SubscribeRussians Troops Shoot Reporter, Rob Bank
First there had this video of a Georgian reporter being shot by a Russian sniper, live on TV, courtesy of the UK’s Sun:
Reporter shot on live TV
By STAFF REPORTER
Published: 14 Aug 2008
THIS is the dramatic moment a Georgian TV reporter is shot by a sniper on LIVE television.
News girl Tamara Urushadze suddenly disappears from view in this live report on public television in Georgia.
Gunshots are clearly heard in the background as the cameraman jumps out of the way.
After scenes of panic and commotion, Urashadze reappears with her arm bleeding.
Unbelievably she tries to continue her report as colleagues bandage her up.
In the dramatic footage she says that her arm had been grazed by a sniper bullet.
The incident was close to Gori, a city on Georgia’s main east-west highway, the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting.
Russian troops are still reported to be in the area despite a ceasefire being agreed between the two countries.
Now we have video footage of these same courageous Russian soldiers robbing a bank, again from the Sun:
Russian soldiers in bank job
By STAFF REPORTER
Published: 15 Aug 2008
RUSSIAN soldiers have been caught on camera ROBBING a bank in war-torn Georgia.
The band of gun-toting men were caught on CCTV forcing their way into the bank in Gori.
Once inside, the men are seen breaking into the teller offices and rifling through the desks.
They are then caught making off with what appear to be armfuls of equipment including laptop computers and perhaps even cash.
The outrage took place amid some of the bloodiest fighting in Gori, which is on Georgia’s main east-west highway.
And why not? Who is going to stop them?
The EU? The UN?
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13 Responses to “Russians Troops Shoot Reporter, Rob Bank”
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August 17th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Shouldn’t The Snag be sitting in a ditch somewhere protesting this war?
August 17th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Ouch 1st, we both know a ditch deserves better than that!
She should be six feet under the ditch! ;-}
August 17th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
The sniper is fortunately as lousy a shot as he is in his choice of patriotism.
August 17th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
“And why not? Who is going to stop them?”
The EU? The UN? The USA? The NATO?
August 18th, 2008 at 12:26 am
You really are starting to look more like A Mad Troll than A Mad Pole. What the hell is your problem?
August 18th, 2008 at 3:50 am
Actually LMGS, Mad Pole asks a very good question. Looks like we may be playing Cold War again real soon.
You’d think the semi-commies would have learned their lesson the first go around. Putin needs to change his first name to Ras… as in Rasputin.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Lurkin,
It was actually SG’s question he (Mad Pole) just added USA & NATO to it. He’s made his point and I believe has been answered several times as to why military action against Russia is out of the question at this time. You may be right about a cold war starting anew Lurkin, but what the hell, does A Mad Pole just want to say the hell with Defcon 2-5 and just go straight to 1? I’d personally rather see things progress reasonably and be escalated only if necessary.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:43 am
LMGS,
If offering a dissenting view on the forum that is awash in unreasonable chest thumping that borders on the delusion of grandeur or calls for Obama-style talk therapy when dealing with Russia makes me a troll, then so be it.
Georgia is a member of UN, but we all know how efficient and useful that organization is, it would be ridiculous for Georgians to pin their hopes on U.N.
Georgia is (was?) much closer to becoming a member of NATO rather than of EU and it is also an ally of the USA so again, they have more right to expect NATO and USA to stand up for them rather than EU, which Georgia has fewer ties to.
So Americans asking why UN and EU are not stopping it is nothing else but passing the buck, plain and simple. At least from the Georgian perspective.
Someone will make a fortune selling t-shirts in Georgia saying “We sent 2,000 troops to Iraq in show of support for the USA and all we got is empty promises”.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:46 am
A Mad Pole,
There is no problem whatsoever with offering dissenting views ever. However when it starts to appear that your only intention is to keep beating a dead horse over why the US isn’t saddling up the calvary, it gets a bit tedious OK. What would make you happy? Should we drop everything we’re doing in Iraq and Afghanistan, handing them to Iran, so we can run to Georgia. Do you think assembling the required troops, shoring up the logistics required can be done at the drop of a hat? It took 6+ months to assemble and deploy for Gulf War I against the Iraq. Assembling and deploying the required force to confront Russia would require significantly more time if done properly. Even then, it will be an ugly confrontation that could have repercussions unlike any preceding military confrontation in history. So tell me, what would you like to see happen?
August 18th, 2008 at 11:34 am
No, I am not calling for an all-out war with Russia, USA “just” needs to change the way it sees and treats Russia. Georgia was a rude wake up call that proved the present strategy badly wrong and undermined the USA position in the world.
This sums up it very well:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28066
August 18th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Putin’s Blunder
While the world has been focused on the Russo-Georgian crisis, most pundits have been critical of Saakashvili (as lap dog) and the Bush administration (as dog handler) for provoking the Russians, causing the Russians to invade Georgia. The thinking goes; Saakashvili would not have moved strongly against the separatists had there not been a green light from Washington - thus, the Bush administration overplayed her hand by giving Saakashvili more leash, inviting Russia to respond strongly (supposedly to protect her citizens) while the US was not prepared to support Georgia in her bid to solidify her borders. By Georgia (and obliquely, the US) falling into Russia’s trap, the US is weakened, the Cold War has restarted, and the Ukraine is next.
