We are sitting in our cozy rooms and this is happening:
The conflict between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia moved toward full-scale war on Saturday, as Russia sent warships to land ground troops in the disputed territory of Abkhazia and broadened its bombing campaign across Georgia.
The fighting that had sharply escalated when Georgian forces tried to retake the capital of South Ossetia, a pro-Russian region that won de facto autonomy from Georgia in the early 1990s, appeared to be developing into the worst clashes between Russia and a foreign military since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
Source ~ The New York Times
THE war over South Ossetia, the breakaway region of Georgia, appeared to be widening last night. Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, flew into the area from the Beijing Olympics as his forces seemed to be gaining the upper hand.
After another day of fighting in the rebellious province – and Russian air force attacks that killed civilians in Georgia itself – there were reports of fighting in Abkhazia, Georgia’s other separatist region.
Abkhazian leaders said they had launched air and artillery strikes on government forces with Russian air support and Russian naval vessels arrived at the port of Ochamchira, the secretary of Georgia's national security council, Alexander Lomaia, told AFP.
In South Ossetia itself, separatist leaders claimed 1,500 had been killed, including many civilians, in the initial Georgian assault on Friday. They said tens of thousands had been displaced. Moscow claimed to have pushed Georgian troops from Tskhinvali, the region’s heavily damaged capital.
Source ~ London Times
Russia's use of its potent air weaponry signals a "severe" and "dangerous escalation in the crisis," the official said.
"For the life of me, I can't image that being a proportionate response to the charge that Georgia has attacked Russian peacekeepers," the official said. "It's hard for us to understand what Russia's plan is here."
Source ~ CNN
The Olympics. President Bush and Vladimir Putin sitting together in the stands in shirtsleeves, with our President petulantly bobbing his American flag on his knee, waiting for it all to be over. The United States, with no world support whatsoever, having fecklessly thrown it away over the past seven years with its bull-in-the-china-shop policies. And here we are. The people of a sovereign nation being massacred and all we can do is talk:
Russia's use of strategic bombers and ballistic missiles against Georgia's civilians outside of the South Ossetian conflict is "far disproportionate" to Georgia's alleged attack on Russian peacekeepers, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.
Source ~ CNN
Meanwhile, today, our President practiced beach volleyball with the United States Beach Volleyball Team.
And meanwhile, this.
h/t dansk47 (please see the photo in the link)
UPDATE:
Georgia says its forces have withdrawn from the separatist enclave of South Ossetia, and that Russian troops are now in control of the regional capital.
An interior ministry spokesman told the BBC it was not a military defeat but a necessary step to protect civilians from a "humanitarian catastrophe".
Source ~ BBC