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Google News Has Russian Army Invading Savannah, GA
Posted by
timothy
on Sat Aug 09, 2008 05:12 PM
from the sounds-like-an-eddie-izzard-sketch dept.
from the sounds-like-an-eddie-izzard-sketch dept.
theodp writes "If you checked out Google-wannabe Cuil, you learned that mapping search results to relevant images isn't a trivial task. But even Big Dog Google isn't immune to embarrassing graphics gaffes. Readers of Google News were shown that Russian troops are thrusting into the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia, thanks to the Google Maps graphic accompanying a story about Russian incursions into Georgia — the nation-state in the Caucasus, not the Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern US. Yahoo! Answers also had some fun with the GA-Georgia mix-up — 'I live in georegia but i dont see rusia no where not even sound but they says theres tanks should i be worrie' (Google cache) — before a spoilsport deleted the question."
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aha! (Score:5, Funny)
Now I understand where all those references to WWIII are coming from, the Russians are invading Georgia :)
Re:aha! (Score:5, Funny)
To paraphrase Carlin:
"Our counter-thrust must be to prick holes in the stiff front erected by the Russians leaders.
We must keep mounting an offensive to penetrate any crack in their defenses.
Let's get on them.
Let's ram through a stiff response so it will be hard for them to get it up.
It'll be hard on us, but we can't lick them by being soft!"
Parent
Re:aha! (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:aha! (Score:4, Insightful)
You know...this statement strikes me as unusual. If someone had made this type of joke about say, a predominately black city or something being Black-pride-ridden, there'd be calls of racism all over the place with massive outrage, and down-mod points being thrown about like shrapnel.
But, I guess it is ok as long as humor is directed at caucasians or people in the southern US.
Don't get me wrong, I think everyone needs to grow a bit thicker skin, and learn to take a joke, but, it is the double standard of political correctness that 'grinds my gears'.
Parent
Re:aha! (Score:5, Informative)
Well, they aren't lynching people, per se. There are plenty of "black groups" terrorizing hispanic immigrants in the region I live in, though, since they tend to carry cash and don't arm themselves. Most of the murders happen in Atlanta, which is blacks terrorizing blacks.
116 whites were arrested for murder in Georgia 2007. 411 non-whites were.
639 whites were arrested for robbery, 3101 non-whites.
Even if half of those arrests resulted in acquittals the figures would be ridiculous.
http://gbi.georgia.gov/00/channel_modifieddate/0,2096,67862954_88103906,00.html [georgia.gov]
And for those of you who are about to blame "racist police officers", don't make an ass of yourself.
http://www.fultonsheriff.org/ [fultonsheriff.org] (that's the county that Atlanta is in)
I don't "hate black people". I'm just sick of watching this, and hearing about non-existent lynchings.
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Re:aha! (Score:4, Interesting)
"I don't "hate black people". I'm just sick of watching this, and hearing about non-existent lynchings."
That's a permanent condition, so what I do is live in the country where among other advantages, there is ample personal space. We cannot change the African-American crime situation because we are White, but we can avoid them. White Flight works for me. I don't hate them either, but there is zero reason for me to locate in their neighborhoods. If I were rich and urban I'd live in an economically segregated community. Since I'm middle class and prefer rural spaces I choose them.
This will surely be unpopular on Slashdot, but I argue it is perfectly fine and good to locate away from humans one has no cause to embrace. Thanks to country custom (armed resistance to trespass) and the Second Amendment, in my area African-American crime is largely confined to areas where they live. Whites move away as problems increase, but there is plenty of land.
Nothing can or will be done about minority crime in the US, so the only options for the average person are mobility and self-defense, both of which are equally useful for dealing with non-minority crime.
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Re:aha! (Score:5, Interesting)
I lived in 'the South' for 31 years. I have JUST moved to NYC and have never encountered the racism, even while living in New Orleans, that I have encountered from Blacks towards Whites as I've seen here... and that's just hearing from strangers in the Subway - because they were purposely talking loud enough for every one on the car to hear them.
