2008.08.12: August 12, 2008: Headlines: COS - Georgia: Safety: COS - Armenia: Personal Web site: PCV B & C Go To Georgia writes: Update From Armenia
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2008.08.12: August 12, 2008: Headlines: COS - Georgia: Safety: COS - Armenia: Personal Web site: PCV B & C Go To Georgia writes: Update From Armenia
PCV B & C Go To Georgia writes: Update From Armenia
We arrived this morning around 1am, after leaving at 11:30am from Georgia, so it was a REALLY long time on the bus, although the main problem was the four hour delay at the border. It seems Georgians outside of the areas with fighting are—in general—pretty calm. I texted about 15 Georgian friends/counterparts to let them know we were being evacuated, and I got many responses back that said something along the lines of, “Have a great trip! See you soon!” This was not exactly the response I was hoping for. The U.S. Embassy is making plans to evacuate all remaining U.S. citizens out of Tbilisi tomorrow (the 13th), but it sounds like things may be getting better.
PCV B & C Go To Georgia writes: Update From Armenia
Update From Armenia
I know I posted information pretty hastily earlier, but since Internet time is limited here (there are 10 suites that have Internet access, shared between 80-ish volunteers/trainees and all the PC staff), I didn't have much time to write. Now that I have time on my laptop in our room, I'm going to write a little bit more.
Thanks to Joanna, by the way, for posting the link from the Peace Corps that we were safely relocated to Armenia. We arrived this morning around 1am, after leaving at 11:30am from Georgia, so it was a REALLY long time on the bus, although the main problem was the four hour delay at the border. It seems Georgians outside of the areas with fighting are—in general—pretty calm. I texted about 15 Georgian friends/counterparts to let them know we were being evacuated, and I got many responses back that said something along the lines of, “Have a great trip! See you soon!” This was not exactly the response I was hoping for. The U.S. Embassy is making plans to evacuate all remaining U.S. citizens out of Tbilisi tomorrow (the 13th), but it sounds like things may be getting better.
Georgia and Russia have announced their intention to sign a creasefire, but this isn't the same thing as a peace agreement. Russia has “strong conditions” for a peace agreement; the rumor is that those conditions include Georgia completely out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and out of anywhere they could attack the breakaway regions from (i.e., Gori and Zugdidi), which I can't see Georgia agreeing to. So although a ceasefire seems to be agreed to by both sides, I don't think this means its over yet (you may remember that originally, there WAS a ceasefire agreement that was broken, which is what led to all this in the first place). In the same speech, Mevdevev (Russia’s president) called Georgia “bloodthirsty” and irrational, so not exactly smoothing things over….This is still a huge rally taking place in Tbilisi where Saakashvili made a very emotional speech accusing Russia of still trying to dominate Georgia, and said that bombings continued even after the ceasefire was agreed upon.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: August, 2008; Peace Corps Georgia; Directory of Georgia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Georgia RPCVs; Safety and Security of Volunteers; Peace Corps Armenia; Directory of Armenia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Armenia RPCVs
When this story was posted in August 2008, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act Senator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped this administration violate the civil liberties of Americans. "It is time to say: No more. No more trampling on our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are fundamental, basic, eternal principles. They have been around, some of them, for as long as the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them." |
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Story Source: Personal Web site
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Georgia; Safety; COS - Armenia
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