Iran election roundup #2

Bring out yer Twits, Bring out yer Twits
Police batter Protesters: Iran or Georgia?

U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran

VASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had contacted the social networking service Twitter to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that would have cut daytime service to Iranians who are disputing their election.

Confirmation that the U.S. government had contacted Twitter came as the Obama administration sought to avoid suggestions it was meddling in Iran's internal affairs as the Islamic Republic battled to control deadly street protests over the election result.

For Comparison purposes only (i.e. To be completelly ignored by anyone that used Twitter to follow recent events in Iran):

Police in Georgia beat opposition protesters
Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:45am EDT

By David Mdzinarishvili

TBILISI (Reuters) – Masked police beat dozens of opposition protesters in the Georgian capital on Monday in the latest flare-up during a weeks-long street campaign against President Mikheil Saakashvili, witnesses said.

Dozens of black-clad police officers armed with truncheons confronted a protest of about 50 people at Tbilisi’s main police station demanding the release of six opposition activists detained since Friday, a Reuters photographer said.

He said several protesters and a photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency were severely beaten. Senior opposition official Zurab Abashidze was admitted to hospital.

Police seized cameras from photographers and cameramen, including a Reuters photographer. The cameras were later returned but the Reuters photographer’s images had been erased. Other photographers said their memory cards had been taken.

Tensions are running high in the former Soviet republic, after more than two months of opposition protests and roadblocks demanding Saakashvili quit over his record on democracy and last year’s disastrous war with Russia.

The volatile country of 4.5 million people sits on Russia’s southern border, at the heart of a transit region for oil and gas to the West.

“This is absolutely unacceptable,” protest leader and former Saakashvili ally Nino Burjanadze said of the violence. “We demand a response from our Western partners, to give their assessment of the situation.”

Saakashvili said he was tolerating a state of “lawlessness” and accused his opponents of trying to provoke him.

“They think Saakashvili is hot-headed, they insult (parliament speaker David) Bakradze and (Prime Minister Nika) Gilauri, and they try to make us crush them, “ he told a televised meeting of the parliamentary majority.

Police firing tear gas and rubber bullets dispersed the last mass demonstrations against Saakashvili in 2007. Watched closely by the West, authorities are wary of taking a hard line again, but analysts question how long the stalemate can continue.

“CRIMINALS AND BANDITS”

Both sides have traded blame for a spate of violent incidents, vying for the sympathy of Georgia’s Western allies.

The opposition said that statements by several Western embassies on Friday, in which they criticized opposition protesters for throwing rocks and bottles at Bakradze’s official car, had encouraged the government to take a hard line.


“The statements made by the U.S., French and Czech ambassadors clearly gave impetus to the authorities to act as criminals and bandits today,” opposition leader David Gamkrelidze said.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that protesters were hampering traffic and resisted police efforts “to unblock the entrance to the police station and restore traffic movement.” It said 39 protesters were detained.

US envoy praises Georgia’s handling of opposition protests

Jun 10, 2009

TBILISI (AFP) — A senior US envoy on Wednesday praised the government of the former Soviet republic Georgia for how it has handled weeks of opposition protests calling on President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign.

“We appreciated the way the government is dealing with the protests,” Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told a press conference in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

What the Georgians lack is of course an Army of Twits to get all hot and bothered on their behalf. That's the problem with Twits though. Never there when they actually could be useful.


US Defense Department sees protests as terrorism

Antiterrorism training materials used by the Department of Defense teach that public protests should be regarded as “low-level terrorism,” according to a letter of complaint sent to the department by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

:Low Level Terrorist?


I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent — all those are universal values and need to be respected. — US President Barrack Obama commenting on the recent unrest in Iran

Twits out fer the lads . . .

See Also:
Iran election roundup

Update:

Perusing UrbanDictionary.com I found this:

Twitterolution: A revolution instigated, orchestrated and subsequently propagated and promoted by the WEB 2.0 Sensation Twitter.

Example: The protests seen in Iran against the disputed election is the World's first Twitterloution.

SO I sent this alternative definition to the people at UrbanDictionary.com:

Word: twitterolution

Definition: What occurs when a bunch of gullible twits are let loose on the internet to whip themselves into a frenzy regarding an election fraud that probably never occurred

Example: Boy, that was some load of twitterolution in Iran recently, weren't it?

They sent me a very rapid reply:

Editors reviewed your entry and have decided to not publish it.

