August 11, 2008, 10:37 AM (GMT+02:00) New America armada around Iran DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the arrival of the three new American flotillas will raise to five the number of US strike forces in Middle East waters – an unprecedented build-up since the crisis erupted over Iran’s nuclear program. This vast naval and air strength consists of more than 40 warships and submarines, some of the latter nuclear-armed, opposite the Islamic Republic, a concentration last seen just before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Our military sources postulate five objects of this show of American muscle: DEBKAfile Special Report and Analysis August 11, 2008, 6:42 PM (GMT+02:00) Russian armor pours into South Ossetia and Abkhazia Both sides in the Russian-Georgian war traded accusations of continuing the fighting and genocide Monday, Aug. 11, the fourth day of the conflict, as the Kremlin rejected the Georgian president’s Mikhail Saakashvili’s ceasefire document before it was delivered by the French and Finnish foreign ministers from Tbilisi. The Russian ambassador to NATOsaid it cannot deal with the “war criminal” Georgian president. Saakashvili accusedMoscow of seeking "regime change" in Georgia. Russia confirmed its troops had moved out of breakaway Abhazia to the northwest and invaded the Georgian town of Senaki. DEBKAfile Special Report August 11, 2008, 6:27 PM (GMT+02:00) Russian tank forces stream to South Ossetia Moscow pumped more troops to the embattled breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia as the flare-up Saturday, Aug. 9 edged toward all-out war. Friday night, the UN Security Council failed to agree on a ceasefire text. DEBKAfile reports that, amid conflicting casualty and other reports from the Russia and Georgia, the bloodshed is mounting. Moscow is clearly determined to continue to bomb Georgia into withdrawing its troops from South Ossetia. Until Saturday morning’s jet strikes at targets around the Georgian town of Gori, Russian combat planes kept mostly to striking military installations across the tiny Caucasian country of Georgia, including the Vaziani military base used by NATO, leaving scores of dead and hundreds of wounded. But if the pro-American president Mikhail Shaakashvili perseveres in keep his army in South Ossetia, after capturing its capital Friday, Russian attacks will expand to Georgia’s centers of government in Tbilisi. Saakashvili was disappointed in his hope of US and Europe coming to his aid in the crisis. They are willing to mediate a halt in violence but taking good care to avoid being drawn into a war against Russia. The Israeli military advisers commissioned by the Georgian president tried to hold back Friday’s invasion of Tskhinvali. They are now urging him to pull his army out of South Ossetia before it is overpowered and decimated by vastly superior Russian air, tank and infantry forces. Read DEBKAfile’s exclusive analysis below on the causes underlying the Caucasian conflict and the presence of Israeli military advisers. TOP STORIES August 10, 2008, 1:30 PM (GMT+02:00) Beijing's historic Drum Tower The attackers and the security guard were killed after a series of bombings targeted a police station and government buildings at Kuga county, in the northwest region Chinese region of Xinjiang after midnight Saturday, Aug. 9. The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the bombers drove a taxi to their gargets and tossed homemade explosives. Two died in the attacks while six more were killed later by police. In Beijing, a Chinese man stabbed to death an American tourist from Minneapolis, Todd Bachman, and injured his wife and daughter at the historic Drum Tower monument. DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 7, 2008, 9:22 AM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile’s military sources discount the claim by Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Maj. Gen. Ali Jafari that Iran had test-fired a new naval weapon that could destroy any vessel within a 300-km range. Jafari boasted to reporters Mon. Aug. 4: “Today the IRGC has the capability to target the enemies’ targets with a wide range of missiles and in a few minutes in case of any attack.” Western intelligence sources dismissed the IRGC commander’s boast as “propaganda fantasy.” DEBKAfile Special Report August 7, 2008, 10:31 AM (GMT+02:00) Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin: Nyet to Iran sanctions Sources in Washington commented Wednesday night, Aug. 6, that, while it is unlikely that Israel would attack Iran without US approval, this might change if tough sanctions were taken off the table. DEBKAfile reports that this information was leaked by Washington sources, apparently to warn Moscow that by closing the door to sanctions, it was opening the door to an Israeli attack. August 11, 2008, 6:59 PM (GMT+02:00) An Israeli official issued travel documents Monday, Aug. 11, to Jews fleeing Georgia. Two flights were due to land in Israel carrying 500 passengers from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. They had to be cancelled at the last minute as Georgian forces reinforced their defense of the capital. On Saturday, The Jewish Agency transferring community members from the town of Gori under Russian air attack to to the still relatively quiet Georgian capital. DEBKAfile Special Report and Analysis August 11, 2008 Prime minister Vladimir Putin toys defiant Georgia By Monday, Aug. 11, the fourth day of the Caucasian conflict, which first erupted over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, the pro-American Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili sounded hopeless in the face of overwhelming Russian might. International condemnation of Russian behavior as “unacceptable and disproportionate” did not ease his country’s plight or stop the continuing violence. Saakashvili’s third commitment to a ceasefire, signed in the presence of the French and Finnish foreign ministers, was brusquely rejected by the Kremlin before the would-be mediators had a chance to present it later that day. The RussianNATO ambassador said his government would not deal with the “war criminal” Georgian president, confirming Saakashvili’s charge that one ofMoscow’s objects was to oust him as president. DEBKAfile’s military analysts reported Sunday, Aug. 10: Russian president Dimitry Medvedev said Sunday, Aug. 10, the war would go on until Tbilisi withdrew its forces... 
Three major US naval strike forces due this week in Persian Gulf
More...Moscow calls Georgian president "war criminal," rejects ceasefire
Full articleSouth Ossetia battles intensify after Russia declares operation to force "peace" on Georgia
Full articleEight assailants, a security guard killed in NW China bombings
More...Iran’s vaunted 300-km range sea missile is non-existent
More...US sources hint that by rejecting Iran sanctions, Moscow opens door to Israeli attack
More...Flights from Tbilisi to Tel Avivcancelled Monday
Full Articles and Analyses 
No Caucasian Ceasefire until Russia Achieves its Aims
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Monday, 11 August 2008
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