Going Gray -- and Making it Pay -- on Turtle Bay

FOXNews.com - Going Gray -- and Making it Pay -- on Turtle Bay? - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "Double-dipping, anyone?

The United Nations, with a headquarters staff of approximately 15,500, is apparently relying on a battalion of retirees to fill important vacancies. The cost of keeping codgers on its payroll to do jobs that full-time employees apparently cannot handle has soared from $33 million in 2004-2005 to $50 million in 2006-2007.

In the process, the world organization appears to have been violating its own limits on how much retirees are allowed to earn after they take a U.N. pension, and how long they can be kept on the job. Those rules were seemingly designed to prevent double-dipping by former workers, or the filling of jobs that might otherwise go to full-time staff.

But one small group of pensioners — 135 people in all — appear to have done far, far better than anyone else in breaking through the post-retirement salary ceiling. That group, consisting of higher-level professional and administrative employees, and representing little more than 10 percent of the total number surveyed, pulled in $11.4 million, or more than 20 percent of the amount spent on the growing post-retirement work force, according to an internal U.N. study on the group."

Idaho Mother Gets 10-Year Sentence After Boyfriend Impregnates 9-Year-Old Daughter

This pervert deserves to be chained to a mountain top and allowed to die slowly of exposure. Sick!

Is it a stereotype to ask if either adult in this story is a citizen? Can we deport these sick freaks?

FOXNews.com - Idaho Mother Gets 10-Year Sentence After Boyfriend Impregnates 9-Year-Old Daughter - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News: "An eastern Idaho woman whose boyfriend impregnated her 9-year-old daughter has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Isabel Chasarez, 27, must serve at least one year in prison before she is eligible for parole, 7th District Judge Brent Moss ordered Tuesday at the sentencing hearing.

Chasarez pleaded guilty in August to failing to provide proper prenatal care for her daughter.

Her 38-year-old boyfriend, Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, pleaded guilty to rape in September. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 28 and faces life in prison.

The girl became pregnant at age 9, sometime between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30 2007, authorities say, and gave birth in April."

Back and gathering my thoughts

I have been swamped and travelling a lot, so here is my attempt to get caught up on some of what I have missed. Normally, I just click on an article and post it, but I want to get a lot of stuff in and try something new. I am even looking at transfering this blog to its own site. Anyone want to help?

http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/06/the-roots-of-the-mortgage-scandal/
How did the United States get to the stage where politicians decided it was necessary to scare the taxpayers into forking over $700 billion to purchase assets the private sector wouldn't touch? So far neither Democrats nor Republicans have shown interest in examining a major factor in the mortgage lending mess - federal government policies which, taken together with pressure from left-wing activist groups, eroded credit requirements to make mortgages available to people who could not possibly pay them back, including some who were illegally in the United States.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/04/AR2008100402109.html
"I don't understand why that would not be a viable option," he said.

Urbina is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday that will examine whether he has the power to order the release of at least five of the Uighurs. Their attorneys have filed court papers asking Urbina to also consider releasing 12 other Uighurs who remain in custody.

Britain Adopts Islamic Law, Gives Sharia Courts Full Power to Rule on Civil Cases

What a sham. I am so glad that I do not live in England anymore. It is past time to send all the Arabs, Africans and Americans home and return England to the English. What a horrible thing to lose, your own country.

FOXNews.com - Britain Adopts Islamic Law, Gives Sharia Courts Full Power to Rule on Civil Cases - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "Islamic law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.

The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.

Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through county courts or the country's High Court, a part of its Supreme Court system.

Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.

Politicians and church leaders expressed concerns that this could mark the beginnings of a “parallel legal system” based on sharia for some British Muslims.

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so.”"

2 Border Patrol agents lose appeal in shooting

Why can't these guys get justice? Shooting of drug smugglers should not only allowed and legal, but it should be encouraged!

Set these two free and shoot the drug smuggler who got them put away. This only shows that it might be better to shoot to kill than to wound. If the scum was dead, then he could not lie for the insane prosecutor.

2 Border Patrol agents lose appeal in shooting: "Two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler near El Paso and covering it up lost an appeal Thursday.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans refused to reconsider the ruling a three-judge panel had issued in late July that affirmed most of the charges against Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.

The men shot Osvaldo Aldrete Davila of Mexico, hitting the unarmed smuggler in the buttocks after he abandoned a load of marijuana and ran across the border into Mexico.

The agents said they fired because they thought he had a gun in his hand, but were sent to prison for more than a decade after a jury determined there was a cover-up. Aldrete Davila was given immunity for transporting that load, but was sentenced last month to 114 months in prison over a separate drug load.

Opponents of unauthorized immigration have gotten behind the agents, but U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who supervised the prosecution, said in a prepared statement, “Today's ruling validates what this office has said all along — this prosecution was about the rule of law, plain and simple.”"

Arab Terrorist Stabs Boy in Yitzhar, Residents Attack Village

It is really hard to blame the Israelis for attacking the neighboring village that is allowing the terrorists to hide and plot attacks.

Why do Muslims seem to enjoy killing so much? Should I read the Koran to you?

Arab Terrorist Stabs Boy in Yitzhar, Residents Attack Village - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Arutz Sheva: "An Arab terrorist stabbed a nine-year-old Jewish boy at the Shalhevet neighborhood in Yitzhar in Samaria on the Sabbath, torched an empty house and tried to set fire to a second building. The terrorist threw the boy four meters down off of an outdoor porch, into an area filled with construction material - yet he landed on the only bush in the area. He was treated in a nearby hospital and was said to be in light condition.
Dozens of residents of Yitzhar retaliated and attacked the adjacent Arab village of Asira al-Kabaliya, where it is suspected the terrorist resides. Villagers claimed that the Jews rioted in the village, destroyed houses, overturned vehicles and shot at least two Arabs.

Arabs threw rocks and stones at the Jews until IDF soldiers arrived, broke up the riots and slapped a curfew on the village. The troops arrested one suspect in the stabbing.

A relatively unknown terrorist group calling itself Ahrar Al-Jalil (Freedom for the Galilee) Brigades claimed responsibility for the arson and attack on the boy. The same group claimed it was behind two bulldozer and backhoe attacks in Jerusalem earlier this year in which three people were killed and several were wounded."

Angry Dad Attacks Naked Boy in Daughter's Room With Metal Pipe

Take this to a jury and watch this guy get acquitted in near record time!

Sick teen jerk. Hero Dad!

FOXNews.com - Angry Dad Attacks Naked Boy in Daughter's Room With Metal Pipe - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "An angry Deltona father whacked his teenage daughter's boyfriend with a metal pipe after finding the boy naked in his daughter's room.

Authorities say the father, 45, didn't even know his daughter had a boyfriend or that the youngster had been sneaking into the home for more than a year.

When he heard noises coming from his daughter's bedroom Thursday morning and saw a stranger standing naked on the girl's bed, he swung a metal pipe. He then chased the teen out the front door and called police.

The boy was taken to the hospital where doctors closed a head wound with staples.

The father was charged with aggravated battery on a child and bonded out on $10,000."

Mayor says firefighters deserve less pay because they can 'sleep'

Idiots exist all over, and this is proof! I know where the city can save some money...

The Neshoba Democrat | Mayor says firefighters deserve less pay because they can 'sleep': "'If you give the police department $2,000, the fire department should get it,' she said.

When Waddell said that on-duty firefighters could sleep from 9 o'clock to 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning if they didn't get called out and still get paid, Jackson fired back that police officers 'ride around during that time and burn gas.'"

Google Surrenders to Sen.Lieberman, Changes YouTube to Bar Terrorist Incitement

While this sounds like a great thing, I am wondering if it will actually happen.

Counterterrorism Blog: Google Surrenders to Sen.Lieberman, Changes YouTube to Bar Terrorist Incitement: "Google Surrenders to Sen.Lieberman, Changes YouTube to Bar Terrorist Incitement
By Andrew Cochran

On June 3, I posted about Google's hypocrisy in taking down a YouTube clip in Thailand because it "offended" the King, while continuing to enable terrorist organizations to post videos inciting violence. In May, Sen. Joseph Lieberman had urged Google to remove Internet videos produced by terrorist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda, from YouTube subsidiary. "Islamist terrorist organizations use YouTube to disseminate their propaganda, enlist followers, and provide weapons training. YouTube also, unwittingly, permits Islamist terrorist groups to maintain an active, pervasive, and amplified voice, despite military setbacks or successful operations by the law enforcement and intelligence communities." At that point, Google would not tighten its guidelines, citing free speech concerns. I commented that Google was risking litigation in the event of an attack by terrorists with a YouTube presence.

Today, Sen. Lieberman released a victorious press release, announcing Google's decision to strengthen the standards for videos on YouTube to bar those that incite violence. According to his release, the revised guidelines bar "predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment, intimidation, invading privacy, revealing other people's personal information, and inciting others to commit violent acts..."

Congratulations to Sen. Lieberman for his perseverance and to Google for changing its policies."

An Invitation To Anarchy

You need to read the rest of this. These global warming fanatics need to be moved to the far north to stop the advancing glaciers.

Wolf Howling: An Invitation To Anarchy: "The problems of the UK seem to be multiplying. Britain suffers from an aging system of electrical production and a government that has dithered over its fantasy love affair with non-carbon technologies for over a decade. As the EU Referendum states, the end result is a real possibility of the 'lights going out' in the forseeable future. This situation, already quite serious, just got worse. A group of greens who did tens of thousands of pounds in damage to a coal fired electrical plant has been cleared of the charges upon jury trial. The defense turned the trial into a referendum on global warming. The jury accepted the defense. The defense was supported on the witness stand by Zach Goldman, a Tory candidate for Parliament, who argued that civil disobediance was justified in this case."

The Case of Belal Khazaal and "Essential Provisions in the Rules of Jihad"

I am glad to see that some juries and judges are able to fight the legal jihadis as well as the military tends to do.

Counterterrorism Blog: The Case of Belal Khazaal and "Essential Provisions in the Rules of Jihad": "The Case of Belal Khazaal and "Essential Provisions in the Rules of Jihad"
By Evan Kohlmann

Yesterday, at the Supreme Court of New South Wales (NSW) in Sydney, Australia, former Qantas Airlines baggage handler Belal Khazaal was convicted by a jury of "knowingly making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act" in violation of S101.5 of the Australian Commonwealth Criminal Code. The charges were filed in relation to a book published by Khazaal under the alias "Abu Mohammed al-Tawhidi" titled "Essential Provisions in the Rules of Jihad." The book, dated September 2003, was written in Arabic and included large sections directly appropriated from the raw writings of known terrorist leaders -- such as Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri's book "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner." According to an introduction to the book signed by "Abu Mohammed al-Tawhidi" (a.k.a. Khazaal):

"This is but a short document I hastily prepared in response to a request from brothers working to support this religion. I was requested to prepare it, in this fashion, to serve as a reference to all brothers or small cells desiring to support this religion. With Allah’s help I set on its compilation and I completed it in few days. I am however convinced that had I sufficient time and had I been settled in my residence I would have produced a better job than this work which has been conceived in haste. However, better 'haste' than never... I seek the Almighty’s reward and I seek martyrdom for his sake. I do so running towards it not away from it. I beseech my brothers who read this message to pray that I may attain martyrdom."

