'Caucasus crisis prelude to war on Iran'

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=68765&sectionid=351020101

Prominent anti-war activist Michel Chossudovsky says the Caucasus conflict is a prelude to a joint attack by the US and Israel on Iran.

According to Chossudovsky, the Canadian economist, the United States had been actively involved in the planning and logistics of the Georgian military operation in South Ossetia.

In mid-July, Georgian and US troops held a joint military exercise dubbed 'Immediate Response' involving respectively 1,200 US and 800 Georgian troops.

Shortly after the military drill, Georgian military forces launched a large-scale military offensive against South Ossetia on August 7.

Russia, in response, sent its troops into the region.

The conflict in South Ossetia resulted in some 1500 civilian deaths, and the displacement of 34,000 others, according to both Russian and Western sources.

Chossudovsky, the forensic Global Research author, said Georgia would never act militarily without the assent of Washington.

"The war on Southern Ossetia was not meant to be won," he said, adding that, "It was intended to destabilize the region."

"Let us be under no illusions. This is not a civil war. The attacks are an integral part of the broader Middle East Central Asian war, including US-NATO-Israeli war preparations in relation to Iran,"

Chossudovsky cautioned.

According to the Debkafiles, in addition to the Israeli military advisers' aid to Georgia to carryout the August 7-8 ground assault, Israel supplied Mikheil Saakashvili's government with Hermes-450 and Skylark unmanned aerial vehicles.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Duma Deputy Sergei Markov told Press TV that, "this war in South Ossetia is somehow connected with the aggression of Washington against Iran and the possible bombing of Iran."

"Washington helped Georgia to take control of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, (because) it needs Georgian territory to use for bombing against Iran," he added.

Tel Aviv and Washington accuse Iran of developing nuclear arms, and have threatened to launch air strikes against the country.

However, the UN nuclear watchdog has announced that no evidence had been found to support the US and Israel's allegations against Iran.

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