U.S. Navy Ships Heading To Georgia

U.S. Ships To Take Aid To Georgia -- Reuters

TBILISI (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy warship will head through the Bosphorus on Friday taking relief supplies to Georgia, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy in Europe said.

The destroyer McFaul is expected to arrive in Georgia via the Black Sea in about two days and will be followed by two other U.S. ships, officials said.

"The USS McFaul is under way now, having taken on humanitarian supplies for the people of Georgia," the spokesman said.

The ships will be the first U.S. vessels to deliver aid to Georgia since the Caucasus conflict erupted this month. The U.S. military began delivering relief supplies by air a week ago.

NATO-member Turkey earlier authorized the three U.S. ships to sail through the Turkish straits into the Black Sea.

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More News On The U.S. Navy And Georgia

U.S. Warships Run the Gauntlet with Georgia Aid (Updated) -- The Danger Room
U.S. Navy Ships Head to Georgia -- The Georgian Times
Navy ships wait to deliver aid to Georgia -- CNN
Navy sends ship to Georgia; prepares 2 more -- Stars And Stripes
US ships headed to Straits after Montreux deal -- Today's Zaman
US request puts Turkey in a bind -- The National
German, Spanish aid ships bound for Georgia in Turkish straits -- Hot News Turkey

My Comment: This is like the Berlin airlift, but instead of planes we have ships and a Georgian Port. But sending a U.S. missile guided destroyer to carry humanitarian aid is a bit too much. A message is being sent out to the Russian fleet when this ship enters Georgian waters and its port. The Turkish Government agrees.

I can only imagine what the Russians are thinking.

Aid Pours Into Georgia -- South Ossetian Refugees Not So Lucky

US crew unload a US C-17 transport plane on the tarmac at Tbilisi airport on August 13, 2008. Two more US military transport planes flew to Georgia Friday with relief supplies on the third day of a humanitarian airlift, a Pentagon spokesman said. (AFP/File/Vano Shlamov)

Aid Pours Into Georgia, S. Ossetia Still Cut Off -- Reuters

GENEVA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United Nations and Red Cross have poured hundreds of tonnes of aid supplies into Georgia but need better security conditions before deploying in South Ossetia, the two bodies said on Friday.

Although South Ossetian, Russian and Georgian authorities have all given the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) a green light to enter the rebel province, it awaits firmer guarantees.

"We are ready to go at any time from both North Ossetia and from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi," ICRC spokeswoman Anna Nelson told a news briefing. "We will be operational as soon as security guarantees are in place and we're sure that it's safe."

The neutral humanitarian agency has flown 100 tonnes of aid into Georgia, with another 45 tonnes due on Friday. "We are now in full swing, distributing supplies and restoring access to water in shelter centres in and around Tbilisi," she said.

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My Comment: The following CNN report summarizes the refugee problem in the Caucasus (Hat Tip to Prairie Pundit).

More than 118,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in the Georgian republic, the U.N. refugee agency estimated Friday.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday it estimated that more than 118,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, citing statistics supplied by the Russian and Georgian governments.

About 30,000 people from South Ossetia fled to Russia, according to officials in the Russian region of North Ossetia, while up to 15,000 people from South Ossetia went south into Georgia proper, the Georgian government said. Around 73,000 people in Georgia proper are displaced, including most of the population of Gori.

One more reason why Russia is losing the propaganda war.