I have also heard racism come out of the mouths of the white, educated locals as well. Having heard it from them I suspect the racism goes deeper as well.
Overall, my experience here in the last 10 weeks is that New York City has more hate in it than any where I've lived, in the three states I've lived, in 'the South'.
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Re:aha! (Score:5, Informative)
Lynching went out of practice MANY years ago.
Yeah, keep up with the times already [google.com].
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A local radio station was having fun (Score:4, Interesting)
with the Georgia invasion and some local power outages caused by storms. Unfortunately since its not exactly relevant to Americans it seems that we can make light of such a situation. Needless to say they were talking to some people and lead a few along the lines that Georgia had just shot down two Russian planes and while the power was out in lots of places (it wasn't) they were still on the air "for now".
Got to love Russia's timing on the invasion. I guess we could have expected it from the Chinese if it were hosted elsewhere. Time will tell if the Olympics changes how the Chinese treat their neighbors all in the name of obtaining trust based respect on the world stage or if they use the fact that after the Olympics end they can just whack Taiwan or hit Tibet harder.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Err... it was actually the Georgians deciding to "reclaim" South Ossetia. The Russians are mounting an counter offensive. But one would never expect USians to ever bother with details like this. They would just mess up their neat White Hat / Black Hat world.
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Informative)
Georgian army shelled a sleeping Tskhinvali, killing more than 1500 people. Without warning.
Let me repeat: Georgia killed more than 1500 civilians by shelling a sleeping city.
That's a war crime.
Then Georgia moved in with tanks and infantry. And _only_ _then_ Russian forces moved in. You just can't blame this conflict on Russia.
Gori was not the target of bombing, a military base and ammo warehouses were targeted. The civilian losses were, probably, a result of a stray bomb or caused by exploding ammo warehouse.
I have friends in Georgia, one of them has been mobilized yesterday. So I watch the situation carefully (I also speak Russian).
Russia _definitely_ overstepped its peacekeeping mandate, sure. But by now nobody cares about it.
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:4, Insightful)
A lot of people are asserting a lot of things on Slashdot, but none of us actually knows what's going on. Or who really broke the cease-fire first. If you weren't there, don't be so sure about who did what when. The fog of war makes that impossible for anyone to know, let alone an armchair observer half a world away.
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:4, Informative)
What 'fog of war'?
It's all clear - Georgia was waging a 'sniper war' since August 1 causing several deaths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Ossetia_War#1_August_.E2.80.93_7_August:_escalation_of_hostilities [wikipedia.org]
That was the beginning. And it's clear who shot first.
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
"stopping the ongoing genocide" -- that's Russian talking points, just like US invading Iraq for WMD, when will you stop trusting propaganda of people directly involved in the conflict?
"There were several attacks on Georgia, but strictly on military targets." -- I'm also sure that Georgians keep their tanks in the apartment buildings since I've seen some of them bombed by Russian planes.
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:4, Insightful)
Learn history. Georgia ALREADY tried genocide in Ossetia in 1992. What makes you think this time is different?
"I'm also sure that Georgians keep their tanks in the apartment buildings since I've seen some of them bombed by Russian planes."
Nope. You've seen several burning and one destroyed building - a collateral damage from destruction of a nearby military base (with ammo warehouses).
If Russia (God firbid) target civilians then losses would have been 100x higher.
Like about 1500 dead in Tskhinvali after shelling be Georgia.
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
simple question, the guy claims he speaks russian, has friends locally, so he's going to be a ton better informed than your average ./er, what is *your* claim to authority ?
It would seem to me that someone with an ear on the ground is better informed than someone that simply reads the filtered and processed media, which can't help but always paint russia as the boogey man, even if there is no apparent reason to do so. In this particular case it seems that all the hype paints russia as the aggressor, whereas all the more informed sources paint georgia as the aggressor.
