Candace: I did a bit of research today on this warring between Georgia and S. Ossetia. The following I found on ICH. Then I did some googling and found a nice little site called www.ossetians.com  and did some reading. And so you will find some exerts after this ICH article. Ossetia is two nations, North and South. North Ossetia was where the slaughter of people in a school in Beslan took place in 2004. The area has a long and interesting history, and Ossetia has produced some very interesting people and has been rather progressive in a lot of ways.

The article below from ICH is pretty decent. There was a cease fire for the Olympics between Georgia and South Ossetia, and Georgia broke the ceasefire and Russia came to the defense of South Ossetia, and in my opinion, good for them! The USA is heavily involed in Georgia, and WE DO NOT BELONG THERE. One more example of our spreading of "Democracy" around the world.

The United States has NO RIGHT to the Caspian oil and gas fields and this whole Iraq, Iran, and Georgia, Afghanistan is all about the pipelines etc. Those resources BELONG the countries in which they exist and it is for those countries to determine what they do with their resources, not for us to do. We need to develop Tesla's perpetual motors to run our cars and lots of other stuff. These simple, simple motors make a huge amount of electricity, including enough to keep the mechanism going once it's started. America is going to pay some karma, as well as other parts of the world that choose to ignore Tesla.

If some of you black ops folks are reading this, GET IT. WE DON"T NEED OIL and Russia is not going to be part of your New World Order. Things will get more peaceful if you decide to understand this. Leave the world to itself and do what is right, here.

Edit added: In the post I just made, of Earl Stirlings piece about the Armada headed to Iran, is this interesting bit of information. Note that his piece was written August 7, just prior to this attack on South Ossetia.

A strategic diversion has been created for Russia. The Republic of Georgia, with US backing, is actively preparing for war on South Ossetia. The South Ossetia capital has been shelled and a large Georgian tank force has been heading towards the border. Russia has stated that it will not sit by and allow the Georgians to attack South Ossetia. The Russians are great chess players and this game may not turn out so well for the neo-cons.

UPDATE 8 August 2008 ~ War has broken out between Georgia and South Ossetia. At least 10 Russian troops have been killed and 30 wounded and 2 Russian fighter jets downed. American Marines, a thousand of them, have recently been in Georgia training the Georgian military forces. Several European nations stopped Bush and others from allowing Georgia into NATO.

"Bodies are lying everywhere. It’s hell’

By Mark Franchetti, Moscow

10/08/08 "The Times" -- - OLEG KALCHAKEYEV sighed with relief as he watched the evening news on Thursday.

The reports told of renewed skir-mishes between separatist rebels seeking South Ossetian independence and the Georgian army – but also revealed that Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, had declared a ceasefire. On Friday, so the young leader said, the two sides would sit down to negotiate.

Kalchakeyev, a car mechanic from Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, told his son: “At least we’ll be able to watch the Olympics.”

Only a few hours later, however, shortly before dawn, Kalchakeyev woke up to the sound of explosions. He looked out of the window and saw the night sky over Tskhinvali filled with tracer fire. A barrage of Grad and Katyusha rockets followed.
  It is unclear who first violated the ceasefire, but less than eight hours after Saakashvili’s pledge, the Georgian president had ordered his troops to retake South Ossetia by force.

“Suddenly there was a massive explosion which hit a house down the road from us,” said Kalchakeyev, who managed to flee across the border to Russia.

“Our windows shattered and I jumped for cover. I grabbed my son and wife and ran down to the basement, where I was joined by dozens of other civilians. The bombing only got worse. It was relentless and went on for hours. I never thought it would come to this – Georgians bombing us – not in my wildest imagination.”

As Vladimir Putin and George W Bush gathered with world leaders at the so-called bird’s nest stadium in Beijing for the Olympic opening ceremony, war was breaking out between Putin’s Russia and Bush’s client state Georgia.

Within hours, Russia sent its tanks rampaging into South Ossetia – even though it still officially recognises it as Georgian sovereign territory – and yesterday it ordered its air force to attack Georgian targets.

