Russia continues invasion of Georgia

NY Times:

The conflict between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia moved toward full-scale war on Saturday, as Russia sent warships to land ground troops in the disputed territory of Abkhazia and broadened its bombing campaign to the Georgian capital’s airport.

The fighting that had sharply escalated when Georgian forces tried to retake the capital of South Ossetia, a pro-Russian region that won de facto autonomy from Georgia in the early 1990s, appeared to be developing into the worst clashes between Russia and a foreign military since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Georgian authorities expect Russian attacks to come on three fronts on Sunday — from Gali and Zugdidi, two spots on the Abkhazian border, and from Ossetia, according to Gigi Ugulada, the mayor of Tbilisi. They also expect more bombing on the Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia that remains under Georgian control.

Shortly before dawn on Sunday, Georgia’s Interior Ministry said that Russian bombers had begun striking the airport at Tbilisi. The explosions could be heard in the city, said Shota Utiashvili, a ministry official.

He said that Russia had built up large forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia — breakaway regions that have support from Moscow — including as many as 300 artillery pieces in South Ossetia alone. Russian forces, he said, were also poised just over the border at Larsi, a checkpoint, where they could open a third line of ground attack.

Later Sunday, there were reports that Georgian forces had withdrawn from South Ossetia.

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As Russia moved more forces into the region and continued aerial bombing, it appeared determined to occupy both South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, said Russia’s ambitions were even more extensive. He declared that Georgia was in a state of war, and said in an interview that Russia was planning to seize sea ports and an oil pipeline and to overthrow his government.

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia left the Olympics in China and arrived Saturday evening in Vladikavkaz, a city in southern Russia just over the border. State-controlled news broadcasts showed Mr. Putin meeting generals, suggesting that he was directly in charge of military operations, eclipsing the authority of President Dmitri A. Medvedev.

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Putin is dropping the pretense that followed the elections last year and is bullying Georgia the way he bullied his political opponents in Moscow. He has calculated that he can get away with it and that the Europeans and the US will do nothing. In his mind he sees this as payback for what they did in the Balkans to his Serbian allies. that is why he is making the bogus charges of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

He has however exposed the ineptitude of the Russian military. They are fighting a much weaker opponent with overwhelming force but with little skill or precision. Against a stronger opponent the Russians would be in serious trouble.

The Russians under Putin should be considered an adversary of the free world going forward. They are being as aggressive as they were during the cold war and their motives are no longer hidden by ideology.