To much was made of the few Russian planes that Georgia manged to down. From McClatchy Newspapers…..

At first, news of Russia’s aerial attacks came in fragments. An airfield was hit, a radar station demolished. But by Monday, as bombs fell among the withdrawing Georgian forces, it was only too clear what the Russians had been up to.

The early strikes had made it impossible for Georgians, who in the war’s first day had shot down four Russian aircraft, to mount an effective response. Now Russian jets could dominate the skies.

Col. Gen. Anatoly Nagovitsin, the deputy head of the Russian military’s general staff, put it bluntly: “I can report on Russian supremacy in the airspace. Georgian aircraft stopped flying.”

Outside Tskhinvali, Georgian soldiers huddled beneath trees and bridges, trying to stay out of the line of sight of passing Russian jets. In addition to military trucks, troops were being moved around in civilian buses and vans. In Gori, soldiers worked out of a university building.

They had to hide; there was no answer to the Su-25 fighter jets, TU-22 bombers and others streaking nearby, looking for prey.

If you read the full article, you will get a lot of direct quotes from Georgian soldiers.

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.