Russian hackers were disrupting Georgian government websites and inter-government communications since mid-July.

You have bought the Russian narrative hand and foot. As someone who grew up in the Soviet Union, take notice when I say that the Russians are not Arabs, nor Americans; they are highly capable tacticians with an immensely effective propaganda apparatus.

You should try to view the situation through a different frame of reference than what you are normally used to. The Russians think differently from Arabs, other Europeans or Americans, in substantial ways.

When I hear that 300 Russian tanks and 500 Russian armored personnel carriers were en route within 24 hours, it is clear as daylight to me that Russia was not merely ready for this action, it had more or less planned out zero hour for the start of operations.

Russian army units are rarely staffed at even 50%. Skeleton crews are more common, at 15%, 25% for a division sized force, consisting of the officer corps and elite units. It is an all conscript army. The mobilization alone should have taken at least a week, much less getting those units reacquainted with their equipment, bringing in sufficient reserves of fuel, armaments, even food for the soldiers.

The air force is a great example. Russia used at least 50 fixed wing aircraft in Georgia. There are not 50 combat certified pilots in the Russian Air Force in any given sector! Maybe 50 operating in the entire country, From Vladivostok to Murmansk to Moscow to Rostov.

It should have take the Air Force days to assemble appropriate strike packages, yet Russian jets were bombing Georgia before tanks even appeared on the Georgian side of the Roki Tunnel.

Let me explain it to you like this: Russia was not just prepared for this. It was not merely expecting this. In Russia, all these things don’t just happen when the President says “go”.

Russia doesn’t just keep 800 armored vehicles, 50 aircraft, 5 battleships and the tens of thousands of conscript soldiers to run all this machinery at the ready for something to happen. From the Russian perspective, why wait? It is much more efficient to choose the time and place of battle.

Did Georgia take the bait? Clearly. You need to understand, however, that the Russian psyche is utterly different from what you are used to. Maskirovka – roughly translated as concealment or deceit – is a founding principle of Russian military strategy.

You’re going to say, so what, that’s just like America. It’s not; it’s a completely different thinking process. The Russians play by completely different rules.

With Americans and the US Army in particular, you get exactly what they say. They say, do this or we will take you apart like this and that. You don’t do what they say and they take you apart just like they said they would. The whole time you know exactly what is coming, but they do it better and more efficiently than you ever thought possible. It’s all very logical and straightforward.

With Russians, they’ll say, do this or we’ll do this to you. You don’t do it, and start planning thinking you know what is coming. And then they do something completely different that has nothing to do with you, and the whole time you were just a disposable pawn in a massive game who played his part as if it was scripted.

I wish I could explain it better… I’ll try to think of a way to explain it.

Absolutely Mr F! Effectively they had been autonomous for 10 years, Georgia violated agreements.

There do seem to be rather more famous blind singers among blacks than in other ethnic groups:

Stevie Wonder (total crap!)
Ray Charles (brill!)
Blind Lemon Jefferson (also brill!)

There have also been an awful lot of dim witted US presidents too, a list is hardly necessary.

This is probably coincidence.