CNN accused of using misleading footage in South Ossetia conflict.
American broadcaster CNN has been accused of using misleading footage in
their coverage of the conflict in South Ossetia. A Russian cameraman
says footage of wrecked tanks and ruined buildings, which was purported
to be the town of Gori, was in fact the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali.
Gori was said to be about to fall under the control of the Russian army
but the cameraman says the video was actually shot in Tskhinvali, which
had been flattened by Georgian shelling.
Aleksandr Zhukov, from the Russiya Al-Yaum channel, said: “When we
arrived and news came that Gori was being shelled, I saw my footage. I
said: that’s not Gori! That’s Tskhinvali. Having crawled through the
length and breadth of Tskhinvali, I don’t need much to tell from which
point this or that footage was recorded. I can swear in front of any
tribunal. I can point at this location on the map of the town, because I
and the cameraman of the Rossiya channel videotaped that.”
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/28880
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Medvedev orders end to military operation
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered an end to the military
operation in Georgia. He said the objective - “to compel Georgia to
peace” - has been achieved. Medvedev also ordered the Russian military
to “eliminate the aggressor” in the event of Georgian forces resuming
hostilities.
Medvedev said the security of the South Ossetian population and of
Russian peacekeepers has been restored. He added that the aggressor has
been punished and suffered considerable losses.
The Russian President said he would award the military with state medals
for the successful operation.
Russian FM calls for Hague tribunal over Georgia
Meanwhile Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, spoke out against
Georgia at a joint news conference with the Finnish Foreign Minister
Alexander Stubb.
He called for crimes committed by the Georgian military in South Ossetia
to be investigated by the international tribunal in The Hague.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/28870
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Civilians perish as Georgian troops torch church
The Regnum news agency is reporting that Georgian troops burned down a
10th century Orthodox church while terrified civilians perished inside.
The agency quotes eyewitness accounts of the atrocity after all-out
fighting in Khetagurovo, a small village near the republic’s capital
Tskhinvali.
Almost all of those fighting to defend the village were killed, but the
report says the fate of others, mostly women and the elderly, turned out
to be even more horrible.
Eyewitnesses report that Georgian tanks literally ran people down and
that soldiers took almost all the women to another location. Their fate
is still unknown.
Meanwhile, those who didn’t manage to escape found their shelter in a
10th century Orthodox church. Civilians hoped that Georgians of the same
faith wouldn’t dare storm the building, one of the oldest of its kind in
the country.
But Regnum reports that the Georgian troops set the church on fire and
left those inside to perish.
It is the latest in a series of reports of the Georgian military
attacking and killing civilians.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/28872
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U.S. presidential hopefuls react to Caucasus crisis
The conflict in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia has prompted
the U.S. Presidential candidates to respond. Both Barack Obama and John
McCain have had their say on the crisis in a bid to persuade voters of
the strength of their foreign policy.
The presumptive Republican nominee took the more aggressive stance, with
McCain taking a hard line when it came to Russia.
“Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military
operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory,”
he said. “What is most critical now is to avoid further confrontation
between Russian and Georgian military forces.”
McCain's statement, largely blaming Russia for the situation, did not
come as a surprise. The former prisoner of war has previously criticised
Russia and even called for its expulsion from the G8.
Campaigning in Iowa, McCain called for an emergency session of the UN
Security Council to resolve the crisis.
“The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put
diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course that it
has chosen” he said.
Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have been trying
to boost their foreign policy credentials.
Obama offered what many people called a more balanced approach.
“I think it is important at this point for all sides to show restraint
and to stop this armed conflict,” he said. “I think it is very important
for the United States to work with the UN Security Council and others in
the international community to make sure that we are beginning to bring
this conflict to a close.”
Less then a week from now, both candidates will make their first joint
appearance in California. But the battle over who has performed best has
already begun. A McCain aid called Obama “bizarrely in sync with Moscow”.
Obama's campaign suggests McCain had a conflict of interest, as his
foreign policy advisor has lobbied for Georgia.
Experts say both Obama and McCain have overlooked the complexity of the
situation.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/28868
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Georgian troops fire at refugees
Authorities in South Ossetia say Georgian troops have shelled the road
being used for evacuating people from the conflict zone, according to
Russian Interfax news agency. Attacks are continuing in the South
Ossetian region, despite claims from Georgia that it was imposing a
ceasefire.
There have been several explosions in the South Ossetian capital,
Tskhinvali, after it came under a renewed shelling attack. Several
Russian troops have been wounded.
A convoy of aid from Russia was attacked as it made its way to the
ruined city of Tskhinvali.
Despite this, humanitarian supplies are arriving in the war-torn capital.
And the constant tide of people from the devastated areas of South
Ossetia keeps flowing to Russia.
With a humanitarian corridor opened on Monday, thousands of evacuees
have fled the conflict zone and sheltered in refugee camps in North Ossetia.
Meanwhile, Tskhinvali is back under peacekeepers' control, after Russian
troops disarmed Georgians remaining in the city.
Moscow is sending more troops to South Ossetia and has allocated $US
millions to help rebuild the region.
Military investigators have already started working in Tskhinvali to
collect evidence of war crimes.
More than 1,600 civilians have died in South Ossetia during four days of
violence, including 18 Russian peacekeepers, with 70 others were wounded.
