Georgia Live Updates

CNN's Matthew Chance reported this afternoon that thousands of Russian troops were advancing from the abandoned city of Gori to the Georgian capital Tbilisi while there is supposed to be a EU brokered cease-fire going on ... shattered.

(Update: the Russian ambassador to NATO just consigned the information to the realm of Georgian propaganda. That is an obvious lie, as several Western journalists have reported live as the convoy passed them by. Update: EUX.TV here relates how the Russian propaganda 'hymn sheet' works.)

It is now becoming apparent that the Russian action was planned long in advance. Georgia, by reacting to the provocations allowed itself to fall into the trap. History being confined to the dust bin, collective memory had forgotten the Russians excel at chess: the art of thinking several moves in advance. Apparently it started in July with a cyber attack, but it is difficult to discern where that originated.

(Update: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday during this press meeting that the Georgian/S. Ossetian/Russian skirmishes are a piece of regional folklore, traditionally held each year during the month of August; this year, according to Gates, things got a bit rough and spiraled out of hand - the trap was set.)

The vanguard made up of troops fresh from Chechnya, Ossetian paramilitaries - balaclavas and all - were moving in their wake. It has been confirmed it is mostly these irregulars who are responsible for the looting and mayhem, alcohol heavy on their breath. The Georgian army has collapsed.

Things being that fluid, others report that the convoy has already been diverted but it is about 50km removed from Tbilisi. The target seems to be an arms depot outside the capital which Russia wants to destroy.

The Russians are peeved that the West questions their motives for their actions. What's so hard to understand in Russians wanting to protect Russians? This would be more believable had they stayed in South Ossetia and hadn't they had a history of utter contempt for human lives (even for those they say to protect), and lost all sight of proportion.

President Saakashvili in an interview this afternoon called some Europeans naive. This is an understatement. Saakashvili himself is also not untouched by naivity, not realizing that Europe's Pragmatist leaders have long moved beyond democratic ideals (tainted by the much vilified neocons).

How far the postmodernists in Europe have got removed from reality becomes apparent when one hears the comments along the lines of 'power politics has no place in the 21st century' -- surely their moralizing and threats of isolation will deeply impress the muscle men, whose rhetoric isn't matched by their actions.

To the evolved politicians this is a fresh opportunity to delete another national border. The vista is a human race in which no one has a claim to national real estate (Sweden is leading the way). The abomination of racist, ethnic homes, like Israel and Greece must belong to a primitive and unenlightened past.

The new ideal are empire-style entities like today's Russia, power-blocks ruled by power-sharing bodies made up by quotas of minority representatives. Meet transnational progressivism. And we all lived peacefully ever after ...

For Russian collectivists there's also good news. After all, communism was only a means to an end: the state would collapse to bring about a global, multicultural collective. This is precisely what the KGB moralized tranzies are trying to establish. Their weapon: states that do not comply will be shunned. It's global tribalism.

The EU has managed a joint declaration, but an East vs West division is inevitable. The new Europe (former Warsaw Pact countries) having had experience with Russian hegemony, have positioned themselves squarely behind Georgia. Italy and Germany are gas dependent on Russia, the rest are simplistically relativized, meaning - since Saakashvili overplayed his hand both parties are morally reprehensible aggressors - end of story. The EU will send humanitarian aid and observers into the area.

The first American aid flight just arrived in Georgia. Condoleezza Rice is flying tomorrow to Paris and then on to Tbilisi.

Cyprus - Kosovo - Georgia: anybody see a pattern here?