The small fact that the US has been quietly (Or not so quietly) bankrolling georgia's resistance to the russians is mostly ignored by US media (but it's all over the news in Europe).
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
What Georgia did _was_ an act of war. They invaded a defacto sovereign nation, violating a 1992 accord, and this was an outright violation of international law. They did so by shelling civilians in Tsinhvali.They didn't just violate some hypothetical border. They literally tried to reclaim the entire breakaway province. Some _1500_ innocents have died as a direct result of this aggression. Russian is not "invading the entire country", it is performing a series of preventative strikes (so beloved by the USA) on military bases to _prevent_ further military actions by Georgia and force Georgia so stop the war. Keep in mind that 90% of all Southern Ossetians hold russian citizenship.
Apparently "preventative strikes" on Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever by the USA is perfectly okay even in the name of the so-called "War on Terrorism", yet when Russian military actually tries to enforce a ceasefire and stop the Georgians from cutting the Ossetians to pieces (again, like the tried in the 90s), you get "omghee teh Russians have invaded teh poowah Georgians". What a joke.
Now, while Southern Ossetia is de-jure part of Georgia, it is defacto a sovereign nation. Remember Kosovo? This isn't any different. Except for that a fragile peace has been actively enforced by Russian peacekeepers for more than 10 years while the three sides (abkhazia, souther ossetia and georgia) were failing to reach a consensus. If there was any hope for the creation of semi-autonomous regions within Georgia - that hope is lost. You don't really think the Ossetians and Abhazians are going to want to be a part of Georgia after this? Georgia literally has 0 diplomatic credits now after repeatedly repudating on and violating international agreements.
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Informative)
South Ossetia is not a sovereign nation, de facto or otherwise. It's recognized by no one, not even Russia. It's a province of Georgia with a separatist militia operating. Georgia has every right to put down an internal insurgency, Russia has no right to invade another nation.
This would be like if the United States invaded Russia in 1999 after Putin ordered the army in to put down Maskhadov's separatist forces. Chechnya was de facto sovereign by your standards, having signed a peace treaty with Yeltsin after the first Chechen War.
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Ossetia == Mini-Sudetenland. (Score:5, Insightful)
You just regurgitated the majority of well crafted Russian Propaganda that has surrounded this affair. Allow me to cut this Gordian Knot.
South Ossetia is South of the Caucasus Mountains [wikipedia.org] . Even the BBC seem to have gotten their heads out of there asses about this fact, and have finally shown a topographical map of the region [bbc.co.uk]. Surprise, surprise. It turns out that the only connection between "North Ossetia" and "South Ossetia" is a the Roki Tunnel [wikipedia.org] constructed in 1957. Yet we are all expected to believe that South Ossetia, has a long rich and deep cultural connection to their northern neighbours, and not with Georgia.
Look at the provence's profile [bbc.co.uk]. Most of it lies above 1000m. Total population ~70,000(There are 250,000 Russian's living in London [russianlondon.com]). Do you know what South Ossetia is? It's a mountain slope. I'm a firm believer in self determination, but wars of national liberation over a bushel of villages on a mountain crag is taking it too far. Comparisons to Kosovo are laughable. Kosovo has over 30 times the population and twice the land mass, with most of that actually being below 1000m.
Border populations like the South Ossetian's exist all over the world, and I'm not in favor of national lines being redrawn to accommodate a handful of malcontents. Oppressed populations perhaps, but there is exactly zero evidence of that. Zero. A war over any such region is totally and completely unjustified.
You want to know what South Ossetia really is? It's a mini Sudentenland [wikipedia.org]. Yeah, yeah, Godwin's Law, sue me. It's a good comparison. A very good comparison in fact. South Ossetia is an excuse, and excuse and nothing more, for Russia to put the smack down on Georgia and bring what it regards as a "near-abroad" [wikipedia.org] province back under its boot. And it's not even a very good excuse.
