Crossfire War – RAPID FIRE NEWS=MOSCOW – SUKHUMI – TSKHINVILI WATCH – South Caucasus Theatre: Moscow – Berlin – Washington – Baku – Yerevan – Tskhinvili – Sukhumi/Tbilisi – Ankara – Tehran; Breakaway Region of Abkhazia Accuses Georgia of Constant Airspace Violations – States War About to Break Out in Caucasus – Moscow Supports – Abkhazia – Belgrade-Moscow Attack Washington Decision to Export Arms to Kosovo – Russia Calls for Meeting with NATO Over Issue
Night Watch: SUKHUMI – Moscow is about to make good its warning of extreme instability (war) in the Caucasus right after Kosovo declares independence and receives recognition. It is an instability Russia has always intended to use in order to restore its control over the region between the Black and Caspian Sea that is a crossroads of energy pipelines. Moscow could have caused the war sooner but chose to wait for most of the international community’s attention to be caught up in the new war in Southeast Europe over Kosovo a war which Washington’s most recent decisions are definitely eager to arm. With that happening Moscow has instructed lawmakers in Abkhazia’s capital Sukhumi to accuse the Georgian government in Tbilisi of another violation of their airspace and are stating this indicates war is about to break out. The government ministers are calling for Russia, the UN, OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), and PACE, to “influence the Georgian leadership so that it renounces military force or terrorist activities as means of solving political issues.” RIA reports the lawmaker’s claim the Abkhazia Air Force brought down an unmanned Georgian reconnaissance military plane on March 18 which Tbilisi denies. [RIA]
Sukhumi states this “could have the most severe consequences for both Abkhazia and Georgia and endanger peace and stability in the entire Caucasus. According to international law violation of the airspace of any state by military planes can be considered and act of military aggression.” This in effect says Abkhazia is already under attack and is therefore justified in defending itself and in calling on support a call Moscow is ready to answer and in such a way it will end the military support Georgia has been receiving for the past few years from Turkey and Iran as Ankara-Tehran hope Russia could be defeated again as they were in the mid-1990s by Islamic groups in the North Caucasus in Chechnya. The war in the North Caucasus was the reason Moscow could not end the dispute further south that erupted at the end of the Cold War in 1990 when two territories in Georgia declared their independence from Tbilisi, Abkhazia on the Black Sea and South Ossetia between Georgia and Chechnya. War resulted in both territories that lasted for three years and Moscow openly supported both of them as most of their residents identify with Russia but enormous corruption in the administration of Russia President Boris Yeltsin caused Russia’s defeat in Chechnya from 1994-96 while further south a stalemate set in.
Economic and military reforms under President Vladimir Putin, handpicked by Berlin, the source of most of Russia’s international currency due to Germany being the main purchaser of Russian resources, enabled Moscow to recover its hold over Chechnya and Dagestan further east on the Caspian and to now concentrate on re-starting the war with Georgia. Though there have been armed incidents on the South Ossetia/Georgia border for the past few years the most serious standoff has been in the Kodori Gorge since July 2006 between Georgian troops facing units from Abkhazia just twenty miles from Sukhumi. Officially Russia has what are called peacekeeping troops in the Conflict Zone between Georgia and the two republics but unofficially they are actually combat units ready to fight alongside both Abkhazia-South Ossetia when the war resumes at any minute.
With Ankara-Tehran’s involvement in supporting Tbilisi then Moscow’s response will not be limited to Georgia’s border but will probably include attacks on the military bases in Turkey-Iran where military supplies and equipment to Georgia originate. Russia may even attack the industrial services in both countries which manufacture and produce the equipment and material. Though Brussels-NATO have been entertaining the Georgian government with overtures of membership that has just been a diplomatic charade Tbilisi has fallen for. The economic reality of energy industrial groups in every NATO nation wants Russia to retain control over the oil and gas resources in the Caucasus in order to maintain the low costs of raw materials exported through Russia. For that purpose former U. S. Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger was sent to Russia in April 2007 to co-chair the Strategic Working Group with former Russia Premier Yevgeny Primakov.
Only when Tehran realizes they cannot defeat Russia will Iran then enter into serious negotiations to end the war.
Pristina – B92 reports Moscow is having its envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, and call for an emergency meeting with NATO in the wake of U. S. President George W. Bush’s chaotic decision to send weapons to Kosovo. I am not surprised because this is very much in line with the Bush Administration’s burning bridges policy from the Adriatic to the Arabian Sea. It is a thoughtless reactionary policy which blindly states it is promoting U. S. interests and stability that is actually driven by military contractors. Rogozin stated Washington is arming a Kosovo leadership composed of former terrorists. Not only was the decision to arm Kosovo condemned by Serbia Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica but Serbia President Boris Tadic stated, “It’s bad news and comes at a very sensitive moment for Serbia and the Serbs in Kosovo and I can in no way support it.” Bush could not have had more hellish timing. His decision was made just a few days after the worst violence in the province and as eyewitnesses said it was an American officer who started the shooting at Serbs during the demonstration in Kosovska Mitrovica early this week. [B92]
Belgrade – Of course President Bush does not make his decisions as an independent entity, he acts under constant control and advisement by international business weapons executives, programmed for push button-conditioned response to any opportunity to exploit a war market as in the case of India’s nuclear program. In India’s case it means more exports for the American nuclear industry and in Kosovo whatever infantry weapons package that can be put together for the emerging arms market in Kosovo and with Brussels’ approval. RIA reports Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking from Tel Aviv, criticized Washington’s move as illegal and instead of causing stability will in fact create the exact opposite, “I would not like to think the supplies are designed to force Serbs and other ethnic minorities to remain in the new illegally formed entity. I do not believe that this will add to stability in the region-it is more likely to have the opposite effect.” To the White House’s industrial controllers that would be just fine in the meantime they have the White House issue a demonic press release that this helps promote world peace. Evil with a clown face. [RIA]
