Here come the Cossacks! In this article, they talked about how these volunteer troops are getting issued a uniform and hopping on a bus to go to the war. That they would be issued a weapon when they got there. LOL
Typical of the Russians to pull this latest move. They bring out the Cossacks to stir up nationalism for all of these types of conflicts. Something tells me that the US/ Israeli trained Georgian troops with combat experience in Iraq, will decimate these guys. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see the use of IEDs and EFPs big time in Georgia, as this thing drags on.
It is also interesting to note the history of the region. Most in Eastern Europe remember events that happened hundreds of years ago, as if it happened yesterday. Putin has also been really sucking up to these groups to stir up that old Russian feeling again, so I thought that this was an interesting article about the Cossacks and this current conflict.
The way Russia is dealing with the town of Gori and the capital Tskhinvali , is telling as well. They are using the same tactics they used in Chechnya, in which they just bomb the crap out of everything.
On a side note, it is rumored that Georgia has downed 10 Russian jets and 30 tanks. The casualty figures are supposedly at 1600 now. –Head Jundi
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Armed Cossacks pour in to fight Georgians
Neighbours mobilise in anger at Tblisi’s attack on enclave
Tom Parfitt in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia
The Guardian,
Saturday August 9 2008
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of volunteer fighters from Russia were mobilising to enter the war in Georgia’s breakaway republic of South Ossetia last night.
Units of armed Cossacks from across the North Caucasus region which borders Georgia were poised to join the battle for the separatists’ capital, Tskhinvali.
In North Ossetia, the region of Russia which shares cultural links and a border with South Ossetia, lists of men willing to fight against Georgian forces were drawn up. Vitaly Khubayev, 35, from the capital, Vladikavkaz, told the Guardian: “There are already two busloads of fighters leaving for Tskhinvali every day. They give you a uniform on the way and you get issued with weapons once you arrive. If I didn’t have three children I’d have gone.”
The two Ossetias are historically inseparable and residents of the northern republic were furious yesterday at what they described as the “Georgian fascist attack” on their neighbours.
Many said they were willing to take up arms and travel to defend their relatives across the border in South Ossetia. Valentin Tekhti, 67, a teacher, said: “Our Ossetian brothers are dying. If we get the call, every man who can stand on two legs will go to fight.”
Amiran Khubetsov, a doctor, said: “A nation is under bombardment in the land it has occupied for hundreds of years. The world must not ignore this aggression.”
At a special meeting of the UN security council yesterday morning, the United States called on the Kremlin to prevent irregulars entering South Ossetia via the 4km Roki tunnel, the republic’s only link with Russia. But at a meeting with the US president, George Bush, in Bejing, the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, admitted “many volunteers” were heading to South Ossetia and it would be “very hard to maintain peace”.
Under Russia law, Cossacks – the descendants of runaway serfs and outlaws who in the past were employed to protect the country’s southern border – are allowed to carry arms and carry out policing functions in cooperation with interior ministry forces.
At the headquarters of the Terek Cossacks in Vladikavkaz yesterday a group of men sat under portraits of fierce looking warriors with drooping moustaches watching television coverage of Georgian artillery shelling Tskhinvali. One man said there would be a meeting today to discuss forming volunteer units.
In Volgograd the leader of the Don Cossacks, Viktor Vodolatsky, called on all Cossacks under 40 to volunteer. Reports said 100 men from the region had already left for Tskhinvali. “We must help our South Ossetian brothers,” he said.
Irregular troops from the north Caucasus played an important role in the conflicts that saw both Georgia’s breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, secede in the early 1990s.
In Abkhazia, Cossack and Chechen units fought side by side against Georgian troops, despite being historical enemies. Abkhazia has promised to help South Ossetia in its conflict with Georgia.
Ossetians in Vladikavkaz yesterday said they were hoping for a decisive strike by the Russian army to drive Georgia’s forces out of South Ossetia. There were emotional scenes in the city, as hundreds of protesters, mostly women, gathered outside the regional government headquarters and shouted, “Russia, save us!”
