Two former British military officers are expected to give crucial evidence against Georgia when an international inquiry is convened to establish who started the country’s bloody five-day war with Russia in August.
Ryan Grist, a former British Army captain, and Stephen Young, a former RAF wing commander, are said to have concluded that, before the Russian bombardment began, Georgian rockets and artillery were hitting civilian areas in the breakaway region of South Ossetia every 15 or 20 seconds.
Their accounts seem likely to undermine the American-backed claims of President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia that his little country was the innocent victim of Russian aggression and acted solely in self-defence.
During the war both Grist and Young were senior figures in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The organisation had deployed teams of unarmed monitors to try to reduce tension over South Ossetia, which had split from Georgia in a separatist struggle in the early 1990s with Russia’s support.
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On the night war broke out, Grist was the senior OSCE official in Georgia. He was in charge of unarmed monitors who became trapped by the fighting. Based on their observations, Grist briefed European Union diplomats in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, with his assessment of the conflict.
Grist, who resigned from the OSCE shortly afterwards, has told The New York Times it was Georgia that launched the first military strikes against Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital.
“It was clear to me that the [Georgian] attack was completely indiscriminate and disproportionate to any, if indeed there had been any, provocation,” he said. “The attack was clearly, in my mind, an indiscriminate attack on the town, as a town.”
Last month Young gave a similar briefing to visiting military attachés, in which he reportedly supported the monitors’ assessment that there had been little or no shelling of Georgian villages on the night Saakashvili’s troops mounted an onslaught on Tskhinvali in which scores of civilians and Russian peacekeepers died.
November 9th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Well, no shit…
I hope that the world will realize now that was is illuminati’s kick off to thier end game.
08 08 08 hmmmm….
November 9th, 2008 at 9:56 am
The Freemason elite seem determined to start WW3 – one way
or another. Perhaps if Obama’s real place of birth is exposed,
people will start to wake up and question what they are told in
general.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
The Freemasons are not what we’re dealing with – Freemasons founded our country. Ben Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson all FREEMASONS. Ron Paul is indeed a Freemason. Certain Masonic Lodges which were once peaceful illuminist albiet, but peaceful thinkers and planners have been corrupted by moles. The Freemasons are the least of our worries at this point they are just one of many corrupted societies that are out there. There are many more including the Knights of Malta, Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, the Jesuits societies etc…. the list goes on. If you want a Generalized term to blame, i would suggest the”fascists” or devil worshippers could be a suppliment as well. Proof that the Masonic orders have been corrupted or highjacked is easy , Jay-Z and his -Rock-a-Feller records and Defjam clowns have been proven to all be in the brotherhood, and they quite obviously do NOT BELONG in the ranks of such people as Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. However, there are good people that are FreeMasons, i mean you could most likely find a family member of your own that was or is a Freemason, there are millions of them. Only a handful know exactly what is going on, the rest are duped and compartmentalized.
November 9th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Remeber the fox news report of the young girl and her aunt. They said it was the Geogians the whole time.
Our media lies to us….
get your ass in gear:
http://www.ezSurvivalGear.com
November 9th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Why is Nicolae allowed to post anti-semitic hate on practically every story? Shouldn’t someone be removing this? When it appears on every article it makes people think the site is endorsing it and it’ll put off people who aren’t basically racist. It discredits the site and the work being done here.
November 9th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
What part of “freedom of the press” don’t you understand Winston ?
November 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
#7
The freedom of a newspaper, broadcaster or website to control the output they allow to be published under their name. Although clearly I’m not having as much difficulty understanding that as you do.
What part of ‘private ownership’ don’t you understand, Rich?
November 9th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Winston, in the real world noone gets off the hook even if they have been a “persecuted” group through out history. If the mass media Zombies dont like the truth being exposed, they have thier oversexed, jingoist,Murdoch version of the story to entertain them as before.
If you begin editing out inconvenient truths your refining a work of fiction.
November 9th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Winston #6. What is anti-semitic? Well, semitic derives from a group of people called Semites. Semites include Akkadians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews and Arabs. A second meaning of a Semite is a Jew. So when Nicolae #2 mentions the criminal elements within Israel and Zionist America as backing the criminals within the Georgia Government (ie. President Saakashvili); what connection does this have to him being against the Jewish Religion or anti-semitic?
And, although it is true that media organizations are privately owned should not by necessity mean that their reporters and journalists should be steered, censured or fired for expressing any opinion or observation they choose to diseminate within their media company. Unfortunately, however, most media does tend to be biased.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
WinstonSmith #8 ‘THE FREEDOM…TO CONTROL’ is not freedom. FREEDOM TO CONTROL is an oxymoron.