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The Ukrainian government appears to have been a participant in Georgia’s invasion of South Ossetia. Journalists of the Moscow-based newspaper Izvestiya (Proceedings) and the weekly news programme Vesti Nedelin (News of the Week) conducted their own inquiry into the supplies of Ukrainian weapons to Georgia, and they came up with this conclusion. That Georgia was a hotbed of tension since it went into war against Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the early 90s required other countries to demonstrate restraint in supplying the Caucasian conflict zone with weapons and military hardware. Kiev ignored this obligation, and it became clear that the Ukraine became the leading supplier of weapons to President Saakashvili’s regime. The weapons supplied included anti-aircraft missiles, multiple-rocket-launchers, and tanks. This particular facet of arms export was taken out of the hands of the usual agencies and was controlled by President Yushchenko personally. He was definitely aware of the planned invasion, as he had many confidential meetings with Mr Saakashvili and must have supported it. By providing Georgia with munitions, President Yushchenko made the Ukraine an ally of Georgia in the invasion of South Ossetia.
There is proof of that in a resolution by an investigative panel of the Supreme Rada of the Ukraine (the Ukrainian parliament: editor’s note), which held an inquiry into the supplies of military hardware and weapons to Georgia. On the supply list was Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missiles, which had to be withdrawn from Ukrainian army units, thereby undermining the defence capability of the Ukraine. That was not the end of it all, however. Moreover, Valery Konalvalyuk, the chief of the investigatory panel says that Georgian army units underwent military training on the territory of Ukraine. The Buk-M1 missiles were supplied to Georgia this year, which means that Ukrainian technicians might have operated them during the conflict.
In addition, reports by the panel say Georgia received weapons at knockdown prices. The T-72 tanks were sold at 155,000 to 255,000 dollars (4.073 to 6.701 million roubles. 114,762 to 188,802 euros. 88,830 to 146,140 UK pounds) each, which is four to six times cheaper than world prices. In the view of Izvestiya, the players in this brilliant scam made astronomical profits out of this rather shady transaction. A Ukrainian parliamentary deputy, Dmitri Tabachnik, thought along the same lines. “Similar scandals have broken out in the Ukraine before, and everybody knows that no one will be punished for that. What has become clear in the past four years is that the project known as ‘Viktor Yushchenko’ is utterly anti-Ukrainian in nature. I did not say that it is ‘anti-Russian’, I stress highly that it is ‘anti-Ukrainian'”. Some experts tend to see a direct connection between the weapons scandal and the current parliamentary crisis in the Ukraine, which was instigated by those involved in the scandal in an effort to prevent an inquiry into their true role in the recent developments in the Caucasus.
6 October 2008
Yevgeni Kryshkin
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=85528&cid=19&p=06.10.2008
******
______________________________
Editor’s Note:
The neocons’ ramshackle edifice is falling down in broad daylight, in full sight of everyone. Bush, Cheney, Rice, McCain, and Palin are traitors and should be treated accordingly. Indeed, John McCain has been a paid agent of the Georgian government, and his main foreign advisor, one Randall Schneumann is still on the Georgian dole. That means that Messrs McCain and Schneumann are guilty of selling out the interests of the USA to a foreign state. At one time, that would have disqualified Mr McCain from public office.
The outlines of the plot are clear to all with eyes. Washington wished to aid Georgia militarily, but, desired to have “deniability” if their enterprise crashed and burned (as it so spectacularly did); it also wished to avoid Congressional oversight. So, Foggy Bottom put pressure on Yushchenko to sell arms to Georgia. That would have caused quite a stir in the Rada, as Regions and the Communists would have raised a rumpus. Therefore, arms were taken from the active Ukrainian forces and sold to the Georgians. As the arms were not sold through the usual channels, the pols involved pocketed the not-small amount of money from this Slim Shady deal. They also weakened the Ukrainian forces (which are not much to write home about, in any case).
Seemingly, it was perfect for all the sides involved. The Foggy Bottom neocons got their foreign policy gambit without having to pass it through Congress (remember how they did that with the CIA torture facilities in Poland and Romania?). Yushchenko and his corrupt Galician henchmen pocketed a hefty little bit of swag… boy, what a good boy am I! Saakashvili and his goons got the arms they wanted at cut-rates, which magnified his already bloated arms budget.
However…
THE STILL BLEW UP AND THE SAMOGONSHCHIKI ARE HEADING FOR THE HILLS!
Washington is trying to disentangle itself from the mess that Cheney and Rice planned as a boost to the McCain campaign. Kiev is caught with its nicks around its ankles and Yushchenko has no political allies left, even in Washington. Saakashvili is a “dead man walking”. His political future is kaput, and George Soros is going to have to find another to replace him (if he can).
For all right-wing US supporters of Georgia… reflect on two facts. Saakashvili ordered Grad attacks on sleeping civilians, that is, 1,080 heavy artillery rockets from 27 MRLs landed in Tskhinvali within 20 seconds. If you support Saakashvili, you support that. Secondly, Saakashvili has spent 500 million dollars on a Presidential Palace in a country with a GDP of a little over 10 billion dollars total. That’s 5 percent of the total GDP! “A beacon of democracy in the Caucasus(!)”… I think not… pass me the jug Michael; I need something to restore my balance.
Yet, there are those who support Bush and McCain even as all the sordid details come out… they shan’t listen, anyone who disagrees with them is labelled a “socialist”.
Kaufft nicht bei Bush und McCain… our future depends on it.
