a new "cold war"

alright. so it looks like the Russian "peace keepers" aren't leaving Georgia any time soon. this is a deliberate flaunting of their position because they understand that the western powers are toothless and will do little to nothing to help the Georgians.

to make matters more complex there is discussion of Moscow issuing Russian passports to residents of the Crimea (Ukraine). that is exactly what the did in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. So when the Georgians went in to supposedly flush out separatist elements they were technically attacking Russian citizens. Anyone familiar with 20th century history will understand that this has happened before. (in the 1930's Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland were all either annexed or invaded under the pretext that there were ethnic Germans living in those countries being persecuted). Whats worse is that it appears that they are using second or third string units. if the Russians were taking the situation half as serious as the west is they probably would have been deploying their latest equipment. Oh yeah and with those second or third string units they were able to meet their goals in a matter of days and hours.

side note: the lite blue disk with the cyrilic MC is the symbol of russian peacekeeping forces.

apparent ly many of the units were sent into georgia already bearing these markings.

This is Scary!!!

I don't have cable TV so I don't watch a lot of television or news. I try to get news online and on the radio. So I wake up this morning to see images of Russian Armour moving into South Ossetia (in Georgia) Reports indicate that Georgian troops moved in to the region in an Offensive planned to coincide with the opening of the Olympic games in Beijing. The Offensive is purportedly designed to deal with Russian backed rebel groups that want a unification with Northern Ossetia still a Russian controlled region. So Russia has retaliated on the behalf of afore-mentioned separatist groups by launching its own offensive into Georgian controlled South Ossetia. Air strikes on Georgian Air Bases this morning, and what looks to be at least 1 Armoured Division moving into Georgian territory.

So far details are sketchy so I don't want to speculate but I will say this, the premise for Tom Clancy's first Ghost Recon is basically this exact scenario. Thank goodness Georgia is not a full fledged NATO member yet because we would be at war with Russia by Monday. That would definately put a damper on the Beijing Games.

...I have finished the game three times and I, I mean "we" win.

SEVEN is the number of completion (and the number of years I have been married)

well I am speachless...time flies when you are having fun. seem much longer and just yesterday. I really cant come up with much besides platitudes but I will say that no one person as encouraged me to try harder, be better and work harder than Cara has. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.