Russia officially recognized the breakaway and independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The only country to do so, so far. In violation of the ceasefire terms as well, btw, since one of the terms involved respect for Georgia's territorial integrity.

Russia also says that the reason they "fought back" was because Georgia killed people in South Ossetia, and they only retaliated to "save lives" and avoid a great human "calamity".

What I find odd about that is that they bombed civilian areas in Georgia and killed many civilians themselves. How is that avoiding a great human calamity? Oh it's okay to do it to other people?

Meanwhile Iran's nuclear power is increasing, still [no] thanks to Russia. D:

It sounds pretty quiet on TV, cable and local news networks but stuff is still going on there. It would be a grave mistake to not read the signs properly.

Not so big on cable anymore, we're not hearing a lot about what's going on in Georgia the last few days. That's a good thing, because we can now focus on good news and other current events, such as the Olympics. But it should in no way let us think that it's over.

Russia is still playing the "we're the good guys here" game. They began pulling out of Georgia yesterday (Monday) and should supposedly be across the South Ossetia borders completely by Friday. Supposedly. But wait, shouldn't this have happened like 2 weeks ago, when they agreed to a ceasefire that said both sides had to pull back immediately?

Anyway Russia still claims that Georgia is guilty of genocide or something (quote: "... using the most terrible solution -- by exterminating an entire people"), with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev calling Georgia's leaders "morons". I'm in no position to say whether this is true or not, but he also said that they "not to let this crime go unpunished."

Meanwhile, some time ago Iran successfully completed long-range missile testing. They had no warheads it seems but they're testing, meaning they're preparing for something.

According to the Bible, Russia and Iran will form an alliance against Israel. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to wipe Israel "off the map". This is particularly interesting knowing Russia and Iran's current nuclear and arms alliance. Iran (and Russia) certainly have the capability to wage the kind of war that Ahmadinejad wants, and it's the big War of Gog and Magog that the Bible has spoken about in Ezekiel 38 (where Magog is what they called Russia, and Gog is their "prince"). It sounds like wishful thinking to some, where Christians and those who study the Bible are just connecting crooked invisible dots trying to make it seem like it's coming true even if it isn't (kinda like what many people are doing about Nostradamus' prophecies).

But here's what's funny. And I'm not afraid to say this right now. This war will happen, and it will happen soon. And according to the Bible, Israel will stand alone against the biggest coalition ever assembled including Russia, Iran and other Muslim and Arabic countries around it (except Egypt and Iraq, whom we believe will not take part in this war, if we're understanding the Bible correctly). It's hard to believe now, knowing how protective America is of her allies, especially Israel, and how quickly America jumps into wars that threaten world peace. But America will not help Israel in that war. Who knows why, but the Bible says nobody will help Israel. My guess is America will be trying to avoid all-out nuclear war with Russia and Iran, which would've happened anyway because Iran wants to wipe America (a.k.a., the "Big Satan" while Israel is the "Little Satan") off the map as well. That or the American troops will be in no shape to wage war after just having completed duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't really know. The Bible doesn't detail that.

What I do know is that this war will be big. And Israel will have nobody to turn to, because nobody will help. Then God will show himself and obliterate all of Israel's enemies. And when (not "if") this happens, we will know for sure that the Bible is true, and people will be searching for God. God even details how he'll destroy them, including shaking the earth (not sure if God meant an earthquake per se), and a rain of fire. And no this won't come from Israel's allies. The whole purpose of God's doing this is so that the world will see that the God of Israel is very much real.

Anyway just tossing those things up there. Just so that we know I published these things well before they take place. So when they happen, everybody that was skeptic about the Bible will have something to drop their jaws about. I'm no prophet, nor are any of my sources aside from Ezekiel himself. We're just people who look at the Bible and the world and connect the real dots.

Maybe. There has been a lot less news over CNN and other internet sources regarding what's going on in Georgia. Russia still hasn't pulled back though.