Khazaal's 102-page "master guide" to the "essential provisions in the rules of jihad" included both theoretical and ideological material--as well as detailed, explicit instructions on how best to exterminate "Americans and Jews." The book includes an entire step-by-step manual on conducting assassinations (originally written by Saudi Al-Qaida commander Abu Jandal al-Azdi), as well as directions on "remote control detonation devices", "letters and letter bombs", "booby trapping a car", "detonating a car from a distance", "sniping", "smothering", "hitting with a hammer", and "martyrdom operations." Among other things, the book emphasizes to readers that "small groups can cause havoc among Americans": "Pursuing Americans and Jews is not an impossible task. Killing them with a single shot, a stab or a pack of a popular mix or with an iron rod is not a difficult deed. Neither is burning their properties with a Molotov bottle. Small groups with small available means can cause horror to American and Jew alike."

One of the final sections of Khazaal's book is titled, "Recommendations to the Mujahideen: Examples of Jihad During Weaker Times to Emulate." According to this section:

"The impressive success of the conquest of New York is but a reminder that today’s mujahideen are no less than their forefathers. They are young, very professional men who can fly and maneuver planes. They are so disciplined to follow instructions to the letter and are ready to sacrifice themselves to regain the dignity and glory of the Muslim nation. Friend and foe alike acknowledge that today Mujahideen are technologically-savvy and employ sophisticated communication technology such as satellite telephones and use the Internet through a coded manner including steganography and other forms of technology... Of the unique examples that attracted my attention in the last two decades are legends that need no introduction. But it is the quality of men that needs emphasis. The famous 'Engineer' Yahya Ayyash and another unknown and unrecognized man yet he is no less heroic, Ramzi Yousef... His original plan was to destroy the entire [World Trade Center] inflicting maximum damage and casualties in the vicinity of a quarter of a million as punishment for America‘s frequent bloody interventions in Islamic affairs... I can only imagine his glee in his captivity (may Allah break his chains) as he was listening to the news of the Conquest of New York and the success his comrades were able to carry out what he started."

Khazaal's conviction in what has been a landmark legal case in Australia represents a major victory for the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP). It should also be taken as a stern warning to those--not just in Australia, but around the world--who believe that they can continue to use the Internet to incite the murder of innocent civilians in terrorist acts without facing serious consequences for their own actions. "

3 Accused U.K. Airline 'Liquid Bomb' Plotters Found Guilty

Well, it is only three of the eight, but it is not a bad start. May they burn in Hell as they wished their victims to do.

FOXNews.com - 3 Accused U.K. Airline 'Liquid Bomb' Plotters Found Guilty - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "A jury in the U.K. has found three men guilty of conspiracy to murder in the trans-Atlantic airline 'liquid bomb' plot.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain were found guilty of plotting to kill 'persons unknown,' but not necessarily on planes.

The prosecutor told jurors during the trial that the men planned to attack United Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada flights by smuggling liquid explosives onto jets and detonating them in-flight.

The jury failed to reach a verdict on four other defendants, while a fifth was cleared.

The unraveling of the plot in the summer of 2006 caused travel chaos. Restrictions on the amount of liquid passengers can carry in their hand luggage — imposed in the wake of the men's arrest — still remain in place.

Prosecutors claimed the blasts on the seven planes would have had devastating and deadly consequences on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The trial lasted five months, including a six week jury deliberation."

Washington Rampage Suspect: 'I Kill for God'

No religion is given. Could it be that a Christian has finally snapped? Or is this just a nut case who used his limited learning about Christ to mumble something to keep out of prison?

He is obviously nuts, just shoot him and get it over with.

FOXNews.com - Washington Rampage Suspect: 'I Kill for God' - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News: "'I kill for God. I listen to God,' a man accused of a Washington shooting rampage earlier this week that left six people dead and four injured said at his court hearing Friday.

Isaac Zamora made the chilling comment twice at the brief hearing in Skagit County District Court while investigators wrapped up their work at eight crime scenes. The 28-year-old is being held on $5 million bail in the wake of Tuesday's rampage.