A good blog on this subject:

Contrasting protest coverage Iran vs G-20 and Georgia

Iran, Iran, Iran. You would think this was the only news in the world. Odd isn't it?

Human Rights Watch [sic] still lying

Marc Garlasco: moved over to Human Rights Watch
after working 7 years at Pentagon(?)
Postman (Lord) Patel nails it . . .

On the 16th August we posted Russia uses Cluster Bombs on civilian targets in Georgia which was based on a widely reported Human Rights watch report. A friend kindly pointed out what a bunch of lying fuckers they have been .. in fact they have an impressive track record. (of which more soon)

Now it turns out the bombs were M85 bombs of Israeli manufacture, and used by the Georgians. A letter from the Georgian Defence Ministry to HRW said the bombs were used "against Russian military equipment and armament" near the Roki tunnel that links Russia to South Ossetia. The Georgians have admitted using them. The original report was by a helpful chappie called Marc Garlasco, who moved over to Human Rights Watch after working 7 years at Pentagon. HRW has acknowledged cluster bomb use, but has not retracted their now baseless accusations against the Russians and still maintain the Russians used them. Tuesday, September 02, 2008 Clusterfuck on Blog Simple

Pipelines from the Russia, Stupid™


Cool reception for Cheney in Azerbaijan
Russia Today, Sept5, 2008

American Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit to the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, appears to be have been unsuccessful for Washington, unlike his visit to Tbilisi. Cheney received a cool welcome and, according to Russia’s Kommersant newspaper, Azerbaijan’s President Ilkham Aliyev has implied that Baku is going to play a waiting game concerning the Nabucco gas pipeline, which is set to bypass Russia. Neither President Ilkham Aliyev nor the Prime Minister, Artur Rasizade, were there to greet Cheney at Baku airport. Instead, he was met by the country’s First Deputy PM and the Foreign Minister.

The Kommersant newspaper reports that Cheney was very annoyed by the results of the meeting with President Aliyev and even refused to attend a ceremonial supper in his own honour. Aleksandr Pikaev, an analyst from the Institute for World Economy and International Relations, believes Dick Cheney is hardly the right man for diplomacy in the region.

Human Rights Watch [sic] caught lying . . . again!

HRW provided this picture as evidence identifying
the weapon debris shown as a Russian RBK-250 clusterbomb.


Moon Of Alabamha has the scoop:

HRW Continues False Cluster Bomb Accusations against Russians

On August 15 Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Russian Federation of having used cluster bombs in the conflict with Georgia. These accusations were widely repeated in the 'western' media. The Russian Federation consistently denied any use of cluster ammunition. As it now turns out the repeated HRW accusations were wrong. The 'evidence' provided by HRW was based on pictures and misidentified ammunition in those.

The ammunition in question is of Israeli origin and was used by the Georgian military. The Georgian Ministry of Defense has now admitted as much. HRW now also acknowledges this in a new press statement. But it continues to claim Russian use of such weapons. It does so by pointing to its own older reports which clearly misidentified Georgian cluster ammunition as Russian made. HRW has still to show any proof for its continuing accusations against the Russian Federation.

While reviewing the story as documented below, notice the special role of HRW's 'senior military analyst' Marc Garlasco in this propaganda effort.

An August 15 HRW press release claimed:

Human Rights Watch said Russian aircraft dropped RBK-250 cluster bombs, each containing 30 PTAB 2.5M submunitions, on the town of Ruisi in the Kareli district of Georgia on August 12, 2008. On the same day, a cluster strike in the center of the town of Gori killed at least eight civilians and injured dozens, Human Rights Watch said.

A Russian(?) blogger noticed as much [that Human Rights Watch was LYING] yesterday.

See also:
Weapons found in Kodori Gorge, Georgia,
with English Markings
Cache of Georgian arms found in Kodori Gorge

Calls for EU role as Navy intervenes in Pipeline Dispute

Another fine example of Naval power being brought to bear in a pipeline dispute.

Warship off the coast in Shell Pipeline dispute
Now we know how the Georgians feel :)

Maybe we'd have been better cutting a deal with Russia's Gazprom :)

Second Navy Vessel arrives in Bay

Anothes Irish Naval Service warship arrived off the Mayo Coast this afternoon. Given the small sizse of the Irish navy, the priority which is being put on this operation is alarming. As recent events have shown, the Irish coast is often used by criminals importing large quantities of drugs into the country fro further export to Europe, and the navy is supposed to be an impotant line of defence against this.

