Author: Chmshkian Vicken

Baltic News Service
August 11, 2008 Monday 3:05 PM EET

LATVIAN FORMIN TO ORGANIZE CHARTER FLIGHTS FROM ARMENIA’S YEREVAN TO
GET PEOPLE HOME FROM GEORGIA

RIGA Aug 11

The Latvian Foreign Ministry in cooperation with Latvian national
carrier Airbaltic will organize charter flights from Yerevan in
Armenia to bring home those Latvia citizens and residents who want to
leave Georgia.

The ministry’s spokesman Ivars Lasis told BNS that the embassy is
organizing buses to from Tbilisi to Erevan, and the charter flight is
planned for Monday evening.

Airbaltic spokesman Janis Vanags told BNS that the airline is doing
everything possible to transport the people who had planned to fly
from Tbilisi in Georgia to Latvia on Sunday night to closest
airports. Airbaltic has offered several variants — to re-book flights
to any other company’s flight from Istanbul in Turkey, Yerevan or Baku
in Azerbaijan. Passengers may also refund their tickets.

No particular time of the flight is known and it is not known how many
people will fly to Latvia. There will also be Lithuanian and Estonian
citizens among passengers.

Latvia’s national carrier Airbaltic has cancelled its Sunday’s flight
to Georgian capital Tbilisi due to security reasons. The next flight
is scheduled for Tuesday.

The flight to Georgia was planned at 10:40 p.m. and the plane had to
return to Riga at 3:45 a.m. Tbilisi time, but both flights have been
cancelled. Airbaltic had planned to fly its biggest airplane to be
able to serve all people who wanted to leave Georgia. So far Airbaltic
had been the last international airline which had not cancelled its
flights to Georgia.

The Latvian embassy has so far found at least 80 Latvian citizens and
residents who want to leave Georgia due to the war situation there,
and 22 of them had to fly home with Sunday’s flight.

The Latvian embassy in Turkey is also involved in helping Latvian
residents get back home, as many people choose to go by bus to Turkey
and then fly to Latvia, including the mountain climber group, which
went for rescue of three Latvian citizens who went missing in Georgian
mountains.

A Russian fighter jet on Sunday dropped a bomb 200 meters away from
the Tbilisi airport’s runway, reported the Georgian Interior
Ministry. The airport has not been damaged and there were no
casualties, said Interior Ministry’s spokesman Shota Utiashvili.

Russia has launched war against Georgia on Friday, bringing troops to
Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia. War has been declared in
Georgia, there is news about thousands of people killed and new
bombings performed by Russia.

Center for Research on Globalization, Canada
August 16, 2008

Putin’s Winning Hand

Once the Atlantic Alliance is shattered, America’s lifeline to the
world is kaput

by Mike Whitney

Global Research, August 16, 2008
Information Clearing House

There are no military installations in the city of Tskhinvali. In
fact, there are no military targets at all. It is an industrial center
consisting of lumber mills, manufacturing plants and residential
areas. It is also the home to 30,000 South Ossetians. When Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered the city to be bombed by
warplanes and shelled by heavy artillery last Thursday, he knew that
he would be killing hundreds of civilians in their homes and
neighborhoods. But he ordered the bombing anyway.

There was no "Battle of Tskhinvali"; that’s another fiction. A battle
implies that there is an opposing force that is resisting or fighting
back. That’s not the case here. The Georgian army entered the city
unopposed; after all, how can unarmed civilians stop armed units. Most
of the townspeople had already fled across the border into Russia or
hid in their basements while the tanks and armored vehicles rumbled
bye firing at anything that moved.

What took place in South Ossetia last Thursday, was not an invasion or
a siege; it was a massacre. The people had no way to defend themselves
against a fully-equiped modern army. It was a war crime.

In less than 24 hours, the Russian army was deployed to the war zone
where it chased the Georgian army away without a fight. Journalist
Michael Binyon put it like this, "The attack was short, sharp and
deadly—enough to send the Georgians fleeing in humiliating panic."
Indeed, the Georgians left in such haste that many of their weapons
were left behind. It was a complete rout; another black-eye for the US
and Israeli advisers who trained the clatter of thugs they call the
Georgian army. Soon vendors on the streets of Tskhinvali will be
hawking weapons that were left behind with a mocking sign: "Georgia
Army M-16; Never used, dropped once."

By the time the army was driven out, the downtown area was in engulfed
in flames and the bodies of those who had been killed by sniper-fire
were strewn along the streets and sidewalks. Many of people who stayed
behind were simply too old or infirm to leave. Instead, they huddled
in their basements waiting for the shelling to stop. It was a
bloodbath. The city’s only hospital was deliberately targeted and
destroyed; another war crime. By day’s end, over 2,000 people were
killed in an operation that was clearly engineered with the assistance
of the Bush White House. Bush regards Saakashvilli as his main client
in the region; they are friends. He is America’s cat’s paw in the
Caucasus. Saakashvilli’s assignment is to try to get Putin to
overreact militarily and demonstrate to European allies that Russia
still poses a threat to their national security. Fortunately, many
Europeans see through the ruse and know that the trouble originates in
Washington.

