Prime Minister Putin has seemingly taken charge of the conflict and it now may well turn into an attempt to precipitate the fall of the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
There are conflicting reports coming out of the region especially as independent journalists are unable to get in.However the extent of human suffering seems at an unprecedented level.
Human Rights watch have got into North Ossetia,part of Russian sovereign territory and has acquired some first hand statements from fleeing refugees
Human Rights Watch obtained official figures on the number of displaced persons tallied by the Russian Operative Headquarters for Providing Humanitarian Assistance to the Residents of South Ossetia, located in Vladikavkaz. According to the documents provided to Human Rights Watch by a representative from the headquarters, from August 8 to the afternoon of August 10, the Federal Migration Service registered 24,032 persons who crossed the border from South Ossetia into Russia. However, 11,190 of those went back. The document mentions that “the overall number [of the displaced] was decreasing because of the people who return to join to volunteer militias of South Ossetia.”and has also
visited a camp for the displaced in the village of Alagir and interviewed more than a dozen individuals, including those from Tskhinvali and neighboring villages. Those from the city reported spending more than three days in the basements of their houses, unable to come out because of the incessant shelling. Two individuals from Tskhinvali – a mother and her pregnant daughter – said their apartment building was severely damaged by shells and they only dared to come out of the basement on the fourth day, early in the morning of August 10, when Russian troops took full control of the city and started transporting local residents to a safe zone. They said the convoy consisted of six buses (about 27 people each), escorted by the military to the safety zone.
Global voices meanwhile quotes a blogger who says that
Russian ground troops have begun advancing toward Gori, which is an important transport crossroad, AFP reported. Georgia’s Ministry of Interior claimed that Russian tanks have advanced through South Ossetia and have begun shelling Gori. There are fears that Russian forces wish to cut Georgia in half.
There is much comment in the papers this morning,as the writers have had time to digest the events over the weekend.It is very anti Russian.
In the Telegraph Denis McShane writes that
Vladimir Putin has dropped - literally - a bombshell. By ordering a full-scale military invasion of Georgia, he has revealed the true face of his autocratic rule. By flying in person to the scene as if he was field commander-in-chief, he is showing the world that Russia will revert to being a military power willing to bully and threaten its neighbours
For him
Russia has never accepted the loss of the old Soviet empire. Like British Right-wingers who dream of the days when the Union flag fluttered over parts of the world where English was spoken, the Russians still feel the loss of status when the end of communism forced the Kremlin to disgorge the Baltic states, Ukraine and Georgia.
In the Guardian David Clarke writes that
The west can no longer stand idle while the Russian bully wreaks havoc
how should western countries respond? The question arises most immediately in relation to Nato, where Georgia hopes to take a step closer to joining by securing a membership action plan. Sceptics within Nato, like Germany, will see the conflict as evidence that Georgia is an unreliable partner best kept at arm's length. This is entirely the wrong way of looking at it. Georgia's security concerns are real, and Russia is the cause. The onus should therefore be on Russia to reduce the security fears that drive the desire for Nato membership by withdrawing unwanted troops and becoming part of a political solution to the frozen conflicts. If it will not do this, it has to accept the consequences.
Whilst Bruce Anderson in the Independent lays the blame firmly on the West.For him
Our diplomatic weakness rests on the shoulders of a longer-term strategic incompetence
where were the Western diplomats with straitjackets and hard words? It may be that the President was so headstrong as to be beyond counsel, but it would have been worth trying: pointing out to him that his intended actions would have inevitable consequences and that Georgia would be facing them on its own. Even if it might not have worked, it should have been tried. Yet just when the game was in a crucial phase, British and American diplomats took their eye off the ball.
Reading a lot about this it seems clear that this was an incident that has been waiting to happen.Georgia's insistence on trying to retake the Ossetian capital Tskhinvali gave Russia the excuse to carry out retaliatory action which appears now to be going a lot further than merely repelling Georgian troops
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