was sorry the situation had occurred. "My main goal has always been to promote and improve friendly relations with Georgia, he said. "But unfortunately this has not happened, because of the Georgian authorities' actions." The tensions were sparked as Georgia arrested and charged a group of Russian officers with spying. They appear at a preliminary hearing today.

The government released footage apparently showing them conspiring with Georgians and even exchanging money. The Georgian President says he's simply defending his patch. "It is high time for them to realise that we are not acting without reason," Mikhail Shakashvili said. "There is a line which can not be transgressed and a border which any self-respecting state has to defend."

The Georgian President accuses Russia of supporting separatists who control two regions of his country in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Moscow denies. Russia in its turn has urged the UN security council to put pressure on Tbilisi to withdraw troops from the region, which won its independence in the 1990s. Moscow has told its citizens not to travel to Georgia.
[link to euronews.net]

BBC must be good fiction writers as well

[link to news.bbc.co.uk]

In a move that will surely provoke even more anger in the Western Nations against Russia, the Kremlin is calling for the Shell oil giant to pay penalties of over $50 billion



It should read: ...will surely provoke even more anger between some western individuals and Russia...

Oops, in 630 AD Jerusalem was still in the hands of the (christian) Byzantine Empire with it's capitol in Constantinople. The Muslims conquered Jerusalem in 638 AD.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day! Sorcha is entertaining but far more never materializes of the writings than what does.
.

do your home work asshole debunkers.yo daddy buch is itchin for a fight and he will get his ass wiped.

And Constantinople later became Istanbul the center of the Islamic Empire.

You KNOW how it is with the Yanks these days....do a check on MSNBC/CNN/Fox News/etc. and not one mention of what's going on.

So! If the American press isn't reporting on this it can't be true!

while off work recently i was surfing through the satellite channels and i had a brief exposure to some US News Networks, Fox News have 3 goons sat talking shite about some z list celeb, while an arsehole looking through the window at the back is waving his hands in the air like a mentally retarded spastic; CNN is full of old British reporters who were pensioned off by the BBC and ITN, there was another American news channel but i'd lost the will to live by the stage and had switched over to BBC to watch some morons buying cheap junk and trying to flog it at an auction. At that point i got up off my fat arse and went into the garden to do some work.

Take 'em down, Vladimir.

just another in a never-ending series of bullshit from sucha fool.

Isn't it interesting though that her website is the only one I could find this story on?

But then again, the Yanks have never been ones to sob when their rights have been taken away.

Off to the Camps!!!


Many Rights in U.S. Legal System Absent in New Bill

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006; A13



The military trials bill approved by Congress lends legislative support for the first time to broad rules for the detention, interrogation, prosecution and trials of terrorism suspects far different from those in the familiar American criminal justice system.

President Bush's argument that the government requires extraordinary power to respond to the unusual threat of terrorism helped him win final support for a system of military trials with highly truncated defendant's rights. The United States used similar trials on just four occasions: during the country's revolution, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and World War II.

Included in the bill, passed by Republican majorities in the Senate yesterday and the House on Wednesday, are unique rules that bar terrorism suspects from challenging their detention or treatment through traditional habeas corpus petitions. They allow prosecutors, under certain conditions, to use evidence collected through hearsay or coercion to seek criminal convictions.

The bill rejects the right to a speedy trial and limits the traditional right to self-representation by requiring that defendants accept military defense attorneys. Panels of military officers need not reach unanimous agreement to win convictions, except in death penalty cases, and appeals must go through a second military panel before reaching a federal civilian court.

By writing into law for the first time the definition of an "unlawful enemy combatant," the bill empowers the executive branch to detain indefinitely anyone it determines to have "purposefully and materially" supported anti-U.S. hostilities. Only foreign nationals among those detainees can be tried by the military commissions, as they are known, and sentenced to decades in jail or put to death.

At the same time, the bill immunizes U.S. officials from prosecution for cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees who the military and the CIA captured before the end of last year. It gives the president a dominant but not exclusive role in setting the rules for future interrogations of terrorism suspects.

Written largely, but not completely, on the administration's terms, with passages that give executive branch officials discretion to set details or divert from its protections, the bill is meant to provide what Bush said yesterday are "the tools" needed to handle terrorism suspects U.S. officials hope to capture.
[link to www.washingtonpost.com]

How many of these poor Yanks know that these new laws have been designed against them?