For the most part, Americans are still in the dark about what really
happened last weekend. There’s a great video circulating on the
Internet by a Russian citizen that has been living in USA for the last
10 years. He sums up the role of the US media with great precision. He
says, "The western media–especially CNN–is feeding you complete
horseshit. Russia did not invade Georgia first." The youtube can be
seen here:

The coverage of the western media has been abysmal. Nearly every
article and TV news segment begins with accusations of Russian
aggression concealing the fact that the Georgian Army bombarded and
invaded the capital of South Ossetia one full day before the first
Russian even tank crossed the border. By the time the Russians
arrived, the city was already in a shambles and thousands were dead.

These facts are not in dispute by those who followed the developments
as they took place. Now the media is revising the facts to manage
public perceptions, just as they did with the fictional WMD in
Iraq. Many people think that the media learned its lesson after they
were exposed for using bogus information in the lead up to the war in
Iraq. But that is not true. The corporate media–especially FOX News,
CNN and PBS (the smug, liberal-sounding channel)—continue to operate
like the propaganda arm of the Pentagon. Its disgraceful.

In a 2006 referendum, 99% of South Ossetians said they supported
independence from Georgia. The voter turnout was 95% and the balloting
was monitored by 34 international observers from the west. No one has
challenged the results. The province has been under the protection of
Russian and Georgian peacekeepers since 1992 and has been a de facto
independent state ever since. If Putin applied the same standard as
Bush did in Kosovo, he would unilaterally declare South Ossetia
independent from Georgia and then thumb his nose at the UN. (Sauce for
the goose, is sauce for the gander) But Putin and newly-elected
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have taken a conciliatory attitude
towards the international community and tried to resolve the issue
through diplomatic channels. So far, they have conducted themselves
with restraint and avoided any confrontation.

Still, Russia’s operation in South Ossetia has ignited a firestorm in
the US political establishment and Democrats and Republicans alike are
demanding that Russia be "taught a lesson". Condoleeza Rice flew to
Tbilisi on Friday and ordered Russian combat troops to withdraw from
Georgia immediately. Saakashvili topped off Rice’s comments by saying
that the Russian troops were "cold-blooded killers" and
"barbarians". So much for reconciliation.

Saakashvili’s hyperbolic rhetoric was followed by a surprise
announcement from Poland that they had approved Bush’s plans for
deploying the Missile Defense Shield in Eastern Europe. The system is
supposed to defend Europe from the possibility of attacks from
so-called "rogue states" like Iran, but the Kremlin knows that it is
intended to neutralize their nuclear arsenal. Political analyst
William Engdahl explains the importance of the proposed system in his
recent article, "Missile Defense: Washington and Poland just moved the
World closer to War":

"The signing now insures an escalation of tensions between Russia and
NATO and a new Cold War arms race in full force. It is important for
readers to understand…the ability of one of two opposing sides to
put anti-missile missiles to within 90 miles of the territory of the
other in even a primitive first-generation anti-missile missile array
gives that side virtual victory in a nuclear balance of power and
forces the other to consider unconditional surrender or to
pre-emptively react by launching its nuclear strike before 2012."

The new "shield" will be integrated into the larger US nuclear weapons
system placing the world’s most lethal weapons just a few hundred
miles from Russia’s capital. It is a clear threat to Russia’s national
security and it must be opposed at all cost. It is no different than
nuclear weapons in Cuba. The timing of the announcement is
particularly troubling as it only adds to the tensions between the two
superpowers.

President Medvedev made this statement after hearing of Poland’s
decision: "This decision clearly demonstrates everything we have said
recently. The deployment of new anti-missile forces in Europe is aimed
at the Russian Federation."

It was President Ronald Reagan, the darling of the neoconservatives,
who decided to remove short-range nuclear weapons from the European
theater. Now, ironically, it is his ideological heir, George W. Bush,
who is on track to restart the Cold War by putting a high-tech nuclear
system on Russia’s perimeter. The younger Bush has already broken his
father’s commitment to Mikail Gorbachev to never expand NATO beyond
Germany. Presently, Bush is pushing to gain NATO membership for two
former-Soviet states; Ukraine and Georgia. If they are approved, then
any future dispute with Russia will pit the United States and Europe
against Moscow. It’s no wonder Putin is trying to derail the process.

The Bush administration has been planning for a confrontation with
Russia for more than a year. In fact, Raw Story reported on operations
that were conducted by the military on July 14, 2008 which were
probably a dress rehearsal for the current conflict. According to Raw
Story:

"US troops on Monday (July 14) began military exercises near the
Russian border in ex-Soviet Ukraine and were poised to launch them in
Georgia, amid tense relations between Moscow and Washington. A
ceremony inaugurating the 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."

So, it appears the Bush administration, working in conjunction with
the Pentagon, did have contingency plans for dealing with a flare-up
with Georgia. The real question is whether or not they planned to
initiate those hostilities to advance their own regional agenda? No
one knows for sure.

