What can we say? We have a weakness for anyone who delivers a good dose of French bashing.

From Edward Lucas’s blog….

Now that strategy is in ruins. As things stand, Georgia will be fighting not to regain South Ossetia or even to deter aggression, but to survive. It is hard to see any good outcome. Georgia has failed to win a quick victory: crucially, it failed to block the Roki tunnel under the Caucasus mountains, normally used as a smugglers’ highway, but now the route for Russian heavy weapons that Georgia cannot counter for long. Worse, the authorities in Abkhazia, Georgia’s other breakaway region, may mount an attack, either on its own or with Russian help.

It seems clear that Georgia has failed to block the tunnel for long even if they did strike at as the Belmont Club suggested. Apparently there are TV clips showing Russian troops pouring out of those tunnels, though I have not seen one to link to yet.

Edit: Belmont Club provides its own dark update.

It is hard to believe but the Belmont Club is suggesting that Georgia may be giving the Russians a really hard time. Make sure you read the comments.

If you listen to clip, you will here the Georgian President tell his side of the story. He claims he did not try to take the breakaway city. Rather, he says he was responding to the fact that Russia APC started crossing the border. I am inclined to believe him. If only because it would have been suicidal for Georgia to start this fight (as he himself admitted).

As most people know, Russia and Georgia are fighting. This from the New York Times…

Russia acknowledged that Georgian forces had shot down two Russian warplanes, while a senior Georgian official said the Georgians had destroyed 10 Russian jets. Russian armored vehicles continued to stream into South Ossetia, the pro-Russian region that won de facto autonomy from Georgia in the early 1990s.

The fighting that began when Georgian forces tried to retake the capital of the South Ossetia, Tskinvali, appeared to be developing into the worst clashes between Russia and a foreign military since the 1980s war with Afghanistan.

What I do not understand is why Georgian military forces decided to try to retake South Ossetia. Granted, Russia has been trying to provoke Georgia for a long time. But how have the Georgian’s made their position better either military or politically by trying to retake South Ossetia? You can argue that they had every right in the world to do so if you want to, but it still does not change the fact that they started the fight. When you start a fight, you had better be prepared to win or take the consequences.

It is hard to imagine Georgia winning against Russia at the present time. If they had waited 10 years maybe they could have pulled it off. But right now Russia has plenty of money to pay for weapons. And who is going to dare sell anything to the Georgians even if they have money?

This is English language news from Russian (read Russian Propaganda)….

This is from AlJazeera…..

Xavier rants on the poor performance of a 911 operator.

From the Guardian….

Israel’s beleaguered prime minister, Ehud Olmert, threw his country and the Middle East into political turmoil last night when he announced he was resigning after months of mounting pressure over corruption allegations.

From Fox News…

The Chinese capital was shrouded in a thick, gray haze of pollution Sunday, just 12 days before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. One expert warned that drastic measures enacted to cut vehicle and factory emissions in the city were no guarantee skies would be clear during competitions.

The pollution was among the worst seen in Beijing in the past month, despite traffic restrictions enacted a week ago that removed half of the city’s vehicles from roadways.

Visibility was a half mile (less than 1 kilometer) in some places. During the opening ceremony of the Athletes’ Village on Sunday, the housing complex was invisible from the nearby main Olympic Green.

h/t Crunchy Con.

The Chieftain of Seir recently wrote an essay arguing that authority is weak all over the world and that it would only take worldwide economic problems to shatter political stability the world over. One of the things that he linked to in support of his case was this rant by Le Pen.

Now we are no great fans of Le Pen (this reasonably fair overview of the man) but we think it is important to listen to the voices of those who are likely to be empowered by economic problems. For better or for worse, the arguments of Le Pen are the future of France