I've been saying the following for a while, with a new sentence getting added every few years or so. The Bear is up. He's out of Hibernation, and has taken a very long piss. He's licked his wounds. He's wolfed down a few morsels. He's been seen marking the trees around his old haunts. He's been heard growling and roaring, and seen pawing the ground. Here's my latest addition:
The Bear has just made his first big kill in a very long time.
The Bear is back, he is On-Form, and the everybody(especially younger types) had better start getting used to it!
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
It is, as the Georgian president has put it, an act of war.
Definitely, and it's completely at odds with arguments Russia had been making about the former-Yugoslavia situation, particularly the independence of Kosovo. They don't want provinces seceding from their mother country because that would legitimise Chechnya's attempts at independence, yet now they interfere when Georgia tries to stop a province from declaring its independence.
Ofcourse South Ossetia wants to join Russia, and Georgia has supported Chechnya (in words at least), so clearly different standards are in order here. On the other hand, I think Saakashvili overplayed his hand quite a bit, and was a fool for antagonising Russia. With a big and autocratic neighbour like that, an uncomfortable friendship works much better than outright hostility.
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Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
And if you'd have followed the story for a bit longer, you'd realize that this was a damn near inevitable outcome of Russia's approach to "protecting" South Ossetia from Georgia. I was always wondering when the war would start. I'm just surprised it happened so quickly.
If you think this is about anything other than Russia's power politics-driven goals, you're a fool.
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you dont know zit about it (Score:3, Interesting)
then suddenly a few months ago these 'separatist' political group started wearing uniforms and acting like a militia. and then proceeded to break away.
naturally, as this is a region in the MIDDLE of georgia,
Redhat? (Score:5, Funny)
Black Hats and White Hats?
I think this is definitely a Red Hat problem.
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Pay Attention (Offtopic) (Score:5, Insightful)
First of all, let's remember that the Georgians and the Russians have been provoking each other for years over this issue. They have both violated the ceasefire and it will probably be a while before we know who violated the ceasefire lines first.
You lament the invasion, and similarly George Bush stated, "Georgia is a sovereign nation, and its territorial integrity must be respected... We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops. We call for the end of the Russian bombings." Mr Putin expressed similar reservations about Iraq in April 2003:
Be sure to watch the media over the next few days - you'll see pictures of dead and wounded, buildings destroyed, and many other realities of war. Now ask yourself why you don't see any of those images from Iraq. Ask why we saw silhouetted shots of helicopters and long views of nighttime explosions instead of what was really happening on the ground.
We can see on both sides that morality is of little importance. Unfortunately, since we have taken Iraq unilaterally, Russia is free to take Georgia unilaterally, and any other province they can get away with. All they have to do is claim that their national security is threatened, which is a more grounded claim. Georgia is on the Russian border, not thousands of miles away, and they are dealing with their own problems in Chechnya.
It is time to give real power to the UN and the ICC in order to avoid more death and destruction. Unless states submit themselves to a common rule of international law, there will never be a chance for peace.
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Re:Pay Attention (Offtopic) (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless states submit themselves to a common rule of international law, there will never be a chance for peace.
And if the do, you suddenly have a chance to force your morality (drug war, no sex before you're 18, etc) or business model (overbearing "IP" crap) on the entire world, thru a group of rulers who have approximately no connection to reality (because reality is local and everywhere). And there still won't be peace.
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Re:Pay Attention (Offtopic) (Score:5, Funny)
"Unfortunately, since we have taken Iraq unilaterally, Russia is free to take Georgia unilaterally, and any other province they can get away with."
I knew it had to be Bush's fault, but I wasn't sure how.
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Reap/Sow (Score:5, Insightful)
Then that Korean fuckwit, with enough military power, can blow you up without asking first.