Now that Georgia’s American-trained army has been humiliated in front
of the world, Bush is trying desperately to save face by demanding
that Russia allow the US Air force to deliver humanitarian aid via
C-17 military aircraft to the tens of thousands of Georgians who were
displaced in the fighting. It is worth noting that, as yet, Bush has
never delivered as much as a bag of rice to the 2 million Iraqi
refugees living in Jordan and Syria due to his war in Iraq. Bush’s
magnanimity is not only suspect, it also creates real problems for
Putin who will have to decide whether the offer is sincere or just a
ploy to open up the ports and airfields so that more weaponry and
ordnance can be delivered. As Barry Grey suggests in his article "Bush
Dispatches US Military forces to Georgia" the humanitarian operation
could be a scam:

"This is a formula for an injection of US military and naval forces
into Georgia of indeterminate scope and duration. It will certainly
involve the presence of hundreds if not thousands of uniformed US
military personnel on the ground, and a substantial number of warships
in the region. The US is introducing this military force into a
situation that remains highly unstable and combustible, raising the
possibility of a direct military clash between the United States and
Russia."

Grey is right, but what choice does Putin have? His task is to avoid a
military confrontation with the United States while demonstrating to
his Europeon partners that their future lies with Russia not
America. That’s the real goal. To achieve that, he needs to expose
Bush as reckless, petulant, and incapable of being a responsible
steward of the global system. Maybe Putin will have to back-down at
some point and swallow his pride; it makes no difference. What
matters, is the endgame; showing that Russia is strong and dependable
and will provide its European allies with oil and natural gas in a
businesslike manner. That’s the winning hand. Meanwhile, the United
States will be forced to take a long-overdue look in the mirror and
revisit its strategy for perennial war. Unfortunately, once the
Atlantic Alliance is shattered; America’s lifeline to the world is
kaput.

Global Research Articles by Mike Whitney

Swedish wrestler stripped of bronze medal
By STEPHEN WILSON, AP Sports Writer

BEIJING (AP)’A Swedish wrestler was disqualified and stripped of his
bronze medal Saturday for dropping the prize in protest after a
disputed loss at the Beijing Olympics.

Ara Abrahamian was punished by the International Olympic Committee for
violating the spirit of fair play during the medal ceremony, becoming
the fourth athlete kicked out of the games and bringing the number of
medals removed to three.

Abrahamian became incensed when a disputed penalty call decided his
semifinal match against Italian Andrea Minguzzi, who went on to win
the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 84-kilogram division Thursday.

During the medal ceremony, the Armenian-born Abrahamian – who also
lost a 2004 Olympic semifinal match on a disputed call – took the
bronze from around his neck and, angrily, dropped it on the mat as he
walked away. He did not take part in the rest of the medal ceremony.

The IOC executive board ruled Abrahamian’s actions amounted to a
political demonstration and a mark of disrespect to his fellow
athletes.

`It was felt that his behavior on the medal podium and during the
medal ceremony was not appropriate,’ IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies
said. `His behavior was not in the Olympic spirit of respect for his
fellow athletes. Whatever grievances you may have, this was not the
way to go about it.’

The IOC said no athlete will receive Abrahamian’s medal because his
disqualification was not connected to the competition itself, meaning
there will be only one bronze medalist, Nazmi Avluca of
Turkey. Normally, there are two at each weight class.

The 28-year-old Abrahamian had to be restrained from going after
matside officials following his loss to Minguzzi. He stormed away from
the area where interviews are conducted and slammed a door to the
dressing rooms so hard it shook an entire wall. He weighed whether to
skip the bronze medal match, only to have friends talk him into
competing.

The IOC said Abrahamian violated two rules of the Olympic charter, one
which bans any sort of demonstrations and another which demands
respect for all Olympic athletes.

`The awards ceremony is a highly symbolic ritual, acknowledged as such
by all athletes and other participants,’ the IOC said. `Any disruption
by any athlete, in particular a medalist, is in itself an insult to
the other athletes and to the Olympic Movement. It is also contrary to
the spirit of fair play.’

Abrahamian never expressed regret or offered an apology, the IOC
said. The international wrestling federation was asked to consider any
further sanctions against the two-time world champion.

His medal was the third stripped at the Beijing Games so far.

On Friday, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su had his silver and bronze
medals taken away after failing a doping test. Also expelled for
doping violations have been Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno and
Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do.

Abrahamian’s case is not the first of its kind.

A weightlifter at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics was stripped of his
bronze medal after rejecting it during the medal ceremony. Ibragim
Samadov, competing in the light heavyweight category for the Unified
Team of the former Soviet Union, was upset with his performance and
refused to have the medal placed around his neck and only accepted it
in his hand. He then put it down and walked off.

Samadov later apologized, but the IOC decision upheld its decision to
disqualify him. He later was banned for life by the sport’s governing
body.

AP Sports Writer Alan Robinson contributed to this report.

GEORGIA COUNTING ON WESTERN ALLIES TO HALT ‘RUSSIAN AGGRESSION,’ SAYS AMBASSADOR
By Sarah El Sirgany

Daily News Egypt
August 15, 2008
Egypt

‘CAIRO: Relative calm has returned to the troubled Georgian provinces
after the escalation of what was described as a "frozen conflict"
with Russia.

Georgian Ambassador to Egypt Giorgi Janjgava, however, is skeptical
of the ceasefire agreement as well as future relations between Georgia
and Russia.

