August 26, 2008 (LPAC)--Even after both houses of the Russian Parliament had called unanimously on Monday for recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries, Western governments were apparently caught flat-footed by President Medvedev's extension of that recognition on Tuesday.

Lyndon LaRouche was not caught flat-footed. "The point had been reached," he said, "at which there was no reason not to do it, from their standpoint. It's historically true, valid. The people of these countries no longer want to be associated with Georgia, particularly under the condition that there's no sign of the elimination this criminal regime there.

"My position is that you have a criminal government of Georgia, a George Soros, British intelligence government of Georgia," LaRouche specified, "which of course does not really represent the interests of the Georgian people. But it's a criminal regime, it's in power, it's backed from abroad. For the time being, there's no reason that the people of these countries would want anything to do with Georgia as long as that kind of government is ruling Georgia."

Taking a longer view, LaRouche noted that "the other side is, of course, historically, that in the long history of Russia, Ossetia and Abkhazia are areas which were autonomous regions. Their affinity with Georgia was based on good relations with its governments. But the present Georgian government, working for interests from outside the region, has committed crimes against humanity against the people of Ossetia, and threatened them against Abkhazia. And obviously these people are frightened; they want nothing to do with Georgia, and, what's wrong with that?

"And, if anyone has any problem with it in the United States," LaRouche concluded, "they should face the truth about what happened with the Georgian war crimes against the people of South Ossetia."

Medvedev's short, firm statement ended by saying the decision was not an easy one to make, but it was the only way to avoid bloodshed, and that others would eventually come around to understand this. The Russian Foreign Ministry followed with a paper which reviewed the history of the problem since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. Russia could have done this years ago, but instead stuck to the path of negotiations with Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, even after NATO unilaterally pushed through independence for Kosovo. A turning point came in 2005, with the unexplained death of Georgia's Prime Minister Zhvania, a "sensible politician." At that point, Saakishvili repudiated all previous agreements, launching the process which led to his crimes against humanity of last August 7-8.

To this, LaRouche responded, "The Saakashvili government is essentially a government of George Soros, which means it's a subsidiary of the British Foreign Office. Let's not have any more of these lies and explanations. The fact is that Saakashvili is a creation of George Soros, who is himself an agent of the British Foreign Office. So, it's a British imperialist operation which has committed atrocities against the people of South Ossetia."

Despite Russia's suspension of all military cooperation with NATO, the Russians are keeping on the table,-- for now, as they note,-- the offer to NATO of transit rights through Russian territory to Afghanistan. NATO will require this merely to hang on in Afghanistan, since the routes through Pakistan are badly imperiled, especially since Pakistan has lurched towards chaos since President Pervez Musharraf was forced out only ten days ago.

"The Bush Administration committed a strategic folly in pushing for the ouster of Musharraf, despite the accurate warnings, which have now been proven by experience, that this would cause chaos in Pakistan," LaRouche said. "It has to be reported that the Bush Administration goofed this thing up, in a typical case of strategic incompetence by the Bush Administration."