Aelita Dzhioyeva, 41, a lawyer who fled Tskhinvali on Thursday evening, showed text messages on her mobile phone from relatives still sheltering in a basement in the city. One message read: “We are dying. Ask the government for help.”
Dzhioyeva said: “Our men will stay and fight until the last drop of blood, but our old people and children must be saved. We are calling on the Kremlin to intervene and create a humanitarian corridor for them to escape.”
Shota Kochiev, 60, said: “This is America’s doing. They are supporting Georgia’s mad lust for new land – our land.”
About 2,000 refugees from South Ossetia, mostly women and children, have so far been bussed to Russia and are staying in hotels around Vladikavkaz.
It's really hard sifting through all the news reports to get an accurate picture of what's really going on. Russian network RT had and American vacationing from Florida asking all Americans to call their senators and reps. to ask President Bush to stay out of Russia's way. He was even wearing a "Russia" baseball hat. The word "genocide" is being thrown around a lot too. I'm siding with the Georgians at this point. My real worry is that their NATO bid and support of the US in Iraq was just a ruse to get us to support them in this. The Georgians lack of forethought though makes me wonder. Their military is miniscule compared to Russia's. Putin was just itching for an excuse too. Now I think he'll decimate Georgia's military and much of their infrastructure and put in "peacekeepers" and essentially go back to Soviet era administration. All the old school commies will love this
Comment by Scott — Monday, August 11, 2008 @ 4:32 AM
Yeah, I support Georgia in this deal too. Russia was just chomping at the bit to get in there, and they used any little excuse they could. And I am suspect as to what exactly went down, to lead up to this point. What I am thinking about though is what can we do, just short of military action, to stop the Bear? Not much in the short term.
I think in order to get back at Russia with all of this, and save some face with the rest of the break away republics, we should promote and speed up Ukraine's NATO bid. That would really tick off the Russians. That is one idea. The other is to supply Georgia with more weapons so they can make it painful for Russia. And then there is sanctions. But with this whole energy dependence thing, it will be hard to bite the hand that feeds us.
But realistically, with the deal in Georgia, I just don't see any viable near term solutions. One thing is for sure though, and that is just as long as you have pissed off Georgian fighters that were trained by us and the Israelis, you will have a threat to all of Russia's oil interests out of the Caspian Sea in that region. That would be one possible outcome of this.
And as this conflict continues, we might see a bleed over into the other countries. There is a bunch of oil that flows through that region and wars tend to have a negative impact on the stability of that flow. Russia seems to have secured the pipelines so far, but that is a lot of pipe to cover.
Another way to look at it, is that if Georgia thinks we have turned our back on them, they will definitely start bombing pipelines. That way, they make the Georgian pipelines unprofitable for the Russians, and it will be a message to the West. That message is, you didn't help us fight off these guys, and now we are going to mess with your oil supply coming out of the Caspian Sea. But maybe this was our goal all along?
We can now say to Russia, that we can do to you, like we did to you guys during the whole Afghanistan thing back in the eighties and nineties. If you screw with oil prices, mess with our deals in the middle east, or just piss us off, that we will pour weapons and aid into Georgia and cause massive instability there. And meanwhile, Europe and the West will just seek oil elsewhere. Iraq is sitting on a bunch of oil, and Canada is licking it's chops too. Russia needs buyers, and the buyers need oil, and if those buyers cannot depend on Russia for that oil, then the market will take those buyers to more dependable sources.
So far the markets have not really reflected the true impact of this war. I think a stronger dollar and the fact that the pipeline was already shut down by an attack by the PKK in Turkey a week prior might be the deal. Or everyone thinks that Russia can protect this million barrel a day pipeline in the coming months and years, now that they own it. We'll see what happens.
Comment by headjundi — Monday, August 11, 2008 @ 6:26 PM