Ratings agencies see no swift reprieve for Georgia

LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Georgia is likely to suffer lasting economic damage from its war with Russia, credit ratings agencies warned on Tuesday, saying foreign investment might dry up despite any halt in the conflict.

Ratings agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor's both downgraded Georgia on Friday after a Georgian offensive into the separatist region of South Ossetia was followed by Russian airstrikes and a much larger counter-offensive.

Putin's second war can have only one victor
Russian prime minister claims to be offering stability in Georgia, but critics say military action is part of a wider strategic game

For more than 200 years, tsars, generals, and politburos in Russia have controlled Georgia. But for the past 17 years since the collapse of the Soviet empire, the small country on the south side of the Caucasus has gingerly embraced a new experience as an independent state - unstable, immature, chaotic, corrupt, but hopeful.

Vladimir Putin cannot abide that notion and appears bent on trying to restore a version of the status quo ante.

"Russia has played a positive, stabilising role in the Caucasus for centuries, a guarantor of security, cooperation and progress," the Russian prime minister said at the weekend. "This is how it was in the past and this is how it is going to be in future. Let there be no doubt about this."

Russia and Georgia continue attacks--online

Researchers studying botnets have reported an increase in attacks on Georgian Web sites, including that of the country's president, within the last two weeks. While the attacks--Web site defacement and denial-of-service packet floods--are reminiscent of the Internet attacks waged against Estonia in May 2007, Jose Nazario, security researcher for Arbor Networks, told CNET News that he's seeing evidence that Georgia is apparently fighting back, attacking at least one Moscow-based newspaper site.

As to the source, Nazario said that "almost all of the attacks are broadly and globally sourced. One attack appears to be very narrowly focused, possibly someone with some basic ping flood scripts." He said the exact tools being used had not been determined.

Russian military triumph leaves pro-West Georgia uncertain

MOSCOW; AND TBILISI, Georgia - 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.

"The aggressor has been punished and has incurred very significant losses," said Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, who ordered an end to Russian combat operations on Tuesday just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was arriving in Moscow to press for a cease-fire.

But in Georgia, the mood was grim and uncertain. The country's pro-Western spirit, confirmed in a referendum earlier this year, when more than 70 percent of Georgians supported immediate NATO membership, may have been dampened by what some see as a lack of support in their hour of crisis.

Georgia says Russia bombed after order to halt war

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Russia ordered a halt to the war in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia's army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering. Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.

Despite the televised order by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia launched an offensive Tuesday in Abkhazia, sending tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery toward the breakaway region.

Georgian troops were forced out of their last stronghold in the separatist province, said Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zaitsev, a defense official in Abkhazia. The claim that Georgian forces were gone could not immediately be confirmed.

Shattered Georgia pays high price for peace

However, fighting continued after the ceasefire was announced. Forces backed by Russia launched an offensive in the only part of Abkhazia still under Georgian control. An area near the town of Gori was bombed. A Dutch television cameraman was killed by a shell, and his colleague was wounded. The Times was shown a fragment of what appeared to be a Grad missile that had struck an apartment building behind the main square.

The peace talks were delayed by arguments over Russia’s determination to “mop up pockets of resistance”, according to the French.

About 135 Russian military vehicles were seen driving through Georgia en route to the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia, the last zone held by the Georgians. Abkhazian officials later claimed that their forces, not the Russians, had captured the area.

Later, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, appeared to toughen the ceasefire terms, saying that Georgia must also sign a binding treaty on the nonuse of force. He also demanded the departure of President Saakashvili.

Russians move toward gorge despite cease-fire

Russian-backed separatist forces on Tuesday forced Georgian troops out of the northern part of the gorge, their last stronghold in the region. Abkhazian military officials said only Abkhaz forces were involved in operations in the gorge.

Villagers who fled the gorge in recent days under intense bombardment from Russian planes and artillery, as well as separatist forces, said the area was virtually deserted and efforts to resist the attack had all but stopped. One man, who fled to Chuberi overnight from the gorge, said the last Georgian troops left Monday, though some pro-Georgian militiamen were trapped there.

"They were retreating. It wasn't panic, but they were trying to leave one by one, not
in groups," said Nugzar Tsulukidze, a 58-year-old man who belonged to a local ilitia. "It was no use, with just our rifles."

Hundreds of people displaced by fighting in Kodori were in Chuberi, about 25 miles southeast of the gorge, some staying in a dilapidated school building. Some said up to 3,000 people had been forced to leave their homes; the International Committee of the Red Cross said Georgian authorities had asked it to help 1,500 people, including 600 children, who were taking refuge in Chuberi from the fighting in Abkhazia.

Peace! Love! Puppydogs and sunshine and gooey cinnamon buns!