As has already been mentioned, Russia has been awash in oil money since the price of oil steadily rose. This, coupled with Russia’s consolidation of oil pipelines that feed Europe, has filled the coffers of Russia, and has helped her gain economic strength on the world’s stage. According to some, Russia is now ‘flexing her muscles’ and is now willing to take on the West (especially NATO) in a Cold War-era game of brinkmanship. Terms we haven’t heard for over 15 years are starting to resurface - ’spheres of influence’, ‘Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)’, ‘Cold War’, ’satellite states’, ‘Russian propoganda’ and others that receeded into language back-waters after the break-up of the Soviet Union are again being used to describe Putin’s Russia.
The question is, are these terms justified?
Putin’s aims seem to be focused on two things - building up the infrastructure of post-Soviet Russia, and re-asserting herself into global affairs. It appears that these two things are what lead Putin (through Medveded) into Georgia to support pro-Russian separatists - more oil means more money, and more money means more national infrastructure to a Russia in dire need of infrastructure. And since Russia has proven that she can exert herself back into countries that have looked towards the West (and the US, in particular), Russia has made the statement that she is a country that intends to provide an alternative to the West, politically, militarily, and most importantly, economically.
By re-building a Russia devestated by the Cold War (one reason, of many, that the West won the cold War is because we outspent, and were able to outspend, the Soviet Union), Putin has been able to take his country ravaged by collectivism and transform it into a sort of nationalistic commercialism economy. He has allowed some Russians to become very wealthy, as long as they support Putin, and has nationalised other companies that have posed a threat - not to Russia’s democracy but to Putin’s Plan. By nationalizing the pipelines through Russia, Putin has been able to consolidate the control over the oil and gas that flows into Europe, rebuild the military (and the industries that support the military), and offer aid to countries diametrically opposed to the US, NATO and Europe. If you want an analogy, think of what Hitler did for Germany after WW I.
Now, this in no way means that Putin will follow down the same, evil path as Hitler. In fact, I mention Hitler only to describe the rebuilding effort that Russia has undertaken since the end of the Cold War - NOT to say that Putin has the same ‘master race’ hate-philosophy that Hitler had. Putin has simply restored a sense of Russian pride back into a post-Cold War demoralized Russia.
And thus birthed Putin’s blunder. By Russia’s adventure into Georgia, with all the prideful Russian nationalism stoked by Putin, Russia looks more like a bully on the world stage than at any time since 1968 (as Secretary Rice eloquently put it..). You could almost hear Khrushchev slamming his shoe on his casket. And this has done more for solidarity in the former Soviet-bloc states than the West could have hoped to accomplish - Poland has a missle defense system. The Ukraine has set limits on the Russian fleet, the leaders of Estonia and the Czech Republic have flown to Tblisi to counter the Russian army. It would almost seem as if Rumsfield’s “New Europe” has found her voice. As these democracies are quick to point out, Russia cannot be trusted - do not feed the Bear, you will get bitten.
Economically, the rest of the world - friends of Russia as well as Western capital markets - are re-adjusting their relationship with Putin’s Russia. And this will mean a stop on the desperately needed capital within Russia. Medveded has all but killed his chance of staying in the G-8 - which leaves Russia in an ‘also ran’ category ecomonically. Thus, the engine of Russian growth slows significantly. Yes, Russia will still have her oil, but the means of getting that oil out of the ground and shipped to Western market will slow without Western money to invest in technologies necessary pump and deliver. Yes, Russia can look to China for investment, but China is attempting to build her own infrastructure, and has little money to divert from Western Markets to Russian Markets - China wants the biggest return of her investment (another problem for the US, but not one to discuss here…) and her biggest return is from Europe and the US - even more so with Russia out of the G-8.
Putin has single-handedly hurt his Russian economy and lowered Russia’s standing in the world. By invading Georgia, a friend of the West and an emerging democracy, Putin has bubbled the old fears of repression back to the top. By doing so, he has put Russia back into the ‘Countries that should be avoided’ category. The West has won this battle solely based upon the mis-adventure of a prideful Putin.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
So this is only slightly related but I have been wondering about the casualties numbers for this skirmish. The best I could find is some ABC uncited source that puts it at around 2000.
With the Iraq war there were/ are at least a dozen organizations keeping track and daily publishing casualty reports. It is telling that these same are either silent or obviously skewed. Human Rights News makes the case that they are unable to determine who is responsible for reported damage but it is likely Georgian forces who are responsible for bombing and destroying Georgian villages.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
suscepit
August 15th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
“Today (Friday) should have been the seventh day in a row of A-10 strafing runs and Apache hunting trips along the Russian armored columns and the third day of practice runs from B-52 bases in Asia.”
A Mad Pole
August 16th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
“And thank you suscepit for your post, you seem the only one here who understands that action speaks louder than words.”
Glad that you’re not calling for “an all out war with Russia”?