The attacks began near Zamora's mother's home near the tiny town of Alger, 70 miles north of Seattle, and continued on Interstate 5. After a high-speed police pursuit, Zamora surrendered at a sheriff's office in Mount Vernon, about 20 miles south of Alger."

SGT Nazario Acquitted!

That leaves almost every Marine accused of crimes acquitted! Semper Fi!

A big F U to the Liberals!

BLACKFIVE: Judicial Waterboarding of Our Marines - UPDATE SGT Nazario Acquitted!: "Just got word from GI W. that former Marine Sergeant Jose Nazario has been acquitted by the jury in Riverside California."

Happy Birthday to Gilat Shalit

Poor guy has been forgotten by his government and left to die. I almost hope he is dead and not in pain and being tortured.

I also pray that he will be released soon. No one deserves to be held by terrorists. F Olmert for not freeing him!

Something... and Half of Something: Where were you when you turned 22?: "Today is Gilad Shalit's 22nd birthday, his third birthday in the hands of Hamas terrorists."

Senior Special Groups leader captured at Baghdad airport

It worries me that the terrorists feel secure enough to be flying around in major airports while everyone is searching for them. At least he was picked up without a fight. Good to know that he was not able to get weapons into the flight.

Senior Special Groups leader captured at Baghdad airport - The Long War Journal: "The US military detained a senior Special Groups leader as he flew into Baghdad International Airport this morning. He was detained without incident after the US military received intelligence he was arriving in Baghdad via air.

The leader, who was not named, is described as being 'part of the most senior social and operational circles of Special Groups' by Multinational Forces-Iraq. 'The man has been known to travel in and out of Iraq to neighboring nations including Iran and Lebanon, where it is believed he meets and helps run the Iranian-backed Special Groups in Iraq,' Multinational Forces-Iraq reported in a press release.

The leader is said to be behind the deadly bombing at the Sadr City District Advisory Council meeting on June 24 that killed two US soldiers, two members of the US State Department, and six Iraqis. The meeting took place after the Mahdi Army called for a cease-fire and allowed Iraqi troops to enter the northeastern Baghdad neighborhood."

Dear Senator Biden

Nothing to add to this. Go read the rest of it if you wish.

Something... and Half of Something: Dear Senator Biden: "Today, Senator Biden, the falseness of your statements have been proven. Eight of the Marines charged for the so called “massacre” have already been exonerated. There is but one case still pending and that case is likely to be dismissed as well. There was no massacre and if there was no massacre, there was no coverup, at any level.

Senator Biden, there can be no doubt you made a serious mistake in your accusations against our Marines and you made a serious mistake in your accusations against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and you made a serious mistake in your accusations against the President of the United States, George W. Bush. Mistakes you should be held accountable for.

According to your own statement, your own "system of accountability," the gentlemanly thing to do would be for you, Senator Biden, you, to stand up and to acknowledge your serious mistake, for you to apologize to each of these brave and honorable men for your false accusations and misdeeds, for you to apologize for the injuries you inflicted upon them based on your rash and thoughtless words spoken without knowledge, that were based on rumor, innuendo and ignorance of the facts, the accusations you made without the benefit of a proper investigation and the gathering of information necessary to make intelligent commentary on such a sensitive subject.

Never mind the dangers inherent in your promotion of the propaganda of the enemy at a time of war and your undermining of our Government and the Military in favor of the enemy, which equals aiding and abetting the enemy, as your words were before the world and they put every soldier overseas in grave danger of suffering vengence for acts that did not in fact occur but which you claimed did occur.

Do the the right thing Senator Biden. The world is watching. The world is watching you.

Stand up Senator Biden. Be a man.

