These actions by any of the military in Georgia is not a matter of revolt, it is a matter of fighting back against the government's human rights violations and the backing of a NATO that demonizes Russia when in fact there were reasons for actions by the Russian peacekeepers. Allowing this level of oppressive government to continue in Georgia through self-righteous propaganda, is as significant as those that committed the human rights violations in the first place. Putin really needs to move before the United Nations to stop this insanity.
If there are reasons to oppose Georgian leadership and NATO then the Russian government needs to believe in what they know and act in ways that insure the safety of the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Approaching the United Nations isn't a matter of accepting the fact the USA will exercise its veto in the face of any Russian action, it is a matter of putting on the record the reason for the Russian actions and begin to turn the corner on a reputation badly smeared through decades of USA politics.
I would be concerned now with the treatment and outcomes of the military officers arrested by the Georgian government.
President Mikhail Saakashvili. He dresses up well, doesn't he? A little spit and polish to any genocidist make them look respectable.
Georgia's top defense officers arrested in attempted coup
TBILISI, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Several top Georgian Defense Ministry officials were arrested on Tuesday for an attempted coup, which ended without violence after most mutineers surrendered, officials said.
"It's over. Most of the people have surrendered," Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.
Georgian officials said servicemen of an armored cavalry battalion based in Mukhrovani, 30 km from Tbilisi, mutinied earlier in the day. President Mikhail Saakashvili viewed the mutiny as "a very serious incident," according to the Interfax news agency.
Defense Minister David Sikharulidze said the mutiny had been planned "on a broader scale" and was aimed at foiling the planned NATO exercise in Georgia.
"The general objective was to topple the government with an armed revolt," he added....
It would have been more than interesting if the 'coup' actually took place while attacking NATO troops on exercise. Then where would the USA have been in their alliance with Europe? The entire mess could have errupted into a global war and of all things, Russia would have been fighting the good fight.
The former Soviet states need to get their act together and turn the new Berlin Wall into a demilitarized zone. Enough of this haphazard militarization. It is far too dangerous and too open to interpretation to have those countries armed as if they could actually defeat Moscow. The people in those nations have a right to a peaceful coexitence without power struggles between communist governments and those of a democratic nature (although under Bush one would never recognize democracy if it bit them in the fanny.)
