Война в Грузии

[Теоретик]

Информация была, что Сака заплатил денег некой бельгийской PR-конторе. Незадолго до конфликта. Кто его знает - за что и кому еще он платил.

Вот та самая статья из "Таймс":

August 13, 2008

Georgia loses the fight with Russia, but manages to win the PR war

When a shell exploded in the street next to the international media centre in Gori yesterday, killing an experienced Dutch cameraman, it seemed a definitive Russian response to losing the propaganda war with Georgia.

 

Stan Storimans, 39, who had covered conflicts all over the world for RTL Nieuws, died as deadly shrapnel sprayed around outside the building where foreign correspondents had been reporting the war over South Ossetia to the world.

 

Mr Storimans, who leaves a wife and two children, was the third journalist to die in just five days of conflict, while his colleague, Jeroen Akkermans, was the fifth to be wounded.

 

Tiny Georgia was far more adroit in the battle for public opinion than its Russian adversary. It had set up the media centre to allow instant reporting from close to the front line, while the Russian Army tightly controlled access to South Ossetia, making it difficult to report its actions. Indeed, if the Georgian Army had been as aggressive as its public relations campaign then the war for South Ossetia might have ended very differently.

 

President Saakashvili, who came to power in the Rose Revolution, never lacked for a punchy warning about the threat to world order. Comparisons with Soviet interventions in Hungary (1956) and Afghanistan (1979) were liberally sprinkled with appeals for aid in the hope of galvanising public opinion in the United States and Europe to demand action from their leaders.

 

Mr Saakashvili was flanked by the Georgian and European Union flags, even though Georgia is not a member. The message was clear – Georgia was aligning itself with the West against its former Soviet master.

 

As foreign correspondents poured into Tbilisi a team of Belgian PR advisers launched a slick operation to keep them updated with e-mail alerts detailing the latest alleged aggressions by Russia and the Georgian Government’s reaction. On Sunday, for example, more than 20 e-mails went out to shape Georgia’s message that Russia had launched an invasion.

 

Some of the claims veered into outright exaggeration – such as stating that Russian jets were “intensively bombing Tbilisi” or that Russian troops had taken Gori – but the 24-hour news culture meant that many organisations repeated them without independent verification.

 

Russian officials were made to look defensive and clumsy, but their ace card was Vladimir Putin, who was intent on demonstrating that actions speak louder than words. Stern-faced, while dressed in casual street clothes, Mr Putin’s action-man persona transmitted a determination to prevail.

 

State-controlled TV gave coverage to the grief of Georgia’s victims in South Ossetia, while glossing over Russia’s actions. The aim was to maintain support for the Kremlin at home, with little thought for the international message. Viewers saw one woman claiming that Georgian troops had set a building with people inside on fire. “They drove them in like animals, closed the house and set it alight,” she said. “We saw in another place how a tank ran over an old woman, running away with two children.”

 

At the end of the military campaign Mr Saakashvili was photogenically surrounded by a huge crowd of supporters in a sea of Georgian flags. It was a message of defiant unity for the cameras, even though the outcome in South Ossetia and Abkhazia has been disastrous for Georgia. Mr Putin needed no props. Russia’s Army had already delivered his message directly into Georgia.

 

Victors and vanquished

 

Winners

 

— Vladimir Putin: he made it clear to the world that Georgia had been the aggressor and that his soldiers were intervening to stop “genocide”

 

— Dmitri Medvedev: he announced the end of the war to coincide with the arrival in Moscow of President Sarkozy, providing him with a diplomatic coup

 

— Russian military might: as a contest it was Russia 10, Georgia 0

 

Losers

 

— Mikhail Saakashvili: the picture of the Georgian President cowering from a Russian helicopter said it all

 

— The Georgian people: thousands paid with their lives or had their homes destroyed because of their Government’s misadventure

 

— Nato membership: Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary-General, insisted that the war did not mean that Georgia had sacrificed its chance of joining the alliance, but it will not have improved its chances

 

— Western leaders: despite the diplomatic efforts and statements of outrage, they were outmanoeuvred by Moscow, unable to offer even a hint of military combat assistance for the would-be Nato member

оригинал

Там же комменты читателей, т.е. пресловутое общественное мнение:

Have your say

 

Here in Latvia I have an opportunity to see information from both sides - Russian TV channels and "western" information. To be honest - I trust noone. And I fully agree what is said in this column that Russian PR is very strong. It just focuses on Russian speaking auditory in Russia and former USSR.