"Who knows what will happen tomorrow?" Janjgava said as he threw his
arms in the air in anger and frustration.

While there are conflicting reports over which nation triggered the
clashes, there is a general consensus that Russia deploying troops
to the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia last week was an
aggressive move.

Days after a European-brokered ceasefire agreement was reached on
August 12, Russian troops are still patrolling the streets with reports
of violence. Meanwhile, Georgian and Russian leaders continued a fiery
exchange of statements that are endangering the diplomatic attempts
to maintain the fragile ceasefire.

In the small Georgian embassy in Mohandiseen, distress was guised
in diplomatic composure. As Georgian TV displaying footage of armed
conflict and damaged buildings in the background, the ambassador
Janjgava sat down with Daily News Egypt to explain the recent events.

On August 7, the separatist Georgian province of South Ossetia —
on the border between Georgia and Russia — saw simmering tensions
boil over. The Georgian army stepped in after what the government
described as continuous provocation from Russian-backed separatist
forces and peacekeepers.

"The [world] needs to know who started it. It’s a provocation, a step
by step provocation," Janjgava said.

Recent attempts to negotiate with the separatists failed due to
Russian intervention, he said.

The Russians sent "armed forces engineers" to construct a railway
in South Ossetia, he said. The area is already dominated by Russian
peacekeeping forces, a situation Georgia has tried to change for years,
he added.

"Is it time to reconstruct the railway now? By the army force? Why
this provocation?"

It was a plan to lead to the use of force, he said repeatedly.

The Russian Foreign Ministry described the Georgian military
intervention as an act of aggression, something Janjgava strongly
refutes.

"Georgia’s acts have caused loss of life, including Russian
peacekeepers," read the Russian statement. "The situation reached the
point where Georgian peacekeepers opened fire on Russian peacekeepers
with whom they are supposed to work to carry out their mission of
maintaining peace in this region. Civilians, women, children and old
people are dying today in South Ossetia, and the majority of them
are citizens of the Russian Federation."

By the following day, clashes reached new heights.

Thousands of Russian troops and tanks entered Georgia through South
Ossetia. Causalities have been reported on both sides as thousands of
civilians caught in the middle struggled to escape either to Russia
or Georgia.

On August 9, the conflict spread beyond South Ossetia reaching the
city of Gori and edging closer to the capital. South Ossetia’s capital
Tskhinvali fell under Russian control following the withdrawal of
Georgian forces.

Meanwhile, Abkhazia, another separatist province in northwest Georgia,
declared full military mobilization, launching an attack on the
Georgian-controlled city of Kodori Gorge.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared independence in the 1990s but
with no recognition from the international community, including Russia.

In South Ossetia, a third of the population is native Georgians while
the majority are Ossetians. Abkhazia was once dominated by Georgians
and a mix of Abkhazians and Armenians.

"These separatists say they don’t want to live with us and they prefer
to live under the Russian Federation. How come? Which country —
independent country — can approve this kind of decision when it sees
that behind this puppet — behind the separatists — is the big guy,
and this big guy is Russia?" Janjgava says.

It is difficult now to figure out what the inhabitants in these
two provinces really want, he added, because the ethnicities in the
breakaway province of South Ossetia, for example, are intertwined. "One
Ossetian village, one Georgian village, one Ossetian village, one
Georgian village."

"Now there are only 50,000 people in all South Ossetia. What’s
50,000? It’s two or three streets in Cairo.

"Ossetia wants to be part Russia. But how can you declare independence
if the biggest majority of the population is away. "

The same applies to Abkhazia. In the 1989 consensus, Georgians were
the majority and Abkhazians were only 17 percent. Later in 2003,
the consensus showed that the population dropped to less than half,
with only 21 percent Georgians.

According to Janjgava, most of the people escaped the troubled
province.

The ambassador explains that now the population is estimated at
100,000, dropping from the over 500,000 of the 1990s.

"I’m half Abkhazian. I know the issue well. We lost time. We had
the possibility of change. We had the opportunity to do it in a
more friendly way, but…" he sighs without finishing the sentence,
indicating a Russian interest in keeping the conflict unresolved.

He said what Russia did in Georgia should raise red flags for
neighboring countries. "’Look what we did in Georgia. If you think
about it, you’ll get the same.’ This is the main message to neighbors,
to small countries. The Russian Federation has a lot of problematic
areas around them. This is a message: Russia is waking up.

"We can’t fight with the big guy, with the Russians, because it’s 100
times more equipped than we are. It’s a superpower’s army bombing us."

The only hope of ending the conflict is strong Western
intervention. And Georgia, with an ongoing bid to join NATO, is
looking towards its allies — not just for a diplomatic role but for
humanitarian aid during the crisis.

A "strong position of the United States and our friendly allies"
is what Janjgava is looking for. He’s also waiting for a response
from the United Nations Security Council.

Two days into the conflict, the country of four million had no
significant backing from the West. On August 9, US President George
W. Bush expressed deep concern about the conflict and urged an
"immediate halt to the violence."

The statement acknowledged the fighting outside the original area of
conflict and called upon Russia to stop the bombings.

