Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

This is pretty random.....an ad for an old video game?

Andrew, the Russians invaded Georgia a few days ago.

It's not prescient. In the current situation it's the Georgians who are the aggressors not the Russians. The Ossetians want to be part of Russia and have been put down by Georgia. Russia has been supporting the Ossetian rebels with 'peacekeeping' forces for the past few years. Georgia signed an agreement giving autonomy to South Ossetia and then turned around and attacked. Russia is helping the Ossetians defend themselves.

The media seems to have this preoccupation with Russia as "bad guy". It may be true in many instances, but not in this one. The one-sided coverage is just knee-jerk reaction.

Loved ghost recon games. Played 'em on the old mac and the graphics and play were excellent -- and seemed real -- too real. Can't find these games for anything now. At least not for mac.

I agree with tony on this. The media has been one-sided and has not explored documentation of the Ossetian situation. I'd like to see more on that, but not with Putin or any Russian giving lectures on it. He's untrustworthy to say the least.

tonybaloney -

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. The Ossetians want their own independent country. The ethnic Russian that were imported by the truckload from Russia want it to be absorbed back into Russia. Russia refuses to recognize Ossetia or Abkhazia as independent nations because they just want to control the land they are on.

As for the most recent violence, those ethnic Russians and Cossacks that were trucked in by Russia fired on civilians outside of Ossetia, and the Georgians had no option but to move into their province of South Ossetia and stop the cossacks from killing more innocent people. Then Russia came in, bombed Tskhinvili, Gori, Tbilisi, and Poti, and sent tank columns in to conquer the Republic of Georgia.

This is nothing more than a neo-Soviet landgrab.

bean -

You're right. I should have said that the Ossetians don't want to be a part of Georgia, not that they do want to be part of Russia. At any rate, it doesn't change the fact that in this case, it was Georgia who attacked the Russians who were in Ossetia as peacekeepers.

Bean, you are right in your explanation. I heard the story as it developed from someone who is in Georgia now. A lot of the aggressor's side of the story has been lies. For instance, Georgians are no more capable of "ethnic cleansing" than Americans are.

I'll be very happy indeed if this is the end of the conflict.

Anyone who believes the Georgians were the aggressors is ignorant, because Russia's Ossetian proxies started the conflict by launching harassing attacks against the Georgians probably with Moscow's tacit blessing.

Ignorance is bliss

oh Jonn R.. good conversation and credible sources NEVER start with "if you think 'this' you're just ignorant."

and Darragh.. don't fuel the fire.

in any rate, i don't really know what's going on over there. honestly, i don't care that much (yes, people are dying and it's terrible. i get it). what i DO care about though, is whether or not our fantastic government is gonna make it our problem too-- THEN i will care. because i don't know about you guys, but condi seems to be fired up about all those people she doesn't know, and i'll be damned if we go into another unwarranted war against people we're not even fighting with.

Hey Mr. Toney Baloney;

Should any region/person be allowed to succeed from a country just because they want to? Look at that idea played out in former Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia used to be a strong country that made awesome cars (jokes), but then the international community decided to allow it to break into a million different pieces.

Speaking from an American standpoint, the USA would not have become as strong as it did if had just allowed the Southern Confederate States succeed. Should the Pacific NW be allowed to succeed? How about the ethnic minority of Caucasians in the USA, should they all be allowed to succeed from the United States because they do not feel their interests are represented?

This is not an issue of right / wrong or self determination. It is simply an issue power. Russia wants more of it. The Georgians rightly realize they can't give up the region w/o loosing some of their own. The west realizes that they need this region to maintain their own power and an oil supply line.

My problem is with the United States. There was a time when we wouldn't have dreamed of letting Russia take a hold of this region. Now we are busy fighting an imaginary 'war on terrorism', while we ignore and even support our real enemies; China and Russia.

It seems like my country has lost its balls. It has no problem invading a country like Iraq, but we ignore China and Russia, mainly because they can fight back.

That is Life.

South Ossetia is nothing. Its a sparsely populated mountain region with few resources and no value. Its only value is as a defensive barrier to Russian aggression, and as such its a valuable piece of territory, like the Golan Heights in Israel.

South Ossetians have been quasi independant, but SO is not totally non-Georgian, and there are dozens of villages with Georgian populations, that the Georgian government wants to protect. Naturally, the Russians and Ossetians want to drive those people out.

Towards that end, the Russians have been giving aid and support to South Ossetians in order to keep the area under friendly control. In doing so, it preserves Russian options, and they can steamroll over the Georgians any time they please with few casualties.
Without control of South Ossetia, Russian forces would face a stiff fight to even push through the narrow roads and gorges of SO without taking huge casualties.

Georgia should retain control of SO, its their land. Russia should have a say in how its people are treated, but this is not the way to go about it.

Russia has overplayed its hand here, and it will not be the victory they had hoped for when the US sells Georgia more ATGMs and attack helos.

This is sad. Number One. You and I know very little. So, stop pretending. The BTC Pipeline is at stake. Ownership of S. Ossetia is at stake. It is nearing election time in the U.S.. Military-Industrial Complex has lead national foreign policy for years. Polls show certain activities will sway the majority vote a certain way. That certain way is in the interests of parties who can sway it from their current position of power (party allegience). We have heard the stories of the BBC in England, Fox news in the U.S., and Georgia's leader. We, in these 3 countries have not heard Russia's stance or S. Ossetia's stance (except through the filter of those other viewpoints which reflect the BTC Pipeline and it's resources supplied to Britain and the United States -1/3 of BP oil is suppplied through the BTC). There is a reason for this one sided reporting: CONTROL OVER YOUR MIND, MONEY, AND FREEDOM from such control. Wake up. Patriotism is not congruent with Nationalism. We DON'T KNOW what is going on in the world, and not for lack of due attention. We DO KNOW we haven't heard the whole story. We know something of what the side we are hearing from stands to lose or gain, but fails to mention (misdirection). Think for yourself, not for your party, and not for your country, but for analytical autonomy -for truth, justice, and the once-American way.