Invasion of Ossetia is more US adventurism

ONCE again, we have seen a barrage of hypocrisy and lies from the Western media and leaders concerning the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia.

There are plenty of graphic photos in the press and on TV depicting the carnage, but rarely any showing the atrocities carried out in Iraq and Afghanistan by the forces of "democracy."

It is not surprising to me that Condoleezza Rice was in Tbilisi two days prior to the Georgian military adventure. A witness in Ossetia stated that she had seen soldiers with US insignia and dark uniforms engaged in the conflict.

The evidence of genocide by Georgian forces shows that they have learned their craft well serving alongside the US military in Iraq. And then George Bush sounds off with smug hypocrisy criticising the bombing of military targets by Russian planes.

This latest conflagration is a clearly and cynically engineered provocation by the US and its toadies, representing the voracious ambitions of the global transnationals.

Western-backed Georgia is a client state of those powers that covet the mineral wealth and oil of the Caucasus and the Caspian basin.

It is the age-old dream, the penetration and exploitation of southern Russia.

This was an adventure that Rommel and von Paulus, at the behest of Hitler, failed to achieve at great Soviet and British sacrifice at Stalingrad and north Africa.

The connections between this latest Western-instigated war, what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan and the threats against Iran are obvious.

Peace in the world is becoming increasingly fragile. A wider catastrophe will always threaten for as long as the US drive for world hegemony continues unabated.

Is new Labour going to drag us into this one too? Or is Gordon Brown just waiting to reap the profits of eventually helping to rearm Georgia?

EW EDWARDS

Oxford