But it was only on August 11 that diplomatic efforts were
intensified. Bush made a stronger statement, outwardly blaming Russia
for the escalation.

"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens
a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is
unacceptable in the 21st Century. The Russian government must reverse
the course it appears to be on and accept this peace agreement as a
first step toward solving this conflict," the American president said.

On the same day, French-led European efforts formulated a peace
proposal, with Georgia’s agreement. But it was on Tuesday, another
day of heavy military operations in Georgia, that French President
Nicolas Sarkozy got both parties to agree on a ceasefire. Earlier in
the day Russia announced that it has achieved is aims and is ending
operations in Georgia.

Although the airstrikes, bombings and heavy fighting that marked
the first days of the conflict have reportedly come to an end, the
conflict is far from over.

Georgia stresses that the attacks haven’t really stopped. The
ambassador kept pointing to the TV showing footage of tanks and
soldiers patrolling the streets.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on August 13, "I have
heard the Russian president say that his military operations are
over. I am saying it is time for the Russian president to be true
to his word." On Friday Rice was heading to Georgia, a day after
the Russian foreign minister said that Georgia could "forget about"
getting back its two breakaway provinces.

"NATO member states must realize what’s going on," Janjgava noted.

"They must realize that today it’s Georgia, tomorrow it’ll be Ukraine,
the day after tomorrow it’ll be another country. We want a real
umbrella to ensure that no one can do the same thing Russia did
with us."

Admitting the country’s vulnerability in a confrontation with Russia,
Janjgava said, "We went out of South Ossetia. We signed a ceasefire
[agreement] three days ago…but what happened during these last
three days? It’s bombing and bombing of Georgian infrastructure. They
destroyed all airports in Gerogia, except one civilian … Russian
troops are in Georgia until now …Russian troops are firing 50-60 km
away from the capital, out of conflict zone, out of autonomic republic.

"These are occupational forces."

Russian tanks, he continued, are still patrolling the streets and
the soldiers are damaging and looting the cities they are in.

"It’s very difficult for me to understand what’s going on. This is
an occupation of my country … We need to restore the status quo
like it was before the conflict started."

Janjgava didn’t even remotely hint at what analysts have labeled
as a late response from Western powers to the conflict. Instead,
he proudly explained the support the country has received so far.

"In Georgia on Wednesday the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia,
Ukraine and prime minister of Latvia were there. …They officially
said that it was Russian aggression. We have a lot of friends."

And for Georgia, Egypt is also a friend, despite its strong relations
with Russia.

"Egypt is a friendly country for us. We understand that Egypt has
bilateral relations with US and Russia. We understand the Egyptian
position: more than 1.5 million Russian tourists, $2 billion in
trade and historical relations with Russia since the Nasser era. We
know that. …We know that Egypt always maintains [the concept of]
territorial integrity of a country."

The Georgian government is still estimating the total loss of human
life and the total cost of the damages. The casualties are over 200
but it is still too early to give an accurate figure, according to
the ambassador.

"We will never give up. We will fight," Janjgava said, "we don’t want
to be a puppet any more in Russia’s hand."

IRANIAN CLIMBERS ASCEND MOUNT ARARAT

IranMania News
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Iran

LONDON, August 14 (IranMania) – A five-member team of mountaineers
from Maragheh, East Azarbaijan, had ascended Mount Ararat in Turkey,
secretariat of Mountain Climbing Board of Maragheh said, IRNA reported.

Mohammad-Reza Monaseb-Fam said the team includes Javad Salam- Zadeh,
Taqi Asqarvand, Farshid Sarbaz, Masoud Yossef-Pour and Jafar Ebadi.

The 5,165-meter Mount Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey. This
snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone is located in Igdir province,
near the northeast corner of Turkey, 16 km west of the Iranian and
32 km south of the Armenian border.

PROKOFIEV – THE SYMPHONIES
Carol Main

The List
14 August 2008
UK

Russian around with the tireless Valery Gergiev

In one of the most exciting orchestral weekends hosted by the Usher
Hall, the London Symphony Orchestra appears with its principal
conductor, Valery Gergiev, performing all of Prokofiev’s seven
symphonies plus the two violin concertos with soloist Leonidas
Kavakos. As the venue’s redevelopment programme is still in progress,
audiences are advised to allow more time than usual to find your
seat. The real problem may be getting people to vacate them, as this
particularly potent combination of music and musicians is highly
likely to leave audiences demanding more.

A long-time champion of the music of Prokofiev – and, indeed, fellow
Russian Shostakovich – Gergiev is at his ‘absolute best’ with these
two composers, according to EIF director Jonathan Mills. ‘But it is
more than just as a conductor,’ he says. ‘He is a conductor and a
proselytizer in the best sense.’

Born in Moscow in 1953, Gergiev spent the formative years of his
conducting career in Russia. He conducted many of the main orchestras
of the former Soviet Union, especially the Armenian State Orchestra,
leading to his appointment as chief conductor at the Kirov Opera in
1988 where he has been artistic director and principal conductor
since 1996 when he was invited by the Russian government to take
up the post. ‘He’d had the choice to cut and run or make a stance,’
says Mills. ‘It was at a time when Russia was in difficult social and
economic circumstances and Gergiev was in charge of one of its great
institutions, the Kirov and Mariinsky Theatre. He was being sounded
out for many glittering jobs in the west, but he stayed in Russia. I
think that he showed incredible guts and courage for standing up for
the people and supporting their own culture, and he should be praised
for it. "We may not have bread," he would say, "but we can sing!"’