Still in clear violation of their original ceasefire agreement signed last week (one that called for both sides to pull their troops back "immediately"), Russian President Dmitry Medvedev still hasn't ordered their army to pull out of Georgia. Or he has but he's scheduled it for Monday (we're ahead of their time by several hours). That means they'll only today start to pull out. Moscow has said nothing of when they will complete their withdrawal operation. We'll see later if they actually keep their word this time.

But terrorists have cut a major railway line from Tbilisi to the port of Poti, and Georgia thinks Russia is behind it. Russia denies it. I'm not going to say Russia did it until we get real evidence, but when you think of it objectively, who else would do it? D:

In other related news, former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev said that "there is no doubt" that Georgia started the conflict by attacking South Ossetia's "sleeping people" with "sophisticated weapons". I'll just relay this information because it seems important, but since I wasn't there to confirm I'll reserve my opinions on this one.

Lots of other stuff happened over the last few days too (that I didn't get to blog about). The U.S. has opened up missile defense sites in Poland, something that Russia "strongly opposes". Now I'm not trying to read too deep into this, but why would they oppose something like that unless they were planning to launch missile-based attacks against the West? D:

But it's rather good that the world is starting to shift away from the Georgia Conflict and now we're getting more focus on the Beijing Olympics. But we mustn't let this fully out of our sights right now. I still feel like there's something big that might happen from there soon.

One of my friends messaged me and mentioned that oil pipelined underneath Georgia may be a reason for it. I agree that it's completely plausible, and actually it may really be it. According to this article here, Russia has had plans of pipelining oil for a while now (just read the details in the article).

Again, I think it's a great motive. But thinking of it from a military and geopolitical standpoint, I don't think it's a very sound move. Russia has its own oil reserves in various territories including Siberia and the Baltics. It's not an oil powerhouse like the Arab countries but they're not exactly poor either. Their recent alliance with Iran also secures their oil as well, which they get in exchange for nuclear technology.

In my opinion, though plausible, I don't really think oil is the main reason for this conflict. But again I may be wrong of course, since I'm no expert. A bit more oil doesn't seem worth the risk of making an enemy of the world (except Iran and its allies obviously). Even if it were a large amount of oil, they're risking a lot, as all the men of the free world would ride against them. They may be planning that or not, but now is not the time. Not until they have fully realized the power of their allies.

Update, I did more research, apparently there's a train line that goes through Azerbaijan linking Russia and Iran. This may disprove my original theory of Russia wanting control of Georgia for transportation of military supplies and nuclear technology. But it still may be that they're trying to eliminate a democracy that's protected by the NATO and U.N., as President Saakashvili believes, in order to gain full control of the area.

In addition, it seems that Russia is trying to reunite all the old members of the U.S.S.R. to reform the old Russian empire, as per Putin's dictatorial wishes.

Things are still not clear to me, but I still don't believe this war is ending soon. Not with what I see so far anyway.

For obvious reasons the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is seeking help from allies of Democracy, particularly the U.S. According to him, there was never any ceasefire, and it was all just a show, as military violence still rips through his country and war crimes are still committed left and right by Russian soldiers and South Ossetian rebels against even civilians.

The troops that mobilized yesterday into Georgia have turned left into a village north by about 50 kilometers away from Tbilisi and did not cut through Georgia like I thought they would (which is a good thing of course). It is still unclear to reporters, the citizens, or even the Georgian military or government officials what they are planning to do, but it is reported that they are trying to set up an enlarged demilitarized buffer zone around South Ossetia.

What's disturbing, however, is that they set it up so far away from South Ossetia (as normal buffer zones would only be several kilometers across). It's also unsettling how easily such a massive amount of Russian troops was able to move freely around Georgia with no resistance or reprimand. Georgians are concerned about how things might unfold.

I just hope all my thoughts and suspicions about this war are wrong.

As of the time of this writing, violence apparently initiated by Russian troops continues in Georgia, despite what optimists thought would be a peaceful end to the "conflict". I of course knew that this ceasefire was just for show for the Russians. It seems to me that they're trying to make themselves look like the good guys in this war.

