Russia Rushes Aid to South Ossetia

Russian mobile hospital in South Ossetia for the treatment of wounded innocent civilians

Russia is rushing aid to the republic of South Ossetia as innocent civilians have suffered much injury after being attacked by the Georgian army. Throughout all the Russian regions, people resolved to provide any economic and humanitarian assistance needed by the victims in the war zone. Russians are opening their hearts to the refugees and they are ready to help the government of South Ossetia to restore the infrastructure of Tskhinvali and rebuild the destroyed city. Doctors have already left for South Ossetia to provide care and humanitarian cargoes have been delivered to the affected area. The events of the past few days in South Ossetia can be viewed only as a catastrophe. The capital of Tskhinvali and dozens of nearby villages were almost totally destroyed as a result of the Georgian invasion. Normally, such damage occurs as a result of natural disasters; however, the culprits in this case were not the elements, but, Georgian politicians with evil designs.

About 30,000 out of the 80,000 South Ossetians fled to Russia as refugees. According to some estimates, more than 2,000 people died in Tskhinvali during the bombing, whilst those who survived those terrible days now have to shelter in basements without fresh water, food, and medicines. They cannot recognise their ruined hometown, for hardly any building is undamaged. Luckily, the Ministry of Emergency Situations delivered tons of humanitarian cargo to South Ossetia, which came as a long-awaited relief to the victims of the Georgian invasion. According to Emergency Situations Minister Sergey Shoigu, who arrived in Tskhinvali Tuesday, what he saw was heart-rending. He said that Russian rescue teams were searching for people in the ruins and were also working hard to restore the city infrastructure. “We’ll check all the facilities, water, gas, electricity, and hospitals. This evening, I think we’ll have everything ready to provide medical assistance to the survivors and give them food and fresh water. We have everything that’s needed”.

Different regions of Russia are also ready to help South Ossetia. Moscow will fund the restoration works in the capital of Tskhinvali and send some construction crews. People from all over Russia are collecting clothes, tents, and food to be delivered to South Ossetia. Many are giving blood for the wounded and many offer to shelter the refugees in their homes. Only a common effort from all the people will help us to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in South Ossetia as quickly as possible.

12 August 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=80015&cid=22&p=12.08.2008

Editor’s Note:

Here is something that you shall not see on CNN or mentioned in the White House. The Russian people are opening their hearts to the victims; it is bringing all of the Russian people together. It is also hardening their resolve to see justice done. The Don Cossack Host has taken in 400 refugee children, for instance. If I had to choose between Christiane Amanpour and the rest of the jackals at CNN or the honest and openhearted people of the Donsky Voiska, it is no contest.

You may help the people of Russia rebuild, or you can support those who advocate making South Ossetia a desert due to their hatred for Russia (let us call it what it is). There is no middle path, you must choose to follow the gang of CNN, George Bush, and Saakashvili, or you can choose to stand tall with the honest people of Russia as symbolised by the Donsky Cossacks. I have made my choice, what about you?

BMD

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President Bush Deliberately Presents the Aggressor as the Victim in the South Ossetia War

US President George W. Bush (1946- ), as he approves of the actions of his marionette Saakashvili, he approves of the genocide against South Ossetia. For shame!

President Bush expressed deep concern over Russia’s operations in Georgia, accusing Moscow of invading a sovereign state and suggesting that it is trying to overthrow the Georgian government. News reporters continue to speculate on yet another of the US president’s slips of the tongue, when he said as he spoke in the White House that the Russian armed forces are set on overthrowing the legitimate government in Russia.

There is nothing new about the lapse, for US presidents and presidential candidates have made them before. What is worse is that George Bush mistook the aggressor for the victim and completely distorted the role of Russia in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict. Furthermore, he did so purposefully. The war Mikhail Saakashvili started against his own people is the direct result of US policy in Georgia. The US and its NATO allies steadily provided Tbilisi with weapons and they trained the Georgian army. According to the British newspaper The Sunday Times, hundreds of US advisers and instructors are the true masters of the Georgian Defence Ministry. There is indirect evidence that they took part in planning the abortive blitzkrieg of Tbilisi in South Ossetia.

Now, President Bush signals “deep concern” because the Russian army, acting in strict conformity with an international mandate, is repelling the aggressor reinstating justice within an operation to enforce peace. But, no one showed much concern overseas as Mr Saakashvili planned his invasion and massed troops and armoured vehicles on the border with South Ossetia. Moscow warned repeatedly of the dangerous consequences of such moves on the part of Tbilisi. Meanwhile, it’s clear that only one word from Washington would have been enough to prevent the aggression and genocide against South Ossetia and the current humanitarian disaster in the region. President Bush showed no concern either when the Georgian troops opened fire at innocent civilians and the positions of Russian peace-keepers in South Ossetia. Washington is silent on that.

By justifying and protecting his cornered puppet Saakashvili, the White House is protecting itself and its short-sighted policy of double standards on the post-Soviet space. Indeed, President Bush seems to believe that the world has forgotten about the US bombing of Yugoslavia and Iraq. These countries posed no threats to America. Apart from that, Washington is glum because its planned campaign in South Ossetia has fallen on its face.

12 August 2008

Viktor Yenikeyev

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=80005&cid=19&p=12.08.2008

Editor’s Note:

There is a plethora of evidence concerning Georgian atrocities in South Ossetia. It is not being orchestrated by Madison Avenue PR flacks as were the stories surrounding the Gulf War. There is gruesome video and photographic evidence of the Georgian barbarity. The ruins of Tskhinvali stand as mute accusers of the Georgian leadership.

