Approximately eight hours ago, 45 years to the day Martin Luther King made his famous “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, Barack Obama made his acceptance speech as the Democratic candidate for the 2008 Presidential election at Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado.
Below is Barack Obama’s speech taken from his Youtube channel:
Obama’s speech was very well-written and delivered being stronger on his policies and aims and more aggressive in opposition to McCain than previous speeches, and making some great claims and one-liners in doing so. At the same time, it was passionate and drew on his life, family and experiences have enabled him to be the man he is and where he is today as the Democratic party candidate for US President.
It appears to have been well received and hopefully will help him get over the line come election time. It’s time for a change in America and hopefully they’ll vote in Obama to receive that change.
Vladimir Putin held an interview yesterday with CNN reporter Matthew Chance and made some stunning accusations that are still reverberating across the West. Some of the more provocative comments include:
“(The Americans were) doing as they were ordered, and the only one who can give such orders is their leader”
“If my guess is right, then it raises the suspicion that someone in the US specially created this conflict to worsen the situation and create an advantage in the competitive struggle for one of the candidates for the post of president of the United States,”
“They needed a short, victorious war,”
“And if it didn’t work out, they could always put the blame on us, make us look like the enemy and against the background of this surge of patriotism, once more rally the country around a particular political force,”
Strong words indeed and they have certainly caused a ruckus across the West, even with many distracted by the US Democratic party convention. But, the big question is – Is there any truth to these accusations?
This time Vlad's not pulling any punches
The US unsurprisingly labeled the accusations “patently false”, while French – current EU presidency holders – Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, said the EU will consider sanctions against Russia.
US troops were indeed in Georgia training Georgian soldiers when the conflict between Russia and Georgia escalated – that much is undeniably true. This is the only source I have found, whose credibility appears somehow questionable, which mentions not only dead American but also dead Israeli soldiers in the conflict zone. Below is an excerpt from the website:
The 3 dead American soldiers, these reports state, were identified by their uniform patches as belonging to the United States 173 Airborne Brigade assigned to the US’ Southern European Command, and who just a few weeks ago were airlifted to Georgia for what was described as a ‘war game’ exercise with Georgian Military Forces preparing for their unprovoked attack upon the Russian peoples of South Ossetia.
The 4 dead Israeli soldiers, these reports continue, are believed to part of the Israeli governments sponsored mercenary forces who have previously wreaked havoc in the US protected South American puppet state of Colombia, and to which Israel is now its largest weapons supplier.
I have been unable to find any mention of these dead soldiers from any credible Western media source, so you’re guess is as good as mine as to whether there’s any truth to this matter. Frankly, it wouldn’t incredibly surprise me given the past acts of the Bush administration if there were some US troops involved. I’m not convinced that the Bush administration manipulated this whole conflict to get their man John McCain in the oval office. At the same time, Putin is a wily fox who knows how to play the media and get what he wants – though perhaps this time he possibly has bitten off more than he can chew whether he is telling porky pies or not. Without clear evidence – ie. indisputable photographic evidence of dead US and Israeli soldiers in the conflict zone, he’s pissing in the wind and the West will not believe nor trust him.
The US is also currently providing humanitarian aid to Georgia which the Russians are increasingly restless about along with an increase of NATO ships in the Black Sea. This conflict and its aftermath is far from over and there could well be significant and long-standing reprecussions from this for many players – big (US, Russia, Europe) and small (Georgia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia).
The following video is a BBC World news report on the current events considering Russia in the aftermath of the Georgian conflict.
Posted by elcanguro76 
