The Georgian government has been saying since beginning of August 2008 that the situation in South Ossetia is escalating and the Russian “peacekeepers” are staging provocations together with illegal armed forces of South Ossetian separatist regime. They started killing Georgian police officers and firing artillery shells at the Georgian villages located in South Ossetia, but the world was preoccupied with getting ready for the opening ceremony of Beijing 2008 Olympics.

When the Georgian government officials told the Europeans in Brussels that we were at the brink of war, the Europeans politely warned the Georgians not to use the word “war” in the city of Brussels, because they do not like the word “war.” It seems that old Europe is getting older each day and with the age, because numerous warnings and cries by the Georgian officials fell on the deaf ears of old Europe. Never mind the fact that it took Hitler conquering Poland and Czechoslovakia, before the Western Europe realized this was a war.

And what about the Americans? The American society is in the midst of elections, the Democrats want to see Europe take more responsibility for security in Caucasus region, the Republicans are divided and worried about gay marriage and abortion rights… The friends of Georgia in new Europe are trying everything to force the old Europe take harsher approach towards Russia, but Europe is dependent on Russian natural gas and oil.

Giving up on a young democracy does not seem plausible for the Europeans, but the old Europe is scared of the new Russian bear. The new Russia is controlled by a xenophobic psychopath who has decided to break all the rules of the game, in order to change those rules. And the question comes: how can you stop a bully? Everyone can keep condemning the Russian government, but that paper will wind up in Putin’s toilet again… The only way to stop a bully is bully up against the bully – simple rule of life.

With the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Russian government has proven the world that they will violate international laws whenever they feel like it and they will use aggression in the name of peace as they did in Prague 1968. If the world would not stand up for Georgia, who will be the next prey of the hungry Russian bear? Maybe Ukraine? Or Moldova? Or who knows… The Russian government is as unpredictable as the weather in England…

The Georgian people are united and stand united, we have survived the onslaught by Mongols, Persians, Arabs, Turk-Seljuks throughout the history and we have still survived and we are not scared of the Russian bear either.

Just last question to Mr. Putin. Mr. Putin, if you are so concerned about the freedom of small minorities, why not recognize the independence of Chechnya? Then Daghestan? Then Ingushetia? And then all the other autonomous republics where the citizens do not even speak Russian? Think about that at first and then lets discuss the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, after 300,000 Georgian refugees return to their own homes.

And to my fellow Abkhazian and South Ossetian brothers and sisters. Yes, there will be dancing and celebration in Sokhumi and Tskinvali, Yes you will be smiling and waving flags – Georgian flags of course….

Wow, another confused Republican.

AFAIR that happened *inside* Germany. They were reading E-Mails of Germany's largest weekly news magazine, Der Spiegel. That's also why it's illegal (journo privileges). Foreign intelligence is *supposed* to spy, but in foreign countries and on foreigners. Germany's BND normally does it, and so do CIA and NSA. I can see the NSA antennas from where I write this

And foreign intelligence is a *good* thing: had the EU known in advance what Georgian president Mikheil Saaskashvili was up to, somebody would have told him that his plans would find no support.

The West (and Nato in particular) need to decide whether they want to support every autonomy movement in the world, like they do with Kosovo and Tibet. However, then IRA and Basque separatists, a separate Kurdistan and the South Ossetian Republic have to be accepted as well. If not, the support for Kosovo and Tibet is an act of imperialism (which is what I believe).

Back to the main topic: it is inevitable to build up several autonomous, self supporting subnets inside each country for critical services, be it power generation and distribution (those cases missing in your article), or banks and trade exchanges, or police etc. The concept of having a single, global Internet without filters at borders and without national firewalls for critical services is an illusion that will die last in Silicon Valley. For the mobile telephone networks this separation is already happening in Europe: in a few years every EU state will operate a digital mobile system that is *exclusive* to police and emergency services (based on the TETRA technology of Motorola).

The whole idiotic dogma of net neutrality, which is part of an imperialistic disrepect for the diverse legal systems of countries outside the US, has also helped morph cyber espionage into a cyber warfare that can shut down powerplants and hospitals.

Except it wasn't between Russia and Estonia. It was between a guy in Estonia and Estonia. Check your fact before relying on someone else's assumptions.

<quote from wikipedia>
On 24 January 2008, Dmitri Galushkevich, a student living in Tallinn, was found guilty of participating in the assault. He was fined 17,500 kroons (approximately US$1,640) for attacking the website of the Estonian Reform Party.
</quote>

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