The UN arrives at international consensus all the time, with very reasonable compromises for both sides, that the populations of both sides often are in favor for. For instance, declaring the Middle East a nuclear free zone for everyone - Israel, the US, and Iran. This is supported by everyone, except the governments of US and Israel. The US doesn't join the International Criminal Court because their first subject may be Henry Kissinger, or even GW Bush. Thus you can't expect the current government elite to make any move that could endanger themselves or their friends.
If you don't believe in law, then fine, we can continue to be an outlaw state, burning and pillaging at our whim. But when you are on the receiving end of the bullet, try not to complain.
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War (Score:3, Insightful)
What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why should all of us be outraged at goings on in the Russian Empire?
Such outrage would be predicated on our individual relationship to the region, if we had a dog in that fight, which side that dog was on, and how much we cared about that dog vs. others.
I, for example, consider that the Ossetia mess will do useful damage to Russia and might wake up a few Europeans to the reality that the Russian is still their historic enemy.
I'm not "outraged" because I figure the Georgian leadership rolled the dice and should have expected a possible negative outcome. (Next time, collapse the Roki tunnel!) I am interested.
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Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Insightful)
What's so funny about an illegal war?
Where can I find a legal one?
Who put the humor tag on this story?
Probably someone who likes word games, or thinks it's funny when AIs get tripped up by ambiguous terms.
Where's the outrage against Russia's invasion of a sovereign country?
Without knowing the background, how do we know that outrage would be appropriate? Now, "oh crap, I hope it doesn't spread" might be appropriate...
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Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Well, you may be not aware of this (Score:4, Informative)
But Georgia was under Russian rule for well over 200 years. Then it was broken off by separatists and declared itself a separate country. It's kind of like separatists come to power in Texas and declare it a separate country - you wouldn't like it. There were people in Ossetia who didn't like it - after all, Georgia has about as much of a right to Ossetia as Russia, so Ossetians FOUGHT for independence from Georgia FOR YEARS, with a lot of lives lost. They even called that particular war a "patriotic" one. They are not Georgians, most of them speak Russian only and are Russian citizens, why the fuck should they just roll over and spread their butt cheeks to Georgians?
The sequence of events was like this: Georgia flattens a sleeping city, killing a bunch of Russian citizens among everybody else. Russia goes to the UN and asks to intervene. The UN gives it a middle finger. Russia says "fuck it, we'll pwn them then" and proceeds with pwning Georgia on its own.
Finally, there's no "invasion" of Georgia going on. There's bombing of the military bases (watch your tax dollars go up in smoke, US citizens!), to be sure, but there are no troops on the ground. If Russia wanted to, Tbilisi would already be in ruins. But it won't happen, because there are a TON of Russians living in Georgia too.
How THE FUCK is this "Russian aggression" I keep reading about in US media?
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Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Informative)
There's another thing to worry about as well. A major pipeline that delivers over 1% of the world's supply of oil (most of it bound for Western Europe) could be at risk. The pipeline flows from Azerbaijan (A major oil producer and non-OPEC nation), into Georgia and finally to the Black Sea. We need that pipeline to stay intact to keep the amount of oil we get from OPEC to stay at the level it is now. I'm sure Russia wouldnt mind "accidentally" destroying this or other oil related structures in Georgia. In fact they already have come close [ap.org].
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On a more serious note. (Score:3, Interesting)
On a more serious note, yes it's horrible (The United States) Russia is invading (Iraq) Georgia and it could set a nasty precedent for them to do it elsewhere in the (Middle East) former Soviet States. If they get away with this, what would keep them from say, invading (Iran) East Ukraine, which has a high population of (Pro-Islamic) Pro-Russian supporters? Sadly, I don't see any Western Countries comming to the aid of the opposing forces against (The United States) Russia. No one out there seems to want to
google (Score:4, Funny)
so... ummm... russian army works for google?