Apartment blocks were on fire in Gori, 15 miles from South Ossetia. Afterwards, a woman knelt in the street and screamed over the body of a dead man.

Another old woman covered in blood stared into the distance, and a man knelt by the road, his head in his hands.

“Why do I have to go through this again?” asked one woman, who said she had survived the second world war. “Why can’t we just live in peace?”

A wave of shock and apprehension gripped the region as survivors asked themselves whether Georgia was about to follow Chechnya into another Caucasian war.

Yesterday it emerged that Tskhinvali, a quiet, small town, had been all but destroyed by the initial Georgian attack on Friday.

As a barrage of artillery fell on its outskirts, Georgian tanks moved into the centre, where they were met with fierce resistance from South Ossetian separatist rebels.

“Georgian snipers are taking down anything that moves, even outside the town’s hospital, which is making it hard to deliver the wounded. They are not sparing anyone,” claimed a South Ossetian government spokesman.

The presidential palace of a region of only 70,000 inhabitants was in flames as intense hand-to-hand fighting broke out across the town. Ordinary apartment blocks were pounded as the remains of Georgian tanks struck by rocket-propelled grenades stood burning in the middle of the street.

“It’s hell,” said Zara Valiyeva, a local journalist trapped in the city. “Houses are being hit around us by rockets. We have no food but it’s too dangerous to go out.”

Battered Ladas delivered the wounded to the town’s hospital, which according to several reports was also badly hit.

“There were bodies lying everywhere, in the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars. There is hardly a single building left undamaged,” said Ludmilla, a woman who fled the town during the fighting.

“The city is burning,” stated a local resident, Oleg Repukhov, in a text message from a basement he took refuge in.

“Grad missiles are falling. They are taking the city. We are running out of ammunition. Where’s our f***ing help!!?” he wrote before the line went down.

“We never thought this could happen,” said Fatima Kochieva, a 47-year-old mother of two who lived on Tskhinvali’s southern outskirts, where the first Georgian artillery shells landed. “It all happened so quickly. Suddenly we were in the middle of heavy fighting. I saw our neighbour’s house get a direct hit. I took cover with the kids in the basement. It was terrifying.”

It took the Georgian army, which in the past few years has received US training and equipment, only a few hours to take the town.

Huge bomb craters cut through the streets. Blackened Soviet-era apartment block buildings were in flames; dead bodies of fighters and civilians lay on the ground amid the rubble. The remains of Georgian armed vehicles hit by grenades lay upside down close to the central square. Power and water supplies were cut off.

“The town is destroyed. There are many casualties, many wounded,” said Zaid Tsarnayev, a resident. “I was in the hospital on Friday where I saw many civilian wounded. The hospital was later destroyed by a Georgian jet.”

Russia’s response to the crisis was swift. Tank columns from the 58th army rolled across the border into South Ossetia. Backed by Russian fighter jets that pounded the Georgian army’s position, they quickly advanced towards Tskhinvali.

“Russia will not close its eyes on the deaths of Russian citizens in South Ossetia,” warned Dmitry Medvedev, the new Russian president.

Hundreds of volunteers from across the Caucasus – including scores of Cossacks – continued to cross into the disputed enclave to help the South Ossetian separatists.

Yesterday morning the Russians stepped up the pressure by sending in their Spetsnaz special forces. Clashes were reported in and around Tskhinvali but by midday the Russians had pushed the Georgians back, establishing a big military presence that Moscow will argue needs to stay for the fore-seeable future as a “peacekeeping” force.

Georgia’s interior ministry claimed that Russian warplanes had bombed a military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and three military bases on the Black Sea port of Poti. Russia denied the claims. Georgia also claimed to have shot down 10 Russian planes. The Russians said they had lost two.

It was when Russian jets attacked Gori, a small Georgian town to the south of the fighting, that the worst bloodshed occurred.

Richard Galpin of the BBC was the first foreign reporter on the scene. He said: “We saw the impact of the air strikes – buildings on fire. We could hear the Russian jets above us. In one strike the pilot missed the intended military base, instead hitting two apartment blocks.

