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More From Georgia
By Richard S. Lowry
This is an all out twenty-first century invasion:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/04/video-russian-m.html
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/georgia-under-o.html
LtCol P says...
It is indeed. It's increasingly clear that the Russians had this on tap for quite sometime, and had bided their time-- and cloaked their intentions well-- for the right moment. Ugly, very ugly. It is difficult to place blame on the Georgians, although they might have (vastly) underestimated the Russian response. I feel very sorry for them, because they're getting a heavy dose of old-style Red Army firepower. And there's not much we can do to help them in the direct sense. The Black Sea is closed to us, in any case.
There are a couple of good posts at B5. The best is this one, with some illuminating comments from our frequent reader, Olga. And this one too, is right in the money.
Imperial Russia spent hundreds of years expanding its territory into the Caucasus and Central Asia, a policy pursued with equal fervor by their Soviet successors. Apparently, they'd like to turn the clock back.
As many have said there and on other good sites, the Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Georgians, etc etc, have much to be concerned about. And Western Europe too, if they can get their heads out of their asses.
And not to wax political, but go see THIS POST by Uncle Jimbo. Not the kind of change we need at a time like this.
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Comments
From an academic standpoint, Russia's use of cyberwarfare as both a first option and in complement to kinetic warfare is very interesting. The ability to cripple any force that relies on internetworks for its C2 should be horrifying.
This strategic use of information is something the American flagocracy remains reticent in putting into action.
My two cents...
vladimir putin...once a pig, always a pig. It is really time for the world to wake up to this so called person.
Hey, if you all remember, our president "...looked [Putin] in the eyes and saw the depth of his soul". Then, as even more now, what an asinine remark! How many other world leaders did he misjudge. As Goose said in Top Gun, "The list is long and distinguished."
Forgive my ignorance...but why aren't we allowed into the Black Sea?
"And Western Europe too, if they can get their heads out of their asses."
Good luck with that.
As far as Uncle Jimbo's post...
... follow the money.
"We" are allowed into the Black Sea. It's just a long and torturous path to get there (Dardanelles to the Bosporous). I was there in '95 on a FFG (post coming soon). However, there is no reason for us (i.e., the US) to station a Naval Force there. NATO could, if they so desired.
Lots of oil comes out of Black Sea ports, especially Georgia. Other than that, though, it is dead. And I mean devoid of life. I have never been on a sea like that where you saw zero fishing vessels.
We have lots of other places on the planet where our small Navy needs to be...
Thanks for the clarification BullNav. I was beginning to wonder what piece of news I was missing and who thought they could tell us not to pull in there!
I have a few questions. I don’t know if anybody here can comment:
1. What is the overall size of the force the Russians used?
2. It appears to have been split between Ossetia and Abkhazia (sp). What was the relative strength of the two forces?
3. Did the two forces act together, and if so what was the strategy?
4. How quickly can forces of this size be assembled including initial supply requirements for a 10 day operation with subsequent follow up operations?
5. What is the supply situation for these forces? By what means are they receiving supply, what routes, etc?
6. Why did we not have intelligence on the build up, human intelligence and satellite intelligence?
7. If we had intelligence, why did we not share it with the Georgians, and warn off the Russians before they attacked?
8. What military options do we have now?
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
Doug,
I can't answer all of your questions, but I can try several of them:
3. Like a boxer: left jab then right hook then combination to the gut. Each arm is independent, but working for a single mind.
4. The forces had been there for a long time, as peacekeepers and in barracks in North Ossetia/Russia. Such a buildup would be interpreted as normal. It's a matter of interpretation.
5. Russian forces have resupply via sea, air, and land.
6. Somewhere an intelligence analyst is doing jello-shooters and screaming "I told you so!" Reality being that even if the Intelligence alphabets had called it correctly (as likely as seeing the Thunderbirds staffed by pigs with wings), who was going to put troops on the ground?
o It's an election year
o Maintaining Iraq's momentum and keeping Iran off-center are more critical at this point than securing Europe's oil supply.
o The formerly "clumsy" Russians combined cyber and kinetic warfare in a very effective package.
Amazingly, I haven't heard of Code Pink's protests against the Russian Embassy at all. They must be saving up...
The frigging Russians need to cease to exist. If not for their tradition of stirring up shit for something to do, they serve no useful purpose at all. The rest of the world should just do them and be done with it.
You have to look back on the last 4 weeks of major market trading to see the "trend." Now couple that with the ruskie "saving" of the POOR inhabs of Ossteia. An OIL GRAB! PURE AND SIMPLE! putin is making his play while he thinks the world is focused on the CHI OLYMPICS! DEATH TO THE KGB! NUC THE REDS!!!
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