They began the war because they claimed that Russians were being harassed in South Ossetia. That may have been a plausible cause for war, but I don't think it would've been enough for such a massive troop deployment, which I keep stressing. According to CNN, it seems that there are at least 15,000 troops in Georgia right now.

"The cease-fire never stood in the first place," Saakashvili told CNN's "Situation Room" on Wednesday. "Russia never intended to stop fire."

He added that "Russian tanks continue to ravage Georgia town and villages, killing people, destroying buildings, looting. ... They've been doing worse things to what I've heard in the past and I could never imagine happening in my country."

(Quotes taken from CNN.com)

Right now, however, Russia is justifying themselves apparently by saying that Georgia should pay for its crimes, and are now asking America to choose a side; the Georgians whom they openly support, or the Russians with whom they dread going to war with on account of knowing they hold what may be the most powerful army in the world today, to say nothing of their nuclear capabilities, of which the world is very much aware.

Last night it seems the Russian troops ran through the town of Gori, south of South Ossetia, and soon after claimed that there are no more Russian troops in Gori. But eye witness reports spot them going southeast from Gori toward Tblisi. I can't find where they ended up since then right now, but I'll try to keep you posted (or you can check the news). All I know is that the ceasefire meant nothing, just like I said last night.

Again, to stress my points I brought up last night, I think Georgia is looking for control over the region. Georgia is protected by the U.N. and NATO, and may be a hindrance to Russia's dealings with Iran and the jihad-hungry Muslims in Iran. This is my main concern and what I think may be happening, but of course I'm no authority so you need not share my views on this.

Now the big question is, what are they doing? Is my feared outcome of total control over the region what will really happen? Is something more frightening brewing? What is going on in the heads of the leaders involved here, including Georgia's president, the White House and the Pentagon, and Vladimir Putin?

I'll continue trying to figure out this situation with the rest of the world. It's sad because I thought I'd be blogging mostly about the Olympics this week (and the stuff happening in the Olympics is pretty cool too, so I just might). But all optimism aside and looking at the situation realistically, we may be looking at the beginnings of the end of the world here.

On a side note, I'm also reading the book Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg. And in frightening detail, this book is describing some of the events that are happening today, despite being written about 2 years ago. It's gripping and eerie. I can't really say I'm scared because that's inaccurate. What I am, though, is very much concerned and yet excited.

I'll keep you posted.

War in the Caucasus, again. It began last week, and after six days of bloody fighting it seems to be over. But I'm going to blog about it because it's bothered me ever since the beginning of the war. Actually it seems nobody really wants to call it a "war", that's why they call it the "Georgia Conflict".

Well anyway, I'm going to write down my thoughts that have been going wild through my head since the first time I heard about the war over CNN a week ago.

First let me begin with a bit of a note. I am no military expert, nor did I serve in any military or law enforcement service. I never worked for the government and I am no intelligence officer of any sort. What I am, though, is an observer and a bit of a history and warfare fan. I wouldn't even call myself a history or war buff because I don't consider my knowledge on either subject to be great. But I do like to analyze things, which is why I am fascinated in both history and war.

It all started when I heard the conflicting ideas on who started the war. Russia claimed Georgia started the war, while Georgia claimed that Russian bombers were the first to initiate contact. I was immediately troubled by that, especially following the disturbing scenes of Russian forces moving into Georgia in droves.

Apparently the war is supposedly about a small disputed province called South Ossetia, in Georgian borders (North Ossetia is Russian territory). Now, this would've been all completely acceptable except for the ridiculous number of forces mobilized by Russia to invade such a small country. Provided that Georgia itself has a formidable army mobilized at the time of over 3000 soldiers, about 100 tanks and many armored vehicles, Russia outnumbered them by a huge amount with more than 10,000 soldiers 150 tanks and hundreds of armored vehicles, and not to mention air superiority (I saw it on CNN but I can't find the article on it to fortify the numbers).

