@2×4:
relished “fast-setting Politically Correct epoxy”
Thank you, sir. I figured “epoxy” would be widely understood. Not a pleasant thought, is it?

even snakes grow wings.
NOW, who’s the poet?

@buddy larsen:
Kaczynski’s blast
Thanx fer reminding me. Much about it is spot on, except one durned thing I’d like to complain about, the one big lie that the Russkies seem to have spray-painted into most/many observers’ brains.

What I am referring to is this:

First, the author writes:
The Georgian Government was foolish in trying to retake South Ossetia by force, but Saakashvili claims there was repeated provocation by South Ossetian militias, acting under Russian orders.

Then, the author writes:
It is in any event clear that Putin had premeditated this invasion for some time.

OK. Tskhinvali is/was a garrison town with a military base full of Russian and so-call “Ossetian” forces located, oddly enough, in the middle of residences in town. Hmmm. It is NOT blindingly obvious that every participant knew that the Russian armour and naval forces, and air assets were not just poised to pounce, they were in motion, pouncing? Uh, right, no one knew for weeks and weeks. Not!

At that precise moment, it was a matter of existential survival for the Georgians to destroy the bridge at Tskhinvali, damage the road, and, perhaps, neutralisre facilities on the base. They had to wait until the Russian column was in motion for “Geopolitical considerations”.

However, think about it, when Russia moves an armoured column umpteen kilometres through a strategic point, they ain’t gonna let it fall into their oppponents’ hands, especially having been in a standoff with said opponents for years.

So, as the Russe armour passed thru the Roki Tunnel, Georgia knew they had but one brief opportunity to delay them before they hit the palin around Gori. That chance was not at the Roki tunnel; that had been secured for years. (duh) The opportunity was at Tskhinvali: take out the bridge, command centers, [and fuel dumps?]. But Georgia could not get troops near the place because of dug-in defenders (duh); they had no air support capable of challenging the “Ossetian” base defenses. However, Georgia did manage to emplace an artillery battery close enough to disrupt the bridge and stop the armoured column for hours.

Who knows what happened to that artillery unit? How did they get within range? Did they escape with their lives?

We can infer that they saved Georgia. They saved Georgia by giving Georgia the gift of a few precious hours. Hours to regroup. Hours to fall back IN ORDER. Hours to alert the Olympic-class snoozers of the “Press”. Hours to alert the civilian populace that “Ossetian” ethnic cleansers were falling upon them.

I hope to learn about that unit someday. But I’m sick at heart when I hear people write tripe like “Georgian Government was foolish in trying to retake South Ossetia by force”. What kind of ignorant fools this stuff? They have no critical faculties and they eagerly swallow the biggest lies first.