Acknowledge your serious mistake. Apologize to those you have falsely accused. "

Tar Heel jihadist gets 33 years

When will Muslims practice the Peace they profess? So many do, but they are not able to contain their bloody-handed brethren. Why not? Is it because they have also read the Koran and know that Islam is only peaceful for the Master Faith? Die, in prison pig eater.

Jihad Watch: Tar Heel jihadist gets 33 years: "The headline to this WXII story is 'Former Student Sentenced In UNC Crash.' Crash? There was no 'crash' in the sense of an accident. Taheri-azar, by his own admission, was trying to kill students by hitting them with the SUV, and did so -- again by his own admission -- because he believed the Qur'an directed him to kill infidels."

Solomonia: Ben-Dror Yemini: The Hate Ship

Solomonia: Ben-Dror Yemini: The Hate Ship: "The Hamas regime in Gaza decided recently to show the world what it knows what to do. Not that we did not know, but the timing was important. Let's remember how it all began. During the violent and brutal [takeover] of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas hooligans forced their prisoners to lie down and massacred them. If someone raised his head they shot him again to make sure he was dead. Most of the leading television channels in the world did not screen these pictures. Wonder why. The sequel was in the same vein. Hamas turned out to be an exact copy of the Taliban. Women were forced, under threat, to wear the burka, more men are bearded. Christian institutions were attacked.

If there are still pockets of resistance, Hamas knows how to deal with them. The last wave of violence included gas treatment. Pipes were thrust into intimate parts of the body, and gas was pumped in through the pipes. Nine people were killed, some undoubtedly in cold blood. [Note: This refers to the recent fighting involving the Hilles Clan. The gas treatment was related by members of the clan and reported in the Hebrew press, but not elsewhere AFAIK. -S] It can be assumed that there were many more, but under the oppressive control of the Hamas, no one can know for sure. Massacre for its own sake -- for that is what Islamic extremism knows what to do. That is what happened in Algeria, where 100,000 people were slaughtered. That is what is happening in Darfur, where 400,000 people have already been killed. That is what is happening in Somalia, where the number of victims is unknown. That is what happened under the Taliban regime. Hamas is acting according to the same rules. That is what political Islam knows. That is what Hamas is doing."

Georgia says Russian tanks mean 'war' in South Ossetia

Georgia says Russian tanks mean 'war' in South Ossetia - Times Online: "Russia sent troops and dozens of tanks into the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia today, throwing the two former Soviet neighbours into a sudden yet undeclared state of war.

In the most serious regional crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, at least 50 tanks – and possibly many more – rumbled through the Roki tunnel, which cuts through the Caucasus mountains separating South Ossetia from the Russian province of North Ossetia.

'One hundred and fifty Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles have entered South Ossetia,” President Saakashvili of Georgia told reporters in Tbilisi. “This is a clear intrusion on another country’s territory. We have Russian tanks on our territory, jets on our territory in broad daylight.'

Mr Saakashvili added that Georgian forces had downed two Russian jet fighters over Georgian territory.

Georgia mobilised its reservists yesterday and launched a military offensive to regain control over South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgia after it gained independence."
=================================================

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1358
Georgian tanks and infantry, aided by Israeli military advisers, captured the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, early Friday, Aug. 8, bringing the Georgian-Russian conflict over the province to a military climax.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin threatened a “military response.”

Former Soviet Georgia called up its military reserves after Russian warplanes bombed its new positions in the renegade province.

In Moscow’s first response to the fall of Tskhinvali, president Dimitry Medvedev ordered the Russian army to prepare for a national emergency after calling the UN Security Council into emergency session early Friday.

Reinforcements were rushed to the Russian “peacekeeping force” present in the region to support the separatists.

Georgian tanks entered the capital after heavy overnight heavy aerial strikes, in which dozens of people were killed.

Lado Gurgenidze, Georgia's prime minister, said on Friday that Georgia will continue its military operation in South Ossetia until a "durable peace" is reached. "As soon as a durable peace takes hold we need to move forward with dialogue and peaceful negotiations."