BMD
Voices from Russia 
The Ukraine appears to have been a Participant in Georgia’s Invasion of South Ossetia
Tags: 2008 South Ossetia war, Abkhazia, cartoons, editorial cartoons, Georgia, John McCain, Mikhail Saakashvili, Mikheil Saakashvili, Moscow, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, South Ossetia, Ukraine, United States, USA, Viktor Yushchenko
______________________________
The Ukrainian government appears to have been a participant in Georgia’s invasion of South Ossetia. Journalists of the Moscow-based newspaper Izvestiya (Proceedings) and the weekly news programme Vesti Nedelin (News of the Week) conducted their own inquiry into the supplies of Ukrainian weapons to Georgia, and they came up with this conclusion. That Georgia was a hotbed of tension since it went into war against Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the early 90s required other countries to demonstrate restraint in supplying the Caucasian conflict zone with weapons and military hardware. Kiev ignored this obligation, and it became clear that the Ukraine became the leading supplier of weapons to President Saakashvili’s regime. The weapons supplied included anti-aircraft missiles, multiple-rocket-launchers, and tanks. This particular facet of arms export was taken out of the hands of the usual agencies and was controlled by President Yushchenko personally. He was definitely aware of the planned invasion, as he had many confidential meetings with Mr Saakashvili and must have supported it. By providing Georgia with munitions, President Yushchenko made the Ukraine an ally of Georgia in the invasion of South Ossetia.
There is proof of that in a resolution by an investigative panel of the Supreme Rada of the Ukraine (the Ukrainian parliament: editor’s note), which held an inquiry into the supplies of military hardware and weapons to Georgia. On the supply list was Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missiles, which had to be withdrawn from Ukrainian army units, thereby undermining the defence capability of the Ukraine. That was not the end of it all, however. Moreover, Valery Konalvalyuk, the chief of the investigatory panel says that Georgian army units underwent military training on the territory of Ukraine. The Buk-M1 missiles were supplied to Georgia this year, which means that Ukrainian technicians might have operated them during the conflict.
In addition, reports by the panel say Georgia received weapons at knockdown prices. The T-72 tanks were sold at 155,000 to 255,000 dollars (4.073 to 6.701 million roubles. 114,762 to 188,802 euros. 88,830 to 146,140 UK pounds) each, which is four to six times cheaper than world prices. In the view of Izvestiya, the players in this brilliant scam made astronomical profits out of this rather shady transaction. A Ukrainian parliamentary deputy, Dmitri Tabachnik, thought along the same lines. “Similar scandals have broken out in the Ukraine before, and everybody knows that no one will be punished for that. What has become clear in the past four years is that the project known as ‘Viktor Yushchenko’ is utterly anti-Ukrainian in nature. I did not say that it is ‘anti-Russian’, I stress highly that it is ‘anti-Ukrainian'”. Some experts tend to see a direct connection between the weapons scandal and the current parliamentary crisis in the Ukraine, which was instigated by those involved in the scandal in an effort to prevent an inquiry into their true role in the recent developments in the Caucasus.
6 October 2008
Yevgeni Kryshkin
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=85528&cid=19&p=06.10.2008
******
______________________________
Editor’s Note:
The neocons’ ramshackle edifice is falling down in broad daylight, in full sight of everyone. Bush, Cheney, Rice, McCain, and Palin are traitors and should be treated accordingly. Indeed, John McCain has been a paid agent of the Georgian government, and his main foreign advisor, one Randall Schneumann is still on the Georgian dole. That means that Messrs McCain and Schneumann are guilty of selling out the interests of the USA to a foreign state. At one time, that would have disqualified Mr McCain from public office.
The outlines of the plot are clear to all with eyes. Washington wished to aid Georgia militarily, but, desired to have “deniability” if their enterprise crashed and burned (as it so spectacularly did); it also wished to avoid Congressional oversight. So, Foggy Bottom put pressure on Yushchenko to sell arms to Georgia. That would have caused quite a stir in the Rada, as Regions and the Communists would have raised a rumpus. Therefore, arms were taken from the active Ukrainian forces and sold to the Georgians. As the arms were not sold through the usual channels, the pols involved pocketed the not-small amount of money from this Slim Shady deal. They also weakened the Ukrainian forces (which are not much to write home about, in any case).
Seemingly, it was perfect for all the sides involved. The Foggy Bottom neocons got their foreign policy gambit without having to pass it through Congress (remember how they did that with the CIA torture facilities in Poland and Romania?). Yushchenko and his corrupt Galician henchmen pocketed a hefty little bit of swag… boy, what a good boy am I! Saakashvili and his goons got the arms they wanted at cut-rates, which magnified his already bloated arms budget.
However…
THE STILL BLEW UP AND THE SAMOGONSHCHIKI ARE HEADING FOR THE HILLS!
Washington is trying to disentangle itself from the mess that Cheney and Rice planned as a boost to the McCain campaign. Kiev is caught with its nicks around its ankles and Yushchenko has no political allies left, even in Washington. Saakashvili is a “dead man walking”. His political future is kaput, and George Soros is going to have to find another to replace him (if he can).
For all right-wing US supporters of Georgia… reflect on two facts. Saakashvili ordered Grad attacks on sleeping civilians, that is, 1,080 heavy artillery rockets from 27 MRLs landed in Tskhinvali within 20 seconds. If you support Saakashvili, you support that. Secondly, Saakashvili has spent 500 million dollars on a Presidential Palace in a country with a GDP of a little over 10 billion dollars total. That’s 5 percent of the total GDP! “A beacon of democracy in the Caucasus(!)”… I think not… pass me the jug Michael; I need something to restore my balance.
Yet, there are those who support Bush and McCain even as all the sordid details come out… they shan’t listen, anyone who disagrees with them is labelled a “socialist”.
Kaufft nicht bei Bush und McCain… our future depends on it.
BMD