Chavez Recognizes Abkhazia, South Ossetia

Staff / Truthdig Sep 10, 2009 Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, in Moscow shopping for military hardware, may have been fishing for a discount when he announced that Caracas would join Russia and Nicaragua in recognizing the independence of the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The U.S., of course, is a strong supporter and ally of Georgia. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Russia to Strengthen Presence In Abkhazia

Staff / Truthdig Aug 12, 2009 Russia has announced it will spend half a billion dollars upgrading its military presence -- reinforcing bases, strengthening borders -- in Abkhazia, the breakaway region of Georgia that, along with South Ossetia, was a focal point in last year's war between the two countries. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Georgia-Russia Clash Still Under Investigation

Staff / Truthdig Aug 5, 2009 It's been a year since last summer's military showdown between Russia and neighboring Georgia, but even though the Georgian president (and many Western media outlets) pointed to "Russian aggression" as the cause of the conflict, an international investigation team looking to get to the bottom of the matter is still working away at finding the answers. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

New Questions Arise About Georgia-Russia Conflict

Staff / Truthdig Nov 7, 2008 Three months after Georgia and Russia briefly battled -- a clash that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili blamed on Russian aggression -- the original story about the short summer war is being reconsidered in light of new information from independent sources. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Russia Pulls Out Early

Staff / Truthdig Oct 8, 2008 Russian troops are in the process of leaving the controversial buffer zones inside Georgia, allegedly created to protect the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgian military attacks. The exit, two days ahead of a Friday deadline, will still leave 8,000 Russian troops in the two regions, which Moscow has recognized as independent states. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Rice: Russia on the Wrong Track

Staff / Truthdig Sep 18, 2008 Although she acknowledged that Georgia fired the first shots in August's bloody conflict with Russia, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday laid most of the blame for that showdown on Russia. During a strident speech, she also gave several other examples of how she believed Russia's leaders were taking their nation down a dangerous road. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Putin: Russia ‘Not Against Anybody’

Staff / Truthdig Sep 13, 2008 At a meeting in Moscow on Thursday with a group of international Russia experts, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave an extensive explanation of his country's point of view vis-à-vis the recent clash between Russia and Georgia. He made it clear that he believes the conflict was seriously, and even deliberately, misrepresented by the Western media. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Palin Talks War With Russia in ABC Interview

Staff / Truthdig Sep 12, 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is finally answering questions from a journalist in ABC's three-part interview series with chosen reporter Charles Gibson Palin comes out of the gate with guns blazing, rewriting history about the Georgia-Russia conflict and considering the possibility of a U war with Russia in the first episode, airing Thursday . Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Russia to Georgia: OK, We’ll Leave. But …

Staff / Truthdig Sep 3, 2008 Russia announced Wednesday its willingness to withdraw its remaining troops from Georgia if, and only if, some conditions were met: one, bring international peacekeepers in to replace Russian soldiers and, two, Georgia must sign nonaggression pacts with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Georgia Diplomatically Dumps Russia

Staff / Truthdig Aug 29, 2008 Georgia announced Friday that it will withdraw all Georgian diplomats from its embassy in Moscow in protest of Russian soldiers' presence in the country. Russia is expected to pull its own diplomats from its embassy in Tbilisi, but of course its troops will still be stationed in Georgian territory if Georgia really needs to talk. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Russia Remains in Georgia Port

Staff / Truthdig Aug 23, 2008 Russian officials beg to differ with Western critics who claim that Russia's ongoing presence in the Georgian port town of Poti violates the terms of the cease-fire agreement between the neighboring nations, insisting that the remaining Russian forces are of the peacekeeping, not the combative, variety. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Blowback From Bear-Baiting

By Patrick J. Buchanan Aug 17, 2008 For reasons too numerous to fit into a short summary, Pat Buchanan isn't someone whose writings we'd routinely pick up on this site. However, in this case his essay about the Georgia-Russia conflict, er, bears repeating here, if only to illustrate how not all conservatives see the recent clash in Eastern Europe the way the Bush administration does. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )