RBC, a trusted and well known news source in Russia and especially in the European business world has just released a story that is titled, “American Intelligence Confirms That Russia Is Right” relating to the war South Ossetia. Here’s the link to the permanent site of the story on RBC. If anyone reading this questions my translation, feel free to pop this into a translator, or find a person who reads Russian. I guarantee direct translation.
American Intelligence Confirms That Russia Is Right
American intelligence confirmed that Russia’s actions were correct during the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict. According to their data, recent military actions in South Ossetia were begun by Georgia, which is why Russia’s position is correct. Dana Rohrbacher (R – California) stated this on Tuesday’s hearing in Congress.
“All intelligence sources with whom I’ve talk – and I have talked to many during the summer [congressional] recess – confirm, that all recent military actions in Georgia and its separatist provinces were started by Georgia,” stressed Dana Rohrbacher, according to TV channel “Vesti-24″.
According to his words, “Georgia, not Russians, broke the ceasefire, and no talks about provocations and other things can change this fact.”
D. Rohrbacher said that all attempts to put all of the blame for the military actions on South Ossetia are a “fig-leaf”**. “Russians are right, we are not. Georgians started it, Russians finished it,” said the politician.
**A fig-leaf is the little leaf that covers the private parts of statues. This is a direct Russian translation and a “fig” here is not the fruit, but rather meant to express that it does not serve a lot of purpose, as the statue is naked already.
The Conclusion
This will NEVER be aired or written anywhere in America. A thorough Google, Yahoo!, etc search will not find anything even mentioning this in English language. Rohrbacher’s statements undermine the whole political stance of the West in the conflict. Even though American intelligence is the source of all of this, the politicians who have a lot at stake here will do all they can to make sure this does not get out into the Western newspapers and tabloids soon, if at all. U.S. will completely lose face if a story even slightly mentioning this is published anywhere in Europe, even more so if it is published in the States.
CNN is a trusted news source in the Western world. It made a name for itself, and it’s editors know this. Eduard Kakoiti, while visiting a hospital near Tskhinvali, saw a CNN journalist, who was with the Georgian Army at the time of attack. He was quoted by RBC to say that the journalist told him, that he was told there will be a form of “blitzkrieg”. That the Georgian Army will sweep into South Ossetia and will topple the South Ossetian government. Well, this did not happen, and the journalist, remaining unnamed, was actually wounded and taken to a hospital in South Ossetia. Kokoiti also was quoted, as saying that when the journalist goes back to the U.S., he should tell the truth about the conflict. Needless to say, the journalist will most likely never release his encounter with the South Ossetian leader to the Western public, and CNN will most likely do everything it can, so the story does not leak out.
CNN also is accused of using the wrong footage to cover the events in Georgia. In a nutshell, CNN is accused of using videos of Tskhinvali, to demonstrate destruction of Gori. Not only is this copyright infringement (the videos shot by Russian camera men belong to them, if privately shot, or to the TV company, for whom the journalist works), but this is disinformation of the masses. It is the biggest crime that is imaginable. If the U.S. does not have the decency to calm down Saakashvili and tell him not to bomb civilian population, at least make sure the mass media presents true facts. Here, are two videos. The first video was shot by the man that speaks in the second video. The first video shows Tshkinvali, capital of South Ossetia. Second video is in English and requires no translation.
Fox News Controversy
Fox News Studio B’s anchor Shepard Smith has shamelessly been rude on live TV to survivors from South Ossetia – 12 year old Amanda Kakoeva (an american-ossetian living in the U.S.) and her aunt Laura Tadeeva-Koreviski. An interview was set up to give live accounts of what happened in South Ossetia. Obviously, FOX did not get the storyline they needed, instead, they got two survivors blaming Saakashvili. Both were visiting their relatives in South Ossetia when the Georgian Army attacked. Smith continuously interrupt the guest speakers in places where they talk about Georgian President’s Saakashvili Army bombing civilians and committing war crimes. Towards the end of the video, Laura is interrupted by Shepard Smith abruptly to go to commercial. Both were quoted later as saying they were really pressured into not saying what they had to say, but seeing this was live television, they took the opportunity to do so. See for yourselves:
The Conclusion
Saakashvili went out of line during his military operations. Now, the West is faced with “inconvenient truth”. Those in power will do their best, to turn the mass media away from the reality of the conflict. As was mentioned before on this blog, Russia has won on the battlefield, but the media war is being lost. Not completely, but it is slowly slipping out of their control. It is vital, to analyze the tiniest details, when looking at politics, for the real reasons are never evident to the naked eye.
