Good morning, Netizens...

In today's Picture of the Day, a wounded Georgian woman lies in front of an apartment building damaged by a Russian airstrike in the northern Georgian town of Gori. Neighbors later came to her aid and helped evacuate her to a safe area. Russia sent hundreds of tanks and troops into the separatist province of South Ossetia and bombed Georgian towns Saturday in a major escalation of the conflict that has left scores of civilians dead and wounded. (AP Photo/George Abdaladze) (August 09, 2008)

Only the more optimistic Western journalists still are avoiding the term War to describe the cataclysmic events unfolding in parts of Georgia and South Ossetia. It is presumed, however, that Bush and Putin who reportedly spoke to one another at the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing, did not concur with the news media's take on matters.

President George Bush is quoted as appealing to Russia to halt what the White House called "dangerous and disproportionate" attacks on Georgia, a staunch U.S. Ally.

The situation on the ground in South Ossetia appears highly confused. Russia said it had seized South Ossetia's capital, Tskhinvali, but Georgia denied this. Russia, which sent in tanks to back the South Ossetians, said its forces had "liberated" the enclave's capital, but Georgia responded that Tskhinvali was under its "complete control".
A Russian journalist said Tskhinvali had been badly damaged. "The town is destroyed. There are many casualties, many wounded," Zaid Tsarnayev told Reuters. Russian jets carried out up to five raids on mostly military targets around the Georgian town of Gori, close to the conflict zone in South Ossetia. But some missiles went astray, killing at least a dozen people. A woman knelt in the street and screamed over the body of a dead man, as a bombed apartment block burned nearby.
What I want to know is when is the death of innocent civilians a proportionate response?

In fact, the war in Georgia barely made front-page headlines in the United States, based upon a few front pages I read.

Dave

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