Sat, 16 Aug 2008
Some people really need to lay off the vodka
General Anatoly Nogovitsin (the lean graying guy with all the microphones), apparently speaking for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, threatened yesterday to wipe out Poland with a nuclear attack.
Seems like a return to the old Cold War days but with everything happening much faster than it used to.
posted by Bill White at 10:05 | permalink | email me | | |
Wed, 13 Aug 2008
A cynical thought
Did we sell Georgia to Russia in exchange for a free hand in Iran?
posted by Bill White at 09:57 | permalink | email me | | |
Tue, 12 Aug 2008
Strategic considerations
Here's an overview of what Russia's up to in Georgia.
posted by Bill White at 10:19 | permalink | email me | | |
Mon, 11 Aug 2008
How far to help Georgia?
We've flown Georgia's 2,000 troops back to Georgia from Iraq, which seemed to tick off Vlad Putin. If no one provides further help to Georgia, what next? Does Russia gin up some pretext to reannex Ukraine & Belarus or gobble up the oil-producing little statelets in the Caucasus? Are the independent countries on Russia's borders not really independent at all? How much does this situation parallel that of mid-1930s Europe when Hitler was snatching up places left and right? If Putin continues, when do we tell him No?
One difference between then and now is that most of Europe's energy is supplied by Russia or through Russian-controlled sources. Hitler didn't have that much leverage over Europe in the 30s.
posted by Bill White at 13:08 | permalink | email me | | |
Sun, 10 Aug 2008
Milblogs
Here are some sources for responsible, intelligent commentary on Russia v. Georgia:
And here are some partisan blogs that have sprung up in the last few days:
- Russia and Georgia at War - pro-Georgian
- State Minister for Reintegration - Georgian government office?
- Embassy of Georgia in Estonia
- Website and blog of Temuri Yakobashvili, Georgian State Minister for Reintegration
And here's a decent and heavily-sourced overview from wikipedia, though the quality declines toward the end of the article.
Update: are American troops still in Georgia? A training exercise called Immediate Response 2008 started July 15 and was scheduled to continue for for "the next several weeks". 300 National Guardsmen from our Georgia are among the Americans participating in the exercise.
Ah - it ended July 31, and as of yesterday there were still 127 American military trainers in Georgia, including about 35 civilians.
posted by Bill White at 10:05 | permalink | email me | | |
Sat, 09 Aug 2008
I wonder...
...how many people think Russians are bombing Atlanta, Georgia?
posted by Bill White at 17:34 | permalink | email me | | |
Tue, 13 Nov 2007
The mighty do fall
The old Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev is now an attraction at a Chinese theme park. Isn't their space shuttle Buran parked in a playground somewhere? google... no, the static test model is in Gorky Park; the Buran that flew was crushed when its hanger collapsed a few years ago.
Heh - here's what Soviet websites would have looked like if the Commies had made it another ten years to the internet age (link to buran.ru).
posted by Bill White at 17:54 | permalink | email me | | |