 

Agris, Riga, Latvia

 

It is very said that so many lives were lost in the conflict. But it is nothing in comparisson to what might happen if Russians leave the region to US. Yes, this is all about US vs Russia influence. But Georgia as a part of NATO is a threatening fact to all the world. Think wider. World war III.

 

Alexander, Moscow, Russia

 

Iracli! I'm not russian but i want to ask you why the ossetians wanted russian passports and not georgian? If there wasn't the russian army,there will be no more ossetians! Ask them if they want to live with georgians after 3 genocides or with russians who rescue them every time.

 

Sergiu, Ottawa,

 

APPEAL OF THE OSSETIANS TO THE GOVERNMENTS AND PEOPLES OT THE WORLD

(http://osetian.com/newsarchive/appeal.html)

 

More information (here is only limited space) on:

http://aglanceinestonia.cafebabel.com/en/

 

Helga, Tallinn, Estonia

 

I have always thought that american news are free and cover all the details but latest events showed it is far from the reality

 

Rick, Dallas, USA

 

Some food for thought: Why did the South Ossetians hold Russian passports? Why were they armed? Why didn't they accept any of the peace plans? In fact Russia seems to be quite content with the dead Ossetians and its peacekeepers. It was in their policy plans. They’ve done NOTHING to prevent it.

 

Irakli M., Tbilisi, Georgia

 

Suprisingly, there is one more winner - China. It didn't become a centre of evil, like Russia in western opinion and Georgia&USA in russian one. It didn't agree to live by duble standards, like all EU did (and, certainly, USA). Yet it showed the whole world the best show in history, a peaceful one.

 

Sergey, Moscow, Russia

 

Also now it is clear for everybody, that western "democracy" cares about lots of things, but not about killing 2000 people, including ill people in the hospital, women, children. I hope, my country will never be so democraric.

 

Sergey, Moscow, Russia

 

How would the US react if Russia joined hands with one of the US neighbor countries, helped a Russian loyalist to become its leader and then started putting Russian bases all along the US border. I think I know the answer: remember Cuban Crisis 1962? Do we need a better precedent? Kosovo maybe?

 

Stan, Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

John: "you dont just launch a major invasion through the mountains in 5 days"

Well, sometimes we do: remember the Balkans. And, anyway, many agree, that it would be stupid for RU not to be prepared for such a outbreak.

Anyway, it all is a grievous matter, no one's hands have stayed clean.

 

Vadim, Moscow, Russia

 

Saakashvili is just a pawn in US vs Russia big game. The same as the Ukraine's president. It is clear that US government is ready to pay human lifes (not only americans in Iraq) for their aim "to bring their own vision of democracy all over the world". They will fail I hope.

 

Dzmitry, Minsk, Belarus

 

The fact that Russia was definitely not ready for the PR-war (unlike Georgia) is a proof in itself of the "criminal" intent of the Georgian governemnt. They were preparing for this war. oncerning the freedom of press in Russia and in the West, now the Western media doesn't look so "free" & unbiassed

 

Kinean, Leiden, Netherlands

 

Thanks for your appropriate opinion. Nicely to see that in the present course of events. Today is official Day Of Mourning in Russia.

 

Alexander, Moscow, Russia

 

"If the Georgian Army had been as aggressive as its public relations campaign then the war for South Ossetia might have ended very differently."

 

Are joking? the review on PR is very weak I think. I hope some one will introduce better article about Russia versus Georgia information war.

