Georgia

US foreclosure filings surge 55 percent

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WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of homeowners stung by the dramatic decline in the U.S. housing market jumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50 percent compared with the same month a year ago, according to data released Thursday.

Nationwide, more than 272,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in July, up 55 percent from about 175,000 in the same month last year and up 8 percent from June, RealtyTrac Inc. said. That means one in every 464 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month.

Read moreUS foreclosure filings surge 55 percent

The Summer Olympics And World War III

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Earl Of Stirling

The Olympics are what is right about the world. On this last Friday, the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the new millennium we witnessed a fantastic spectacle, a peaceful gathering of the many nations of our small blue planet; a competition of the best young athletes from all over the world. The Olympics make us proud to be humans; proud to be citizens of Earth.

Sadly, on this same day, we saw what future historians will count as the day that the Third World War began. It was designed this way, by the evil people who worked hard to begin the war under the cover of the Olympics.

We all like to be right, myself included, but sometimes it is not so wonderful. I have written a series of articles over the last few weeks on the coming nightmare centered on the neo-con grand strategy. I predicted the outbreak of hostilities in Georgia and Russia and said that there is a strong link between what is happening there and to what is about to happen against Iran. I said that the war in Georgia was intended as a strategic distraction for Russia as America, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, and others assemble their large naval blockade of Iran, but a strategic distraction that would backfire. I also described the massive US Naval armada headed for Iran; the make-up of this extremely large and powerful force is as I described it several days ago (this has now been confirmed by Israeli sources).

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U.S. Take Control of Georgian Ports

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TBILISI (Reuters) – President George W. Bush’s pledge to send aid to Georgia means that the U.S. military will take control of the ex-Soviet state’s ports and airports, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Wednesday.

“You have heard the statement by the U.S. president that the United States is starting a military-humanitarian operation in Georgia,” Saakashvili said in a television address.

“It means that Georgian ports and airports will be taken under the control of the U.S. defense ministry in order to conduct humanitarian and other missions. This is a very important statement for easing tension.”

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U.S. troops still in Georgia

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Tracy J. Smith/Courtesy of the U.S. Army
Spc. Joseph Noble of the Georgia Army National Guard takes part in field training alongside Republic of Georgia soldiers during Immediate Response 08 at Vaziani Military Base, Georgia, in July. The training wrapped up Thursday.

U.S. personnel responsible for training members of the Georgian military remain stationed inside the volatile country, where fighting erupted Friday between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

The U.S. European Command said on Monday that there were no plans at this time to withdraw the U.S. military trainers from the country. There are still 127 U.S. trainers in Georgia, where the American forces had been preparing the Georgian army for operations in Iraq.

Meanwhile, U.S. civilians started to make their way out of the country over the weekend, according to the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi.

Convoys carrying family members of diplomats, government workers and ordinary citizens bound for the embassy in neighboring Armenia continued on Monday.

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Russian president calls halt to Georgian war

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called a halt to the advance of Russian troops in Georgia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called a halt to the advance of Russian troops in Georgia.

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced Tuesday that he has ordered an end to military operations against Georgia.

The announcement came minutes before French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to land in Moscow to meet with Medvedev to negotiate terms for a possible cease-fire.

“I have reached a decision to halt the operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace,” Medvedev said. “The aggressor has been punished and has incurred very significant losses. Its armed forces are disorganized.”

Read moreRussian president calls halt to Georgian war

Georgia ‘overrun’ by Russian troops as full-scale ground invasion begins

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  • Gordon Brown urges Moscow to order a ceasefire
  • Putin lashes out at the U.S. for ‘helping Georgia’
  • Georgia ‘restarts shelling’ after ceasefire call ignore
  • Refugee crisis as 40,000 flee

Georgian officials tonight claimed the country had been ‘overrun’ by Russian troops after a full-scale ground invasion.

Amid reports that Moscow forces had taken the town of Gori – and were marching on the capital Tsblisi – Georgian soldiers appeared to be in full retreat.

Troops were apparently in complete chaos as a full-scale rout pushed them back through the countryside.

Meanwhile, the civilian crisis intensified with thousands of refugees fleeing the seemingly unstoppable advance of the Russian army.

Georgia Georgia
An unidentified Georgian woman cries after finding out that her child was killed in a neighbouring village, in the town of Gori

Around 9,000 soldiers and 350 tanks had been massing at a base in the border region of Abkhazia throughout the day.

Read moreGeorgia ‘overrun’ by Russian troops as full-scale ground invasion begins

Russia: Georgian troops in South Ossetia surrendering

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MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti) – Georgian troops have been surrounded in South Ossetia and are giving themselves up, a senior Russian military official said on Monday.

“Russian troops are currently disarming the surrounded Georgian forces in South Ossetia,” Col. Gen. Anatoly Nagovitsyn, deputy head of the General Staff, told a news conference.

Read moreRussia: Georgian troops in South Ossetia surrendering

Jewish Georgian minister: Thanks to Israeli training, we’re fending off Russia

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Hmmmhhh. Fending off Russia? No way!

*****

Jewish Georgian Minister Temur Yakobshvili on Sunday praised the Israel Defense Forces for its role in training Georgian troops and said Israel should be proud of its military might, in an interview with Army Radio.

“Israel should be proud of its military which trained Georgian soldiers,” Yakobashvili told Army Radio in Hebrew, referring to a private Israeli group Georgia had hired.