As a student of war like myself, and I think at least some of the professional military analysts out there would probably agree, I find it hard to believe that such a massive, aggressive and sudden troop deployment would be done for such a small province as South Ossetia. There has to be some kind of ulterior motive, one which is yet unclear to me.

People are hesitant to call this a "war" just yet for many reasons. One reason is the fact that the people that are calling this a "conflict" rather than a "war" are the American and other Western politicians. The Americans don't want to call this a war because they openly support Georgia, yet believe that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is America's friend (and Putin feels the same way about America). America does not want to go to war with Russia right now, and though some of the countries that broke away from the hostile grip of the former Soviet Union such as Poland and the Baltic countries want to do something about it, they're thinking smart and not doing anything rash, just the same as how America is responding as of the time of this writing.

As soon as I heard the news of this happening some time last week, I looked at the map because to be honest I didn't really know where Georgia was exactly. I knew it was around the Russian territories but I didn't know its specific geological location. I was very much surprised to see that Georgia lies directly in between Russia and the countries that would link it to Iran (namely Turkey and Armenia). I'm not sure if this means anything honestly, and again, I have to reitterate that I'm not in any way any military expert, but as soon as I saw that, I felt that Russia wanted a firm military hold of the entire region to allow them free access into Iran, their ally in a now growing threat of nuclear arms development.

Now, I'm following everything I can with this war despite my full-time job, via the news and the internet. I began writing this entry this morning at around 9:30 AM (GMT +8), just hours after a "ceasefire" was called as mediated by the French. The terms of the ceasefire favored Moscow heavily in my opinion, but at the very least it should have meant silence on both sides because it required the pulling out of all military forces into their original positions prior to the war. Not intentionally being cynical, but I did not believe that this ceasefire would hold. Russia mobilized such a large number of troops and armor, I don't think it will end with such flimsy ceasefire terms. They're after something. I don't know if it's what I suspect it to be (control over the region for unmonitored access to Iran; remember that Georgia is being watched by the U.N. and NATO), or something completely different. But I think they won't stop until they get it.


Now that alone was enough to disturb me and my analysis of the war. But suddenly, just hours after that ceasefire was agreed upon, at the time of this writing, Russian forces are being spotted "in violation" of these ceasefire terms. The first time I heard the news was over the radio, at around 6:30 PM, where hundreds or even thousands of Russian troops in military trucks and armored personnel carriers were spotted miles south of South Ossetia, where they were supposed to stay, into the town of Gori, and travelling southeastward in a column towards Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, in what I estimate to be about 40-50 miles away (it may be more or less, I'm just guessing). Now this is a clear violation of the ceasefire terms because the terms involved having Russia pull its troops back across the border and back into Russia.

As of the time of this writing, which is now 8:50 PM (I started about 20 minutes ago as well), it is still unclear to me what will happen. But if the events unfold as I see it, from a strategic and political standpoint, this won't be good. We could be looking at a big war here.

I will continue to blog on this matter as much as I can, with as much information as I can gather. Just take note that I am not a professional journalist or military analyst. Just some guy who is disturbed by what's happening that felt like writing down his thoughts on the matter before it's too late.

- edit: I may have to note that I began writing this at work at 9:30 AM Philippine time, but had business to attend to and so saved it as a draft. I resumed writing this when I got home, as seen in the second half of this post.

Due to lack of exercise and having too much junkfood these days, I'm starting to feel the effects of being overweight. My ab flabs are getting in the way of stuff, I get tired so easily, and I don't feel good about my appearance anymore.

So, as an obvious resort, I've decided to get in shape by cutting down on unnecessary foods and going back to my exercise routines from back when I was actively b-boying. I wanna be healthy and strong again. It sounds stupid but I miss being able to do clapping push-ups, handstand push-ups, dozens of sit-ups, etc. I miss being able to do two full b-boy routines back to back without getting tired. I tried doing a full routine yesterday and I got tired doing a simple toprock -> uprock -> 6 step -> baby freeze. I was freaking wheezing.

So starting today, I'm gonna go back to my cardio exercises, strength training and flexibility training as well. :D