 

Gedas, Kaunas, Lithuania

 

- After georgian for few hours bomb away city and kill more than 1.000 people mostly russian citizen, Russia don't have a choice.

Russia never profit by PR and never will.

 

Dmitry, Minsk, Belarus

 

I think that because of the number of people killed on their orders George W Bush, Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Saakashvili, all three of them, should be convicted by the Hague international tribunal. Neither of them cares much for human lives. But of this trio Putin looks the most convincing. Pity.

 

Alexander, Moscow, Russia

 

It's a shame for me, that my army was prepared for this jump and our diplomacy did nothing for prevent the war. They did know about soon attack for S.Osetia, but just ignore on the top of diplomacy.

Georgian people and Russian people are brothers, but Russian Gov. and Georgian Gov. are insane.

 

Yurij, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

 

In my opinion Georgia won in this war. Why?

South Ossetia is in ruins after first day of georgian attack, 2000 osetians are dead, 30 000 people run away from region. But Russia is agressor and Georgia is victim in opinion of West. Great show by Saakashvili. Stalin would be proud of the compatriot.

 

Vlad, Moscow, Russia

 

I agree that my homeland, Russia, is not a match to USA and its partners/satellites in mass-media wars. I'm amazed to find a media source in the UK, which has courage to stick to the facts, rather then use the stamped cliche, most Eastern media portals get used to.

 

Sergey V, Moscow, Russia

 

I think that Saakashvili complitely lost the war. Us siply set-up him...

 

Kostya, Kiev, Ukraine

 

It seems that real war is between Russia and USA. This schema has already becomes classical. USA has strong media advantage, biasing EU to it`s side. But other countries like Georgia let itself be like hands of USA politics. Wasington said, Tbilisi done.

 

Dmitry, Novosibirsk, Russia

 

This article proves that for many of you, westerners, the war is not about justice, care about human lives and rigths, but is a TV-show, and you judge by whose show was more impressive. Fairly, I do not care who won the paper war.

 

Zloy Tugarin, Moscow, Russia

 

Don't forget that Georgia started the attack, murdered 2000 people. Let this be your 1st message before analysing the situation.

 

Iouri, Volgograd, Russia

 

I think Russia lost this war in longterm distance. Not far from this day everybody will forget Georgia had been the real aggressor. But they will remember CNN's pictures about Russian tanks in Georgia made with Belgium PR's support. Georgia will be a NATO member with US troops.. So... Coming soon...

 

Andrey, Moscow, Russia

 

2Lou, Sydney, Australia. You can't go to the city which is being shelled and make pics. Lots of ppl just burnt off in the fires. Russians took the rest from the streets and put the rest into morgues. You don't really want to see this footage, it is not like fake Reuters/Georgia PR foto galleries.

 

Andrew, Stavanger, Norway

 

Saakashvili is a friend of Bush. There are instructors from US Army, training Georgians troops. Until now Georgia was the second biggest allay of Americans in Iraq, with 2000 troops. Dose anyone think Saakashvili will do something without American approval ?

 

Alex, Sofia,

 

2seva boston: US/EU monetary and weaponry to infuse georgian democracy, thanks on commenting on how it's started, most ppl still don't know

 

Anton, Moscow, Russia

 

there is some evidence that those picture are actually fakes made by Georgian government. If you can read Russian, you can search for the discussions in Livejournal and ru forums.

To Dmitriy Ivanovs:

then why did Russia moved the troops in AFTER Georgia attacked South Ossetia?

 

Igor, Novosibirsk, Russia

 

Thank you for revealing these facts concerning the Georgian PR activities. Not that it comes as a surprise (it remotely doesn't to anyone who actually listened to Mr.Saakashvili public speeches these days) but simply because true analysis like this are so scarce these days in British media. Bravo!

 

Michael, London,

 

Georgia started the war, Russia ended it - John from Glasgow is right. Russia has been always a winner, the History proved that several times. The ukrainians should think twice before acting... I hope they have brains...

