It is rather reminiscent of the misleadingly arranged photos of Saddam's statue being pulled down with rent-a-crowd being bussed around.
A Georgian civilian weeping over a dead Georgian civilian
Another photo. The same dead Georgian civilian, now he got tired of lying face up and decided to lie face down. If it is an actual corpse the blood on the right side and what could be a canula on the right wrist indicate it could be), it is absolutely disgusting. Especially since the possible corpse has been turned face down. The same weeping Georgian citizen wearing different clothes. Nice of him to dress for the camera... or was it the shell.
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The United States demanded today that Russian troops end their occupation of Georgia immediately after Georgia signed a ceasefire agreement.
Speaking alongside Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili, visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice evoked the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia 40 years ago to crush liberal reforms: "Russian forces need to leave Georgia at once. This is no longer 1968."
Saakashvili said following five hours of talks with Rice he had inked the ceasefire pact, negotiated by France on behalf of the European Union.
As they were speaking, a Reuters correspondent witnessed a column of up to 17 Russian armoured personnel carriers advancing along the main highway to within 34 miles of the Georgian capital, their deepest move yet inside Georgia.
The purpose of the incursion was not immediately clear.
Saakashvili, in passionate remarks, denounced Russians as "21st century barbarians" and blamed the West for triggering the crisis by failing to react firmly to Moscow's previous military moves and not admitting Georgia to Nato fast enough.
"Who invited the trouble here?" he said, flanked by several large Georgian and US flags. "...Not only those people who perpetrated this, but those who failed to stop it."
The simmering crisis over the rebel Georgian region of South Ossetia exploded last Thursday when Georgia sent a force to try to retake the Russian-backed province, provoking a massive counter-attack by Moscow.
The Kremlin deployed warships, planes, tanks and troops against Georgia in its biggest military operation outside its borders since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. Its troops continue to occupy part of Georgia, although combat has ceased.
Signs multiplied today of Russia's growing international isolation. Its biggest trading partner Germany condemned it for going too far in Georgia and neighbouring Poland sealed a pact with Washington to host part of an anti-missile system.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev showed defiance after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, several hundred miles along the coast from the conflict zone.
He said Moscow would respond the same way if its peacekeepers were attacked again and questioned whether the rebel regions at the centre of the conflict could ever live again under Georgian rule.
Medvedev denounced the Polish-US deal as a threat to Russia. "The deployment of new anti-missile forces has as its aim the Russian Federation," he told a news conference alongside Merkel.
"Therefore any fairy tales about deterring other states, fairy tales that with the help of this system, we will deter some sort of rogue states, no longer work."
But US President George Bush said Moscow's decision to send in troops had hurt its credibility overseas.
"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," he said in Washington before departing for a holiday in Texas.
Merkel also called on the Kremlin to pull its forces out of central Georgia and implement the French-led peace plan.
"We very much want the six-point plan to be implemented very promptly so that Russian troops are no longer in Georgia, outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia," she told the joint news conference with Medvedev.
Pressure from Berlin is significant because Moscow generally regards it as a more sympathetic partner than former Cold War foes London and Washington.
The conflict has rattled oil markets because a key pipeline runs through Georgia. It has also unnerved the West, which fears the conflict could easily escalate in the volatile region.
Even Russia's normally reliable allies in parts of the former Soviet Union have remained mostly silent on the issue. Many are uneasy about military intervention by the Kremlin in its former vassals.
Russia says its actions are fully justified by Georgia's "aggression" and "genocide" in attacking South Ossetia last week, where many residents hold Russian passports.
It maintains its troops must stay on the ground in Georgia to secure the situation and prevent further conflict. Russian ground forces are mainly based around the central town of Gori, 40 miles west of the Georgian capital.
The two sides traded accusations today of misconduct in the war zone. Georgia quoted a US human rights group alleging that Russia had used cluster bombs against civilians - a charge denied by Russia - while Moscow accused Tbilisi's troops of planting mines in civilian areas as they retreated.
In Moscow, the General Staff said at its daily news briefing that there had been no shooting in the past 24 hours.
The United Nations has expressed alarm at lawlessness in war-torn areas. Witnesses in the area have seen Ossetian militiamen attacking villages and stealing cars.
Refugees told of a lawless zone in the villages running north from Gori to Tskhinvali, the devastated capital of South Ossetia taken by Russian forces after heavy fighting.
