{"id":212,"date":"2008-08-26T23:09:37","date_gmt":"2008-08-27T03:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=212"},"modified":"2008-08-26T23:10:19","modified_gmt":"2008-08-27T03:10:19","slug":"michael-totten-the-truth-about-russia-in-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/26\/michael-totten-the-truth-about-russia-in-georgia\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Totten: The Truth About Russia in Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I linked to this previously but Michael Totten&#8217;s &#8220;The Truth About Russia in Georgia&#8221; is the most comprehensive report I&#8217;ve seen on the conflict\u00a0 &#8211; it&#8217;s a must read for anyone who wants to know what really happened &#8211; and it deserves much greater prominence than I gave it earlier.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Truth About Russia in Georgia<\/strong><br \/>\nBy Michael J. Totten, August 26, 2008<\/p>\n<p>TBILISI, GEORGIA &#8211; Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. &#8220;The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,&#8221; the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion.<\/p>\n<p>Virtually everyone is wrong. Georgia didn&#8217;t start it on August 7, nor on any other date. The South Ossetian militia started it on August 6 when its fighters fired on Georgian peacekeepers and Georgian villages with weapons banned by the agreement hammered out between the two sides in 1994. At the same time, the Russian military sent its invasion force bearing down on Georgia from the north side of the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian side of the border through the Roki tunnel and into Georgia. This happened before<br \/>\nSaakashvili sent additional troops to South Ossetia and allegedly started the war.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Read &quot;The Truth About Russia in Georgia&quot; at michaeltotten.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.michaeltotten.com\/archives\/2008\/08\/the-truth-about-1.php\" target=\"_blank\">Read the rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I linked to this previously but Michael Totten&#8217;s &#8220;The Truth About Russia in Georgia&#8221; is the most comprehensive report I&#8217;ve seen on the conflict\u00a0 &#8211; it&#8217;s a must read for anyone who wants to know what really happened &#8211; and it deserves much greater prominence than I gave it earlier. The Truth About Russia in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[73],"tags":[74,75],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-international-affairs","tag-georgia","tag-russia","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-3q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":208,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/26\/russian-aggression\/","url_meta":{"origin":212,"position":0},"title":"Russian Aggression","author":"Jeff","date":"August 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If you haven't read the Op-Ed by by Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman in today's Wall Street Journal you should. I don't agree with Graham or Lieberman often but they're spot-on here. Russia's Aggression Is a Challenge to World Order By Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, Wall Street Journal, August\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;International Affairs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"International Affairs","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/international-affairs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1065,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/02\/mikheil-saakashvili-georgia-acted-in-self-defense\/","url_meta":{"origin":212,"position":1},"title":"Mikheil Saakashvili: Georgia Acted in Self-Defense","author":"Jeff","date":"December 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"There's always two sides to every story and unfortunately, for the most part the western new media has only told half story about the Russian invasion of Georgia. If you haven't read Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's excellent Op Ed in today's Wall Street Journal you should. Georgia Acted in Self-Defense\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;International Affairs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"International Affairs","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/international-affairs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":194,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/23\/ho-hum-redux\/","url_meta":{"origin":212,"position":2},"title":"Ho-hum Redux","author":"Jeff","date":"August 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I really should write something... Unfortunately, most of what\u2019s in the news at the moment bores me to tears. I couldn\u2019t care less about the Olympics and I\u2019m sick of the presidential campaign... Cassandra at Villainous Company pretty much sums up my mood here. I am deeply concerned about Russia\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":181,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/11\/georgia-on-my-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":212,"position":3},"title":"Georgia On My Mind&#8230;","author":"Jeff","date":"August 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm deeply troubled by the news out of Georgia, I'm not a expert on the region and I'm not going to try and play one on the internet. What I am doing to do to point you to two excellent posts by C. Blake Powers at Blackfive.net. The first is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;International Affairs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"International Affairs","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/international-affairs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":201,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/26\/let-the-games-begin\/","url_meta":{"origin":212,"position":4},"title":"Let The Games Begin&#8230;","author":"Jeff","date":"August 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Democratic National Convention kicked of in Denver last night... All I can think to say is so what? In all honesty I'm more interested in what's happening in Georgia than I am with what's happening in Denver. If last night was any indication this convention is going to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2973,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/07\/ama-may-withdraw-health-care-reform-endorsement\/","url_meta":{"origin":212,"position":5},"title":"AMA May Withdraw Health Care Reform Endorsement","author":"Jeff","date":"November 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It looks like the American Medical Association's Board of Trustees decision to endorse the House Health Care Reform bill is about to backfire. A significant chunk of the group is upset that the Trustee's made the endorsement without the formal approval of the organization's House of Delegates and is pushing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health Care&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}