According to some unconfirmed data, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has suffered a heart attack and is a grave condition now. He last made an announcement at 6.40 p.m. and vanished from sight of journalists, who spread rumors that the President was hospitalized with cardiac insufficiency.
There is hearsay that the Georgian President can be transported to Turkey for an urgent operation.
Georgian Ministry of Health refused to comment on the rumors. To all appearance, the Saakashvili is still in Georgia, Geopolitika.ru reports.
http://www.panarmenian.net/...
Meanwhile, other rumors indicate that the Russians may be moving additional resources into Abkhazia.
"Hours ago Russia's Black Sea fleet started to move to Gerogia's territory in Abkhazia," said Mr Saakashvili, referring to a Georgian province that has suffered from ethnic tension. "Russian troops and heavy equipment are in upper Abkhazia."
Telegraph UK
In addition to the Abkhasian port of Sukhumi, the Russians probably have access to an airport at Guduata.
Yesterday, reports indicated that the Russians bombed the city of Gori, the port of Poti and Vaziani Airfield (military) outside of Tbilisi.
So why is this happening? First and foremost, Georgia chose the timing by shelling Tskhinvali. But why this level of Russian response? Here is some of the reasoning I have heard around the net.
- Keep NATO Out. Georgia is pushing hard for NATO membership. The Brits and the US have been pushing hard as well. Russia doesn't want a NATO member on their southern border. We just finished a military exercise there last week.
- Energy Monopoly. Russia is moving to control all the energy that flows into Europe through Asia. They also have been seeking an energy alliance with North African nations supplying nat gas to EU.
- Kosovar Vengence. Russia is sore that Serbia lost Kosovo. They've made it clear that if the West wants to provide material and political support for separatist movements, that they can play that card too.
- Rumble over Missile Defense Shield. I was reminded in another thread about Russia's complaints about the missile defense for europe we're building. What I didn't know is that last month Russia threatened to use force to stop it.
- Look! Something Shiny! Maybe Russia is just taking pressure off of Iran.
If this is just about 1), 3), or 5) then Georgia is probably safe from actual total takeover for the moment. If 2) is a primary motivator, Russia will probably just keep upping the ante with destabilizing maneuvers until it just moves in 100%. I don't know how 4) plays into Georgia's future.