Georgia claims 50 of its troops have been killed, and around 300 wounded.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/28838
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RT attacked
In the course of the last 24 hours RT’s website (www.russiatoday.com)
has endured numerous DDoS attacks, which have made it unavailable for
some time. Channel’s security specialists say the initial attack was
carried out from an IP-address registered in the Georgian capital
Tbilisi. RT’s team apologizes for the inconvenience and gives a list of
comprehensive external resources on the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict
which can be used, should the attacks continue.
“What remains is an absolute determination not to be defeated by Georgia
and not to suffer the humiliation of having to abandon Russia’s South
Ossetia client state, with everything that this would mean for Russian
prestige in other areas. Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin made it clear again
and again that if Georgia attacked South Ossetia, Russia would fight.
Georgian advocates in the West claimed that Moscow was only bluffing. It
wasn’t”.
Analysis: roots of the conflict between Georgia, South Ossetia and
Russia, The Times
“Russia's attacks over the weekend leave the West looking for ways it
can exert its power to deter any further aggression. The West is under
no obligation to help Georgia, because it is not a member of NATO.
Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy for the Center for European
Reform in London, said it was unrealistic for Georgia to expect help.
"It's a sign of Georgia's own sense of importance," he said. "They were
unrealistic to think the United States and Europe would come to their
military aid”.
South Ossetia: Bloody fight, broad impact, USA Today
“As the world's diplomats hurried to contain the violence and prevent
the conflict engulfing the wider Caucasus region, Russia made clear it
no longer considered Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili a partner,
prompting accusations from his main ally, the United States, that Moscow
was resisting peace and wanted regime change”.
Georgia bows to might of Russia, The Independent
“There are three basic facts to keep in mind about the smokin’ little
war in Ossetia:
1. The Georgians started it.
2. They lost.
3. What a beautiful little war!”
War Nerd: South Ossetia, The War of My Dreams, Exiled Online
“There is some truth in this analysis - but only some. In the first
place, Russia may have behaved with shocking brutality, but this was in
response to Georgian troops going into South Ossetia.
There was provocation. This tiny disputed parcel of land is admittedly
legally part of Georgia, but it has been independent for 15 years, and
its population of 70,000 includes Russian passport holders and many
sympathetic to Russia”.
Shamed by the loss of empire, Russia is a wounded bear we provoke at our
grave peril, Daily Mail
“My own view is that the U.S. has displayed a reckless disregard for
Russian interests for some time. I don't like Russia's swing to greater
domestic authoritarianism and worry about its stiffened posture on a
number of international fronts -- but [President of the Nixon Center,
Dimitri] Simes convinces me in his important Foreign Affairs essay,
"Losing Russia," that much of what we are seeing unfold between Russia
and Georgia involves a high quotient of American culpability”.
Georgia-Russia Clash: American Culpability and the Kosovo Connection,
The Washington Note
“First, diplomacy. President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia is a
headstrong fellow. Reference has been made to his Harvard education as
if that should ensure sound judgment. Alas, however, the President's
tutor was not the greatest of Harvard diplomatists, Henry Kissinger –
but Anthony Eden at Suez. Mr. Saakashvili has only one defence against
the charge of criminal irresponsibility: a plea of insanity”.
The West must share the blame for war in Georgia, The Independent
“No doubt, Saakashvili's government has been rash by daring the Russians
in their own backyard. Neither does Georgia have the wherewithal to take
on vastly superior Russian forces, nor is the West likely to come to its
aid”.
Europe's New War, The Times of India
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/28835
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Russian troops do not plan to advance on Tbilisi - Moscow
Moscow has denied Georgia's assertion that Russian troops are moving in
on the capital Tbilisi. The allegation was made by Georgia's Ministry of
Defence. Russia has also announced its troops have left the Georgian
town of Senaki, having secured it from attacking South Ossetia.
Throughout Monday, Georgia repeatedly accused Russia of moving in on
civilian targets, including the capital Tbilisi.
None of the reports have been substantiated and are denied by officials
in Moscow.
Moreover, Russian peacekeeping forces have left Senaki, Georgia’s
largest airbase, about 40km from the border with Abkhazia.
“Russian peacekeepers and military units attached to them have been
taking action to prevent Georgia from shelling South Ossetia and Russian
peacekeepers,” a spokesman for the Defence Ministry said.
Another objective of the operation was to prevent ‘a build-up of
additional volunteers and reservists’ mobilised to continue military
operations in the breakaway republics.
It was Russia’s first operation inside Georgian territory proper since
Tbilisi began its offensive against the breakaway republic of South
Ossetia last week.
Moscow has also denied reports of Russian peacekeepers entering another
Georgian city, Poti.
Georgia's Prime Minister has confirmed that no civilians were harmed in
Russia's movements.
Meanwhile, the new statement of the Georgian government demands the
international community to interfere and save the country.
And Georgia's President, Mikhail Saakashvili, said Georgia is now
battling for its independence.
Talking to Georgia's Security Council he described the situation in the
country as "very difficult" and said that Russian troops have reached
the road connecting the eastern and western parts of Georgia.
U.S. starts evacuating embassy staff from Tbilisi
Meanwhile, the U.S. has begun evacuating the families of its diplomats
from Georgia. They are being sent to Armenia as a precaution, according
to the U.S. Embassy in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
U.S. ambassador John Tefft and his team of diplomats will continue their
work in Tbilisi.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/28829
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