 

Michel, Geneva,

 

I don't know what is translated on western TV, but breif look across western news-sites showed me that situation is not so awful as it seemed from Russia.

Here we thought, that nothing good is said to western peoples about our position. Now I see - a lot of people understand things in right way.

 

Ilya Volkov, Moscow, Russia

 

Over 2000 civillians have been killed, thousands more wounded, many elderly and children. Yet all thge pictures are of soldiers fighting solders. There were pictures of a dead grandmother and someone with a child, but these have dissappeared. If 2000 US died we would have pictures of everyone.

 

Lou, Sydney, Australia

 

Now all the word have whitnessed the real intentions of Russian government - they care neither of osteins, nor of abkhazs,they want to restore their influence on the ex USSR space, to change democrativcally elected regimes, to control energy supplies.

Luckily, they failed.and the truth is revealed.

 

Dmitriy Ivanovs, Riga, Latvia

 

I saw it on the TV when Saakashvili heard the terrible sound of many shoots and made a signal for his bodyguards to hide and save him from this "Russian attack". And later it was known that those shoots was Georgian attack. Saakashvili was terrified by his own troops!

 

Irina, Jõhvi, Estonia

 

Georgia started the war, the Russians ended it. Georgia is so intertwined with US & Israeli military (day before Georgia attacked; a joint military exercise finished between Georgia & the US), there are still hundreds of US & Israeli military advisors in Georgia. The US knew what Georgia was up to!

 

John, Glasgow, UK

 

The claim that Georgia "won the PR war" is just a way of saying that the western media was determined to back Georgia despite the facts.

 

Richard Cheeseman, Wellington, Aotearoa/NZ

 

Wasn't that the whole point of this war from the day one?

Winning the PR war is a side effect, the primary objective was to reawaken readiness of the US/EU to make monetary and weaponry infusions into Georgia. So, absolutely, that's "mission accomplished".

 

 

Seva, Boston, USA

 

This has nothing to do with the tiny and protected minorities of democratic Georgia, it is about Russia tryign to control the region .Russia obviously had this invasion planned, you dont just launch a major invasion through the mountains in 5 days. Since when does Russia care about persecuted groups

 

John, Vancouver, Canada

 

I don't agree that Russia lost media war. Western media is heavily biased towards their interests. Having lived in both systems, socialism and capitalism I learned that Western propaganda is a serious bussines and that Westerners are the ultimate propaganda champions. Nothing compares to them.

 

Jovan, Vancouver, Canada

 

Yes, the neo-conservatives are most excellent at PR/propaganda/ideology/rhetoric/sophistry, but grossly incompetent at everything else.

 

Alex, Toronto, Canada

 

Saakashvili's photo ops remind me of Bush and "Mission Accomplished". But for me the salient image of this war (thanks to the Times) is Saakashvili, with a terror-stricken look on his face, literally brought back down to earth.

 

Alex, Toronto, Canada

[Теоретик]

Цитата

Джордж Буш поторопился поручить военно-морскому флоту США доставить гуманитарные грузы в Грузию, не согласовав это с правительством Турции, без разрешения которой корабли ВМФ США сейчас не могут пройти через проливы Босфор и Дарданеллы, подтвердили газетной группе Mcclatchy Newspapers несколько официальных представителей американской администрации, передает РИА "Новости". Комментариев со стороны Белого дома или посольства Турции в США пока не поступало.

 

[skip]

 

Источники газетной группы в администрации Буша и Пентагоне выразили сомнение, что военные корабли США вообще смогут присоединиться к объявленной американским президентом операции по доставке гуманитарной помощи в Грузию, так как наиболее вероятными судами для этого являются военные "плавучие госпитали" - Comfort и Mercy, которые находятся сейчас в Средиземном море, но которым для похода в Грузию при необходимости согласований с Турцией понадобятся несколько недель.

