Georgian forces fired rockets at South Ossetia in August. (Photo: Vano Shlamov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

Georgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question

By C. J. CHIVERS and ELLEN BARRY Published: November 6, 2008 TBILISI, Georgia — Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression.

Daily Grunge Report

A poster on a wall in Tbilisi, Georgia

August 26, 2008, Michael Totten Report from Tbilisi –

Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. “The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion.

Virtually everyone is wrong…

Russia, Georgia, Michael Totten, Tbilisi, Mikheil Saakashvili, invasion, troops breakaway, South Ossetia, Caucasus Mountains, Roki tunnel, Patrick Worms, media advisor, Thomas Goltz, Azerbaijan Diary, Georgia Diary, Chechnya Diary, Soviet Union, ethnic fuses, Central Asia, Kremlin, Azeris, Armenians, ethnic-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region, frozen conflict, Greeks, Estonians, Armenians, Jews, Ossetian-Georgian population, King Tamar, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Karadzic, Marriott Hotel, media relations operation, Abkhaz, Displaced Persons, Kodori Gorge, ethnic-cleansing, Yugoslav wars, Rose Revolution, Mikheil Saakashvili, Eduard Shevardnadze, NATO, America, US, Bush, Bucharest, Membership Action Plan, Conventional Forces Treaty, Warsaw Pact, Kodori provocations, drones, OSCE, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Tskhinvali, smuggler’s paradise, enriched uranium, fake hundred dollar bills, Eduard Kokoity, Russian passports, Ingush, Chechen, Ossetians, Cossacks, 120mm guns, Kaha Bragadze, Giorgi Khosiashvili, Koba Mindiashvili, unilateral ceasefire, Human Rights Watch

Patrick Worms

Thomas Goltz

Peace Vigil Tbilisi

Mikhail Saakashvili, USA to evacuate disgraced Georgian president in case of national coup (Pravda)

26.08.2008, Source: Pravda.Ru, The USA said that one country [Russia] can not recognize independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and that the process should be conducted by the United Nations Organization. US President Bush urged his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev not to recognize the republics and reiterated that the USA supported the territorial integrity of Georgia.

USA, Georgia, coup, Russia, independence, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, United Nations, Bush, Dmitry Medvedev, Angela Merkel, State Duma, Federation Council, Moscow, NATO, Putin, WTO, Tony Fratto, territorial integrity, sovereignty, European Union, Brussels, Caucasus, Dmitry Rogozin, World Trade Organization, civil war, Joseph Biden, Tbilisi, US Coast Guard cutter Dallas, Batumi, coup

Russia urges UN to back independence move
August 27, 2008 Russia has officially informed the UN Secretary General about the country’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s independence. The Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, has called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution, which would go along with the six point peace plan.

Russain soldiers stand guard as Georgian protesters shout near the town of Igoeti, 50 kms from Tbilisi,Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008. Georgian activists got into a tense argument with Russian soldiers over the military conflict with Georgia as they held a rally in this town outside the strategic city of Gori. The poster reads : You won’t force Georgia on the knees by bombing. ( AP Photo /Sergei Grits)

Fri. Aug. 22, 2008, By BELA SZANDELSZKY, POTI, Georgia (AP) – Russian troops held their position in the key town of Gori and were digging in deeper in other strategic areas of Georgia on Friday, the day that Russia’s president said a pullback would be complete.

Russians, Georgia, pullout, dig in, Gori, Igoeti, Tbilisi, Poti, Gen. John Craddock, South Ossetia, peacekeeping contingent, NATO, Soviet Union, Mikhail Saakashvili, Gordon Johndroe, Nina Meladze, Nadarbazevi, Dmitry Medvedev, Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev, Abkhazia, Tskhinvali, Alan Didurov, Valery Gergiev

Russia Today (RT): Russia begins withdrawal

Baku, Aug 18, IRNA Iran-Georgia-Aid Iran’s first convoy of relief supplies for the displaced people of the Georgian city of Gori was delivered to the city’s officials on Monday.

Iran, aid, convoy, Gori, Georgia, Russia, Tbilisi, South Ossetia, Kremlin

Georgia – travelling to Tbilisi
Our intrepid bus conductors become the stars of Tbilisi and visit an orphanage before heading for Iran.

21 months ago: South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity speaks with the media outside a polling station in Tskhinvali, capital of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, 12 November 2006. Voters in Georgia’s Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia went to the polls in a referendum on independence that has irked Tbilisi amid a diplomatic crisis between Russia and Georgia. (DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

De facto South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity has dismissed his government and declared a state of emergency in the breakaway region.

S., Ossetia, president, cabinet, Eduard Kokoity, Tskhinvali, state of emergency, Georgia, Russia, aid, refugees, ICRC, United Nations, Tbilisi

RUSSIA & GEORGIA. THE AFTERMATH aug. 18, 2008. (part 3/4)

Revealed: retirement home ruined by Georgian attackShocked pensioners in a South Ossetian retirement home are trying to recover from shock after it was stormed by Georgian troops. Residents at the Tskhinvali home say they were threatened with death – and spared only after telling soldiers the location of a nearby school.

A Russian serviceman reads next to a tank in Gori near South Ossetia, August 15, 2008. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday called for the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:28pm EDT By James Kilner IGOETI, Georgia (Reuters) – A Russian military convoy advanced to a village 45 km (30 miles) from Tbilisi on Friday, in the deepest incursion since conflict with Georgia erupted last week.

Russian, convoy, Georgia, Tbilisi, incursion, Condoleezza Rice, irregular militias, looting, burning, villages

Russia Today
South Ossetian residents and local journalists have launched their own investigation into claims of genocide perpetrated by Georgian soldiers. They accuse Georgians of attempting to destroy Ossetia…

CNN