|
|
 |
Enforced War
// American army lands in Georgia
U.S. President George W. Bush threatened Russia with international isolation yesterday and announced the beginning of military intervention in the Russian-Georgian conflict. As part of its humanitarian operation in Georgia, the United States is sending military airplanes and ships to deliver aid to the victims of the war and to guard Georgian ports and airports. At the same time, an even more powerful military force, fresh from exercises of a naval blockade of Iran, are converging in the Persian Gulf.
U.S. President George W. Bush addressed the nation again yesterday on the topic of Georgia. He accused Russia of intentionally undermining attempts to sign a ceasefire agreement and stated that the U.S. intends to help Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. First, as a sign of “unwavering” support, he is sending U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Tbilisi to rally “the free world” to its defense. He also made a decision that amounts to U.S. military intervention in the conflict in Georgia. Bush called it a “humanitarian operation,” but he placed the Pentagon, and Pentagon chief Robert Gates personally, in charge of it. A C-17 military plane is already on their way to Georgia with humanitarian aid, the American president said, and humanitarian aid will be delivered by sea with U.S. Navy accompaniment.
Several minutes after Bush’s appearance, Saakashvili announced that U.S. planes and ships would guard Georgian ports and airports. That statement was immediately denied by the U.S. Defense Department. Official Defense Department spokesman Brian Whitman explained a little later that a second C-17 will fly to Georgian today. According to Whitman, The U.S. is helping Georgia rebuild the military potential its lost in the war with Russia.
In that speech, Bush, for the first time in Russian-American relations, threatened Russia with full-scale international isolation. He said that Russia is risking remaining outside the international diplomatic, political, economic and security structures of the 21st century. Other American officials developed the theme of the repression that awaited Russia. The U.S. ambassador to NATO called on member states to reconsider their relations with Russia. The Pentagon reported that the joint Russia-American-British-French exercises in the Sea of Japan planned for August 15-23 had been cancelled. Several officials spoke to the media about the likelihood of the expulsion of Russia from the Group of Eight. That has effectively happened already, since G7 members have been holding telephone conferences on conditions in Georgia for several days in a row without including Russia. Yesterday, American diplomats stated that of the topics of conversation at those conferences is the official expulsion of Russia from the club of leading industrial powers. Finally, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has practically threatened to block Russia’s admission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Almost a complete consensus toward Russia has developed in American society in the past few days. Republican presidential candidate John McCain, how has long been demanding the expulsion of Russia from the G8 and says that all that can be seen in Vladimir Putin’s eyes are three letters – KGB – represents the most radical group of critics. During his last meeting in Pennsylvania, he stated that he called Saakashvili and “I speak for every American when I said to him today we are all Georgians.”
Barack Obama also condemned Russia’s actions, saying that there is “no possible justification” for the invasion of Georgia. Unlike his opponent, Obama also criticized Georgian authorities, adding “Georgia should refrain from using force in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and a political settlement must be reached that addresses the status of these disputed regions.”
American media are reporting in chorus that the main reason for the war was Moscow’s attempt to prevent the export of Caspian Sea hydrocarbons to the West bypassing Russia. Saakashvili was the first to raise that issue. He stated in an interview with CNN on Sunday that the true reason for the war was not South Ossetia at all, but control over transportation routes for Caspian oil.
Georgian authorities repeatedly stated that Russian planes tried to bomb the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, but their bombs fell nearby without damaging it. Deputy Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn responded that Russia never had the goal of damaging the pipeline. Nonetheless, suggestions appeared in the American media that Russia was conspiring with U.S. enemy No. 1 Iran to push up oil prices.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said in a recent interview on American television that Russia is interested in bilateral cooperation, but there are some people in the U.S. who are trying to undermine relations, and Russia may respond by leaving the U.S. without its assistance in solving several important problems, such as Iran.
It is not entirely true that the U.S. needs Russia’s cooperation on Iran. On the same day as Russia sent its tanks into Georgia, the U.S. began its own operation against Iran. The American, British and French navies had just completed exercises in the Atlantic to develop a joint naval blockade of Iran. On August 8, at about the same moment as the Russian 58th Army was moving through the Roki Tunnel, the four aircraft carriers in the group set off for the Persian Gulf.
Thus, an allied armada of unprecedented force is gathering off the coast of Iran. That number of warships has not been together in the Persian Gulf since 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq. The aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and helicopter carrier Iwo Jima and the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal are joining the American aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, helicopter carrier Peleliu and ships accompanying them, which are already in the Persian Gulf.
At the exercises, the idea was also developed that a naval blockade is supposed to deal a deathblow to Iran’s economy. Although it is one of the largest oil exporting countries, Iran has comparatively little refinery capacity and depends on imports of gasoline. Middle Eastern media have already suggested the warships have been sent to the Persian Gulf to bring their rehearsal to live. According to the Middle Eastern Times, a military emergency has already been declared in Kuwait in connection with those events.
It was noted during the exercises that Russia and China are potential threats to the effectiveness of a naval blockade of Iran, as they can counteract the allied operation. In particular, the suggestion was made during the exercises that Russian ships could accompany Iranian tankers at the outlet of the Persian Gulf. However, now the Russian navy is occupied in the Black Sea and cannot interfere with an operation against Iran.
Mikhail Zygar
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 14, 2008
|
|
|
