August 10, 2008 - "it's better to beg forgiveness"

"It's Better to Beg Forgivness, Than Ask For Permission"

Putin wants Russia's former territories back (or at least paying homage), control of the pipeline, and respect (fear). If it takes Georgia, who's going to stop him? What can anyone do? He'll put the puppets in place, intimidate the hell out of the other break-away countries, and get exactly what he wants. After a bit of whining, it will all be forgotten (again).

It looks like Russia knows who it's dealing with......the craven politicians of the US and Europe. They're going to take over Georgia.......

What's it got to lose?

Name Calling in the press? No big deal, and it won't last long.

UN sanctions (not a chance....it can veto anything).

Europe will be mad at them? Russia will squeeze the pipeline and winter's coming.

The US will huff and puff? Who cares.

NATO will allow Georgia to join, and then install radar and defensive missle elements in their border countries? Not a chance.......see all above.

Unless the West acts with boldness and alacrity, it will have to kneel to intimidation of a kind that hasn't been seen for a generation.

Georgia Appeals for Help As Russia Occupies Towns

"We are in the process of the invasion, occupation and annihilation of an independent, democratic country," said Georgia's President Saakashvili, appealing in English for international help at a news conference. He said Moscow's goal was regime change, accusing his powerful northern neighbor of "ethnic cleansing" in Abkhazia.
Russia's foreign ministry and other officials insisted Moscow's goal wasn't to move on Tbilisi or to occupy the whole country but to create a buffer zone that would prevent Georgian troops from firing into the country's two separatist territories.

Gori and Senaki lie on the main highway that runs east-west across the country, from Tbilisi in the east to the Black Sea coast in the west, giving Russian troops the ability to control movement across the nation. Late Monday, Mr. Saakashvili said his country had effectively been cut in half.

"We no longer know the limits of the invading Russian army," said Kakha Lomaya, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council. The government said Georgian troops were pulling back to protect the capital."

Along with all the other historical issues, Russia can now control the Caspian pipeline, and be in a position to further throttle Europe.

"Some 1.2 million barrels of oil a day flow through Georgia, or around 1.4% of global crude supply. Any attacks on the infrastructure could send shockwaves through the world-wide oil-supply chain.

Alarm was triggered over the weekend at reports that Russian warplanes had bombed near a key pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, or the BTC, which brings 850,000 barrels of oil a day from Azerbaijan's vast Caspian oilfields through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean."