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Google News Has Russian Army Invading Savannah, GA
Posted by
timothy
on Sat Aug 09, 2008 06:12 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)
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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: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?
Parent
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: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)
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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].
Parent
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.
Parent
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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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.
Parent
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.
Parent
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).
Parent
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, 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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Redhat? (Score:5, Funny)
Black Hats and White Hats?
I think this is definitely a Red Hat problem.
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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: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.
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