What really happened in South Ossetia?
August 8, 2008
MOSCOW - Georgian troops launched a massive assault on the breakaway province of South Ossetia on Friday, taking control of much of the region and bringing Georgia's U.S.-allied government closer to the brink of full-scale conflict with Russia.
Just hours after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a cease-fire with South Ossetian separatist troops, Georgian military forces unleashed a barrage of shelling on the province's capital, Tskhinvali, late Thursday and early Friday. By the morning, Georgian tanks had entered the South Ossetian capital.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
Who did Karl Rove meet on his sweet vacation in Crimea?
Hmm, it turns out he wasn't on vacation. Karl Rove never takes vacations!
FIFTH ANNUAL YALTA MEETING
10-13 July, 2008
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Richard Haass, Karl Rove, Bob Shrum, Mikhаil Saakashvili, William Taylor...
http://www.yes-ukraine.org/...
Richard Haass is the President of the Council on Foreign Relations. SourceWatch has an article on CFR:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/...
Bob Shrum was Al Gore's consultant in 2000, part of John Kerry's U.S. presidential election 2004 campaign team. Interesting that he showed up at this meeting.
Randy Scheunemann is part of John McCain's campaign staff. Also:
The issue this time is advisor Randy Scheunemann and his business partner, who apparently lobbied McCain or his staff dozens of times on behalf of -- and getting paid by -- Georgia. As the Associated Press summed it up: "On April 17, a month and a half after Scheunemann stopped working for Georgia, his partner signed a $200,000 agreement with the Georgian government. The deal added to an arrangement that brought in more than $800,000 to the two-man firm from 2004 to mid-2007. For the duration of the campaign, Scheunemann is taking a leave of absence from the firm."
McCain, of course, has warned Russia that its actions in Georgia could cost it "the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world," and has called for the deployment of international peacekeepers in the region. His staunch defense of Georgia -- regardless of how the showdown came about -- raises questions about the possible conflict of interest of Scheunemann, one of McCain's top foreign policy advisors.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/...
Just a few interesting pieces of the puzzle.
Is this the "October Surpise"?