Instead two ships ae being used to intimidate the local population of a small part of the west coast, to discourage protests against Shell.

Vlad the Prevailer: Putin gives his side of the Georgian/S. Ossetia Story

Vlad the Prevailer?

Here's a YouTube of Vald Putin's interview with German Channel ARD. With English sub-titles



I found a Russian transcript HERE

I the used Google Translations to get to an English Transcript of the interview HERE

V. PUTIN: I just want to point out that we have not created this situation.

And now about the credibility of Russia. I am sure that the credibility of any country that can protect the lives and dignity of its citizens, a country which is able to pursue an independent foreign policy, the credibility of this country's long-term, medium term the world will only grow.

Conversely, the credibility of those countries which have a rule for foreign policy to serve the interests of other states, ignoring their own national interests, regardless of how they explain, will decline.

T. ROTH: You are still not answered the question: why have you gone to the risk of isolating your country?

V. PUTIN: I thought I replied. But if it requires further clarification, I will do.

Full 27 minute interview with English subtitles:

• Vlad Putin's interview with German Channel ARD: Part 1
  
• Vlad Putin's interview with German Channel ARD: Part 2
  
• Vlad Putin's interview with German Channel ARD: Part 3

See also:
Media, Georgia, NATO, Russia and The FRENCH! . . . Oh, and Israel!

...

Russia Is One of 10 Biggest Creditors of the U.S.
Russia ranks the eighth in the list of the U.S. creditors, according to Finance magazine.

The Russian Federation share in the U.S. state debt was 2.5 percent ($65.3 billion) as of June 30, 2008.

Japan ($583 billion) and China ($503 billion, less the debt to Hong Kong and Macao) are the key creditors for the United States, accounting for over 40 percent of the state debt on aggregate.

What’s more, the debt to China goes up by 25 percent a year.

Other major creditors of the United States are

• Britain,
• Luxembourg,
• Hong Kong,
• Switzerland,
• states of Caribbean offshore zone and the oil-exporting states, including Venezuela,
• the United Arab Emirates,
• Ecuador,
• Iran,
• Iraq,
• Kuwait,
• Oman
• and others.

Here's a curious headline

EU officials express surprise over Russia sanctions

a casual observer might think the EU were surprised that RUSSIA was considering sanctions.

It appears to me that the headline is phrased to make it seem, to the casual observe, that Russia is the one proposing sanctions.

They would of course be wrong. It is the EU that is driving the debate on sanctions, as the rest of the story makes clear:

The European Union is considering sanctions against Russia as punishment for refusing to withdraw its troops from Georgia and for recognising the two breakaway enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The first hint that the EU might impose sanctions was made by Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, during a press conference ahead of the planned summit on Georgia on Monday.

The reason the wiley Headline composer got away with their slightly deceptive headline, is because EU-heads seem 'surprised' that the always scrupulously impartial Mr Kouchner is the one proposing the sanctions:

Some EU officials were surprised that Mr Kouchner had raised the subject in public, knowing that it was going to be difficult to reach any form of consensus.

While some EU members are thought to be pushing for sanctions, it is a fact that the partnership and co-operation arrangements between the Europeans and Russia are of mutual benefit and both sides will be punished if sanctions are approved by the summit leaders.

Meanwhile Lord Patel has some interesting comments on the travels and travails of Mr Vlad Putin:
Mr Putin visits that nice Mr Karimov for a chat about this and that and oil and gas and pipelines

Vagit Alekperov called to tell us of his trip alongside Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to Uzbekistan yesterday. They were met personally at the start of their 2 day visit yesterday at Tashkent International Airport by "boil in bag" Islam Karimov himself.

Russia, Uzbekistan agree on Uzbekistani gas pricing European formula

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who is visiting Sep 2 Uzbekistan has announced following talks with Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov that Moscow and Tashkent have agreed on the formula of pricing of Uzbekistani natural gas purchased by Russia. According to Putin, the formula is going to be the one used in Europe.

Uzbekistan produces 60 billion of cubic meters of natural gas annually, of which 7-8 billion are sold to Gazprom. In the first half of 2008, Russia was paying Uzbekistan $130 per 1,000 cubic meters, and is paying $160 in the second half.