"Many people have been burned alive in their homes," said an old Georgian woman in Gori, pulling a trolley piled with bags.
Russian soldiers near Gori - some lounging in the midday sun, others manning tanks and armoured personnel carriers - looked bored today as they denied reports of looting.
"We're the regular army," said Vita, wiping sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his camouflage uniform. "There's no violence, no looting. All is quiet."
Russia says 1,600 civilians died when Georgia attacked South Ossetia, though the figure has not been independently verified.
Moscow's General Staff has said it lost 74 soldiers in the fighting, with 171 wounded and 19 missing. At least four warplanes have been shot down.
Georgia puts deaths on its side at over 175, with hundreds injured. That figure does not include South Ossetia.
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The hints were there when Menendev blocked the Zimbabwe resolution. "Russia was saying, "Don't take us for granted". Bush and Rice, rather than trying to ease things, ramp up the pressure by giving Russia orders, so Russia answers by consolidating their military presence in Georgia.
The US (unless she gave permission for the invasion as many believe) should show displeasure with Georgia and it's lunatic president but instead bolsters this rogue state with words and the continued presence of US military trainers. US aid flows into Georgia but not the area needing it most, South Ossetia.
I have stated my beliefs before, the Nato that most of us knew is a much changed organisation, the most aggresive treaty organisation in the world. Power corrupts.
Poland has brokered a deal to ensure that she gets Patriot missiles along with the missiles she has agreed to accept.
I think I mentioned Ukraine previously. The Crimea situation is not solved. Handed over against Russian law by Stalin, it's people are mainly Russian with Ukrainians making 20-25% of the population. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is based there. On the Ukraine gaining independence The Black Sea Fleet was split between the two countries whilst the Crimea's situation was discussed. It was agreed that Russia would lease it from the then ally whilst the final solution was placed in abeyance.
Ukraine's moves toward the EU and worse, Nato have brought Crimea back towards the limelight. Ukraine's threats against the Russian fleet and hawkish stance during the Georgia Crisis will have a comeback. A former Russian minister on BBC TV said yesterday that if Nato/USA interfere in Crimea then it will mean WWIII.
Bear in mind that Nato assured Russia that it would NOT move eastwards and hardly had that promise been signed, than it started moving. Put yourself in the place of a Russian looking at the West and imagine how he or she sees it:
A Nato nation invaded another Nato nation's protectorate due to ludicrous claims (Grenada - an act of war);
The same nation invaded Panama, arrested and gaoled the president, both illegal acts;
Nato invaded Iraq to liberate Kuwait (with Russia's support). It was later disclosed that the USA had tacitly given the green light for Iraq to invade Kuwait;
Georgia harboured Chechen rebels fighting against Russia whilst the USA ofers military training to Georgia's forces;
Nato attacked and aided (before and after the fact) the break-up of Yugoslavia;
In Bosnia whilst supposedly acting as honest brokers the US Navy allowed Egypt to supply arms, ammunition and uniforms to the Moslem forces. They also offered to take over Nato air patrols and whilst doing so flew materiél into a Bosnian airfield (this prompted Russia to send troops to that airfield to co-control it and the West to accuse them of being aggresive).
Nato, changed the Rambouillet Document which Serbia was willing to sign to demand occupier's rights over all Serbia. Serbia refused to sign so Nato attacked, killing many civilians and destroying infrastructure. When bombing failed Nato changed back to the original document which Serbia signed. Nato occupied the province of Kosovo;
During the Kosovo occupation the British General Jackson refused US General Clarke's order to use force of arms to remove the Russian KFOR troops on Pristina Airbase;
Nato attacked Afghanistan;
Nato attacked and occupied Iraq on trumped-up evidence;
The USA and several Nato nations supported the illegal UDI of Kosovo - even though it was there signed duty to stop it;
The USA decides to scrap hard-won missile treaties and further, base missiles in Eastern Europe;
Nato has failed to sign the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty devised to replace the original treaty which required changing after Nato's forces had increased beyond the limits allowed by new nations joining;
During all these moves Western money was being used to destabilise Russian allies including the Ukraine and an intrinsic part of Russia, Siberia, and place military bases, apparently to encircle Russia.
No wonder Russians are backing Menendev's actions in Georgia. Wouldn't you?
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