Thread: Cheney: Russian Action 'Must Not Go Unanswered'

Cheney: Russian Action 'Must Not Go Unanswered'

Sunday, August 10, 2008 9:00 PM



WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney says Russia's military actions in Georgia "must not go unanswered."

Cheney spoke Sunday afternoon with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. "The vice president expressed the United States' solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratically elected government in the face of this threat to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Cheney's press secretary, Lee Ann McBride, said.

Cheney told Saakashvili "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community," McBride said.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/bush ... ode=6799-1

Bush Says Violence in Georgia Is Unacceptable

Sunday, August 10, 2008 10:00 PM



BEIJING -- President Bush on Monday sharply criticized Moscow's harsh military crackdown in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, saying the violence is unacceptable and Russia's response is disproportionate.

The United States is waging an all-out campaign to press Russia to halt its retaliation against Georgia for trying to take control of the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Bush, in an interview with NBC, said, "I've expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia and that we strongly condemn the bombing outside of South Ossetia."

On Sunday, Vice President Dick Cheney said that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States."

The crisis over South Ossetia appeared to ebb as Georgian troops began retreating and honoring a cease-fire, a claim Russia disputed. U.S. officials said Moscow was only broadening its retaliation against Georgia for trying to take control of the region.

The sheer scope of Russia's military response has the Bush administration deeply worried. Russia on Sunday expanded its bombing blitz in areas of Georgia not central to the fighting.

Cheney spoke Sunday afternoon with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, Cheney press secretary Lee Ann McBride said. "The vice president expressed the United States' solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratically elected government in the face of this threat to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," McBride said.

Asked to explain Cheney's phrase "must not go unanswered," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "It means it must not stand." White House officials refused to indicate what recourse the United States might have if the military onslaught continues.

A Russian official said more than 2,000 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday; the figure could not be confirmed independently.

The president was to end his weeklong stay to Asia by attending a baseball game and other events Monday at the Beijing Olympics. The trip was meant mostly for fun and games _ there have been plenty of both. But the fast-moving conflict in Georgia has grabbed his attention.

Bush, pressing international mediation, reached out Sunday to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who heads the European Union. The two agreed on the need for a cease-fire and a respect for Georgia's integrity, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the United States must work closely with Europe in condemning Russia's actions.

"We cannot just go out alone on this and talk and act unilaterally. We don't have much impact, I believe, in terms of our unilateral declarations anymore with the administration's approach to the world," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "We've got to stand together with European allies."

Georgia, whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, began an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday, launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that pounded the provincial capital, Tskhinvali. In response, Russia launched overwhelming artillery shelling and air attacks on Georgian troops.

"We're alarmed by this entire situation, and every escalatory step is a further problem," deputy national security adviser Jim Jeffrey told reporters.

The U.S. military began flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq after Georgia recalled the soldiers following the outbreak of fighting with Russia. The decision was a timely payback for the former Soviet republic that has been a staunch U.S. supporter and agreed to send troops to Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition. Georgia was the third-largest contributor of coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain, and most of its troops were stationed near the Iranian border in southeastern Iraq.

The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war increased when Russian-supported separatists in another breakaway region of Georgia, Abkhazia, launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian troops to drive them out of a small part of the province they control.

Also, Ukraine warned Russia it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast.

"If those Russian ships leave that port in the Black Sea and if Ukraine decides that it is not going to allow those ships back into that port ... that is a potentially much greater conflagration involving a wider regional area," Levin said.

The White House sought to reassure that the administration _ including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen _ were talking to parties on both sides and trying for a diplomatic solution.

Asked about the possibility of sending the U.S. military or other aid to Georgia, Jeffrey said, "Right now our focus is on working with both sides, with the Europeans and with a whole variety of international institutions and organizations to get the fighting to stop."

Levin, too, did not see the chance of U.S. military involvement, though he said the U.S. needs to make clear to Russia that its action "is way out of line."

Bush also tended to relations with China, again raising raised concerns to President Hu Jintao about how the host of the summer Olympics treats its own people.

Bush worshipped at a Beijing church and declared China has nothing to fear from expressions of faith. The message had the added punch of coming on China's turf, as Bush has done before.

