Ruvy,

Although I have paid more than passing attention to the conflict in Georgia, I had not been aware that Israel was involved in any military sense. Hell, I had no idea that Israel had military advisers there. I have seen nothing about it in the MSM. I looked a few minutes ago in the Jerusalem Post and found no mention of any Israeli military involvement. There were two articles, one titled Back to the USSR and the other entitled Israel urges peaceful end to conflict. Neither reported such involvement. I would be curious to know why the silence on this is, well, deafening.

Thank you for pointing out the fact of Israeli military involvement. I share your concern that this conflict may spread like wildfire. The likelihood that it will do so may not be much increased by Israeli activity, but then again it may be. The former USSR seems to be doing quite a lot these days to reestablish her status as a world power, and quite frankly it scares the willies out of me.

Dan

Well, Dan, if you check out the links at this article, particularly on the first two pages, you'll see that the Israeli involvement in Gruzia was rather heavy.

I ought to explain something. When you live here, you meet lots of Russians and lots of Gruzians. I call them by their native name out of respect for them, and to get foreigners used to the fact that this is the way they see themselves.

Anyway, it appears that Russian intimidation of Israel has worked. In this Ha'aretz article on the situation there, buried deep in the text (five paras below where they say mistakenly that T'bilsi is the South Ossetian capital) is this giveaway line:

Israel's Foreign Ministry over the weekend recommended a complete halt to the sale of arms and any security-related equipment to Georgia in light of the recent fighting with Russian forces in the Caucasus.

This would be a further tightening of an arms boycott on Tbilisi around a year after a decision had been made in Jerusalem to limit exports to Georgia only to defensive equipment.

Ruvy,

I was not challenging your assertion that Israeli advisers were substantially involved; I was agreeing with your observation that mention of their involvement in the MSM has been underwhelming. I will check out the links in your article.

Meanwhile, you might enjoy reading find interesting the newest BC politics article on the situation in Georgia. I haven't commented on it yet, because I am waiting for my blood pressure to return to a healthy level.

Dan

I was not challenging your assertion...

I realize you weren't challenging me, Dan and didn't take it that way at all. I'm sorry if it seemed that way. I did read Kenn Jacobine's article and found faulty - not because of any particular sympathy for the Gruzians or even any antipathy towards the Russians, but because it was just plain wrong.

There are other issues in dispute here as well. It's debatable that the Georgian forces ever actually entered the Ossetian capital, as Russian troops were already in Ossetia and moved into Tskhinvali almost immediately. They seem to have shelled and bombed the city and then withdrawn back to safe territory very quickly, followed by Russian airstrikes against Tbilisi.

Dave

Oh come on Dave, your not suggesting that the Russians would lie?

Let's put it this way, I have a hell of a lot more faith in Xinhua news service than I do in our MSM and I'd place them ahead of anything that comes out of Russia.

Dave

I have a hell of a lot more faith in Xinhua news service than I do in our MSM....

Dave, for all of their faults, I put a lot more credibility in what I read in Debkafiles than any bunch of Commies from China running an agitprop service. We'll see what comes out of all this.

For me, the big issue is when the spotlight will be turned away from Gruzia (and therefore also away from Russia) and upon us for "daring to help oppress the poor freedom-loving South Ossetians".

That's the macro here for me.

Picked up from AOL News while logging on to Firefox: Russia Expands Assault Against Georgia.

In this pro-Gruzian report, no mention was made of demands for the resignation of the Gruzian president, Mikhail Saakashvili to resign. What was said was that Russian military forces are attempting to divide country's transport at Gori, but have apparently been turned back. It is reasaonable to expect that Russian tanks will be T'bilsi in a day or two, although no mention has been made of this intent.

But CNN has played a Russian demand for holding Mikhail Saakashvili responsible for aggession against civilians. The Gruzian president, listening to this, commented that it sounded just like old times.

In none of these reports has Israel been mentioned. The same was true for this report from The Telegraph On-line.

Ruvy,

Yesterday's New York Times said "Georgia, meanwhile, began re-equipping its forces with Israeli and American firearms, reconnaissance drones, communications and battlefield-management equipment, new convoys of vehicles and stockpiles of ammunition."

I'm not sure of the significance but Israel is mentioned first. Anyway, with such arms, usually there are advisors, trainers.

Les

Good catch, Les. Like I said, I'm waiting to see how this all plays out.

Ruvy,

The article itself is very interesting.

NYTimes NEWS ANALYSIS
In Georgia and Russia, a Perfect Brew for a Blowup
By C. J. CHIVERS

Les

I read the NYT article, Les and found it rather thin gruel. The Grey Lady used to be far more interesting. But then again, I prefer a thicker porridge than most.... Thank you, anyway.

Ruvy, there appears to be some spelling and/or other errors in your page 2, part A, points 3,4 and 5.

If you confirm what needs fixing, I'll sort it out for you...

Thanks, Chris.

Michel Chossudowsky at Global Research wrote an interesting report on the fighting in the Caucasus which backs up, in a strange way, the original contention of Rabbi Pauli - that this is not really about Gruzia or Russia at all.

It should be borne in mind that Dr. Chossudowsky writes with an anti-US, anti-Israel slant. Nevertheless, he posits the events occurring in the Caucasus as a provocation to something that can grow far greater and more dangerous than it is at present. That is my precise fear, and my precise belief.

I do not necessarily agree with Dr. Chossudowsky on the surface of his piece; he paints the events occurring there as a NATO provocation that the Russians were prepared for. However, the details of who was trying to play who may be irrelevant. In the final analysis, it appears that he may be right in his macro analysis - that the world is heading for a standoff between the United States and a renewed Russian Empire.

Iran is a mere cat's paw of Russia - but don't tell the Iranians that. If Dr. Chossudowski, and others analyzing this are right, we can expect to see an event occurring at the apparent hand of Iran - but really at the hand of Russia.

The USA has numerical and technical superiority in the realm of nuclear arms. The Bush Admin. has abandoned the mutual destruction doctrine in favor of the "we can wipe them out on a first strike and not suffer real damage" doctrine due to the USA advantage. This has forced Russia into adopting a "hair trigger" policy. They know and realize that in any conflict they have to strike first to survive. If the USA engages Russian troops in Georgia, you will see the Russian routed, but this will likely cause the Russians to launch its' first strike at Babylon (oops I meant USA) and then proceed to Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Egypt to consolidate its' hold on the World's oil reserves thus fulfilling Ezekial 38.

Dangerous times we live in. Dangerous times.

thus fulfilling Ezekiel 38.

There are lots of ways to get to Ezekiel 38. The key element is that there is fighting between lots of different armies, and that someone sweeps into Israel, trying to take over.

Let's have us a look-see, shall we?

First we have the fight in Gruzia to heat the kettle up some, with Russian troops advancing towards the Turkish border. I already bottom lined the security situation in this region, so we have almost all the ingredients of the Sauce of Redemption; all we need to add now is the wine. According to the Butler Report, linked to above, an American-European armada is headed for the Persian Gulf, while the Emirate of Kuwait adopts its emergency war plans. From the article:

Adding to the volatility is the presence of a major Russian navy deployment effected earlier this year to the eastern Mediterranean comprising the jewel of the Russian fleet, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov with approximately 50 Su-33 warplanes that have the capacity for mid-air refueling. This means the Russian warplanes could reach the Gulf from the Mediterranean, a distance of some 850 miles and would be forced to fly over Syria (not a problem) but Iraq as well, where the skies are controlled by the U.S. military, and the guided missile heavy cruiser Moskva. The Russian task force is believed to be composed of no less than a dozen warships as well as several submarines.