War it is. Part IV.

[rmsharpe]

Ah. We have FEMA, but that's for domestic issues only.

It's fairly typical for the military to distribute relief aid; my guess would be that it's to protect the aid from being intercepted by pirates or warlords.

[snoopy369]

I think it's more that the military is the only convenient shipping mechanism available that's not commercial.

Also, it gives us good training exercises.

The protection aspect is certainly not irrelevant, of course. However, even in intra-US emergencies, we still give aid through the National Guard and such usually (aided by the ARC of course)

[rah]

Let's call it what it is.

GREAT PR for US troops. Something to offset all the usual negatives.

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by rmsharpe
Ah. We have FEMA, but that's for domestic issues only.

It's fairly typical for the military to distribute relief aid; my guess would be that it's to protect the aid from being intercepted by pirates or warlords.

Not to mention Russians.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Saras
Guys, can we already drop this notion of Russia being surprised and all by the Georgian "aggression"? The version supported by most of the impartial or corroborated information is that Georgia was provoked (and not just this August but for more like a year), and Russia was ready. OF COURSE the ships were underway.

And that my friends is just the god honest truth. Russia wanted to attack its neighbor for being pro-western and so they provoked a conflict. Without a doubt Russia is the aggressor and in the wrong here.

[Saras]

And you know what, my wife is now giving me grief and bugs me to open a Swiss bank account and leave some seed money there in case we need to run away (she obviously has even less trust in our European allies than I do..). WTF.

Thanks a lot, Russia.

[Lancer]

Send it to me, we'll take care of it, my father was Swiss.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Lancer
Send it to me, we'll take care of it, my father was Swiss.

No offence, Pictet & Cie sound more reliable

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Saras
And you know what, my wife is now giving me grief and bugs me to open a Swiss bank account and leave some seed money there in case we need to run away (she obviously has even less trust in our European allies than I do..). WTF.

Thanks a lot, Russia.

With all your country has been through at the hand of the Russians, it must be disheartening to have this fear arise again.

[Saras]

Originally posted by PLATO


With all your country has been through at the hand of the Russians, it must be disheartening to have this fear arise again.

Naah, no one's flying to Geneva or anything . Not yet at least. But the recent events got me thinking about things I myself should do to prevent a similar thing happening to my country.

[onodera]

Originally posted by PLATO


With all your country has been through at the hand of the Russians, it must be disheartening to have this fear arise again.

If not for us, the city Saras lives in wouldn't be part of Lithuania. What is that "all" that Lithuania's been through?

[Saras]

We've been through being your countrymen

[PLATO]

Medvedev: We’re ‘not afraid’ of a new Cold War
West fumes as Russian president OKs recognition of rebel Georgia areas


Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announces Tuesday that he had signed a decree under which Russia formally recognises the rebel Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.


updated 2 hours, 31 minutes ago
MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking in the midst of one of the lowest points in the Russia-West relationship since the breakup of the Soviet Union 17 years ago, said Tuesday that his country did not seek a new Cold War — but neither was it afraid of one.

"We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War," Medvedev was quoted as saying Tuesday by the ITAR-Tass news agency. "But we don't want it and in this situation everything depends on the position of our partners."

The statement comes hours after Medvedev recognized the independence of two Georgian rebel provinces, defying the West. The recognition — which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described as "extremely unfortunate" — follows a short but intense war with Western-allied Georgia earlier this month.

"If they want to preserve good relations with Russia in the West, they will understand the reason behind our decision," Medvedev said.

Medvedev said that he had signed a decree on the decision to recognize the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Few other nations are likely to follow the move.

Rice said the United States continued to regard both breakaway regions as "part of the internationally recognized borders of Georgia."

Speaking in Texas, White House spokesman Tony Fratto on Tuesday said Russia is making a number of "irrational" decisions that puts its place in the world at risk.

Fratto said the U.S. will use its veto power on the U.N. Security Council to make sure any effort to change the provinces' international status is "dead on arrival."

On the heels of Russia's first post-Soviet invasion of a foreign country, recognition was another stark demonstration of the Kremlin's determination to hold sway in lands where its clout is jeopardized by NATO's expansion and growing Western influence.

Meanwhile, the the United States dispatched military ships bearing aid to a port city still controlled by Russian troops.

‘Absolutely not acceptable’
Rice also accused Medvedev of failing to honor his nation's commitments under an internationally backed cease-fire.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Russia's recognition of the breakaway areas was "absolutely not acceptable." She insisted Medvedev's decision violates international agreements.

Medvedev said Georgia forced Russia's hand by launching an attack targeting South Ossetia on Aug. 7 in an apparent bid to seize control of the breakaway region.

In response, Russian tanks and troops drove deep into the U.S. ally's territory in a five-day war that Moscow saw as a justified response to a military threat in its backyard and the West viewed as a repeat of Soviet-style intervention in its vassal states.

"This is not an easy choice but this is the only chance to save people's lives," Medvedev said Tuesday in a televised address announcing Russia's recognition of the breakaway territories.

Russian forces have staked out positions beyond the de-facto borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The two territories have effectively ruled themselves following wars in the 1990s.

"Georgia chose the least human way to achieve its goal — to absorb South Ossetia by eliminating a whole nation," Medvedev said.

Russia backs independence of rebel Georgian provinces
Aug. 26: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says Moscow recognizes the independence of the two Georgian rebel provinces at the center of an intense war earlier this month. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.
msnbc.com


Further weakening
Russia's military presence seems likely to further weaken Georgia, a Western ally in the Caucasus region, a major transit corridor for energy supplies to Europe and a strategic crossroads close to the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia and energy-rich Central Asia.

Medvedev ignored Western warnings against recognizing the independence claims of the two regions, which broke from Georgian government control in early 1990s wars and have run their own affairs with Russian support.

After Russia's parliament urged the move in unanimous votes Monday, the U.S. State Department said recognition would be "unacceptable" and President Bush urged the Kremlin against it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26403580/

Clearly Russian leadership has lost their minds.

[Lancer]

Time to restock the bomb shelter with fresh supplies. Oh ****, I don't have a bomb shelter.

*Note to self, buy shovel.

[onodera]

Originally posted by Saras


Naah, no one's flying to Geneva or anything . Not yet at least. But the recent events got me thinking about things I myself should do to prevent a similar thing happening to my country.

Oh, come on, what could we want from your country of forests, swamps and sands? You don't even have a sizeable Russian minority you could oppress.

Edit: or was this a poem about Belarus?