“When we arrived, flames were pouring out of the buildings and people were still trapped inside. We saw injured civilians being pulled from the buildings.”

Roots of the conflict

Why is the Caucasus so important?

Because it is the only route for Central Asian oil supplies that does not cross Russia. Throughout the 19th century Russia fought wars to control the region and Moscow considers the area a key part of its sphere of influence.

Why does South Ossetia want to break away?

Most of its people speak their own language and feel closer to the Russians than the Georgians. They say they were absorbed into Georgia after the fall of the old Soviet Union. The 70,000 South Ossetians want independence – just like Kosovo, the breakaway Serbian province.

Why are the Georgians so upset about South Ossetia?

Because they see it as a Russian outpost funded largely from Moscow, and where most people carry Russian passports.

Why has Georgia’s president chosen to raise the issue now?

Because he thought everyone was focused on the Olympics and the Russians would hesitate to respond with force.

Why has Russia been willing to go to war?

The Kremlin is angry about western, particularly American military support for Georgia, its desire to join Nato and US plans for a missile defence shield in Europe.

Will anyone else intervene?

Unlikely, western armies are busy and the prospect of taking on Russia is not enticing.

What happens next?

The Georgians will back down looking like the bad guys. Both sides will go back to hating each other. Result: Russia 1, Georgia 0.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20474.htm

Candace: Now here's a bit of information from www.Ossetians.com

OSSETIAN-ALANIAN NATION FACES A FATAL DANGER 

http://ossetians.com/eng/news.php?newsid=459&f=4&PHPSESSID=3249abf6115a91f360a29f225e3f97d3

 
At midnight on August 7th to the 8th, the most feared and anticipated (by both Ossetians and Georgian civilians) took place in South Ossetia. Only a few hours after the Georgian President, Mikhael Saakashvili, officially announced that all fire would be seized in the name of the Olympics and world peace, Georgian troops began a wide spread attack on all of South Ossetia. The Georgian troops concentrated their forces on the capital city Tskhinvali, using all possible forms of force (including warplanes, tanks, mortar rockets “GRAD” and artillery) to fire at innocent civilians in apartment complexes and suburban areas. 
 
The Georgian government has made their point clear- To teach Ossetains a lesson and to force them to leave the de facto independent Republic of South Ossetian. The chauvinistic Georgian government claims that they are a democratic country and that they represent freedom, but have in reality proceeded to start a bloody genocide on innocent Ossetian children, woman and elderly civilians. On top of this, innocent Georgian citizens of the surrounding villages have found themselves in the middle of all this crossfire and are being hostages of their own government. 
 
Following this attack, a mass of inaccurate Georgian propaganda worldwide is claiming that their “democratic” government is acting in the best interests of their country, “defending” themselves from South Ossetian separatists and Russian troops. The Georgian government is being supported by NATO as well as some European countries. Due to this, the Russian government is taking the necessary diplomatic and military steps to restore peace in South Ossetia and protect tens of thousands civilians, who are mostly Russian citizens. 
 
Georgia and neighbouring regions is walking on a very thin line. All involved parties need to understand this and withstand getting caught up in politics and step away from yet another Cold War. 
 
The most ill-fated party from all involved, are the innocent Ossetians who are now suffering from the third wave of genocide brought on to them by the Georgian government in the last 100 years. Attached below are the real results of the “democratic” actions of the Georgian government. 
 
The small Ossetian population is now at an even bigger risk of being wiped out in the name of “democracy”. Neither Ossetia nor Russia will let this happen. As long as there is at least one Ossetian man able to fight, Ossetians will defend their homeland and their families. They were born there and are ready to die on this land as free people, rather then live under the fascist regime of the Georgian government as social outcasts. 
 
