Georgia on My Mind

August 11, 2008

While most of the world has their focus and attention on China and the Olympics, others have Georgia on this mind, and I am not talking about the song written in 1930 by Stuart Gorrell (lyrics) and Hoagy Carmichael (music). Nor the same song made popular by Ray Charles in 1960. Nor the state song of Georgia, USA. I’m referring to the nation of Georgia where Russia is sending a strong message.

Georgian troops retreated from the breakaway province of South Ossetia on Sunday and their government pressed for a truce, overwhelmed by Russian firepower as the conflict threatened to set off a wider war. Russia decided to use the Ossetia mess to teach Georgia a lesson and put fear into other break way provinces and state. Mess with Russia and you’ll get stomped and beaten into your grave.

President Bush called for an end to the Russian bombings and an immediate halt to the violence. “The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis,” Bush said in a statement to reporters while attending the Olympic Games in Beijing.

While Michael Phelps powered to the first gold medal of what hopes to be eight of them, in Beijing on Sunday, hundreds of people were dying in Georgia and neighboring provinces. And Russia wasn’t context with just recuing South Ossetia, but inflicting damage and punishment all over Georgia, from Poti to Tskhinvali.

Russian jets raided a plant on the eastern outskirts of Tbilisi that builds Su-25 ground jets. The attack damaged runways but caused no casualties, said Georgia’s Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili. “We heard a plane go over and then a big explosion,” said Malkhaz Chachanidze, a 41-year old ceramics artist whose house is located just outside the fence of the factory, which has been running since the Soviet era. “It woke us up, everything shook.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who spoke to Putin at the Olympic opening ceremonies, also called for both sides to stand down and for “the full respect of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The United States, the European Union, and NATO are working toward a cease-fire, and the U.N. Security Council met behind closed doors to discuss the issue Saturday.

So while the Olympic games are on-going in China, Geogia is on the minds of many Western world leaders. Just when the price of oil is coming dowm, Russia could cut off major oil supplies from the Caspian Sea that run through Georgia.

Written by Ernie · Filed Under Daily Commentary

Comments

3 Responses to “Georgia on My Mind”

James Heck on August 11th, 2008 3:14 pm

Yeah, it seems that the only one that hasn’t spoken out about it is Obama. Must be the good mai Tai’s and the Maui Waui
Ernie on August 12th, 2008 11:00 am

He did give a vanilla wrapper answer Monday morning. I think he said he saw CHANGE going on in Georgia. Bush quickly flew back to the US from the China Olympics originally thinking it was Atlanta, Georgia that was under attack.
ray on August 13th, 2008 5:20 pm

I cant help it. I have lost faith in all of the worlds leaders. They are all a bunch of dipshits.