Bush failed to halt Georgia war, says Putin

Jonathan Steele | Sochi | September 12

Guardian Online -Russia only sent troops and tanks to drive Georgian forces out of South Ossetia after President George Bush failed to put pressure on Georgia's president to stop his attacks on the breakaway territory, Vladimir Putin said yesterday. The Russian prime minister told a group of western journalists and experts on Russia that he held two meetings with the US leader during the Beijing Olympics as the crisis began to unfold, but received insufficient assurances from him.

"They [Georgian military forces] launched their attacks at 23:30 [on August 7]. I learned about it the following morning. I spoke to Bush. He said 'No one wants war.' We expected something would happen," Putin said, suggesting that he expected the US to rein in its regional ally in Tbilisi.

"I met him again at the stadium. I can't tell you in detail the content of the conversation, but I had the feeling that his administration wouldn't do anything about stopping the conflict," Putin said. Russian tanks were then ordered to move on the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.   much more at Guardian link
 
(Photo: Alexey Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images)


nymole September 12, 2008 - 5:06am

From the photos, it looked like Bush was drunk during the Olympics. How could he have remembered? And why would Puti-poot be concerned about what is happening in the suburbs of Atlanta. All just too confusing. Too much to remember. It's hard work.
But when the beauty queen gets in, she'll know what to do. Just like Unka Dick.
We are so screwed.

JT September 12, 2008 - 8:34am

Thanks for posting this.

Beto September 12, 2008 - 10:41am

though maybe I missed the fine print:-)

-mole


"The mythical John McCain is an affable, straight-talking, moderately conservative war hero who is an expert on foreign policy" - Bob Herbert

nymole September 12, 2008 - 11:31am

May be because CNN chopped up the interview they recently did with him, and he's given up on/punishing the rest of the US media.

geoduck September 12, 2008 - 1:34pm

Sep 11: here

"An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Sochi, Russia."

Pretty weird. Not sure which side the Times is hiding from. but Vlad has lost that lean and hungry look....


"The mythical John McCain is an affable, straight-talking, moderately conservative war hero who is an expert on foreign policy" - Bob Herbert

nymole September 12, 2008 - 9:35pm

Is that the McCain campaign, and Genius Palin in particular, have been repeating the lie that Russia attacked defenseless Georgia out of the blue and that, if Georgia joins NATO, something like that would mean war with Russia. Given the recent avents, it is obvious that having Georgia join NATO could be a disaster.

creativelcro September 12, 2008 - 12:43pm

vaunted free press to both Bush and Perino about Putin's contentions

I imagine this will be ignored or placed somewhere deep inside an article on Page 18A. Not too close to the end, of course, or it might be noticed....

jawbone2 September 12, 2008 - 8:12pm

UPI, September 13

MOSCOW -- The conflict with Georgia has prompted Russia to boost its military budget for 2009 to a record $46.8 billion, analysts said.

The sum is $6.6 billion higher than this year's defense spending totals and will be considered by country's lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, next week, RIA Novosti reported Saturday.


"Frankly, we've lost a lot in recent years." - General Colin Powell

Raja September 14, 2008 - 8:52am

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