Although there are a number of enticing one-off concerts, the
residencies that underpin them are vital to the Festival’s orchestral
programming. ‘It gives people the opportunity to hear more than just
one idea from an orchestra,’ says Mills. ‘And Gergiev certainly brings
a special quality to this repertoire.’

EU DIPLOMATS KEEN TO AVOID RUSSIA CONTROVERSY
Philippa Runner

EUobserver.com
Today @ 09:27 CET
Belgium

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The French EU presidency is expected to endorse
the Russia-Georgia ceasefire, offer humanitarian aid and urge EU unity
in a statement after an EU foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday
(13 August), with Paris keen to avoid controversy on who to blame
for the crisis.

Preparatory discussions by EU diplomats on Tuesday saw a group of
former communist states speak in "sharp language" about Russia, but
the tone was "less radical than they used for their domestic press,"
one diplomat who attended the debates told EUobserver.

The foreign ministers meeting room in Brussels (Photo: eu2007.de) Print
Comment article "The presidency thinks, right now, it’s better to focus
on problem-solving, rather than trying to go into characterisation of
the war, who started what, who reacted, and the EU is united behind
the idea," he added. "The presidency wants to preserve as much room
for manoeuvre for future mediation as possible."

Wednesday’s EU statement will probably be a French declaration rather
than a formal joint position by all 27 countries, an EU official said.

"The situation is still evolving. It’s not black and white. Of course,
Georgia made some mistakes, Russia made some mistakes. But the idea
now is to help mediation, to see what we can do from a humanitarian
point of view."

The declaration is likely to fall short of Georgian hopes, with
Georgia’s EU ambassador, Salome Samadashvili, saying she would
like the EU to label Russia’s behaviour as an "act of aggression,"
condemn the bombing of the Georgian town of Gori, cast doubt on
EU-Russia negotiations on a new strategic pact and reaffirm Georgia’s
territorial integrity.

The foreign ministers meeting will begin with a briefing by France’s
Bernard Kouchner, who came to Brussels from Tbilisi on Tuesday night
after taking part in talks between French president Nicolas Sarkozy
and Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili.

Russia and Georgia on Tuesday signed a Russian-drafted, six-point
ceasefire plan which calls for troops to pull back and for
international talks about the "modalities of security and stability"
in Georgian separatist regions.

Shockwaves

The five day war erupted when Georgia fired on Russia-backed rebels
in the Georgian province of South Ossetia last Friday (8 August)
and Russia launched a massive retaliation, moving tanks deep into
Georgian territory, mobilising its navy and ordering bombing raids.

The fighting killed hundreds of civilians and shocked former communist
EU states, as well as Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan, some
of which fear that a newly-assertive Russia will try to undermine
other pro-western neighbours in future.

"The EU should say ‘no’ [to Russia’s subjugation of Georgia] and push
Russia out. This means tough language, sanctions [against Russia]
and quick EU humanitarian intervention," a diplomat from one of the
former communist EU states said, looking at the EU’s policy options
down the line.

The Russian incursion into Georgia was clearly "military aggression"
and should bear "costs" in terms of EU-Russia relations, but a
suspension of the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement or a
symbolic arms export embargo would be ineffective, European Council
on Foreign Relations analyst, Nicu Popescu, said.

The EU’s main focus should instead be the swift deployment of an
impartial, international peacekeeping force made up of UN or EU
soldiers and civilian monitors followed by a donors’ conference to
help rebuild the war zone, he advised.

"The first lesson of this crisis is that the old policy of
EU non-engagement has encouraged both parties to escalate their
actions. From an EU perspective, the first casualty is the theory that
by getting more involved in Georgia, the EU will irritate Russia and
provoke instability."

Mr Sarkozy in Moscow on Tuesday spoke of the possibility of an EU
peacekeeping mission, with Estonia quickly offering to send troops.

Peacekeeping conundrum

But creating a force that will be acceptable to all sides could prove
hard, with Russia’s NATO ambassador, Dmitry Rogozin, on Tuesday
ruling out any Georgian component, while Ms Samadashvili said no
Russian troops can take part.

Last year, Russia and Estonia were involved in an ugly row
over Tallinn’s decision to move a Soviet-era statue from its city
centre. And the current Russia-Georgia conflict has injected bitterness
into international relations beyond Europe.

Russia’s Mr Rogozin at a briefing in Brussels on Tuesday complained
that NATO had listened to Georgian delegates but failed to convene a
NATO Russia Council as planned, implying that Georgia ally, the US,
secretly knew about Georgia’s plans to attack the South Ossetia rebels
last week.

"I suspect the American allies will be ashamed to discuss this with
their European colleagues," he said.

BUSH WARNS RUSSIA; MEDVEDEV ORDERS HALT TO ACTION
By Matthew Lee

Associated Press
Tuesday August 12 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) – With a crisis of Cold War proportions brewing,
President Bush demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from the
former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Hours later, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered a halt to the
military action, saying it had brought security for civilians and
Russian peacekeepers in the breakaway South Ossetia region.

