More Georgia

NYT:

TBILISI, Georgia — Russian tanks and troops moved through the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and advanced on the city of Gori in central Georgia on Sunday night, for the first time directly assaulting a Georgian city with ground forces after three days of heavy fighting, Georgian officials said.

But Russia on undisputed Georgian territory? If such reports are verified, a brave new world awaits us all...

I also believe Lex is right on the money here:

This was not so much a failure of Georgian strategy so much as it was a failure of worldwide imagination. Tanks do not roll overnight, and fleets do not move in a week’s time. Putin is not acting out of petulance but calculation, and the game he’s playing is as long as Russian history itself.

Olympic Shell Game

The beginning of a long winning streak.

Three admirals.

A revolution.

As set out here.

Re: Mansoor

Virtually every paragraph is worthy of much expansion and much debate.

To be sure, some units conducted effective counterinsurgency operations before the surge, including Col. H.R. McMaster's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Tall Afar in 2005 and Col. Sean MacFarland's 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, in Ramadi in 2006. More generally, however, the coalition approach before 2007 was focused on rapidly shifting security responsibilities to Iraqi forces. As sectarian violence spiraled out of control, it became increasingly evident that Iraqi forces were unable to prevent its spread. By the fall of 2006, it was clear that our strategy was failing, an assessment courageously stated by Gen. George Casey and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in their year-end review of the Joint Campaign Plan.

One - the implication that pre-2007 we were wandering aimlessly to nowhere under the guidance of buffoons, and two - the idea that everything changed abruptly and rapidly with the arrival of the surge forces - each of whom was armed with a copy of the new COIN FM. And if "By the fall of 2006, it was clear that our strategy was failing", then I'd add that it was equally true in the spring of 2006. In fact, I'd argue that in some ways (see Awakening, Anbar) the situation was better in the fall of 2006 than it had been six months previously. The only thing more clear in the fall was that the Democrats were about to control both houses of the US Congress. This amplified a previously understated sense of urgency about the rate of progress in Iraq.

Blogworld Expo / MilBlog Conference

REGISTRATION:

1. To register for the milblogs (and and only milblogs) conference, first send an email (with "Request Code" in the subject line) to andi-at-andisworld-dot-com. You'll receive a registration code via return email. (It may take a couple of days or so for you receive your code. Please don't send follow-up email or worry about it unless it's been more than seven days and you've received no response.)

If you're a panelist, speaker or moderator, you will register as a speaker and will not need a registration code. Information on how to register will be emailed soon to all speakers. We're still waiting for these instructions if anyone else recieved these instructions let us know.

Greyhawk has all registration instructions compiled together here.

LODGINGS:

Blocks of rooms at various hotels in Las Vegas have been reserved for registrants of Blog World Expo. The discounted rates will only be good until August 18, so it's best to make your reservations now. THEY ARE GOIN' FAST!

Although an official "milblog" hotel has not been designated, according to Andi, survey seems to indicate that many milbloggers are staying at the Marriott Courtyard, or the Sahara. If you'd like to try to stay together as a group, please leave your lodging suggestions in the comment section here or the MB Conference site.

We're (I'm) staying at the Marriot Courtyard with nice fluffy bedding. Greyhawk on the other hand will be wandering and sleeping in the Nevada desert in full cammo gear with his ipod full of Metallica, killing his own food (hope he likes snakes and armadillos) and trying to add a turret to Some Soldier's Mom's vehicle. (sigh)

We plan on enjoying Vegas a little before the conference, we're arriving on the 18th and leaving on the 22nd. We're trying to have a gathering somewhere on Friday evening, so please leave a comment if you'd like to be in on this and we can coordinate times and location via emails.

FYI , If you want to stay at the Marriot Courtyard they still have rooms available outside the Blogworld expo block ($134.00/night) at a more expensive rate ($170.00/night) but if you're active duty military, you qualify for a discount outside the Blogworld expo block - at $108.00 a night except Sunday night ($229, not sure why that is). I suggest you go thru Blog Expo for this night. If reservations for Marriot are made online instead of called in, put GOV in the spot for Corporate/promotional code. You will need to show military ID upon arrival.

According to Military.com the (ahem) Hilton has military discounts as well for $97.00 a night. Be sure you ck to see if these apply to the BWE dates.

Here are some other Hotels in Vegas offering Military discounts.

Need to get rooms now. THEY ARE GOIN' FAST!

Also Southwest Airlines and Continental have the cheapest airfare, go thru them directly.

TRADITION:

At the 2007 MilBlog Conference, we threw a huge baby shower for a severely wounded Marine and his wife. The gift table was overflowing with gifts from generous conference attendees. Semper Fi Wife had the honor of delivering a truck full of gifts to Bethesda Naval Hospital, and reported that the couple was a bit shocked to see the amount of gifts that complete strangers provided for their baby.

Soldier's Mom reminds us that we have the opportunity to throw a baby shower for another deserving couple this year. If you don't know the story of Jayme and Joey Bozik, you should study up. Jayme is due Christmas Eve. They are having a girl...Violet Skye Bozik. We'll continue the tradition this year with Baby Bozik as our inspiration.
Andi has details here.

Not everyone has to purchase something but a congrats and thank you for your service card would be nice.

Lookin' forward to meeting up with old friends and meeting some new faces. Hope to see you all there.

SPONSORS:

Anyone who wants to show their support for the milblogging community by purchasing a sponsorship package that is sure to get your company or organization noticed, and will help offset the costs of the 2008 MilBlog Conference. Corporate sponsorships are now available.

Andi has details here:

Thank you Andi again for all your efforts you put into this, hugs coming your way.

...then the other end goes too ...

Greyhawk, you missed the best part of the article you linked to;

Ukraine also warned that it might not allow Russian ships deployed off Abkhazia to return to their base in the Crimea.

"Here's the part where your head explodes"

The Guardian:

The conflict in the Caucasus today spread to Georgia's second breakaway province of Abkhazia, where separatist rebels and the Russian air force launched an all-out attack on Georgian forces.

Why she is called a bear

Ugly.

Georgia says its troops have withdrawn from the breakaway region of South Ossetia and that Russian forces are in control of its capital, Tskhinvali.

An government spokesman told the BBC it was not a military defeat but a necessary step to protect civilians.

But a Russian military spokesman said Georgia had not withdrawn its forces and the situation remained tense.

Russian PM Vladimir Putin has suggested it is unlikely that South Ossetia will re-integrate with the rest of Georgia.

Meanwhile, Russian warships are being deployed to impose a naval blockade on Georgian ports on the Black Sea coast to prevent arms and military shipments, Russian media reports say.

Separatist authorities in Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia mobilized the army and called up reservists Sunday to drive Georgian government forces out of the small part of the province still under Georgian control.

The move dramatically raises the stakes in the conflict between Georgia and Russia over another separatist province, South Ossetia. With most Georgian troops concentrated on fighting Russian troops in South Ossetia, it could be hard for Georgia to repel the Abkhazian offensive.

In addition, Russia troops were seen moving through Abkahzia toward the border with Georgia, which lies on the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia.

SGT Grumpy's Groovy Photo Collage

SGT Grumpy has some photos from his time in Iraq posted. Pretty cool! I liked the Sadr pic.

New Op-Ed From Peter Mansoor

Colonel Mansoor discusses how the surge related to stabilization in Iraq without all the nonsensical political disputes about "What the Surge is" that you get from Washington.