Russia continues to attack Georgia itself by air while its troops now have undisputed control of South Ossetia. Russia had already devastated the port city of Poti and it intensified its attacks today with bombing missions against military targets outside the Georgian capital of Tblisi and an all=out bombing offensive on the city of Gori. The Georgian government, noting the build-up of troops in the very south of the captured South Ossetia, is saying that it expects a ground assault there soon.

Today’s continued Russian aggression has come after Georgia offered the invaders a cease-fire, which was promptly ignored. DrewM at Ace of Spades HQ has found the likely reason that Russia won’t quit its attacks on its sovereign neighbor. They want democratically-elected Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili gone.

Khalilzad disclosed during a U.N. Security Council session that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday morning “that a democratically elected president of Georgia — and I quote — must go.”
…
“I’d like to say straightaway that regime change is an American expression,” Churkin said. “We do not use such an expression. But sometimes there are occasions, and we know from history, that there are different leaders who come to power, either democratically or semi-democratically, and they become an obstacle.”

Lavrov later told reporters in Moscow that Rice had misinterpreted his remarks. Referring to Georgia’s president, Lavrov said Russia can no longer view “a man who issued orders to commit war crimes” as a negotiating partner and therefore “without the departure of Saakashvili it is impossible to stop the conflict in South Ossetia.”

It’s nice to see the Russians being up-front about the real reason for their invasion. I suppose Georgia had gotten a bit too uppity with their former slave masters and it was time they were brought back into the Soviet fold. After all, Russia has been contriving the reasons for this invasion for some time now, it appears.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine has throw in with Georgia. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said that the country “reserves the right” to bar Russian warships from its ports until “the conflict is solved”. This is a pretty bold move for a nation that could well be Vladimir Putin’s next target. He’s already attempted to kill Viktor Yushchenko when he was running against a Russian puppet for President of the nascent democracy. The attempt left Yuschenko badly scarred, but more determined than ever to move closer to his new ally, the United States, and away from Russian control. If things continue to go poorly in Georgia and the West is unable to get Russia to leave the country, then the Ukraine is a logical next choice to end up on Putin’s hit list.

UPDATE: See-dubya asks if George 2008 is going to be like Hungary 1956. I sincerely hope not because if it does go that way, as President Saakashvili had said, our reputation takes a serious hit and nations in similar positions will have to consider if their position is worth the real risk. He also has a stinger for Vladimir Putin. Most of the nations in that position are in Eastern Europe and they have been among our most faithful and pugnacious allies in the past few years.

He also has a stinger for Vladimir Putin.

The Times of London article linked above notes that a statue of Stalin still stands in the town of Gori, Georgia –because it’s Stalin’s birthplace. No wonder Putin wants it back. It’s like Mount Vernon for him.

UPDATE 2 : While poking around for some other information, I came across this article by the Jamestown Foundation. It was written back in April and contains a good amount of information culled from Russian and Eastern European news sources about the consistent threats Putin and his minions have been making against Georgia and the Ukraine if they continued to pursie NATO membership.