How many of them even know the name of José Padilla, an American citizen, whose case has been the one the US government has used to shape all of these new laws?

And according to Bush, how many of these Yanks know that an 'unlawful enemy combatant' is ANYONE in America that is against their wars?



"José Padilla (also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir) (born October 18, 1970) is an American citizen of Puerto Rican descent accused of being a terrorist by the United States government. He was arrested in Chicago on May 8, 2002, and remains in detention in a military prison. For the first three years of his detention he was held without charge; he is now charged with "conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim people overseas."
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

But it wasn't Muslim nor was it called Istanbul until 1453.

I know that water sports are very popular in America, here's a water game they should all become familier with as now it's been made legal and can be used against them.



This Is What Waterboarding Looks Like
[link to www.davidcorn.com]

Russia sending a 'warning' to the US???

Long-range aircraft reach Alaska, Arctic pole
18:38 | 29/ 09/ 2006



ENGELS (Saratov region), September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russian long-range aircraft have crossed the Arctic Ocean, flown over the geographic Arctic pole and reached Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Japan's west coast, the commander of Russia's Long-Range Aviation Command said Friday.

"All aircraft were above neutral waters and did not approach the territorial waters of other nations closer than 12 nautical miles [16 miles]," Lt.-Gen. Igor Khvorov said.

The commander of Russia's Air Force said Tuesday that more than 50 strategic and long-range bombers were involved in a major exercise that began Tuesday.

"I cannot remember such a large-scale, long-range aircraft exercise in Russia's history," Vladimir Masorin said.

He said Tu-160 Blackjacks, Tu-95MS Bears and Tu-22M3 Backfires will fly above the Arctic and Pacific oceans and the Black and Caspian seas.

"Each plane will launch missiles, and a Tu-22M3 bomber will perform bombing runs at practice ranges," Masorin said.
[link to en.rian.ru]

WWIV:
Russia/China/Iran/Venezuela/N Korea etc vs US/UK/Japan/Australia/Israel etc.

There is a fair chance of this happening within the next 10 years if you connect the dots.

I was thinking more along the lines of the next ten days.

After all, there's an election coming up.

Future world wars are likely to be economic and proxy wars of attrition thanks to the nuke being invented IMO. WWIII lasted ~40 years, lots of the time nothing happening the rest of the time proxy wars and a missile crisis. That's the kind of WWIV (the resource war) I see.

Russia moves troops closer to Georgia

Friday 29 September 2006, 20:05 Makka Time, 17:05 GMT

The tense relations between Russia and its neighbour Georgia, triggered by Wednesday’s arrest of four Russian officers on espionage charges, have taken a further plunge on Friday with reports that Moscow has redeployed its troops closer to the Georgian border.

Reports also said that the Russian Black Sea fleet is expected to start maneuvers in the next few days.

AP quoted Georgia’s interior minister as saying that the Russian troops had moved closer to his country’s borders.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted the commander of the Russian military forces in Georgia as saying that the military might reconsider its plans to withdraw its troops from Georgia by 2008 because of the arrests of four Russian officers.
[link to english.aljazeera.net]

NATO drawn into growing Russian spy row
By Devika Bhat and agencies

Times Online September 29, 2006

Nato defence ministers were drawn into a growing spy row between Russia and Georgia today, appealing for both countries to resolve the crisis peacefully, as Moscow began withdrawing diplomats from its Tbilisi embassy.

Four Russian army intelligence officers appeared in court in the Georgian capital today. The authorities have said they have video footage showing the officers conspiring with Georgian citizens, exchanging money and discussing military installations.

The soldiers have also been linked to a mine explosion in February 2005, which killed three police officers in the town of Gori. The court in Tbilisi has also extended the custody of ten Georgian citizens, who are suspected of co-operating with the Russian military intelligence.

Georgian police continued to surround Russian army headquarters, renewing demands for the handover of a fifth officer accused of spying on Georgian military installations. However, Russia was defiant in its refusal to hand him over.

Moscow has already heavily criticised the former Soviet state for the arrests, accusing it of deliberately provoking Russia and recalling its ambassador to Tbilisi. Today officials brought in a cargo plane to pull out several hundred Russian personnel and their families based Georgia.

"More than 100 people will leave today," Vyacheslav Kovalenko, the ambassador, told journalists in the Georgian capital. He said that a second plane was scheduled to arrive from Moscow.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato’s Secretary General, appealed to both countries to defuse the growing crisis, calling for "both sides to moderate and de-escalate the situation".

Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, said that the talks had focused on finding a peaceful way to ease the tension and bring calm.

President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia angrily denied that Russian personnel were in any danger. "I don’t understand why this hysteria is being created," he said.

"There are no kinds of threats to the security of Russian families in Georgia as our country acts strictly in accordance with international agreements."

The arrests were aimed "at the maintenance of Georgian law," he said. "Nothing illegal has happened. We are building democracy and protecting our statehood. That’s how all democratic countries act."

Relations with Russia, Georgia’s old Soviet master, have worsened dramatically since the US-educated Mr Saakashvili came to power in the 2003 Rose Revolution, promising to free his country from Russian influence and develop relations with the West. His pursuit of Nato membership particularly irks Russia.

Last week, after months of hesitation, Nato said it was starting "intensified dialogue" with Georgia over the country’s possible entry into the alliance, an outcome which further angered Moscow.

Georgia, in turn, has accused Moscow of backing separatists in its troubled, pro-Russian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in an attempt to undermine the Government – an allegation which Russia denies.

Only last Friday, Mr Saakashvili accused Moscow from the rostrum of the UN of trying to annex the breakaway provinces.

In a further development, the Russian Defence Minister today accused eastern European members of Nato of illicitly supplying Soviet-made arms to Georgia, moments after holding tense talks with Nato defence ministers.

"Some members of Nato - shall we call them the younger generation? - are supplying Georgia with arms and ammunition of Soviet production," Sergei Ivanov told reporters after the talks in Slovenia.

He accused the nations, which he did not name, of breaching the strict understanding that Soviet arms were exported to the region only as long as they did not get into the hands of third parties.

Mr Ivanov renewed his attack Georgia, saying that the arrest of the Russian soldiers was an attempt to force his country’s troops out of the country so that the Georgian Government could pursue a "military solution" in regards to its conflicts with the two pro-Russian breakaway provinces.

Vitaly Churkin, the Russian envoy to the UN, called for the Security Council action to restrain Georgia, which he accused of "serious provocations".

Mr Churkin said he had circulated a draft statement for possible adoption by the Security Council expressing "deep concern" over Georgia’s actions and demanding a withdrawal of Georgian troops from a gorge overlooking the separatist province of Abkhazia.

Aside from recalling its ambassador, Moscow has advised Russian nationals against travel to Georgia and has indefinitely suspended the issue of visas to Georgian citizens for travel to Russia. An estimated one million Georgians work in Russia and send money back home.

The small mountainous country of 5 million people has suffered serious economic hardship, aggravated by civil war, since gaining independence from Moscow, including power cuts, shortages and unemployment. It also depends on Russia for gas supplies, giving Moscow another potential lever over its poorer neighbour.

Tony Halpin, Moscow correspondent for The Times, said that the latest crisis was closely related to tensions over the two separatist provinces in Georgia.

"This is about the frozen politics over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have made no bones about the fact they want to join Russia," he said. But President Saakashvili has made it perfectly clear since coming into power that his aim is to unify Georgia.

"Russia suspects that Georgia is using the spying scandal as an opportunity to use military to bring the two regions under its control. And Georgia is openly accusing Russia of backing the separatists."

He added that the sharp words from Russian officials and the move to evacuate Russians from the smaller nation provided ample opportunity to stir feeling amongst the domestic population.

"All the images on TV are showing Russian people and families packing their bags and quickly leaving, which feeds into the impression that the attitude to Russians in Georgia is very hostile," he said.

President Vladimir Putin, away in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, has so far not commented publicly on the crisis.
[link to www.timesonline.co.uk]

Police cordon off Georgian Embassy in Moscow
17:18 | 29/ 09/ 2006

MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Police cordoned off the Georgian Embassy in Moscow Friday after young ultranationalists tried to hold an unsanctioned meeting near the building.

The meeting was convened in protest against Georgian authorities, who charged four Russian officers with espionage Friday morning. Russian peacekeepers elsewhere in the country were reportedly also assaulted.

A group of six young members of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party tried to approach the guarded building of the Georgian Embassy, carrying the party's flags and shouting "Shame on Saakashvili!" in reference to President Mikheil Saakashvili.

About 50 people, including journalists and police, have gathered near the building. Police said they did not know when the cordon could be lifted.
[link to en.rian.ru]