Trouble in South Ossetia escalates

[Siege]

From Vympels link:

Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said Georgia had simply run out of patience with attacks by separatist militias in recent days and had had to move in to restore peace in South Ossetia.

Yea-aah, you "run out of patience", shell the capital with rocket artillery, and then just so happen to hit the barracks of the Russian peacekeepers in the capital. Right. No doubt these separatists are a bunch of jackasses, and I'm perfectly willing to believe Russia is aiding them, but that's just a little too coincidental, and smells of deliberate jackassery and provocation.

RIA News Agency quotes a Russian deputy commander of ground forces called Igor Konashenkov as saying that units of the 58th Army are approaching the capital "in support of the peacekeepers".

[PeZook]

RIA News Agency quotes a Russian deputy commander of ground forces called Igor Konashenkov as saying that units of the 58th Army are approaching the capital "in support of the peacekeepers".

It's an entire armored brigade ; Their most likely mission is to pressure the Georgians to withdraw. The only "support" peacekeepers may need from 150 tanks is support in crushing the Georgians.

[Vaporous]

Reuters has video

and more

[Zed Snardbody]

That's not support that's a damn beat down.

[Raj Ahten]

From Vympels link:

Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said Georgia had simply run out of patience with attacks by separatist militias in recent days and had had to move in to restore peace in South Ossetia.

Yea-aah, you "run out of patience", shell the capital with rocket artillery, and then just so happen to hit the barracks of the Russian peacekeepers in the capital. Right. No doubt these separatists are a bunch of jackasses, and I'm perfectly willing to believe Russia is aiding them, but that's just a little too coincidental, and smells of deliberate jackassery and provocation.
.

Well it’s not like rocket artillery is especially accurate. If the Georgians had a bombardment of any strength they could have hit the Russians by mistake, especially if they are scattered about in a lot of small bases like peacekeepers would be. It's also just as likely some gunner may have decided to hit the Russians as well though.

[TheMuffinKing]

Yes, because Russia is comitted to opression, a communist economy and spreading corruption in society

This thing had to blow up, with both sides being complete dicks about Ossetia. Seriously, game authors saw it coming.

I just hope no western country does anything retarded, and it's going to suck for Georgian civilians for a long while

Maybe we'll get another remake of Ghost Recon.

All joking aside, has anyone found resources showing whats going on on the ground? Web logs, anything?

[Raj Ahten]

Yes, because Russia is comitted to opression, a communist economy and spreading corruption in society

This thing had to blow up, with both sides being complete dicks about Ossetia. Seriously, game authors saw it coming.

I just hope no western country does anything retarded, and it's going to suck for Georgian civilians for a long while

Maybe we'll get another remake of Ghost Recon.

All joking aside, has anyone found resources showing whats going on on the ground? Web logs, anything?

Right now the BBC is the only major news outlet with decent coverage, and all they are able to report is what the two governments are saying. As far as I know, reporters just aren't in the region from western nations outside the capitals of Russia and Georgia.

[[R_H]]

Yes, because Russia is comitted to opression, a communist economy and spreading corruption in society

This thing had to blow up, with both sides being complete dicks about Ossetia. Seriously, game authors saw it coming.

I just hope no western country does anything retarded, and it's going to suck for Georgian civilians for a long while

Maybe we'll get another remake of Ghost Recon.

All joking aside, has anyone found resources showing whats going on on the ground? Web logs, anything?

In terms of pictures, there's always MilitaryPhotos.net.

[Vympel]

Pictures I've seen include very clear shots of Russian aircraft - Su-24s and Su-25s, with bombs, flying over Georgian positions. Presumably, they're bombing the shit out of them. They'd probably do well to transfer some Mi-24PNs in the area to the combat zone for some close night attack capability, that'll fuck the Georgians right up.

Oh, and expect Russian aircraft to accidentally drop PGMs on Georgia's oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Well it’s not like rocket artillery is especially accurate. If the Georgians had a bombardment of any strength they could have hit the Russians by mistake, especially if they are scattered about in a lot of small bases like peacekeepers would be. It's also just as likely some gunner may have decided to hit the Russians as well though.

If these are purely ballistic rockets, at most a few km CEP.

[Dartzap]

The Beeb have reporters atthe border now, you should get pics and proper reports from them by the morning. Joy.

Just what the world needs, anouther war.....

[fgalkin2]

Russian and Ossetian sources are now talking about a 12 hour siege of the city by Georgian troops.