Anyone at the pentagon use google news? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Anyone at the pentagon use google news? (Score:5, Informative)
That may actually be a more insightful comment than you know. Georgia has been making progress towards NATO membership, and under article 5 of the NATO treaty this attack by Russia would have to be responded by all of NATO.
Parent
Editorializing in summary? (Score:5, Insightful)
Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern U.S
I am actually quite amazed that /. would put such an inflamatory phrase like that into a summary. By using the word "ridden" are you implying that being proud of your race is a bad trait? I do believe that while we are at the olympics, many people are 'proud' of their country, heritage or race. However, in light of the olympics, this is a positive thing as we cheer in the name of sport and friendly competition. The usage in the summary, gives the impression that all Georgian's are Klansman. One should note that Georgia has a higher percentage of African Americans (29%) than the US average http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13000.html [census.gov], and I'm sure they are proud of being from Georgia.
Why not describe other countries that are predominantly Caucasian such as Sweden, or Ireland in the same manner?
Other uses that you should try:
Arab-pride-ridden (Iraq)
Jewish-price-ridden (Israel)
Linux-pride-ridden (./)
Re:Editorializing in summary? (Score:4, Funny)
Haha, I've heard all the stereotype jokes before, but is that a typo or a Freudian Slip?
Parent
Re:Editorializing in summary? (Score:5, Informative)
You also may have missed that it was intended mostly as a play on words.
...the nation-state in the Caucasus, not the Caucasian-pride-ridden state...
Get it? Caucasus, caucasian? Nothing?
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Red Dawn (Score:3, Insightful)
Why assume Jessica B was in Georgia, USA? (Score:4, Informative)
Dear theodp: You're a bigot. (Score:5, Insightful)
You sir, do not have a clue.
I have lived in Georgia for 14 eyars, having previously spent time in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. I can tell you that both northern states are by far-and-away more racist than Georgia. In 14 years, not once (NOT ONCE -- for emphasis) have I heard a white person use the N-word, while in both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, I witnessed not only frequent use of the word, but also blind, entrenched bigotry. Never have I seen whites and minorities live more harmoniously that in Georgia (the ghettoization of minorities in northern cities is NOT "harmony").
While there are white supremacists in Georgia (whom I have never met), I think it's safe to say they are a complete minority. Meanwhile, your own bigotry is available for all to see in the summary.
Re:Dear theodp: You're a bigot. (Score:5, Informative)
Never have I seen whites and minorities live more harmoniously that in Georgia (the ghettoization of minorities in northern cities is NOT "harmony").
Wow... Maybe you were in Atlanta or something. I attended high school in the aforementioned Effingham County in the mid-1990s, after moving there from southern California. The racism in that area astounded me. I was shocked and disgusted during my entire time there. There was "harmony" in that black people everywhere exhibited a constant air of fear and overt politeness. There was nearly zero social crossover between populations. The bloody high school even had officially separate Black and White prom queen and king elections, I shit you not. People wrote essays about the "War of Northern Agression" for class projects, etc... The high school mascot was a confederate soldier... My dad found KKK meeting announcements on break-room bulletin boards at his job in Savannah. I am not making any of this up. People joke about it, but it's because of the ring of truth to it. It's seriously messed up, and I doubt it has improved significantly over the last decade.
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So..... (Score:4, Insightful)
"Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern U.S."
-----So, Black Pride, Latino Pride, and Asian Pride are O.K., but Caucasian Pride is not?
Re:poor russians (Score:5, Funny)
I always wanted to start a burger chain in Effingham country called "Effingham Burgers." You can get an Effingham Burger, or an Effingham Sandwich.
The come with effing fries.
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Re:poor russians (Score:4, Funny)
Should I tell you about the Vietnamese noodle (pho) restaurant near me named Pho King?
"Where's our Pho King food?"
"It's right here. Here's your Pho King meal."
(the t-shirts say "It's Pho King Delicious", so it isn't accidental)
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