He managed time for a couple of marquee sporting events. With first lady Laura Bush, daughter Barbara and former President George H.W. Bush, he cheered from the stands of the Water Cube Olympic swimming venue. American Michael Phelps claimed the first of an expected string of gold medals by smashing his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley.

"God, what a thrill to cheer for you!" Bush told Phelps afterward.

At night, Bush watched the eagerly anticipated U.S.-China men's basketball game.

Before the contest, he huddled with U.S. players in a corridor of the Olympic arena, putting his hand in with theirs and joining in a cheer, "One, two, three, U.S.A., go!"

http://www.newsmax.com/international/bu ... 20778.html

US, Russian Ambassadors Spar at UN Over Georgia

Sunday, August 10, 2008 4:00 PM



UNITED NATIONS -- U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad exchanged sharp remarks with the Russian ambassador on Sunday, accusing Moscow of resisting attempts to make peace with Georgia after days of fighting have left hundreds of civilians dead.

Khalilzad pointedly asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin in the U.N. Security Council session whether Russia's aim was to "change the leadership in Georgia" _ a charge Churkin did not directly address but seemed to deny.

"We believe the situation has gotten a lot worse in the last 24 hours," Khalilzad told reporters after the public debate during the council session had ended. "There is a danger here that Russia is over-reaching" by seeking regime change in Georgia.

"Regime change is purely an American invention," Churkin replied, speaking to reporters. "He (Khalilzad) raised the issue and I think I responded quite adequately to it."

Churkin also accused the U.N. secretary-general's office of taking Georgia's side. A spokesman for Ban Ki-moon denied the claim; Ban's office had said late Saturday night he was "alarmed by the escalation of hostilities in Georgia."

Much of the session, which began Sunday morning with private talks and a public session, became a tense standoff between major powers Russia and the U.S.

It was the Security Council's fourth meeting in as many days. Council members broke off their three-hour meeting Sunday with plans to return either later in the day or Monday.

Many of the council members take sides with Georgia, which is not a council member, but China and South Africa voiced some support for Russia during Sunday's private talks, U.N. officials said. Georgia's ambassador could only join the council's open meetings, not its private talks, and then again only by invitation.

The conflict began when U.S.-allied Georgia began an offensive to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia overnight Friday. Georgia launched heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that pounded the provincial capital of Tskhinvali.

In response, Russia launched overwhelming artillery shelling and air attacks on Georgian troops. On Sunday, Russian jets targeted an aircraft-making plant near the airport on the outskirts of Tbilisi, the capital of the former Soviet republic.

Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s.

Both separatist provinces have close ties with Moscow, while Georgia has deeply angered Russia by wanting to join NATO.

Georgia's ambassador, Irakli Alasania, said it was "Russia's intention to erase Georgian statehood, to exterminate Georgian people." Churkin also accused Georgia of waging "genocide" against South Ossetians.

He said Russia will only act in self-defense. "Let's state clearly that we are ready to put an end to the war, that we will withdraw from South Ossetia, that we will sign an agreement on non-use of force," Churkin proposed

However, diplomats said major fighting continued in many areas.

The U.S. was preparing a draft resolution that would have the council call for an immediate cease-fire and condemnation of Russia. France also had a draft text in the works. The U.S. and Europeans planned to huddle among themselves later Sunday.

Russia is one of five nations with veto power on the 15-nation U.N. Security Council. The others are Britain, China, France and the U.S.

http://www.newsmax.com/international/un ... 20731.html

Personally I fail to see how it's disproportionate in the least, Georgia did start this war unprovoked and did level the capital of South Ossetia, left their hospital a pile of rubble, burned down churches where people had sought refuge, and the civilian death count at Georgia's hand is over 1,500. When Russia levels Georgia's capital, wiping it off of the map and clearing it of all inhabitants, leaving women and children dead in the streets, shooting at fleeing refugees to where the survival rate of escape is estimated at 30%, then they'd be close to even. But the chances of Putin's Russia doing that are close to zero, as they're the far more civilized side in this.

The sitting Georgian government and military, or whomever's pulling their strings, gambled and lost. The allied US/UK/Israel & various oligarchs have just lost their installed puppet government over there, upsetting their little globalist world order, and now they'll do/say anything to get it back. But really all they can do is whine and play the woe is me card.