Georgian Troops Retreat From So. Ossetia, Ask For Truce

The world is watching the conflict between Georgia and Russia and it's like watching a boxing match between MiniMe and The Hulk. Georgian troops, out manned and overwhelmed by armor, air support and artillery have retreated from South Ossetia and are pleading for a truce. Here's some of the latest details from Breitbart:

Georgian troops retreated from the breakaway province of South Ossetia on Sunday and their government pressed for a truce, overwhelmed by Russian firepower as the conflict threatened to set off a wider war.
Russia deployed a naval squadron off the coast of another of Georgia's separatist regions, Abkhazia, and its jets bombed the outskirts of Tblisi, the Georgian capital.
Georgia's Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said he hoped the Georgian withdrawal would be a first step toward a cease-fire. "We communicated that message beforehand to the Russians through (U.S. Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice," he said.

I'm not going to detail the battles here today or how many casualties there are or who has done what in this conflict, since this is a huge mismatch. What I am more concerned about is what the Russians do at this point. Look at the Russian reaction to the retreat and withdrawl by Georgian forces:

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that Moscow now needs to verify the Georgian withdrawal. "We must check all that. We don't trust the Georgian side," he said.

That shows me that the Russians smell blood in the water and this is far from being over. It's like the Russians will now have to decide exactly what they want out of all of this. They can say they were only protecting their peacekeepers in South Ossetia but it now appears that the Russians know they can call the shots in this troubled area and one has to be suspicious that the Russians are going to settle some very old scores.

What the Russians don't realize is that it's been a helluva long time since they have been involved in an operation like this and they do not realize what the world is seeing in daily and hourly images. The Europeans, who the Russians depend on for a myriad of economic pacts and contracts, are watching the actions of the Russians and if Russia isn't careful, they could damage a major portion of their trade partners. Yes, this is a slippery slope and it will be interesting to see which fork in the road the Russians take - the fork that will allow them to settle a long time score with the Georgians and the West or the fork that ensures them retention of their western ties and economic well-being.

Georgian troops retreat from breakaway province

Georgia, whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, began an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday, launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that pounded the provincial capital, Tskhinvali.
In response, Russia, which has granted passports to most South Ossetians, launched overwhelming artillery shelling and air attacks on Georgian troops.
Russia has demanded that Georgia pull out its troops from South Ossetia as a condition to negotiate a cease-fire. It also urged Georgia to sign a pledge not to use force against South Ossetia as another condition for ending hostilities.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that Moscow now needs to verify the Georgian withdrawal. "We must check all that. We don't trust the Georgian side," he said.
On Sunday, Russian jets raided a plant on the eastern outskirts of Tbilisi that builds Su-25 ground jets. The attack damaged runways but caused no casualties, said Georgia's Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili.
"We heard a plane go over and then a big explosion," said Malkhaz Chachanidze, a 41-year old ceramics artist whose house is located just outside the fence of the factory, which has been running since the Soviet era. "It woke us up, everything shook."
The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war increased when Russian-supported separatists in another breakaway region of Georgia, Abkhazia, launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian troops to drive them out of a small part of the province they control. Fifteen U.N. military observers were told to evacuate.
Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and have built up ties with Moscow. Russia has granted its passports to most of their residents.
In yet another sign that the conflict could widen, Ukraine warned Russia on Sunday it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast.
President Bush called for an end to the Russian bombings and an immediate halt to the violence.
"The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis," Bush said in a statement to reporters while attending the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Karasin said the ships were sent toward Abkhazia as a deterrent.
"The deployment is quite natural. We don't want a repeat of what happened in South Ossetia," he said at a news conference.
The foreign ministers of France and Finland were to arrive in Georgia Sunday to discuss ways to end the conflict.
Russian jets have been roaming Georgia's skies since Friday. They raided several air bases and bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility. The Russian warplanes also struck near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline which carries Caspian crude to the West, but no supply interruptions have been reported.
Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili called it an "unprovoked brutal Russian invasion."
Jim Jeffrey, Bush's deputy national security adviser, warned "if the disproportionate and dangerous escalation on the Russian side continues, that this will have a significant long-term impact on U.S.-Russian relations."