I think everybody should rush down to the emporium right now, buy some nice Georgian wine and then get a grip.

First, are any of these tasty factoids outside of the normal distribution of strangeness? Do we detect a signal, or is it just the normal noise? We have to beware of freaking out over every snapped twig because of our current heightened awareness.

I’m waiting for some ground truth on whiskey’s Dardanelles statement.
Brother Fedya, how would you know whether any US ships are or are not heading towards Georgia?
We don’t know whether Erdogan’s visit to Moscow was planned previously or not. Although not perhaps rising to the level of PM meeting, Turkey and Russia have a lot to talk about right now. I’m sure that the Russians are a bit worried about a number of their ships on the wrong side of the Dardanelles during this crisis. Turkey is probably more than a little concerned about the possibility of the Russians driving Georgian military and civilian refugees into Turkey.
As to Ahmadinejad visiting Turkey, well, they have a common border, dontcha know? This is not prima facie evidence of some grand jihadi alliance.
Turkey is a member of NATO and the Turkish military is the most pro-western institution in the country.

As to a Russian company sized unit on the road to Tblisi, does anybody really think that is the force tasked with assaulting the Georgian capital? I mean, really. They might be bait, but they sure aren’t an existential threat.

It is 4:30 am in Georgia. We’re all on edge and starved for fresh news.