Russian Not Leaving Georgia According To Russian General

Tagged:

The LATimes reported yesterday that Russian General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, who is the Russian Deputy Chief of General Staff, has admitted that Russia is setting up permanent bases in Georgia, with no intention of abiding by the withdrawal agreed upon with EU President Sarkozy last week.

Nogovitsyn told reporters that Russia would be setting up 18 permanent checkpoints, eight of which are in Georgian sovereign territory, with no plans for withdrawal.

"The president ordered us to stop where we were," he told reporters. "We are not pulling out and pulling back troops behind this administrative border into the territory of South Ossetia."

An Open Thread in Guess Work

Tagged:

Who can find the rules for how Arizona would replace Senator McCain should he win this November?

Who would be likely candidates?

Who would we like to see?

Don't Let Him Kid You: He Wants to See Babies Killed

Tagged:

Graham Pushes Lieberman; Emerges As Big Backer

Tagged:

This doesn't surprise me at all and I've been saying that I see a path to victory and merit in the Lieberman for VP argument for some time now.

As a Conservative I relinquished all hope for this cycle when Thompson and Romney bowed out. Although Romney is my choice for VP, at this point, going with Lieberman is a game changer with McCain having a clear path to victory (there's no way Conservative's will boycott or stay home because of a VP pick - defeating Obama is too important) with Lieberman as VP it virtually guarantees a strong Republican/Conservative cabinet. It also ends the "Bushs third term" meme... taking that away from the Dems and forcing people to see McCain as the real change agent guaranteeing victory in Nov.

As for the pro-lifers threatening to stay home if he picks a pro-choice VP... I call BS! Most of you know how I feel about single-issue voters (they shouldn't be voting anyway) but If anyone stays home because of a pro-choice VP, in what is clearly to be a pro-life administration, that to me is just plain ridiculous!

Marc Ambinder reports:

Breaking: Russia Suspends All Military Cooperation with NATO

Tagged:

From Bloomberg

Today Norway's Defense Ministry said the Russia has decided to ``freeze'' all military cooperation with NATO and allies of the alliance.

Quote:
Norway's Defense Ministry said today that Russia has decided to ``freeze'' all military cooperation with NATO and allies of the alliance, a decision conveyed by the Russian Defense Ministry to the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow. NATO headquarters said Russia hadn't informed it of the change.

McCain LEADS by Five Points in Reuters/Zogby Poll!

Tagged:

Polla are notorious for their volatility. Still, an encouraging sign!

John McCain has moved ahead of Barack Obama in the latest Reuters/Zogby poll. It is based on polling done Thursday through Saturday, as Obama wound up his (second!) vacation in Hawaii and prospective voters digested the impact of Russia's invasion of Gerogia.

This is the first time McCain has had the advantage in this poll. Sweet!

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1927197620080820?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

McCain Hits Back on Patriotism-Baiting

Tagged:

Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama went whining to the VFW that McCain was impugning his patriotism. Today, Senator McCain hits back (just as he did when Obama tried to place the race card). The following is from remarks that he is expected to make today:

“Yesterday, Senator Obama got a little testy on this issue. He said that I am questioning his patriotism. Let me be clear: I am not questioning his patriotism; I am questioning his judgment.

In Pessimistic Response to Michael H. Cognato

Tagged:

Michael H. Cognato asks a hard question to the “citizens of the world” out there who want humanitarian aid workers to remain neutral and unbiased. As Cognato points out in his piece ”Must Aid Flow from the Barrel of a Gun?”; combatants in our planet’s worst ongoing civil wars have made the flow of humanitarian aid to these places impossible, without a heavy investment in military hardware to protect the aid workers.

The Strongest Tribe

Tagged:

New York Time endorses The Strongest Tribe by refusing to review it

Quote:

During the fierce battle for Fallujah, Bing West asked an Iraqi colonel why the archterrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had fled in women’s clothes. The colonel pointed to a Marine patrol walking by and said, “Americans are the strongest tribe."

Bing West, an Assistant Secretary of Defense during the Reagan Administration, recently returned from his fifteenth visit to Iraq. He told John McCullough, of WJR Radio's Frank Beckmann show, that everything has changed since the Surge began.

We're All Knotted

Tagged:

Yet another poll, this time the LA Times/Bloomberg poll, puts this race in a statistical tie. Obama now only “leads” 45 - 43% (with 10% undecided). The two percent difference is well within the margin of 3%. The “negative ads” (also known in the real world as contrast ads) have been working.

Read on for some of the break downs.