"The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant
losses. Its military has been disorganized," Medvedev said Tuesday
in a nationally televised statement.

On Monday, in his strongest comments since the fighting erupted, Bush
told Russia to end a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence in
Georgia and accept international mediation to end the crisis.

"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens
a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is
unacceptable in the 21st century," Bush said from the White House just
an hour after he returned to Washington from attending the Olympics
in China.

Bush said Russia’s escalation had "raised serious questions about its
intentions in Georgia and the region" and had "substantially damaged
Russia’s standing in the world."

Earlier Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili must leave office, and demanded that
Georgian troops stay out of the breakaway South Ossetia region
for good.

A senior U.S. official said Monday that the United States and its
allies suspected Russia had been planning an invasion for some time
and deliberately instigated the conflict through attacks on Georgian
villages by pro-Russian forces in South Ossetia despite outwardly
appealing for calm and promising to rein in the separatists.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal
Bush administration deliberations, said there were numerous "unpleasant
precedents" for the current situation, including the 1979 Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan and the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Despite the tough talk in Washington, there was no specific threat of
any consequences Russia might face if it ignores the warnings. American
officials said they were working with U.S. allies in Europe and
elsewhere, as well as with the Russians, to defuse the crisis.

Earlier Monday, the United States and the world’s six other largest
economic powers issued a call similar to Bush’s for Russia to accept
a truce and agree to mediation as conditions deteriorated and Russian
troops continued their advances into Georgian territory.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her colleagues from the Group
of Seven leading industrialized nations pledged their support for a
negotiated solution to the conflict that has been raging since Friday,
the State Department said.

"We want to see the Russians stand down," deputy State Department
spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. "What we’re calling on is for
Russia to stop its aggression."

Rice and the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy and Japan spoke in a conference call, during which they noted
that Georgia had agreed to a cease-fire and wanted to see Russia sign
on immediately, Wood said.

The G-7 diplomats called on Russia to respect Georgia’s borders and
expressed deep concern for civilian casualties. rgent consultations
at the United Nations and NATO were expected, according to Wood.

Wood said the United States was hopeful that the U.N. Security Council
would pass a strong resolution on the fighting that called for an
end to attacks on both sides as well as mediation, but prospects for
such a statement were dim given that Russia wields veto power on the
15-member body.

A senior U.S. diplomat, Matthew Bryza, is now in Tbilisi and is working
with Georgian and European officials on ways to calm the situation.

Meanwhile, the State Department said it has evacuated more than
170 American citizens from Georgia. Wood said two convoys carrying
the Americans, along with family members of U.S. diplomats based in
Georgia, left Tbilisi on Sunday and Monday for neighboring Armenia.

The U.S. Embassy in Georgia has distributed an initial contribution
of $250,000 in humanitarian relief to victims of the fighting and
is providing emergency equipment to people in need, although those
supplies would have run out Monday, the department said.

The Pentagon said it had finished flying some 2,000 Georgian troops
back home from Iraq on C-17 aircraft at Georgia’s request.

It said it had informed the Russians about the flights before they
began in order to avoid any mishaps, but Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin harshly criticized the step, saying it would hamper
efforts to resolve the situation by reinforcing Georgian assets in a
"conflict zone."

Wood rejected the criticism, saying, "We’re not assisting in any
conflict."

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the U.S. flew the
Georgians out of Iraq as part of a prior agreement that transport
would be provided in case of an emergency.

Pentagon officials said Monday that U.S. military was assessing the
fighting every day to determine whether U.S. trainers, who number
less than 100, should be pulled out of the country.

There had been about 130 trainers, including a few dozen civilian
contractors, but the civilians had been scheduled to rotate out of
the country and did so over the weekend, Whitman said. The remaining
uniformed trainers were moved over the weekend to what officials
believe is a safer location, he said.

The FINANCIAL, Georgia
Aug 9 2008

Losers is South Ossetian Conflict are pro-Westerners in Ukraine,
Moldova, Balts and Europe

STRATFOR
09/08/2008 22:12

The winners in the developments in South Ossetia are the
Transdneisters, Abkhaz, pro-Russian Ukrainian s and NKs, Eurasia
analyst of Stratfor Lauren Goodrich said in exclusive interview with
APA Azeri news agency.

"Now that Russia is obviously in charge in Georgia, I don’t see how
the Government of Azerbaijan has a precedence to do something in
NK. This should also worry Azerbaijan and Armenia to do anything
without explicit approval of the Russians now. Russia has once again
proved its strength and there are quite a few winners and losers in
the situation. The winners are the Transdneisters, Abkhaz, pro-Russian
Ukrainian s and NKs, because they will be proud of Russia
re-establishing its credibility as a security guarantor. Of course the
so-called losers are pro-Westerners in Ukraine , Moldova, Balts and
Europe", analyst said.

"Armenia and Azerbaijan are a different situation than everyone
else. They have a small region (NK) that may feel empowered by
this. But to be honest, Russia doesn’t see NK as they do South Ossetia
and they sure as hell can’t support them in the same way. And Armenia
will not act without Russian consent. They know it is a suicide
mission without the Russians and MOSCOW is now pre-occupied with other
matters".

