Russia is at fault

The Russian assault across an internationally recognized border was planned months and months ahead of time. Logistics dictate nothing less.

Therefore, the media and left agonized questioning over who was at fault between 55,000 ethnic Ossetians and 4.6M Georgians is a joke. The Ossetians and Georgians might've easily carried on their low level Hatfield-McCoy skirmishes for another 200 years.

The question is not "Ethnic Ossetians or Georgia?" The question is "Russia or Georgia?" The recent provocations out of Ossetia are likely to have been disguised Russian provocations which were designed to provoke some kind of response from Georgia - any kind of response: the slightest raising of any finger - which Russia could then use as an excuse to roll tanks across the Caucasus.

U.S. media and world media have provided Russia with public relations cover - so as not to “provoke” NATO or the U.S. into military action, doncha know. That’s the media’s job: evade the truth if it might provoke military action. Evade truth. Promote peace. Taught at all the J-Schools.

Ralph Peters:

the Kremlin spent months planning and preparing this operation. Any soldier above the grade of private can tell you that there’s absolutely no way Moscow could’ve launched this huge ground, air and sea offensive in an instantaneous “response” to alleged Georgian actions.

As I pointed out Saturday, even to get one armored brigade over the Caucasus Mountains required extensive preparations. Since then, Russia has sent in the equivalent of almost two divisions - not only in South Ossetia, the scene of the original fighting, but also in separatist Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast.

The Russians also managed to arrange the instant appearance of a squadron of warships to blockade Georgia. And they launched hundreds of air strikes against preplanned targets.

Every one of these things required careful preparations. In the words of one US officer, “Just to line up the airlift sorties would’ve taken weeks.”

Working through their mercenaries in South Ossetia, Russia staged brutal provocations against Georgia from late July onward. Last Thursday, Georgia’s president finally had to act to defend his own people.

But when the mouse stirred, the cat pounced.

The Russians know that we know this was a setup. But Moscow’s Big Lie propagandists still blame Georgia - even as Russian aircraft bomb Georgian homes and Russian troops seize the vital city of Gori in the country’s heart. And Russian troops also grabbed the Georgian city of Zugdidi to the west - invading from Abkhazia on a second axis.