Gorbachev: Blame Georgia

Role of Russian military in Georgia unclear

(NEWSER) - President Bush announced that the US would send humanitarian aid into Georgia today as hostilities threatened to overwhelm the fragile peace agreement, the New York Times reports. In announcing that he was dispatching Condoleezza Rice to mediate the dispute, Bush said that the US “stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that its sovereignty and territorial integrity be respected.” More»

But Russia broke international law, militia committed genocide

(NEWSER) - Georgia was responsible for triggering last summer’s war with Russia, a European Union investigation has concluded. But Russia was far from blameless, laying the foundation for the war and breaking international law by invading. The report, which was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, also accuses Russian-backed South Ossetian militias of ethnic cleansing against Georgian civilians, both during the war and afterward. More»

It suggests nation shelled S. Ossetia to provoke Russia

(NEWSER) - Independent military observers have published new accounts that contradict Georgia's claim that it was acting defensively against Russian aggression. The reports suggest instead that the small Georgian army moved into Tskhinvali unprovoked, unleashing artillery and rocket fire without discrimination at civilians and unarmed monitors. It also discounts the claim, made on television the night of the invasion, that ethnic Georgian villages in breakaway South Ossetia were under attack. More»

(NEWSER) - An investment banker in Kiev predicted the Georgian conflict two days before it occurred, Reuters reports. "So whaddaya think?,” Geoff Smith wrote on Aug. 5 to a fellow strategist at Renaissance Capital. “I say Saakashvili is going to 'restore the territorial integrity of Georgia' five minutes before the opening ceremony starts in Beijing and dare the Russians to invade while the Games are on." More»

'We cannot compete' with Russia, but don't forget: 'Finland fought this kind of war in 1939'

(NEWSER) - After 5 years of risky political brinksmanship with Russia, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili now finds himself in the fight of his life, the Wall Street Journal reports. The pro-Western leader says he has no regrets about his tactics, which seem finally to have set off long-simmering tensions between his state and Moscow, and, more personally, between him and Vladimir Putin. More»