 

http://newsru.com/world/15aug2008/potoropilsa.html

Какие такие "союзники"? Какие такие "партнеры по НАТО"? Бакшиш присылал? Султану челобитную подавал? Нет? Свободен!

Зря Вы так, уважаемый коллега. У Леонтьева проходило название книги, в котрой давалась картина, как американцы хотят расчленить весь "Миддл Ист". В том числе, и за счет Турции: разделяй и властвуй. - Также и в отношении союзников, хотя каке там: "Есть толкьо вечные интересы", - говорил классик. Так что и туркам есть за что дуться на США. А за ссылочку на эту книгу или хотя бы название я был бы крайне признателен.

 

К вопросу о "кибер-войне" вокруг Грузинско-югоосетинской войны:

Anti-Georgia spammers building new botnet

By Robert McMillan , IDG News Service , 08/15/2008

Sponsored by:

Hackers targeting Georgia in the midst of its conflict with Russia have started sending out a new batch of malicious spam messages, apparently with the aim of building a new botnet network of remote-controlled computers.

 

The poorly worded messages started going out early Friday morning, and now make up close to 5% of the spam traffic measured by the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Spam Data Mine, according to Gary Warner, a director of computer research and forensics at the university. That's about a third of the volume of the CNN- and MSNBC-related spam that has been flooding in-boxes this week, but it's still significant, he said.

 

With headlines like "Mikheil Saakashvili gay scandal! New of this week!" the stories try to trick victims into clicking on a fake BBC story about the president of Georgia. When the victim clicks on the link, however, he is taken to a malicious Web server that then tries to infect his computer.

 

Disturbingly, the attack code used by this Web server is not blocked by most antivirus products, Warner said. In tests, his team found that only four out of the 36 antivirus products featured in the Virus Total malware testing service spotted the code.

 

Related Content

So far, Warner's team has tracked the messages back to 44 spam-sending computers, none of which has previously been associated with junk e-mail. Interestingly, six of these computers are located in Russia, which is rarely a direct source of spam, and one of them lies within the Russian Ministry of Education.

 

Although the spammers seem to be setting up a botnet, the ultimate use of this network remains unclear. Warner speculated that it could be used to launch further cyber-attacks against Georgian government computers.

 

Symantec has identified the malicious software as a variant of the Trojan.Blusod program, said Kevin Haley, director of product management with Symantec Security Response. In the past, spammers have used this program to install fake antivirus software on victim's computers, which then falsely identifies problems and offers to clean them up for a fee, he said.

 

Warner disputed Symantec's analysis, noting that Symantec itself was not detecting the Trojan program, according to Virus Total. "This is new malware," he said.

 

The question of whether Georgia and Russia are engaging in state-sponsored cyber-warfare has been a matter of some debate, following the eruption of hostilities between the two countries on Aug. 7.

 

On Monday, Georgia moved its Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site to Google's Blogspot, claiming that a Russian cyberattack had knocked its server offline.

 

Security experts say that while the recent Georgian cyber-attacks are more intense then those launched a year ago against Estonia, there is no evidence that either of the events were actually state-sponsored cyber-warfare.

 

Some have likened those events to a "cyber brawl," with nationalistic Russian hackers launching spontaneous computer attacks against neighboring Estonia.

 

"It's almost exactly what we saw back in Estonia," Warner said of the recent events in Georgia. "I really doubt this is any action by the Russian government."

 

Related Content

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

networkworld

[Ice]

ТУТ коммьюнити в ЖЖ посвященное войне с Грузией.

Много фотографий,новости и т.д.

[Marina]

Я честно говоря, сначала не поняла, куда эту новость вставить, то ли в Юмор, то ли это реальность? Люди погибли, или это выдуманные потери на учениях?