Representation of South Ossetian Conflict in the U.S.
Watching CNN’s Loub Dobbs, the only things that an average American will get out of watching their news is that Russia is invading, burning, raping, and pillaging. And the only proof of that is Saakashvili’s interview. The man does not even talk to his people in Georgian. He speak in English, broken English. It is appalling, that the American mass media is getting it’s “facts” from a man that started this mass. It’s is hard not to draw parallels between U.S./Yugoslavia in the 1990’s and Russia/Georgia right now. How can a country, that split a nation into parts and threw a people into chaos, criticize actions that actually try to protect integrity of all people involved? It is not that Russia does not have its own agenda in the region, it’s just that U.S. has no right to critisize Kremlin for its action, as they are more justified than U.S. getting involved in Yugoslavia.
The Informational War (Cont’d)
It has been previously mentioned in this blog, that Russia is losing the informational war with Georgia. However, finally Western reporters have been able to take a look at Georgian atrocities. A Russian freelance reporter has been quoted on www.lenty.ruas saying that when he visited the town of Gori, where Saakashvili said most Georgian civilian casualties are, he saw a direct hit on an ammo cache. The exploding rounds flew everywhere, as expected with an exploding ammo depot, and the shells actually hit buildings near it. It was not Russian airplanes hitting the buildings and deliberately targeting the civilian population, unlike the first days of the war when the Georgian army launched “Grad” (translation from Russian – hail) missiles at civilian targets such as hospitals, schools, and apartments. As has been stated in previous posts, Georgian army is scattering. The civilian population does not want a war with the Russians. However, the Georgian President wants to portray the Russians as villains, so the U.S. will gets its forces involved. Really, though, Washington does not care much for the Georgian population or Saakashvili. The Western leaders cannot have Russia seen in good light. This will simply put an indefinite hold on their agenda.
Is U.S. a Good Friend?
Ukranian people are becoming skeptical. And article in www.utro.ru. addressed this issue. Yuschenko himself is faltering. He does not want a repeat of South Ossetia to happen in Ukraine in Crimea. He is actually contemplating not joining NATO in order to avoid an all out war with Russia, which will take a lot more lives that the South Ossetian Conflict. Yuschenko is starting to debate his good friendship with the U.S. It is understandable because he has been in Tbilisi and has witnessed the panic of the Georgian pro-Western government as the war with Russia slipping out of their control. U.S. troops will not be engaged in combat because neither country is part of NATO, as well as the U.S. troops are stretched too thin already, fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. If U.S. does decide to do anything in Georgia militarily, FSB will simply pay a nice sum of money to the Afghanis fighting for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan to step up their attacks, which in turn will turn the U.S. citizens on the U.S. government and plunge the political scene within the U.S. into chaos. U.S. is not helping Georgia with anything but heavy diplomatic measures against Russia. That will not help Ukraine at all in case of war with Russia. Remember this as well, A huge chunk of people living in Ukraine, especially the eastern parts, are of Russian nationality, and although they live in Ukraine, they call themselves Russian. Yuschenko cannot count on his army completely, as people will not want to kill their own Slavic brothers. The Ukrainian politicians are feverishly trying to show that they have control over the Black Sea Fleet and Russian forces stationed there. It is all for show, however, as Russia will never sign any agreement that mandates the Fleer to notify Ukranian authorities 72 hours in advance of its movements and especially to fly a Ukranian flag.