See Also:
Pipeline Time: Pipeline Politics and Oil Imperium from Azerbaijan, to Ashkelon and Mogadishu


Piplines in teh Russia, Stupid!™

Bloomberg reports that “In the 2 1/2 years since Mikhail Khodorkovsky, then Yukos chief executive officer, was arrested on fraud charges, President Vladimir Putin’s government has used assets from Yukos to help turn Rosneft and OAO Gazprom into challengers to BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Rosneft and Gazprom have given Putin, 53, control of 60 percent of Russia’s energy industry, the world’s biggest.”

Considering the degree of U.S. and European investment in Yukos, if it had happened in any other country, then the government would surely have been pilloried, maybe even forcibly removed. The Pootster gets to hold a G8 summit. He’s obviously being a good enough boy – which may be where Abkhazia comes in. Perhaps at the G8 Summit it was suggested that Russia agree to withdraw from the Caucasus in exchange for the evisceration of foreign energy interests in Russia proper?

Then again, is he stupid enough to loosen all influence over the pipeline region just to avoid a few editorials in the financial press? I doubt it. The Caucasus remains an Achilles Heel of the Oil Imperium.

Russia faces new Caucasus uprising in Ingushetia

But it is Ingushetia, where the population has long been at odds with its Ossetian neighbours, that is prompting the greatest concern among observers and western diplomats.

Russian opposition newspapers have claimed that up to 1,200 Ingush police officers have resigned their jobs in protest at the war in South Ossetia, creating a power vacuum that could allow the insurgency to flourish.

Anger has particularly grown since Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, recognised the independence of South Ossetia last week. Many Ingush fear that could lead to the unification of South Ossetia, which lies in Georgia, and North Ossetia, which lies in Russia.

Ingushetia and North Ossetia fought a brief war in 1992, which claimed some 600 lives, over control of a slither of territory called Prigorodny which had come under Ossetian occupation after Stalin deported the entire Ingush population in 1944.

Regional experts say that a desire for separatism is now spreading from radical insurgents to Ingushetia's more moderate underground opposition.

Mr Yevloyev's death could act as a catalyst for opposition against regional head Murat Zyazikov, a former KGB officer and close ally of Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister.

The journalist, who was also one of Ingushetia's best known opposition figures, was arrested at an airport near the Ingush capital Nazran. Shortly after his detention, his body, bearing a single bullet wound to the temple, was thrown out of a police car.

Ingush officials passed off the death as an accident, but the angry reaction from opposition activists suggested not all believed that - especially as Mr Zyazikov had been on the same flight as the dead journalist.

Map showing Ingushetia

Media, Georgia, NATO, Russia and The FRENCH! . . . Oh, and Israel!

Why does this BOZO sit with the flag of the EU in the background?
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we come to work for Western Media


Georgia's Nato membership on track, says David Miliband


The boy Milliband wants Georgia in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

The Georgians can't actually physically pick up the whole country and drag it westward, closer to The North Atlantic so instead Saak launches an unprovoked attack on a territory guarded (under a 1992 agreement between the Russians and the Georgians) by Russian peacekeepers.

The Media's responds heroically, twisting and torturing language to make it appear the Russki's are now 'aggressive expansionists'™

Various internet identities pop up to assure us that once the Fog of War™ disappears, Russian duplicity will be plain for all to see.

despite copious evidence implicating US military and Israeli and US mercenaries (and by extension, also the Israeli Military) in this military farce we are assured that if only the Russki's weren't so meddlesome the problem would never have manifested itself

Meanwhile the French seem to be practising a little duplicity of their own.

The duplicity of the West is everywhere in this current crisis.

Even French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s cease-fire proposal signed by both Georgian and Russian presidents was a ruse.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revealed that the document that Saakashvili approved did not contain an introduction that had been endorsed by Russia, South Ossetia and the other breakaway region, Abkhazia.

Meanwhile, US military planes are flying in “aid” and the US has announced it will henceforth have a permanent presence in Georgia.

Under what logic is this failed Military attack on a territory guarded (under a 1992 agreement between the Russians and the Georgians) by Russian peacekeepers, NOT a win for the Neo-Lib/Globalists ?

So far, from what I've seen, it appears the Neo-Cons have done quite well for themselves.

Thanks to The Media's Heroic Efforts™, most in the west see Russia as an aggressive expansionist intent on the commission of War Crimes (!!), meanwhile through the use of euphemistic phrases such as 'humanitarian relief' the U.S. now finally has an openly acknowledged military presence in a country bordering Russia with an ethnic-conflict situation ripe for meddling globalist intrigue. Apparently it's about the OIL, Stupid!™ when even a child could see it's about the Russia, Stupid!™.