 

_ttp://www.inosmi.ru/translation/243441.html

 

Фиаско в Джорджии ("Die Tageszeitung", Германия)

Как с Джорджем Бушем во время войны на Кавказе произошла досадная ошибка

 

Рюдигер Кинд (RUEDIGER KIND), 20 августа 2008

[отослать ссылку] [версия для печати]

Здесь на жарком и знойном американском Юге располагается Центр связи сухопутных сил США (US Army Signal Center). На прошлой неделе командующий Джеффри Уокер (Jeffrey W. Walker) во время маневра на расположенных в окрестности Саванны болотах отдавал приказ своим войскам. 'Синие' против 'красных', свободный мир против 'оси зла'. В общем и целом военные будни. Но неожиданно появился боевой реактивный самолет F, появился по-военному и без шуток. Он обстрелял парней из группы 'красных'. В результате неожиданного нападения: 14 человек погибли, 33 - ранено, уничтожена целая куча новейшего снаряжения. Это был 'огонь от своих', и к тому же в своей собственной стране, удивлялся генерал Уокер, который до сих пор еще не может поверить, что американская авиация в секунды стерла с лица земли позиции 'красных' на маневрах.

 

Приказ нанести роковой удар с воздуха поступил с самого верха из Белого дома, и был результатом не типичного искажения сообщения. После того как российская армия вместо обещанного отвода войск продолжала продвигаться к грузинской столице, американский президент Джордж Буш среагировал поздно, но зато решительно. 'Bomb the russians out of Georgia!' - проорал Буш в телефон. Неудача для обстрелянных элитных подразделений Signal Corps, поскольку название маленького кавказского государства на английском языке звучит как Джорджия (Georgia) - точно также, как название расположенного на юго-востоке США штата.

 

Два государства можно перепутать, генерал Уокер пытается оправдать недостаточные знания американского руководства в географии, которые часто были причиной сенсационных недопониманий. В конце концов, два государства находятся далеко на юге. Лейтенанту Джону Уилки (John Wilkie), пилоту за штурвалом боевого самолета, который обстрелял своих собственных товарищей, тоже в некоторой степени показалось странным, что во время подлета к позициям русских вместо величественных кавказских гор под ним простиралась бесконечно широкая болотистая местность. География никогда не была моей сильной стороной, говорит симпатичный сорвиголова, но приказ - это же всегда приказ.

 

Партнеры

 

 

 

Но этим апогей неприятной путаницы еще не был достигнут. Вопреки настоятельным предупреждениям своих советников не слушающий советы Джордж Буш не отказался от полета в Джорджию (Georgia), чтобы привести в страну помощь в борьбе против российской угрозы. Сонни Пердю (Sonny Perdue), губернатор штата Джорджия, описывает памятную встречу с президентом: когда Air Force One приземлился в Атланте, президент Буш появился в дверях самолета и помахал рукой в знак приветствия. Потом он спустился вниз, обнял меня и во время приветствия назвал меня мистером Саакашвили. Во время поездки в мой офис я попытался бережно обратить его внимание на ошибку, но ему было не до этого. Вероятно, потому что у него были трудности выговорить фамилию, он, в конце концов, спросил, может ли он называть меня Михаилом. И это не была лишь оговорка. Когда оба политика проезжали мимо опустевшей линии домов, предназначенных под снос, президент Буш посчитал, что это разрушенные русскими здания.

 

Вскоре после этого в порт Брунсвика, штат Джорджия, прибыли первые гуманитарные грузы. Нелли Кортез (Nelly Cortez), социальный работник и мать-одиночка, воспитывающая троих детей, была одной из тех, кому 'помогли'. Она удивилась неожиданному оказанию помощи. Полученный ею гуманитарный груз включал мясные консервы, сухое молоко и бывшее в употреблении обтянутое зеленым бархатом кресло. Но этими вещами мы все прекрасно можем пользоваться. Нас же обычно правительство не слишком балует. Зато не особенно счастлив доставшимся ему гуманитарным грузом был безработный автослесарь Джонатан Портман (Jonathan Portman). Что, скажите, пожалуйста, я должен делать с 350 библиями на грузинском языке?

 

[hound]

Наши здорово лажанулись с числом убитых. Вчерашняя пресс-конференция СК - просто слезы.