The Conclusion
The U.S. media is becoming more and more biased. Although no direct ban on Russia media has been put inplace in the United States, for it will violate its own constitution, but no Russian news sources are being used in analysis of the events in Georgia.
Washington is becoming alarmed, that Yuschenko is losing faith in the U.S. as a trustworthy ally in case of a war with Russia.
Just as was expected, European observers are coming to South Ossetia. One may wonder, why no pictures of casualties and civlians Ossetians dead have not been released. Well, this is because all of that is being saved for the European observers. The politicians in Kremlin know that they have all the trumps. They have the facts of ethnic cleansing, civilians targets bombed, infrastructre destroyed, and direct violation by Georgia of the agreementes in place to keep peace in the region.
Russia had no choice but to step in. Georgia knew this. Now it is a game of who can prove who wrong. Who can paint themselves as the noble hero? Well, Georgia does not really have much chance of proveing themselves such. Their only card is to keep accusing Russia of violating its borders and showing the pictures of the few injured when the bomb intended for a Georgian military base missed its target and hit a building.
Currently, the western media seems to have forgotten, that Georgia was the one that started this by moving in with the army into South Ossetia. Next, the Georgians leveled a city, killing some 2000 civilians. In addition to this they attack peacekeepers. The icing on the cake is the claimed ethnic cleansing (which is a trump for Russia if can be proven). CNN, The Guarding, BBC are all concentrating on a few Georgian civilians being injured and some killed in the airstrike and are completely neglecting that Georgia, every few hours, sends clouds of “Grad” missiles at Tskhinvali, where Ossetian civlians are trapped in basements, awaiting evacuation.
Isn’t it obvious, that Saakashvili does not care for Ossetians? He does not need the territory either. Russia cares about the people, but really could care less about the territory. It is a question of quelling the resistence of the current U.S.-backed regime and putting themselves on the map for Georgia. For Russia the stakes are higher. If they come out the victor, they are able to show once again that they are not the disstressed, faltering Russia of the 1990’s.
Know Your Limits
It is extremely important for Russia to simply keep the Georgian Army out South Ossetia, and nothing more. The airstrikes carried out inside Georgia are justified as they are intended for the military targets. The fact that Saakashvili put military camps in the midst of populated towns allows him to say that the airstrikes are intended for the civilian population. Just look at the facts. They show masses of Georgian troops in the towns which were bombed, and yet they say that the bombs are intended for the civilian population. Somehow, it does not make sense.
Both sides, Russia and Georgia, need to know their limits. Georgia needs to realize that there is no way that South Ossetia is going to integrated into the Georgian Republic. Russia needs to only go as far as the border between South Ossetia and Georgia, and enforce it until South Ossetia is recognized as an independant Republic.
The Media
Isn’t it fantastic that Georgia has closed off all access by all of Georgian computers to any website with the “.ru” address. In addition, no Russian channels are aired in Georgia since August 8th. Western Media is only showing the Georgians being attacked and portraying the conflict in a way that Georgia is a small nation being bullied by the big Russian Bear. However, the “small nation” is backed by the U.S. and E.U., armed to the teeth with U.S. weapons and equipment. Amidst all of this, the core of the matter is being pushed to the back pages- South Ossetians want independance. They were recklessly attacked by Georgia, suffered the most casualties, especially amongst civilians, and are now being portrayed as rogues and separatists in the Western Media.
The Conclusion
Just as suspected, Russia has called in all sorts of observers to come an see what Georgia is doing. Pictures will be taken, videos made, and “sensational” stories about Georgian army committing atrocities. No civilized nation will bring itself to kill so much of the civilian population in the first 48 hours, and in general delibarately target the civlians. The Georgians simply want Russia to get fed up and angry, and do even worse to them, so the world will have to rally behind Georgia. Nevertheless, the guys in Kremlin today are not the idiots from the 1990′. They know the Georgian strategy and most definitely have FSB sources in Georgia forwarding intel. Russia will be the one with the cooler head. In turn, Georgian President Saakashvili will simply get ticked off and finally lose it, forcing the U.S. to condemn the current Georgian regime.
closerview