In (insert random year from the 90's here) a guy called Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote a book called The Grand Chessboard

here's a link to something I found using the intarwebs : http://www.wanttoknow.info/brzezinskigrandchessboard

I haven't read it so I have no idea what it says, but luckily, due to the aforementioned intarwebs all here can google it to and discover lots of amusing family fun and find out more. The reason i didn't bother to read it is because as I said earlier even a child could see it's about the Russia, Stupid!™.

Zbiggy is now acting as an foreign policy adviser to none other than Mr Celebrity himself, the next JFK ........ Barack Hussein Obama. So we can expect 'hope'™ and 'change'™ 'cos BarryO's all about 'the change'™ and 'the hope'™
BarryO (aka Barack Hussein Obama) Purveyor of false Hope?

Here's a pretty good TIMELINE for events from Moon of Alabama:

On the evening of August 7 the Georgian President Saakashvili went on TV and announced a cease-fire. This came after some small tit for tat fire exchanges on the border between Georgia and South Ossetia. A few hours later Georgia launched a massive artillery barrage against the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali. It used Grad multiple-launch rocket systems. Such weapons are effective against area targets, like large infantry clusters, not against pinpoint aims. To use such weapons against civilian areas leads to mass casualties and is in itself a war crime.

The attack hit people at sleep in their homes. It was followed by bombings from SU-25 ground attack airplanes in and around Tskhinvali.

The Russian peacekeepers in South Osssetia had less than a battalion of mechanized infantry between the border and Tskhinvali. This batallion was attacked by a multi battalion Georgian tank and armored infantry forces. The Russians retreated through and around Tskhinvali but held the line within the city limits.

According to Russian sources the Georgian assault killed some 1,500 to 2,000 civilians.

South Ossetia is connected with North Ossetia in Russia by only one road which leads up to the Caucasus mountain range and through the Roki tunnel. It was obvious that any Russian reinforcements would have to come through that tunnel. Georgia seems to have made no attempt to close the road and the tunnel.

Why was this attack done this way and why was the tunnel not closed down?

The only explanation I can come up with is planed ethnic cleansing.

The Georgian attack was planed and prepared for some time and followed a bigger strategic plan. Hitting the civilians in their sleep guaranteed panic and would obviously push them to look for refuge. The only place these Ossetians had to go was north to their compatriots. If the tunnel would have been closed, Georgia would have been stuck with these people after taking their land. That would have led to a messy guerrilla war. It was better, so the plan, to let them flee and therefore leave the outlet open. Indeed some 30,000 of 70,000 Ossetians fled through the tunnel.

Maybe the Georgian plan was to close the tunnel later, like after some 24 or 48 hours after the initial assault. That then was a gamble that Russia would not intervene or would need too long to reinforce. The gamble was lost.

Russia reacted quite fast and only six hours after the initial attack a combined arms force of tanks, artillery and armored personal carriers in the size of one battalion (some 600 soldiers) was on its way through the Roki tunnel. By late noon these forces had reached Tskhinvali and immediately began to push the Georgian forces back.

At the same time the Russian air force started to bomb Georgian air fields. At least four Georgian planes were destroyed on the ground. Two Russian planes were shot down by SA-5 anti air missiles which Georgia was not known to have. These weapons were possibly manned by Ukrainian mercenaries.

While the Russian troops were still on their march, Russia asked the UN security council to condemn the Georgian attack and to call for a cease-fire. The 'western' powers at the security council declined to do so.

Only after that did Russia start to get really serious. It activated paratrooper and special forces to reinforce in South Ossetia. A marine battalion was send from the Crimea and on the 11th landed in Abkhasia. Further reinforcements there came by rail. The Russian Air force launched a classic 'effect based operation' and took out military airports, radars, barracks and communication points.

A few of these attacks hit, as is inevitable, civilian places but Georgian civilian casualties seem to have been light. Russia did not attack economic or civilian installations like electricity plants, pipelines, or major traffic points. A Russian reconnaissance force only briefly moved to Senaki and the only place outside of South Ossetia and Abkhasia Russian forces now hold is a central highway crossing north of Gori.

The last Georgian attack attempt yesterday (after Saak signed Kouchner's cease-fire paper) was by six helicopters that again hit Tskhinvali. They were later destroyed by Russian air power. Yesterday night Georgian troops in Gori panicked and headed for the capital Tiblisi.

