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NEWS ABOUT: South Ossetia

Firebrand Sets Russia's Tone at NATO

Moscow's Brussels rep, a Stalin admirer, revels in attack

(Newser) - If you needed proof of Russia's contempt for NATO, look no further than Dmitri Rogozin, Moscow's representative to the military alliance. A fiery ultranationalist who once had a poster of Stalin hanging in his office, Rogozin has seemed more showman than diplomat. But since the South Ossetian war, something's changed—... More »

Medvedev: Why I Recognized 2 Provinces

Georgia's 'madman' forced us to act, writes Russian president

(Newser) - Yesterday Russia recognized the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states—a move that Dmitry Medvedev calls "a heavy decision." Writing in the Financial Times, the Russian president says that independence for the two breakaway regions, which have suffered under Georgia's "vicious war on... More »

West to Put Screws to Russia

New fury at Russia's formal recognition of breakaway states

(Newser) - The West is preparing to crank up diplomatic pressure on Russia after its challenging move formally recognizing breakaway Ossetia and Abkhazia in the wake of its invasion of Georgia. The US, Europe and NATO have condemned the action, but Russia remains defiant. "We are not afraid of anything, including... More »

Russia Recognizes Georgia's Breakaway Regions

Thumbs nose at West's pleas

(Newser) - Thumbing its nose at the West, Russia has officially recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Dmitry Medvedev announced today, following votes in the Russian parliament. The move flies in the face of a plea from President Bush that Russia refrain from doing so, and the US State Department’... More »

Russian MPs Back Georgian Separatists

Medvedev calls possible split with NATO 'no great loss'

(Newser) - Russian lawmakers voted unanimously today to recognize the independence of two Georgian breakaway regions, leaving the final decision to President Dmitry Medvedev, the Independent reports. The move threatens to further strain Russian-Western relations as Russian troops remained in Georgia with orders to inspect all shipments arriving at a Black Sea... More »

US Aid Ship Arrives in Georgia

(AP) - A US Navy warship carrying humanitarian aid anchored at the Georgian port of Batumi today, sending a strong signal of support to an embattled ally as Russian forces built up around two separatist regions. But a top Russian general suggested that the presence of US and other NATO ships in... More »

Russian Troops Leave Gori

Georgian officials say pullout really happening

(Newser) - Russian troops are finally leaving Gori, Georgian officials said today, with Russia promising that by tomorrow all Russian ground forces would be confined to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia intends to keep more than 2,000 troops stationed in the breakaway regions, which Georgia decries as unlawful “annexation.”... More »

Gergiev to Lead Defiant South Ossetia Concert

London Symphony's principal conductor hails Russian victory

(Newser) - Valery Gergiev, the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, among other prominent posts, will preside over a victorious concert tonight in South Ossetia, celebrating Russia’s recent military successes, theTimes reports. Gergiev is an ethnic Ossetian and close personal friend of Vladimir Putin—they are godfathers of each others’... More »

Russia's 'Buffer Zone' Includes Georgia Territory

Moscow moves closer to recognizing breakaway enclaves

(Newser) - Russia may soon officially recognize the sovereignty of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, lawmakers said today, even as the military moved to establish so-called buffer zones that include Georgian territory, the Wall Street Journal reports. Then-president Vladimir Putin used the move to recognize the secessionist republics to criticize countries which did... More »

Old Cold War Rhetoric Won't Work on the New Putin

He's not Hitler or Stalin; his is a 'subtler game'

(Newser) - Comparing Vladimir Putin to Hitler and Stalin may invoke nostalgia in aging Cold Warriors, argues David Remnick in the New Yorker, but it ignores the realities of contemporary Russia as well as Putin’s actual motives. The Russian leader has been awaiting the chance to vent his resentment of NATO... More »

Russia, Georgia Exchange Prisoners

But Russian military remains in Gori as NATO meets

(Newser) - Russia and Georgia exchanged prisoners of war today in a gesture that observers hope will reduce tensions and expedite a Russian withdrawal. Fifteen Georgians and five Russians were set free, the Georgian military says. Yet despite the exchange, there was still no movement of Russian troops out of Gori or... More »

West Worries as Russia Digs In

Troops seen reinforcing positions in Georgia despite pullback agreement

(Newser) - Russian forces appear to be hunkering down rather than beginning their promised withdrawal from Georgian territory, the New York Times reports. Troops are digging in along the highway to Tbilisi and military vehicles are moving in both directions, alarming the West, according to Reuters. Pentagon officials say they have seen... More »

Promising to Leave, Russia Amps Up Forces in Georgia

NATO divided on response to Moscow

(Newser) - Despite promises from the Kremlin and ultimatums from the American and French presidents, Russia is stalling on its promise to withdraw from Georgia, reports the Guardian. The Russian military has moved ballistic missile launchers into South Ossetia, and its troops remain entrenched near Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. But ahead of... More »

Georgia Is the Victim, So Blame Russia

History reveals Russia as the aggressor

(Newser) - Why blame Georgia for Russia's invasion when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is clearly at fault? Putin has been seething ever since pro-Western Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in Georgia 3 years ago, writes Matthew Continetti in The Weekly Standard. "Putin has been pressuring Georgia for years," writes... More »

Russia, Georgia Built Up to War for Months

Clash over South Ossetia was long-simmering

(Newser) - The explosion of violence in South Ossetia took the world by surprise, but Russia and Georgia had been gearing up for war for months, reports the Wall Street Journal. Both sides had been steadily boosting their military presence around South Ossetia, waiting for the trigger that came with Ossetian shelling... More »

As Obama Surfs, McCain Owns Week

GOP candidate flexes muscles, Dem hits the beach

(Newser) - As the conflict in Georgia wears on, John McCain has seized every opportunity this week to showcase his foreign policy chops, notes Michael Falcone in the New York Times, all but positioning himself as a putative commander in chief. McCain boasted of his multiple visits to the region and even... More »

Rice Arrives in Georgia

American, European diplomats push to get Russian troops out

(Newser) - Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi today, where she said her immediate goal was to get Russian troops out of Georgia. The secretary of state stopped over in France to meet with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president who brokered a ceasefire that Moscow has flouted. Rice's trip follows an American airlift... More »

Banker Predicted Georgian Invasion 2 Days Early

(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... More »

Bush Doctrine Enabled Putin's Georgia War

Iraq action opened Pandora's box of unilateralism

(Newser) - President Bush's "howls of outrage" at Russia's unilateral action and calls for regime change in the Caucasus ring more than a little hollow to Juan Cole of Salon, who remembers all too well a similar situation not long ago. "Vladimir Putin's invoking Bush's Iraq adventure points directly to... More »

Saakashvili: West Must Stop Russia Brutality

Moscow seeks 'new world order,' warns Georgian president

(Newser) - As Russia maintains a troop presence in several Georgian cities, Mikheil Saakashvili writes in the Washington Post, "We cannot allow Georgia to become the first victim of a new world order as imagined by Moscow." The Georgian president says the international community must recognize that Russia intends to... More »

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