I'm sure he'll come up with some weaselly explanation. But he doesn't get to declare Iraq a nation or not. And I'm sure he wouldn't want to be accused of being "presumptuous," now would he.

He might not have, but his top foreign policy consultant is a paid lobbyist for Georgia, which has raised some conflict-of-interest issues regarding McCain's vehement repudiation of Russia and siding so clearly with Georgia in the conflict.

McCain today: "In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations."

Hey look,

Most of us should know by now that it was Georgia who started the whole thing. I even mentioned that the day after the bastards sneak attacked the people in south ossettia. What confuses me at this point is why Russia doesn't release video of the bombed out city and the dead civilians. The GA dastard president has been fighting a PR war since his army got its ass kicked and he has been using the backing of Lord Bush and Co. to proliferate the fable that Russia is the big bad meanie ethnic cleansing anti democracy enemy here. It makes me sick but I'm not falling for the nonsense that Rice and Sarkozy and Schiakashvilli and Bush have been spouting about this engagement. The Russians need to kick up the PR blitz and that day of mourning was a good move and this video of the girl and her aunt is smart as well.

The identities of the attackers vary, but a pattern of violence by ethnic Ossetians against ethnic Georgians is emerging and has been confirmed by some Russian authorities. “Now Ossetians are running around and killing poor Georgians in their enclaves,” said Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav Nikolaevich Borisov, the commander in charge of the city of Gori, occupied by the Russians.

A lieutenant from an armored transport division that was previously in Chechnya said: “We have to be honest. The Ossetians are marauding.”

....

Human Rights Watch issued a report on Thursday that documented attacks by ethnic Ossetians in and around Tskhinvali on Wednesday. Researchers saw a number of houses on fire in the town of Java. They quoted a South Ossetian intelligence officer as saying that his fighters had burned the houses to “make sure” that the Georgians could not come back.

The report’s findings also seemed to indicate that early Russian accounts of casualties, which in the first days of fighting reached 2,000, were far too high. In Tskhinvali , where the heaviest fighting took place, the local hospital received 44 corpses and 273 wounded people from Aug. 6, after clashes between separatists and Georgians, to Aug. 12, the report said, citing a doctor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/world/europe/15ethnic.html?ref=todayspaper
For all your ravings about the authoritarianism of the Bush administration, you seem all to eager to accept anything that Russia says.

Well gee, KR, and what IS your stance on a nation bullying and attacking a sovereign country, using propaganda and exaggerating claims in order to garner world support? Hmm, please tell us. Because we know that Georgia started it and Russia was reacting. So please. Argue how Russia's response was terribly, terribly inappropriate as if you have a leg to stand on.

Meanwhile, convoys of refugees continue to stream into Russia's southern regions, where they are being provided with food and shelter. And with the humanitarian corridor now open, aid is continuing to arrive. Another convoy of humanitarian aid will arrive in Tskhinvali today.

The total number of refugees from South Ossetia has topped 34,000.

Thousands of people have been placed in temporary shelters across southern Russia. Each has their own terrible story to share, and many need psychological help.

Thousands of South Ossetian civilians who suffered from the Georgian bombings, have endured days of fear and despair. Some of them have spent almost 20 hours on the road before arriving to safety in the Krasnodar region.

While Russia and Georgia accuse each other of "ethnic cleansing", for the vast majority sheltering in the Alagir camp the blame lies squarely with Georgia's erratic leader. "Saakashvili is worse than Hitler," said Dolgi Zabolena, who was taken by Russian troops out of Tskhinvali after four days of heavy fighting.

"The Georgian government just went mad . . . The Georgians came in and killed everyone. Who is guilty, it is Saakashvili? They burnt all the houses, and they even set fire to the school and all the hospitals. Nothing remains. It all happened in one instant," Ms Bessateva said. "They wanted to destroy the whole of South Ossetia in one night. All these villages they encircled and took."

Anna Neistat, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in South Ossetia...Ms Neistat said evidence was mounting that most of the destruction of Tskhinvali was caused by Georgians. The Georgians assert the city was levelled by the Russians.

American newspapers have run story after story about how "evil" Russia invaded a sovereign neighboring state. Many accounts made it seem as though the conflict was started by an aggressive Russia invading the Georgian territory of South Ossetia. Some said that South Ossetia's capital, Tskhinvali, was destroyed by the Russian army. Little attention was paid to the chronology of events, the facts underlying the conflict.

Jesus, could you straddle the Bear any harder?


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/world/europe/15ethnic.html?ref=todayspaper
For all your ravings about the authoritarianism of the Bush administration, you seem all to eager to accept anything that Russia says.

I'm ok with attacking sovereign nations if it is within the national interest of the U.S

you seem all to eager to accept anything that Russia says.

I don't see what Georgia started, at least so far as Russia is concerned. Georgia moved into South Ossetia which is not Russian territory.

Well I don't care for Russia's actions either but Georgia is equally at fault.

The situation has to be bad if people are fleeing INTO southern Russia.

Yeah, the US needs to tiptoe here. I doubt Russia will do anything about Poland, but still.

Why not flee to Russia? Russia is safer than South Ossetia or Georgia.

Priceless.