Russia shows its true colors

From The Daily Mail:

Georgian officials tonight claimed the country had been 'overrun' by Russian troops after a full-scale ground invasion.

Amid reports that Moscow forces had taken the town of Gori - and were marching on the capital Tsblisi - Georgian soldiers appeared to be in full retreat.

Troops were apparently in complete chaos as a full-scale rout pushed them back through the countryside.

Meanwhile, the civilian crisis intensified with thousands of refugees fleeing the seemingly unstoppable advance of the Russian army.

Around 9,000 soldiers and 350 tanks had been massing at a base in the border region of Abkhazia throughout the day.

But the huge force has now moved into Georgia proper, demolishing hopes of a rapid solution to an increasingly bitter conflict.

[. . .]

Earlier in the day, Russian premier Vladimir Putin raised the stakes over the conflict by lashing out at the U.S. as the fighting continued to escalate in the region.

The Russian prime minister rejected calls from Georgia for a ceasefire and declared that his country would pursue its mission to its 'logical conclusion'.

A day after a face-to-face meeting with President George W. Bush in Beijing who expressed 'grave concern', Mr Putin accused the U.S. of siding with Georgia by ferrying Georgian troops from Iraq to the battle zone.

'It is a shame that some of our partners are not helping us but, essentially, are hindering us,' said Mr Putin. 'The very scale of this cynicism is astonishing.'

If you want my opinion I think we should show Mr. Putin exactly what US intervention on the side of Georgia really looks like.

What it really behind this is the fact that Georgia was in the process of joining NATO. The Russian imperialists don't like the idea of their former slaves being able to stand against them by joining the alliance which contained and ultimately broke the Soviet Union.

I say treat Georgia like it was already a member and bring the entire weight of NATO down on Putin's head. Crush the Russian army, sink the entire Russian navy and capture and destroy its nuclear weapons. Deliver Putin and his henchmen to the Georgian government to stand trial (and face execution) for their crimes against the Georgian people.

Does any of this have any hope of coming to pass?

Hell no. There isn't anyone in Washington with the guts to even think this way any more.

But a man can dream, can't he?



UPDATE:

The Washington Post tells us that the Russians have stated that they are stopping their military incursion into Georgia. We can wait and see if they are telling the truth.