According to Koikoty (the Ossetian leader), 1400 civillians have been killed in the city. Russian-only link

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Shroom Man 777]

May God go with the Russians as Operation Georgian Freedom begins - and as the Ivans free the South Ossetians from the yolk of Georgian oppression and tyranny.


The West has no grounds to bitch or moan about this - particularly with what's happened to the last war.

[CaptainChewbacca]

May God go with the Russians as Operation Georgian Freedom begins - and as the Ivans free the South Ossetians from the yolk of Georgian oppression and tyranny.


The West has no grounds to bitch or moan about this - particularly with what's happened to the last war.

Forgive me, but IS anyone doing anything other than the general calls for peace and calm?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Forgive me, but IS anyone doing anything other than the general calls for peace and calm?

The United States tried to get Georgia into Nato not too long ago. Likely they will make a statement, while Europe stays silent.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Forgive me, but IS anyone doing anything other than the general calls for peace and calm?

The United States tried to get Georgia into Nato not too long ago. Likely they will make a statement, while Europe stays silent.

Should be interesting, given that the leaders of 100 different nations are in the same city right now.

[Scottish Ninja]

I was playing Bad Company the other day and wondering just how the US could've gotten into a war with Russia - looks like we know now.

[Kane Starkiller]

Stalin must be spinning in his grave.

[hongi]

Holy shit, I come back about twenty minutes later and what the hell is this about hundreds dead?

Can this be anything other than war?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

May we see the Russian Army finally put the line down on the pathetic attempts of NATO to encircle, constrict, and destroy what remains of Russia and the Russian people--a decisive war which will shatter once and for all the pathological hatred of the Russian people and Russia spread by such purveyors of hate as Zbigniew Brzezinski and their continuous efforts to destroy all things Russian.

[Dartzap]

Holy shit, I come back about twenty minutes later and what the hell is this about hundreds dead?

Can this be anything other than war?

Russian reports are saying over a thousand dead now. The Georgian president has said "We are now at war with Russia"

There, as they say, goes the neighbourhood.

[Dartzap]

May we see the Russian Army finally put the line down on the pathetic attempts of NATO to encircle, constrict, and destroy what remains of Russia and the Russian people--a decisive war which will shatter once and for all the pathological hatred of the Russian people and Russia spread by such purveyors of hate as Zbigniew Brzezinski and their continuous efforts to destroy all things Russian.

Whilst I have no real hatred of Russia, I also notice that their government is quite arrogant at the best of times. I think the rather....uh, foaming at mouth description you just wrote is rather OTT.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Whilst I have no real hatred of Russia, I also notice that their government is quite arrogant at the best of times. I think the rather....uh, foaming at mouth description you just wrote is rather OTT.

Zbigniew Brzezinski has openly said before that he thinks the whole Russian people alive today need to be punished for the systematic crimes he claims happened due to their nature (rather than rulers or anything) over hundreds of years and all of Russian culture to be rebuilt along more western lines... This bastard and other people like him have been responsible for a great deal of the blatant aggression in NATO's push to the east, and thus the modes of thoughts behind that approach are basically racist, and when people start spreading vile things like that, sometimes war is very necessary to halt them..

[That NOS Guy]

May we see the Russian Army finally put the line down on the pathetic attempts of NATO to encircle, constrict, and destroy what remains of Russia and the Russian people--a decisive war which will shatter once and for all the pathological hatred of the Russian people and Russia spread by such purveyors of hate as Zbigniew Brzezinski and their continuous efforts to destroy all things Russian.

Remind me how a "decisive war" is going to remove Russophobia again. All a crushing victory for the Russians brings is more local resentment since it's not like they've been very magnamious in victory.

[Siege]

Russian reports are saying over a thousand dead now. The Georgian president has said "We are now at war with Russia"

There, as they say, goes the neighbourhood.

Reports said the Georgian troops were shelling the South Ossetian capital with heavy artillery. Of course these are Russian reports, so may be exaggerated, but even then -- if you indiscriminately light off rocket artillery into a city, yeah, you'd expect dozens if not hundreds of dead. And if that's really the case, then I don't know how the Georgians ever thought they were going to keep the Russian army out of this. Did they really expect the Russians to back off as they merrily shelled the living hell out of a city Russia had peacekeepers stationed in?

Really, the more I read about this mess, the more it strikes me as a really, really bad all-or-nothing gamble by the Georgian government. It seems they're banking entirely on the West pressuring Russia to back off, allowing Georgia to re-establish control over the province. Which simply isn't going to happen, because the EU needs Russia more than it needs Georgia, and the USA has preciously little to lose by antagonizing Russia more than they already have...