WAR: Georgia declares state of war with Russia

(CNN) - Georgia’s parliament approved a request by President Mikhail Saakashvili on Saturday to impose a “state of war,” as the conflict between Georgia and Russia escalated, Georgian officials said.

Saakashvili accused Russia of launching an unprovoked full-scale military attack against his country, including targeting civilian homes, while Russian officials insist that their troops were protecting people from Georgia’s attacks on South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian region that borders Russia.

Russia’s Interfax news agency said the death toll was at least 2,000 in the capital of South Ossetia and claimed that the city has been destroyed.

Separatist-backed South Ossetian sources reported that about 1,600 people have died and 90 have been wounded in provincial capital Tskhinvali since Russian forces entered the territory Thursday.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CNN, Associated Press, Elene Gotsadze, August 9, 2008 ]

RUSSIA & GEORGIA at WAR! Aug. 8, 2008. (part 2/9)

War between South Ossetia and Georgia - the Green Light

RUSSIA & GEORGIA at WAR! Aug. 8, 2008. (part 1/9)

WAR: War erupts in Georgia

(Economist.com) - GEORGIAN soldiers, tanks and fighter-planes struck Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway (Russian-backed) region of South Ossetia, on Friday August 8th. Parts of the city were reported to be burning as Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, declared that his forces had “freed” much of the area from separatist control.

The immediate cause of the fighting is unclear as claim and counterclaim abound. But what is clear is that a conflict which has been simmering for years, has at last erupted. What happens next will depend almost entirely on Russia’s response: 150 Russian tanks were reported to be entering South Ossetia on Friday. Georgia’s government says that Russian planes have dropped bombs outside of South Ossetia including on the edge of Tblisi, the Georgian capital. Alexander Lomaia, the secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, told The Economist on Friday that “this is an open military aggression and we are now at the state of undeclared war with Russia. What else could you call it?”. He also said that Georgia had announced a ceasefire in South Ossetia from 3pm on Friday.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Economist.com, August 8, 2008 ]

WAR: Georgia declares ’state of war’ over South Ossetia

(Guardian.CO.UK) - Georgia today declared itself at war as Russian planes bombed a Georgian city in an escalation of the conflict over South Ossetia. Moscow claims the fighting has killed more than 2,000 people.

As the neighbouring countries edged closer to a full-scale conflict over their conflicting claims and allegiances to the territory, Britain was among a number of countries tonight pressing for an immediate ceasefire in Georgia as part of a high-level international delegation attempting to quell escalating violence in the region.

The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, expressed fears that the conflict over South Ossetia was spreading to other parts of the region with the prospect of “large scale” civilian losses.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Guardian.co.uk, Peter Walker, August 9, 2008 ]

WAR: Russia launches air strikes in Georgia

(CBC.ca) - As fighting raged for a second day Saturday in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Russian jets bombed the town of Gori, near the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

An apartment building and military base were among the targets hit in Russia’s attempt to force back Georgian troops seeking control over the separatist enclave on its southern border.

Freelance reporter Giorgi Lomsadze told CBC News that neighbours told him five people who were living in the building are killed.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca, August 9, 2008 ]

Russia in ‘Full Scale Invasion’ of Georgia

Did the U.S. Prep Georgia for War with Russia?

(Wired: Danger Room) - Georgia and Russia are careening towards war. And the U.S. isn't exactly a detached observer in the fight. The American military has been training and equipping Georgian troops for years.

The news thus far: Georgia, which has been locked in a drone war over the separatist enclave of Abkhazia, has launched an offensive to reclaim another breakaway territory, South Ossetia. Latest reports indicate that Georgian forces are laying siege to Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital. And Russia, which has backed the separatists, is sending in the tanks.

So why should we care? Oh, just the prospect of a larger regional war that could drag in Russia – and involve the United States as well. Since early 2002, the U.S. government has given a healthy amount of military aid to Georgia. When I last visited South Ossetia, Georgian troops manned a checkpoint outside Tskhinvali -- decked out in surplus U.S. Army uniforms and new body armor.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Wired: Danger Room, Nathan Hodge, August 8, 2008 ]