We Are Putin Fanatics
AP:
Late in the morning, Russian troops fired two rockets from a base near the border. A short time later, what appeared to be three Russian attack helicopters passed overhead, heading toward South Ossetia.
Regular military troops streaming across the border were joined by civilian fighters driving their own vehicles, wearing slapped-together uniforms and carrying personal weapons. Many were ethnic Ossetians living in the Russian region of North Ossetia.
One of the fighters, who gave his name as Zaur, said South Ossetia’s history was a struggle against tyranny.
“They are guilty, they started the fighting,” Zaur said of the Georgians.
The South Ossetia conflict appeared to have revived local faith in the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin that had been shaken severely in 2004 when Chechen militants took more than 1,000 hostages in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, a crisis that ended in the deaths of more than 300, most of them children.
“We are Putin fanatics,” one of Zaur’s fellow volunteers declared. Putin, president at the time of Beslan, is now prime minister.
Table of contents for War in Georgia
- Russia Invades Georgia
- The United States and Georgia
- Georgian Brigade Urgently Recalled From Iraq?
- Russian Bombing Georgian Port and Military Bases
- Report from Georgia
- State Dept Demands Russia Pullback
- Latest From Georgia Fighting
- Cossacks Move to Attack Georgia
- Heavy Fighting, Bombings in Georgia
- Russian Invasion Expands Targets in Georgia
- Update on Peace Corps in Georgia
- We Are Putin Fanatics
- Russia’s Attack on Georgia
- Joint statement on Georgia-Russia War
- Russians Preplanned Georgia Invasion
- Russian Navy Blockades Georgia, Ukraine Concerned
- Pipeline Attacks Confirmed in Georgia
- Invasion of Georgia Continues
- Summary of Recent Air Attacks in Georgia
- U.S. Completes Georgian Troop Redeployment
- Bush Send Military to Aid Georgia
- Air Force Lands in Georgia
- I want to fight fiercely alongside the U.S. Army
- Peace Corps in Georgia Redux
- I am Tamari from Rustavi, Georgia
- Navy Aid Flies in to Georgia
- U.S. Ships Enter Black Sea to Aid Georgia
- US Navy Arrives at Georgian Port
- 500 Tons of Aid to Georgia
- New Pictures of Navy Relief Efforts in Georgia
- Update on US Assistance to Georgia
- The Rubble of Georgian Lives
- Fact Sheet: U.S. Support for Georgia
- USS Mount Whitney Brings Aid to Georgia
- Remember Georgia? Tamari Does!
Ossetians have fought this war all their lives. It is therefore they seek refuges under the stable Russian flag. They have been plagued by genocide far to often. There are only 650 000 Ossetians left, world wide. If this continues they are soon on the list of endangered species.