US warships arrive in Georgia
In Batumi, not Poti.
As I read my tea leaves, I see that the Pentagon is trying to prevent a confrontation from happening. Read the article, Bautmi port is to small to handle the US destroyer. In any case, a US destroyer is too cramped to carry any more than a handful of relief supplies. Relief was not the reason the Bushies sent the ship. If they had been serious about relief, they would have sent a merchant ship packed with stuff.
The Russian army was in force around the port of Poti, but there are no Russian soldiers around Batumi. A compromise has been arrived at, and a direct confrontation between Russian and American forces has been avoided.
It is my my belief that certain of the highest political figures in America dearly wanted a collision between Russian and American forces to further their own ends. They seem to not care or to be oblivious to the fact that such a collision could lead to world wide thermo nuclear war. These figures are a shame to the United States of America. To our credit, from again my tea leaf reading, I have seen the invisible hand of Americans in the military and in the government, who have been working to prevent further excesses from our government. I was a Marine, and every United States military member pledges loyalty ultimately to the Constitution, and to the concept of a President, not a specific individual.
There are some who may think I got a little dramatic over this issue. Well I did so for a reason. Up until yesterday, if you googled “US warships Black Sea” my BotB entries came up between no. 3 and no. 5.
So I am not at all ashamed of screaming and yelling. In fact it is my belief and my hope that many people read us. I do not personally have the power to change and influence events. And I know that the people who do have such power are extremely busy. However it is my hope that in my modest way, if by jumping up and down and screaming on this site, I may have gotten a powerful person to look at what was going in the Black Sea. Perhaps, if I can imagine, after the initial exclamation of “Oh S–t!” This person began a frenzy of telephone calls, which ultimately led to a benign solution.
What ever I have written I have tried to find back up links. As a blogger, I feel it is my duty to write what I see. Back it up with evidence, and then go for it.
But I strongly believe that if US ships had docked in Poti ,with Russian ground forces at best a couple of miles distant, we would have been the closest to imminent nuclear war since the Cuban missile crisis. For no good reason (well does war ever have a good reason?)
Because of behind the scenes Americans, who risked their careers or even possibly their lives, we are still safe. I salute them.
Posted: August 24th, 2008 under Best of the Blogs.
Comments: 6
Comments
Comment from timr
Time: August 24, 2008, 10:32 am
Max, I am surprised that the Turks let them in. But now that the first DD has offloaded its “humanitiarian supplies” there is no reason for it to remain in the Black Sea. I still wonder why the turks let them in
Comment from Max
Time: August 24, 2008, 10:34 am
Timr,
That also makes me wonder. Pressure from Darth Vader perhaps?
Comment from timr
Time: August 24, 2008, 12:13 pm
max, take a gander at this. It reflects exactly what I have been saying
http://consortiumnews.com/2008/082308a.html
Comment from Max
Time: August 24, 2008, 5:33 pm
Timr,
Another large part of the present problems with Russia comes from that anti missile missile battery in Poland. The Russians see the stationing of those missiles as an extreme insult. They are set up to counter Iranian missiles that have not been built, and which Iran says they have no intention of building.
It is some Neocon fantasy of “maybe” somebody might do something.
And the tragedy is those systems don’t work, in some five rigged tests, where the course and speed of the target missile was known, which were decoys and which warheads were not was also known, these anti missile systems could hit the target only 2 out of 5 times.
If Russia did ever attack us with missiles, they would send hundreds. So out of the 10 in Poland, we can expect maybe one or two to hit something. Meaningless. Yet the installation of this system is helping to increase tensions, that might someday actually cause a war.
Well, corporations have lead foreign policy before. I have read of the shenanigans of The United Fruit company in Central America, it seems that they regarded the United States Marine Corps as their own private enforcers.
But this is a lot different than then. Nicaragua could in no way destroy the US in a counter attack. Russia can.
We are still playing a very stupid game here.
Comment from Sasha
Time: August 25, 2008, 3:43 am
“The warship USS McFaul delivered 55 tonnes of humanitarian aid at the Black Sea port of Batumi”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4602501.ece
Comment from Max
Time: August 25, 2008, 4:07 am
There was also a US Coast Guard ship, a US command vessel, (That baby would have some room.) and one warship each from Poland Germany and Spain.
Here is the site for the McFaul.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_McFaul_(DDG-74)
She carries 90 missiles which would be a mix of those listed, but the Tomahawk is nuclear capable. For that matter so is the ASROC, it can carry nuclear torpedos. The idea is be sure to get a kill against a Soviet missile sub, a conventional torpedo might only damage it.
While the McFaul does not carry helicopters, the command ship would.
In any case, for the moment the situation seems to have calmed down. Let’s just hope we can keep it that way. It looks as if we will be really pulling out of Iraq, so now Georgia is the only conflict available for our Neocon nutcases. I am getting really tired of these people. We won’t be able to relax until President Obama is sworn in. Heaven forbid if it is John McCain getting sworn in.
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