The past few hours have demonstrated that the calculated and long planned blitzkrieg on the South Ossetians has failed completely. Despite the fact that thousands of innocent people have died and are still dying, the Ossetian people (both South and North parts) are ready to unite and defend themselves against their aggressors. Supporting the South Ossetians are the brothering nations of Abhazia, North Ossetia, Russia as well as regular people around the world who do not support fascism, dictatorship and wrongful enslavement of innocent people.
 
We ask everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of Ossetia use all possible and legal ways to speak out against this genocide. 
 
Let God Protect The Innocent People In Ossetia and Georgia!

Candace: A bit of history, excerted from"

http://ossetians.com/eng/news.php?newsid=27&f=3&PHPSESSID=3249abf6115a91f360a29f225e3f97d3

Ossetians, the descendents of Scythes, Sarmatians and Alans, occupy the northern and southern slopes of the central part of the Main Caucasian Mountain Ridge. Administratively they form the Republic of North Ossetia – Alania (8 thousand sq.km. with Vladikavkaz as a capital), within the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Ossetia (3.4 thousand sq.km. with Tskhivaly as a capital), a former Georgian province.In spite of a geographic and administrative division, both parts of Ossetia form a single cultural nation, one and indivisible, sharing the same language and same culture.

It was in 1922 when the Kremlin made the decision, without first consulting the Ossetians, to put North Ossetia under Russian jurisdiction and South Ossetia under the Georgian jurisdiction. But since both were still within the same State, the former USSR, there were not too many problems for Ossetians. The only thing that bothered Ossetians was the persistent attempts of the Georgian government to declare themselves, their culture and language the dominant ones. But times have changed - Russia and Georgia became separate States, dividing the Ossetians people, as well as many families and relatives, by imposed State borders. Taking into account the undersized Ossetian population, this has proven to be extremely catastrophic to our people 

Ethnic conflicts.   Unfortunately, despite all of the positive facts and statements, the situation around Ossetia is not as quiet and peaceful as Ossetians wish it would be. In the early 1990’s the nationalists who came to power in neighboring Georgia, adopted a new policy, which was described with the slogan, “Georgia for Georgians!” They started pushing southern Ossetians out of the country unless they adopted everything Georgian. Ossetians resisted. The nationalists then unleashed a bloody conflict between Georgians and Ossetians, in a repeat of the genocide actions of 1922, when many people were killed and dozens of thousands escaped to North Ossetia. On December 11, 1990, Georgian leader Zviad Gamsakhurdia abolished the South Ossetian Autonomous Region with his decree. Afterwards, the extremely nationalistic and aggressive Georgian policy pushed Ossetians through a referendum to make a decision to establish independence over South Ossetia. Later on the Georgian militia (mixed with criminals) entered Tskhinvali.  The war was short but bloody enough, with many casualties, including civilians, women and children.

 Eventually the Georgian militants were kicked out of Ossetian territory, but we can never forget those who died fighting the national-chauvinists and protecting their Motherland, protecting their people. We can never forget, the civilians who were tortured to death, nor the old men and women with children who were executed by militants on the Zar highway. The senseless, powerful, chauvinistic policy of Georgian leaders brought the friendly and kindred nations into opposition for years. Years have passed and the political leaders on both sides have changed a number of times. But the conflict is still like a smoldering fire, ready to flare up at any time. The Georgian government continues to try to force the so-called “separatist regions” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia back under Georgian jurisdiction. They are using a wide range of strategies to realize their goals, including threat of war, political pressure on opponents from USA and European organizations.

At the same time Georgia more and more stands on the path to confrontation with Russia, its long time closest ally and guarantee of stability and development in the whole Caucasian region. The South-Ossetian side emphatically undertook a historical justice restoration policy* to unite with the Republic of North Ossetia within the Russian Federation. Having experienced three waves of genocide (1920, 1990, and 2004) at the hands of Georgians they do not intend to join Georgia again. In 2004 South Ossetian leaders officially addressed the Russian State Duma (Parliament) with a petition to allow South Ossetia to join Russia. So far the problem is still unsolved. South Ossetia considers itself a separate independent republic, though for the Georgian officials it is the Georgian Tskhinvaly region.