"As far as the big organizations like the UN & OSCE… I’m sure
they’ll hold some nice meetings and release some "strong statements
and warnings"…. you know I don’t believe in the power of those
groups when it comes to things like this. Russia and the US are
talking today, Russia and China are talking tomorrow and Russia and
Germany are talking later this week all on head-of-state level… This
is where the important meetings are and decisions will be made",
Lauren Goodrich said.

WEST CAUCASUS: OBJECTIVES AND MEANS
by Igor Chirnov-Rezakin

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 8, 2008 Friday
Russia

Georgia as a confederation is the only means to reach regional
stability

WHAT IS RUSSIA AFTER IN THE WEST PART OF THE CAUCASUS?; Russia should
concentrate on promoting the idea of making Georgia a confederation.

Summer’2008 in the west part of the Caucasus began traditionally –
with provocations against Russian peacekeepers, explosions in Gagry,
ritual aggressive statements from Tbilisi…

According to special services, what Georgia procured in terms
of military hardware (or what it received as a gift from Russia’s
"partners") over the years include almost 400 armored vehicles (half
of them tanks), almost 200 artillery pieces and mortars (including
volley-fire rocket launchers and Howitzers 152 mm caliber), 25
antiaircraft complexes and 200 portable missile launchers, 45 aircraft
and helicopters (eight of them drones), 10 boats, light weapons,
radios, earth-moving machinery for military engineers, uniforms,
munitions by the ton… Georgia has no external enemies and nobody
aspires to its territory or part of it, but arms expenditures grow
with each passing year.

The Hard facts:

Russia withdrew its troops from Georgia by late 2007;

Euro-Atlantic crisis-resolution specialists frantically chart the
plans to integrate the Caucasus into NATO and "united" Europe. All
these plans stand for absorption of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by
Georgia but also include some attractive (or so they authors think)
offers to Abkhazian and South Ossetian leaders.

And what about Russia? What does it need in and from the west part
of the Caucasus?

First, it must be made quite plain to everyone that Russia does not
want a single square meter of the former Georgian Soviet Socialist
Republic! Strategically speaking, any part of Georgia is nothing
Russia needs.

Second (but much more significantly), Russia cannot permit
the transformation of the neighbor territory into a multipurpose
anti-Russian bridgehead: with separatist bases, velvet revolutions lab,
GUAM’s locomotive force, and NATO barracks all rolled into one.

What Russia needs is:

A safe transit route to Armenia by land. Now that Adjaria is
lost (actually, abandoned) and Russian troops no longer man the
Batumi-Akhalkalaki line, strategic transit to Armenia as Russia’s only
ally in the Caucasus depends on Armenia’s neighbors. These latter
include hostile Azerbaijan, neutral Iran, NATO member Turkey, and
fiercely pro-NATO Georgia. The Karabakh conflict settlement plan one
of NATO’s "experts" charted involved exchange of territories between
Armenia and Azerbaijan so as to cut the former off Iran. Air ferry
service is not an option because Russia’s transport aviation is not
up to it. Even Russian trucks with relief aid barely make it across
civilized Europe to Serbia. Armenia meanwhile is where Russia has the
102nd Military Base and some strategic enterprises under its control
and management.

Poti is out of the question as a base for the Russian Black Sea Fleet
no matter how it ends with Ukraine (the so called 2017 problem). It
is clear that neither Poti not revamped Novorossiisk will do even if
the Black Sea Fleet is downsized to a mere flotilla!

Prices in the global oil and gas market draw attention to oil and
gas exports from the Caspian basin to the West bypassing the Russian
territory. Georgia is playing a central part in these plans. Baku-Supsa
and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipelines are already running. Whenever they
recall it, Russian state officials get mad and regularly deploy the so
called "administrative resource" even though every such attempt costs
Russia dearly. Suspend the transit so as to change the anti-Russian
vector? But why? Oil export is business. One may make money in oil
fields development or in shipment or oil refining – as long as the
terms are acceptable (which is always easier to assure than enforcing
of the ban).

The safety of transit pipelines may be turned over to "private
armies". Why wouldn’t we draw on our Anglo-Saxon "partners"
‘experience?

The attempt in the early 1990s to rebuild the Georgian micro-empire,
an analog of the one remembered from 1918, created a crisis that
continues to this day.

A confederation as the natural – is not only – solution is not
something anybody has been giving a thought to. This state of affairs
offers Russia a chance to become the settlement leader in the region
with an emphasis on precisely this idea.

Seizing the initiative in the west part of the Caucasus, Russia may
even rejuvenate integration all over the rest of the Commonwealth and
elevate these processes to another level. Consider Europe. It never
occurs to Georgia to return Alsatia and Lorraine. It never occurs to
Italy to part with Nice or Austria with South Tirol.

Russia’s success in the Caucasus will put an end to development of
"sanitary cordons" along its own borders. Success in the Crimea and
Ukraine will even wreck beyond repair NATO’s and European Union’s
plans to expand eastward, into the zone of Russia’s national interests.