The Hindu : Russia agrees to peace settlement

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Russia agrees to peace settlement

Russia on Tuesday agreed to a France-brokered peace settlement of the Caucasus crisis that could spell an end to Georgia’s sovereignty over its breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. After several hours of talks, the Presidents of Russia and France, Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the European Union presidency, agreed on principles for ending the crisis that was triggered by Georgia’s massive offensive to reassert control over South Ossetia.

Christian Science Monitor: Mikheil Saakashvili is finished - Russian military triumph leaves pro-West Georgia uncertain - by Fred Weir

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Mikheil Saakashvili is finished - Russian military triumph leaves pro-West Georgia uncertain - by Fred Weir

There is an air of satisfaction in Moscow over what appears to be a crushing Russian victory in its muscular, five-day long intervention to preserve the quasi-independence of South Ossetia and weaken Georgia's West-leaning President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose drive to take his tiny country into NATO has deeply alarmed the Kremlin. Few Russians appeared in any mood to criticize their government for what seemed an efficient operation that brought big geopolitical rewards. "If Russia had hesitated, that might have been taken as weakness of the new president," says Sergei Mikayev, deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies, a Moscow think tank. "It seems like Russia took a decision that may not have been completely irreproachable, but it looks like there was no alternative."

Mr. Saakashvili, who appears to have miscalculated Russia's response to the Georgian offensive, may pay a political price. In the 2003 "Rose Revolution," Georgians embraced Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer who pledged to reunite the fractured country of 5 million and lead it into the NATO alliance. "What we see is a total collapse of Georgia, and the responsibility is all Saakashvili's," says Kakha Kukava, an opposition parliamentarian. "It was his personal decision to use force and the results were disastrous." Some people in the street echoed those sentiments. "[Saakashvili] is finished," says Nestan Nijaradze, a freelance writer in Tbilisi.

BBC NEWS: Russian forces battle Georgians in escalating conflict in South Ossetia Region

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Russian forces battle Georgians in escalating conflict in South Ossetia Region

Russian forces are locked in fierce clashes with Georgia inside its breakaway South Ossetia region, reports say, amid fears of all-out war. Moscow sent armoured units across the border after Georgia moved against Russian-backed separatists. Russia says 12 of its soldiers are dead, and separatists estimate that 1,400 civilians have died. Georgian President Mr Saakashvili said Georgia had shot down several Russian planes and accused Moscow of bombing Georgian air bases and towns, resulting in the death of 30 military personnel and civilians. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had received reports that villages in South Ossetia were being ethnically cleansed.Georgia's president said his country was withdrawing half its contingent of 2,000 troops from Iraq to help deal with the crisis.

Note EU-Digest: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili uses a EU flag as a backdrop during his TV appearances. The EU should remind Mr. Saakashvili that Georgia is not a member of the EU and that using the EU flag as a backdrop for his TV appearances is creating the false impression that the EU supports Georgia's activities in the South Ossetia Region.