Or Baghdad Bob, for all of them seem to have a problem with reality. This is what Georgian President Saakashvili had to say about fighting the Russians: “We will fight to the end, until the last Russian soldier leaves Georgian soil and this country is not going to be brought to the knees anymore. We are not surrendering, no matter what.”
Such as the Battle of Gori, where the Georgian Army abandoned the city and fled to Tblisi without firing a shot? A Russian battalion commander had a more honest view of Saakashviili:
"If he doesn't understand the situation, we'll have to go further," the commander said on the condition of anonymity. "He doesn't seem to understand that the Russian Army is much stronger than the Georgian Army. His tanks remain in their places. His air force is dead. His navy is also. His army is demoralized."
Bush sends some medical supplies to Georgia and Saakashvili sees that as a "turning point" and proof that we will support him in his war against Russia:
Saakashvili interpreted the aid operation as a decision to defend Georgia's ports and airports, though Bush administration and Pentagon officials quickly made it clear that would not be the case. A senior administration official said, "We won't be protecting the airport or seaport, but we'll certainly protect our assets if we need to."
If that is what he truly believes, he has smoked as much crack as George Bush. As seen in his behavior at the Olympics, Bush is either drunk most of the time or he is retarded (those are not mutually exclusive). I don't know what Saakashvili's excuse is.
(For Sale: 10,000 M-16 rifles, as issued to the Georgian Army. Never fired, only dropped once. Best offer. Contact v.putin@moscowrules.ru)
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For Sale: 10,000 M-16 rifles, as issued to the Georgian Army. Never fired, only dropped once.
Heheheh! Except, actually, the Georgian Army is equipped with Hungarian AK-47's and BMP-2's and Czech and Ukrainian T-72's, but the same general principle applies :-).
Ironically enough, the Russian motor rifle division that entered South Ossetia was armed with old 1960's and 1970's Soviet equipment because they were armed for fighting Chechen rebels, not for fighting the Georgians (Vladikavkaz, the base in North Ossetia that they came from, was originally founded as a Russian fortress city in 1783 to, err, fight Chechens, yeppers, Russia's Chechnya problem is 225 years old!). The Georgians were armed with late 1980's Soviet bloc equipment that was 10 or 20 years newer than the Russian T-72's and T-64's that came rolling over the hills. (As for what a Russian "light motor rifle" division is doing with tanks and artillery, the Russians have a different definition of "light" than we do, LOL!). So the Georgians don't even have the excuse of inferior equipment to excuse why they ran screaming like little children the first time the muzzle of an old T-64 peeked over the nearest hill.
- Badtux the Somewhat Amused (in a gallows humor sense of the word) Penguin
That's news to me, where did you see that?
(Feel free to steal the joke)
There is a mil blogger forum that I frequent that notes that the 19th and 42nd MRD appear to be the units that have entered Georgia. These are Putin's "professionalized" units that he ordered formed in 2004 to deal with the Chechen problem -- but without giving them any money for new weapons. Instead they drew from old Soviet-era stores. They are contract divisions with few draftees and a much higher training budget than the typical Russian Army unit. That superior training and their all-volunteer nature along with near-complete Russian air superiority appears to have completely discombobulated the Georgians, who were mostly poorly-trained draftees handed a rifle and trucked to the front line in "technicals" (from the looks of it, Toyota pickup trucks).
In short, as the Israelis proved in the past back when the IDF was bad asses, superior training and knowing your equipment gives you an edge even when your equipment is older and a generation behind the opposition. Add in air superiority, and it was game, set, match.
And yes, I still find it hilarious that a Russian "motor rifle division" has so many tanks. The Russians really do have a different definition of "light infantry" from the rest of us :-).
- Badtux the War Penguin
Is that a public-access forum?
A good place is Tank Net. See the post that goes:
Q: One question I would pose to Vasiliy. The majority of the kit that I'm seeing is pretty old, 2s3s, T72s, BMP1s. What are we looking at, a reservist formation, or do the Russian Defence Ministry view it as not worthy of not committing their newest equipment? Is there any information on what kind of readiness status the 19th MRD has? Im assuming the Russians still have readiness states (Cat A B and C) like they did during the cold war?
A: No, I think the A B C classification is gone, but there is "full readiness" forces and 19MRD is one of them. This doesn't prevent them from having distressingly ancient equipment. It's just the way Russian army is equipped. If you recall what I wrote during the spring parade, new equipment is so few in numbers it won't even fill the Red Square. This was an exaggeration of course, but not nearly as big an exaggeration as I would have liked.
I have seen similar postings on other war nerd boards.
- Badtux the War Nerd Penguin
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