The Russian president Medvedev has stopped ground operations but the Russian forces will continue air operations against any Georgian troop concentrations until a cease-fire is signed that fits Russian demands.

The Georgian forces have lost quite a bunch of their tanks and other equipment. The Georgian air force does not exist any more. The Georgian navy lost the only two missile boats it had. Military infrastructure was hit badly. The military budget that Saak had increased from $30 million to $1 billion over a few years was wasted. The training Georgian forces received by U.S. troops and Israeli mercenaries seems to have been completely useless. Well, they learned how to bike quads.

There are now in total still only some 10,000+ Russian troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazi. Georgia has 27,000 men under arms. These did not even achieve their first objective and folded against a smaller force.

From a military standpoint the Georgian forces deserve an F. The Russian ground force deserves an A for the early holding of the ground, a B for the quick first reaction unit and a C for the reinforcement thereafter which seems to have not been very effective. The Russian air force for losing two planes only gets a D.

From a strategic political point Saak gambled badly and lost. It was obvious that he would lose this one from the beginning. Four days ago when Saak started his splendid little war I headlined Saakashvili Wants War - He Will Get It and wrote:

Saakashvili may hope for physical help from 'the west', but neither NATO nor the EU has any appetite to support his escapades. What has led him to this miscalculation?

That question is still unanswered. Saakashvili should answer it when he gets his deserved process at The Hague.

I think that quite sucessfully answers the question of who started this shit

Consider this Reuters wire report published on August 8, the day the conflict over South Ossetia went hot:

At the request of Russia, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency session in New York but failed to reach consensus early Friday on a Russian-drafted statement.

The council concluded it was at a stalemate after the US, Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a phrase in the three-sentence draft statement that would have required both sides "to renounce the use of force," council diplomats said.

And Here's an interesting statement from that Great Democrat™, Saakashvilli

"The Israeli weapons have proved very effective," he said at a press conference at his office. When asked whether the Israeli arms played a role in the military successes he claimed the Georgian army had achieved, he joked: "Are you asking me as a representative of Elbit or of Israel Aerospace Industries?"

To a reporter's question about Jews who have fled the fighting and come to Israel, he said: "We have two Israeli cabinet ministers, one deals with war [Defense Minister David Kezerashvili], and the other with negotiations [State Minister for Territorial Integration Temur Yakobashvili], and that is the Israeli involvement here: Both war and peace are in the hands of Israeli Jews."

Source: Israeli Newspaper Haaretz.com



Oh, by the way, David Milliband is also Jewish. I don't know how significant that is in the overall scheme of things but I will say that when he visited Israel on a 'Peace' mission he took time out to visit his cousins who it turns out are living in an illegal Israeli 'settlement'/colony on what used to be know as Palestinian land.
("Miliband Visit Relatives on Settlement" FCO Panic AND David Miliband denies visiting family in West Bank settlement)

Like I said, I don't know how significant that is overall :)

See Also:
Georgia. A change in the balance of world relations.

Sources of good info on Russian-Georgian conflict

According to this now deleted API report by RAWSTORY

On July 14, 2008, 14 countries rehearsed war in the Ukraine.

Sea Breeze-2008 NATO exercise was held off Ukraine's Black Sea coast against anti-NATO protests and a hostile reaction from officials in Russia.

Sea Breeze-2008...includes forces from:

• Armenia,
  
• Azerbaijan,
  
• Belgium,
  
• Britain,
  
• Canada,
  
• Denmark,
  
• France,
  
• Georgia,
  
• Germany,
  
• Greece,
  
• Latvia,
  
• Macedonia and
  
• Turkey...'
  

The US-Georgia joint exercises will be held at the Vaziani military base' less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Russian border with a total of 1,650 servicemen taking part."

...

Lyndon Baines Johnson was famous for many things.

One of them was his use of the phrase '"Make the bastard deny it!"

With that in mind, I propose we file the following BBC report under:

'Make the Bitch deny it!

Yulia Tymoshenko: Make the Bitch deny it!

Ukraine PM 'working for Russia'

Aides to Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko have accused Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of working in Russia's interests in a bid to become president.

Presidential spokesman Andriy Kyslynsky said Ms Tymoshenko had been co-operating with Russia by avoiding any criticism of its actions in Georgia.

He said she was counting on Moscow's support in next year's Ukrainian presidential election.

Ms Tymoshenko, currently on holiday, has not yet commented on the claim.