By excusing such enormity, George Bush, Richard Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice become, at best, accomplices to genocide. Condoleezza Rice, in particular, bears no remorse for the suffering of the South Ossetian people. Anyone who supports Georgia willingly smears the blood of the innocent on their hands. There is no other way to put it.

There was only one good thing in this mess. The Americans thought that they were dealing with a professional military force. Luckily for the world, the Georgian army was as corrupt and mendacious as its president. He placed officers in their situations not for their military ability, but, for their political reliability. The American advisers wrote back rosy reports, because that was what was expected of them, and if they did not provide their political masters such fairy tales, they would receive bad fitness reports and torpedo their careers. I pity such men, for they did only what most would do, for a military officer has no option but to accept the post given in their orders. They had to deal with a set of gross incompetents, as the events of the past five days have shown.

I should mention in this regard, that there was only a limited force that Russia could send down and supply using the restricted road network of the region. The Russians used elements of three divisions and some independent units, a total of two division equivalents. The Georgians had approximately a division equivalent in the area, a force very capable of delaying the Russian force, if not stopping it. Because of logistical difficulties and terrain constraints, Russia could not deploy and utilise a larger force. Therefore, the only reason for the rapid Georgian defeat was gross incompetence probably combined with low morale (the unpopularity of the Saakashvili régime being what it is). Georgia had the “paper” capability to resist a Russian force long enough to win a “political” victory. The fact that they did not is due to the gross incompetence and corruption of Saakashvili and his entire junta.

Don’t buy a pig in a poke. Remember, a bird in hand is worth two from Bush. Caveat emptor.

BMD

Sergei Lavrov: Russia Advocates a Return to Peace in South Ossetia

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (1958- )

The criminal decision of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to launch war against South Ossetia led to a catastrophe. The responsibility for this rests only on the government in Tbilisi, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a press-conference in Moscow after talks with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Shtubb, who currently is the acting Chairman of the OSCE. Mr Shtubb is just back from Tbilisi, where together with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner, he was trying to persuade the Georgian president to announce a ceasefire. However, after signing an accord, Mr Saakashvili violated it soon afterwards, and Georgian troops continued their massive shelling of Tskhinvali. Mr Lavrov called this “ethnic cleansing and genocide against the South Ossetian people”.

Mr Lavrov also noted that contrary to their promises, the United States failed to talk Mr Saakashvili out of a military campaign against South Ossetia. He stated that the present government of Georgia has lost its credibility and trustworthiness. Answering questions from journalists, Mr Lavrov said Russia would hold no talks with Mr Saakashvili, because he committed crimes against our citizens and does not repent. Furthermore, Russia also decisively opposes the idea of any future Georgian participation in any peacekeeping force in South Ossetia, since, instead of providing security, they treacherously opened fire on their Russian colleagues.

Mr Lavrov promised that Russia would fulfil its commitments to complete the peacekeeping operation in South Ossetia, as the region is now suffering from a genuine humanitarian catastrophe. He said that Russia was acting in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, which proclaims the right of individual or collective self-defence…

“We are pursuing no other goals but to restore peace and security for the people of South Ossetia. The only way to do this is to compel the Georgian troops to leave South Ossetia and to ensure that they have no positions from which they can fire into the area. Secondly, all sides will also have to sign a legally-binding non-aggression treaty so that there would no risks of new unannounced attacks by the Georgian leadership in future”. Mr Lavrov expressed his belief that by his barbarous assault on South Ossetia, Mr Saakashvili himself undermined Georgian territorial integrity, but, being oblivious to this, he only demonstrated to the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia how insecure they actually were.

12 August 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=80013&cid=19&p=12.08.2008

Moscow Calls for an Urgent Session of the NATO-Russia Council on the Situation in South Ossetia

Dmitri Rogozin (1963- ), Russian Ambassador to NATO

Moscow is requesting that an urgent session be held of the NATO-Russia Council devoted to the situation in South Ossetia, according to Dmitri Rogozin, the Russian Ambassador to NATO. Mr Rogozin said, “The Georgian Foreign Minister is arriving in Brussels tomorrow to meet with NATO ambassadors. Russia hopes to counter the one-sided and deceitful presentation of the Georgian Foreign Minister, for she is going to try to deny the crimes of Georgian soldiers. NATO cannot come to a decision on South Ossetia without a consultation with Russia. Therefore, we have requested an urgent session of the NATO-Russia Council. NATO’s assurances of partnership with Russia will be proven hollow unless the Alliance also hears the story of the victims of the perfidious and unprovoked Georgian aggression, an invasion ordered by the highest Georgian leaders”.

Mr Rogozin reported, “Russia is going to present documentary evidence of what it believes amounts to Nazi-style genocide of Ossetians by Georgian President Saakashvili in order to eliminate them from the territory permanently. It is a scorched-earth policy intended to physically wipe out the Ossetian people. We had no other alternative in the present situation. As a sovereign nation, Russia had to react to an attack on its citizens, including peace-keeping troops, by mounting an appropriate military response to this attack. Georgia must stand down in the South Ossetia conflict area. Any country would do this. Our actions were undertaken under both our constitution and international law”.

Mr Rogozin shall pass to Claudio Bizonero, the Undersecretary of NATO, a Russian report about the mass atrocities committed by Georgia in South Ossetia. Thousands of people died in a night-time Georgian artillery barrage. Tens of thousands had to flee for their lives. The regional capital city Tskhinvali is a scene of smouldering rubble. Such are the footprints of one of the dearest clients of NATO, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

12 August 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=79925&cid=21&p=11.08.2008