Georgia
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OSCE Report: A damning admission on the Georgian war
The OSCE concluded that the conflict began on August 7 when US-trained Georgian troops shelled Russian peacekeepers and civilians in the capital of Georgia’s breakaway province of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali. Continue reading
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Sergei MARKEDONOV: Abkhazia as the Theatre of Georgia’s Terrorist Activities and Sabotage
The renewed attempts to destabilise the situation in Abkhazia against the background of the unquiet life in South Ossetia and Georgia’s territory adjacent to it, need consideration and assessment of these new threats to the security of South Caucasian states recognised by Russia and to Russia itself as a guarantor of their statehood and the… Continue reading
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Eric Walberg : The quiet Russian
Kosovo is the poorest country in Europe, notorious for drug, arms and human smuggling, and with an unemployment rate of 40 per cent. Kosovo authorities have no control over about 15 per cent of its territory where about 200,000 Serbs live. Local Serbs in those areas recognise only the Serbian government, despite opposition from Kosovo’s… Continue reading
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Immanuel Wallerstein, “The New World Geopolitical Order: End of Act I”
I call this the end of Act I because it has sealed the reality of a true multilateral geopolitical arena. Of course, there are still further acts to come. And any faithful playgoer know that Act I merely establishes who are the actors. It is in Act II that we see what really happens. And… Continue reading
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Georgia: The War Which Will Help McCain Win By Yuri Baranchik
Strategic Culture Foundation Georgia has done a great job as the proving ground during the five-day war. With the help of this war, those who are promoting the Republican nominee in the US presidential race have found out all they needed to know. It was a part of Washington’s plan that Russia would respond resolutely Continue reading
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Caucasus: Media Guilty as `Fog of War` Clears
“The screen reports were transmitting pictures of cluster bombs being used and indiscriminate shelling. The anchors described it as Russia’s shelling of Georgia. It was a pile of lies, distortions and propaganda of the event that happened in Georgia. The foreign press believed what the Georgian officials told them and it looked like the world… Continue reading
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Double Standards: Israeli military occupation is not a bar to EU partnership By David Morrison
On 28 November 1995, the EU allowed Israel to become a partner, under Euro-Mediterranean Partnership arrangements with states bordering on the Mediterranean. At the time, Israeli troops were occupying parts of Lebanon and Syria and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (the West Bank and Gaza) and had been for many years – Lebanon since 1978, the… Continue reading
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FT.com / World – US military trained Georgian commandos
The revelation, based on recruitment documents and interviews with US military trainers obtained by the Financial Times, could add fuel to accusations by Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, last month that the US had ‘orchestrated’ the war in the Georgian enclave. Continue reading
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Is it the 1930s all over again? By William Bowles
The bottom line then is that the crisis of capital has only two outcomes: remove the competitors or, face the end of capitalism and build a socialist alternative. If the former, then general war (whatever its form, ie “endless war”) is the only conclusion, thereby consuming the over-accumulated capital, ‘taking out’ the major competitors and… Continue reading
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New York Times’ Roger Cohen on Georgian crisis: A case of deliberate deception By Alex Lantier
The New York Times, among the most prominent organs of American liberalism, has played a critical role in legitimizing the US government’s position. Its September 1 column by ‘International Writer-at-Large’ Roger Cohen, headlined ‘NATO’s Disastrous Georgian Fudge,’ is an example of the Times’ deliberate campaign of disinformation on the Georgian crisis. Continue reading
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New York Times’ Roger Cohen on Georgian crisis: A case of deliberate deception By Alex Lantier
The New York Times, among the most prominent organs of American liberalism, has played a critical role in legitimizing the US government’s position. Its September 1 column by ‘International Writer-at-Large’ Roger Cohen, headlined ‘NATO’s Disastrous Georgian Fudge,’ is an example of the Times’ deliberate campaign of disinformation on the Georgian crisis. Continue reading
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The Anti-Empire Report by William Blum Read this or George W. Bush will be president the rest of your life
The Democrats should run on the slogan “If you liked Bush, you’ll love McCain”, but that would be too outspoken, too direct for the spineless Nancy Pelosi and her spineless party. Or, “If you liked Iraq, you’ll love Iran.” But the Democrat leadership is not on record as categorically opposing either conflict. Continue reading
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Interview with Russian President Medvedev On Euronews
I think the results are two-fold in nature. First of all, they show that Russia’s motivations in deciding to respond to Georgia’s aggression and recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent subjects of international law have unfortunately not been fully understood. This is sad but not fatal, because everything can change in this world. Continue reading
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US invade Pakistan — but no complaints from the ‘international community’ By William Bowles
I love it! I just came across an article, “Did We Just Invade Pakistan?” but you’ll search in vain for any headline in the mainstream media that even comes close to calling it a US invasion of Pakistan. Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS ALERT: WHEN NEWS IS NOISE – GEORGIA, SOUTH OSSETIA AND THE POLITICAL PIPELINE
The bias is clear, but the deeper point is far more interesting – the entrenched propaganda function of the mainstream media renders it incapable of making sense of events in Georgia and South Ossetia. References to Russian self-interest are allowed, and to Western concerns about energy security. But on the real reasons why people were… Continue reading
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Crisis in the Caucasus – Russian Perspectives
I didn’t want to post each article, rather, I’ve supplied links instead to what I regard as informative analysis and for a change, from a Russian perspective on the upheavals since Georgia’s insane attack on South Ossetia. 2008-09-05 Pyotr ISKENDEROV The Serbian Front in the War Over the Caucasus “At the moment, we are witnessing Continue reading
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Blame Capitalism, Not Medvedev By Boris Kagarlitsky
In order to understand what is happening, we must take a step back from the situation in the Caucasus and even from current U.S.-Russian relations. We are now witnessing the crisis in the global economic system. Continue reading
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The west is strategically wrong on Georgia By Kishore Mahbubani
In Georgia, Russia has loudly declared that it will no longer capitulate to the west. After two decades of humiliation Russia has decided to snap back. Before long, other forces will do the same. As a result of its overwhelming power, the west has intruded into the geopolitical spaces of other dormant countries. They are… Continue reading
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SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH GERHARD SCHRÖDER
The end of unipolar America is not just evident in the rise of a Democratic presidential candidate, Obama, but also in the policies of rationally thinking Republicans. If you read the nonpartisan Baker-Hamilton report on the future of Iraq, you will find it difficult not to recognize that the next US president will hardly have… Continue reading
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The End of the War on Terror and a new New World Order? By Ali Abunimah
Over the past eight years, critical challenges such as climate change, competition for energy, population growth, the economic emergence of China, Russia, India and Brazil and domestic economic problems have gradually superseded the “War on Terror” as primary public concerns. Conflicts in Palestine, Iraq, South Asia and Africa, which the U.S. hoped would be subsumed… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 