DEBKAfile’s geopolitical experts note that on the surface level, the Russians are backing the separatists of S. Ossetia and neighboring Abkhazia as payback for the strengthening of American influence in tiny Georgia and its 4.5 million inhabitants. However, more immediately, the conflict has been sparked by the race for control over the pipelines carrying oil and gas out of the Caspian region.

The Russians may just bear with the pro-US Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s ambition to bring his country into NATO. But they draw a heavy line against his plans and those of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route the oil routes from Azerbaijan and the gas lines from Turkmenistan, which transit Georgia, through Turkey instead of hooking them up to Russian pipelines.

Saakashvili need only back away from this plan for Moscow to ditch the two provinces’ revolt against Tbilisi. As long as he sticks to his guns, South Ossetia and Abkhazia will wage separatist wars.

DEBKAfile discloses Israel’s interest in the conflict from its exclusive military sources:

Jerusalem owns a strong interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan, rather than the Russian network. Intense negotiations are afoot between Israel Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Azarbaijan for pipelines to reach Turkey and thence to Israel’s oil terminal at Ashkelon and on to its Red Sea port of Eilat. From there, supertankers can carry the gas and oil to the Far East through the Indian Ocean.

Aware of Moscow’s sensitivity on the oil question, Israel offered Russia a stake in the project but was rejected.

Last year, the Georgian president commissioned from private Israeli security firms several hundred military advisers, estimated at up to 1,000, to train the Georgian armed forces in commando, air, sea, armored and artillery combat tactics. They also offer instruction on military intelligence and security for the central regime. Tbilisi also purchased weapons, intelligence and electronic warfare systems from Israel.

These advisers were undoubtedly deeply involved in the Georgian army’s preparations to conquer the South Ossetian capital Friday.

In recent weeks, Moscow has repeatedly demanded that Jerusalem halt its military assistance to Georgia, finally threatening a crisis in bilateral relations. Israel responded by saying that the only assistance rendered Tbilisi was “defensive.”

This has not gone down well in the Kremlin. Therefore, as the military crisis intensifies in South Ossetia, Moscow may be expected to punish Israel for its intervention.
==============================================================
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/articles/20080808.aspx
War With Georgia
August 8, 2007: A week of fighting in Georgia (on Russians southern border in the Caucasus) was apparently a Georgian attempt to finally defeat ethnic separatists in the breakaway area of South Ossetia (population 50,000). Georgia announced that it had liberated the separatist area. Russia has not yet announced if it will go to war to support the, apparently, defeated South Ossetian separatists.


There is a second such area; Abkhazia (population 200,000). Georgia has a population of 4.6 million, and a hostile relationship (going back centuries) with Russia. In response to this bad attitude, Russia has backed the rebels of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (which are on the Russian border) since the early 1990s. Georgia was part of the Soviet Union (and Russia) for over two centuries. Georgians tolerated this for a long time as the only way to keep the Moslem Turks out of Christian Georgia. But with the end of the Cold War, this was no longer an issue and the Georgians wanted the Russians gone. The Russians considered the Georgians ungrateful and unreliable (for allowing Chechen rebels to hide out in neighboring Georgian mountains.)


The fighting in South Ossetia and Abkhazia had stopped over a decade ago, because Georgia could not muster sufficient military force to regain control of the two breakaway border areas. Then a UN brokered peace deal brought in several thousand Russian peacekeepers. About ten days ago, there were were reports of gunfire and mortar shells exploding in South Ossetia. In the last few days, Georgian Su-25 ground attack aircraft were seen hitting targets in South Ossetia. Artillery shells were reported to have hit a Russian peace keeper barracks. Russia announced that it was sending more peacekeeping troops to South Ossetia. Russian aircraft were reported to have bombed targets just inside Georgia. Russia was unable to get the UN to pass a resolution demanding that Georgia cease efforts to get back control of its territory.