Read moreJewish Georgian minister: Thanks to Israeli training, we’re fending off Russia

Russia opens 2nd front in Georgia, seizing towns

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GORI, Georgia – Russian armored vehicles rolled deep into western Georgia on Monday, quickly seizing several towns and a military base and slicing open a damaging second front in Russia’s battle with Georgia. Other Russian forces captured the key central city of Gori.

Fighting also raged Monday around Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Swarms of Russian planes launched new raids across Georgia, sending screaming civilians running for cover.

The invasions of Gori and the towns of Senaki, Zugdidi and Kurga came despite a top Russian general’s claim earlier Monday that Russia had no plans to enter Georgian territory. By taking Gori, which sits on Georgia’s only east-west highway, Russia has the potential to effectively cut the country in half.

Read moreRussia opens 2nd front in Georgia, seizing towns

Dmitry Medvedev made a statement on the situation in South Ossetia.

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At a meeting with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council, the President declared:

“Russia has maintained and continues to maintain a presence on Georgian territory on an absolutely lawful basis, carrying out its peacekeeping mission in accordance with the agreements concluded. We have always considered maintaining the peace to be our paramount task. Russia has historically been a guarantor for the security of the peoples of the Caucasus, and this remains true today.

Last night, Georgian troops committed what amounts to an act of aggression against Russian peacekeepers and the civilian population in South Ossetia. What took place is a gross violation of international law and of the mandates that the international community gave Russia as a partner in the peace process.

Read moreDmitry Medvedev made a statement on the situation in South Ossetia.

Fighting with Russia spreads to cities across Georgia

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A warplane drops bombs near the Georgian city of Gori on Friday as Russian and Georgian forces battled.

TBLISI, Georgia (CNN) — Bombs rocked Tbilisi early Saturday morning as the fight between Georgia and Russia over a breakaway region intensified and moved into the Georgian capital.

Government buildings, including the Parliament, were evacuated when the bombs fell.

Georgia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Irakali Alasania, said during a special session of the Security Council that the foreign minister had informed him of bombs falling on the Black Sea port of Poti and the Viziani airfield near Tbilisi.

Georgian television reported that the port had been destroyed.

Russia and Georgia, a former Soviet state, are fighting over the disputed Caucasus region of South Ossetia, a pro-Russian autonomous region of Georgia.

Read moreFighting with Russia spreads to cities across Georgia

Georgia calls back troops from Iraq amid fighting

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TBILISI, Georgia (AP) – Georgia’s president says the country is calling home its troops from Iraq amid heavy fighting in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Georgia has 2,000 troops serving with the coalition forces in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor after the United States and Britain.

But Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told CNN television Friday the troops would return urgently to Georgia after fighting erupted in South Ossetia.

“One brigade of Georgian forces is in Iraq and we are calling it home tomorrow,” Saakashvili said in the interview.

Read moreGeorgia calls back troops from Iraq amid fighting

More than 29 states face total budget shortfall

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At least 29 states plus the District of Columbia, including several of the nation’s largest states, faced an estimated $48 billion in combined shortfalls in their budgets for fiscal year 2009 (which began July 1, 2008 in most states.) At least three other states expect budget problems in fiscal year 2010.

Read moreMore than 29 states face total budget shortfall

Georgia says “very close” to war with Russia

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BRUSSELS – Russia’s deployment of extra troops in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia has brought the prospect of war “very close”, a minister of ex-Soviet Georgia said on Tuesday.

Separately, in comments certain to fan rising tension between Moscow and Tbilisi, the “foreign minister” of the breakaway Black Sea region was quoted as saying it was ready to hand over military control to Russia.

“We literally have to avert war,” Temur Iakobashvili, a Georgian State Minister, told reporters in Brussels.

Asked how close to such a war the situation was, he replied: “Very close, because we know Russians very well.”

“We know what the signals are when you see propaganda waged against Georgia. We see Russian troops entering our territories on the basis of false information,” he said.

Read moreGeorgia says “very close” to war with Russia

U.S. Foreclosures Jump 57% as Homeowners Walk Away

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April 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S. foreclosure filings jumped 57 percent and bank repossessions more than doubled in March from a year earlier as adjustable mortgages increased and more owners lost their homes to lenders.

More than 234,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, or one in every 538 U.S. households, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data, said today in a statement. Nevada, California and Florida had the highest foreclosure rates. Filings rose 5 percent from February.

About $460 billion of adjustable-rate loans are scheduled to reset this year, according to New York-based analysts at Citigroup Inc. Auction notices rose 32 percent from a year ago, a sign that more defaulting homeowners are “simply walking away and deeding their properties back to the foreclosing lender” rather than letting the home be auctioned, RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James Saccacio said in the statement.

Read moreU.S. Foreclosures Jump 57% as Homeowners Walk Away

NATO ‘direct threat’ to Russia, says Putin

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MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin lashed out at NATO plans to continue its eastward expansion, saying Russia would see the induction of Ukraine and Georgia as an “immediate threat” to its security and react accordingly.

“The presence of a powerful military bloc on our borders, whose members are guided by Article 5 of the Washington Treaty will be seen as direct threat to our national security,” Mr. Putin said at a news conference after the NATO-Russia Council meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Bucharest. It was Mr. Putin’s farewell interaction with the Western leaders. He steps down on May 7, when new President Dmitry Medvedev takes the oath.

NATO leaders refrained from granting a Membership Action Plan to Ukraine and Georgia on Thursday, but promised to do it later, insisting that the NATO doors were open for the two post-Soviet republics.

Warning that Russia would react strongly to the move, Mr. Putin said: “Let us be honest with each other – we will treat you as you treat us.”

Read moreNATO ‘direct threat’ to Russia, says Putin