Israel continues it’s assault and nearly 300 lose their lives as a result.
As Israel continues attacks Fawzi Barhoum has called for revenge asking that his supporters reach “deep into the Zionist entity using all means,” including suicide attacks.

Read about Israel’s attack on Gaza at the New York Times…

John McCain chooses a woman as Vice President. Did Hilary expect this, or for that matter did anyone expect this? And who is Sarah Palin; Sarah Palin is a mother of 5 children who lives in Alaska with Todd her husband. They have raised a son that will be going off to Iraq on September 11, 2008.

Sarah Palin is a former beauty pageant queen who made herself known uncovering ethical misconduct in government politics, and who was a former mayor of the small town Wasilla. Sarah Palin has taken her stance against abortion rights and is said to be a person with true Christian faith and who is a staunch pro-life supporter.

Bill Burton a spokesman for the Obama Campaign said, “Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.”

California Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer had this to say about McCain’s choice.
“The vice president is a heartbeat away from becoming President, so to choose someone with not one hour’s worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice,” she said in a statement. “If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken. The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women. On the issues, they could not be further apart.”

According to Senator Mitch McConell of Kentucky he stated of Sarah Palin, “Governor Palin is a very bright leader who will bring a fresh perspective to a ticket that already has the experience and judgment necessary to lead our country from day one.”

As for the Obama and Biden’s statement they said,

“We send our congratulations to Governor Sarah Palin and her family on her designation as the Republican nominee for Vice President,” they said in a statement. “It is yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics. While we obviously have differences over how best to lead this country forward, Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign.”

Sarah Palin acknowledged Hillary Clinton by saying that she had left, “18 million cracks” in the highest glass ceiling in the land.
Then said, “It turns out that the women in America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling,” trying to appeal to women voters in America.

We have yet to see who will be elected President and Vice President of the United States of America.

After 2 months of searching, Joseph R. Biden Jr. 65 who proclaimed that Senator Barack Obama 47 was “not yet ready” to be the President—is now Barack Obama’s Running Mate. He is a longtime Washington man and an authority on foreign policies.

Joseph Biden Jr. was born into a working class Roman Catholic family in Pennsylvania and graduated from Syracuse Law School. He is presently chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. With this connection he has been given privilege to become familiar with famous foreign leaders and diplomats.

What was McCain’s campaign response? Ben Poritt spokesman for John McCain stated, “There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing — that Barack Obama is not ready to be President.”

Side note: What was Mr. Biden’s stance on the war in Iraq? He was for it, although it must be said, that he has been against the implementation methods of President Bush.

Will his strategy pay off? Instead of working with someone who is a messenger of change which would strengthen his stance on change, he chose an expert who has his share of experience dealing with issues that involve him being a Washington man. Why would Barack Obama agree to this strategy? Could this be Barack’s agreement with Joseph Biden Jr. that he himself is “not yet ready” for the presidency?

On the other hand, with the graying of Barack Obama’s hair—this could be the wisdom of a man who recognizes he will be a more complete President with an arsenal of experience, which is having Joseph Biden Jr. in his corner. And as they say, only time will tell.

Dmitri A. Medvedev has just signed a revised truce 8.16.08 Saturday. Although, he has signed the truce the Kremlin has resisted pulling out of Georgia with urgency.

According to Sergey V. Lavrov, he stated that withdrawal of troops is dependent upon security of the region, but did not specify what particular measures were needed before they would withdrawal. He also stated, “The basic agreements do not determine the ceiling for the peacekeeping contingents. How long it will take, I have already emphasized that it depends not only on us. We are constantly facing problems created by the Georgian side.”

President Bush stated of Russia’s agreement that it is a, “hopeful step. Now Russia needs to honor the agreement and withdraw its forces, and, of course, end military operations.”

As of Saturday, Russian troops have remained contained in and around Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.

The argument goes; Russia says Georgia is at fault for entering South Ossetia. While Georgia has pronounced that Russia intends to make Georgia its vassal state.

According to Condoleezza Rice, “From my point of view, and I’m in contact with the French, the Russians are perhaps already not honoring their word.”

Humanitarian aid has been brought from Gori hospital in order to help those on the country side. When relief arrived the people crowded around the windows in hopes to get some rations that contained food in plastic bags.

A Georgian Soldier remarked, “If American could do something, why didn’t they help us?”

President George W. Bush said of Russia, “Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century.”

President Bush also said Russia’s acceleration of war tactics had “raised serious questions about its intentions in Georgia and the region” and had “substantially damaged Russia’s standing in the world. These actions jeopardize Russia’s relations with the United States and Europe. It’s time for Russia to be true to its word to act to end this crisis.”

According to a US senior official it is believed that Russia has instigated this war from the beginning by attacking Georgian villages in South Ossetia.

Monday the US and six major powers also reproved Russia and called for them to agree to a cease fire and to begin peaceful talks.

Condoleezza Rice and the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan have spoken in a conference call with Georgia who has said they would agree to a cease fire and called for Russia to do the same.

At the same time the US had agreed to fly home approximately 2,000 Georgian troops from Iraq back home. However, Vladimir Putin harshly criticized the US for doing this during a time of conflict believing that this would hamper resolutions by providing support to the Georgian attack forces.

US Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood stated, “We’re not assisting in any conflict.” According to the US they had already agreed to fly Georgian troops out of IRAQ, if there was an emergency.

At this point it is a wait to see approach, and the world can only hope for a peaceful resolution at this time. Hopefully, the UN and the world’s powers can convince Russia that only a cease fire resolution will do.

Conflicts with Russia and the former Soviet Republic of Georgia have escalated. Georgia who is an ally of the United States tried to regain control of the capital of South Ossetia which had gained its freedom from Georgia in the 1990s. Now as a result, Georgia’s president has declared war stating that Russia was planning to invade their country.

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin left the Olympic Games and headed for a military staging area. Vladimir Putin has met with generals and assumed control over what is to take place. Vladimir stated, “There is almost no way we can imagine a return to the status quo.”

The consequences of this are that approximately 1,500 South Ossetia civilians have already lost their lives. And Air strikes have led to a small fraction of these casualties.

President Bush of the US who is attending the Olympics in Beijing 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.” He is currently working with international allies to prevent this catastrophe by mediating a peaceful solution.

President Bush especially referred to, “The attacks occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis. The violence is endangering regional peace, civilian lives are being lost, and others are in danger.”

President Bush and Vladimir Putin have already been in talks about the situation; however there are no sources to verify what was said.

Georgia feels that US intervention is a necessary solution; however it is very unlikely that US troops will intervene to stop Russian attacks.

What it comes down to now is you attacked me here so we attacked you there; however, civilians seem to be the ones paying the price for the barrage against one another.

According to Alexander Lomaya the secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, “We still believe that a unified and consolidated Western pressure and Western opinion can bring some fruit.” He also stated that Russia looked to “thwart its neighbors’ movement toward Western society and Western values.”
He also stated, “Russia has clearly decided to redraw the borders of the Eastern Europe map of the post-cold war situation. If the world is not able to stop Russia here, then Russian tanks and Russian paratroopers can appear in every European capital.”

The foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov from Russia stated, attacks on Russian citizens in South Ossetia “amounted to ethnic cleansing,” and actually referred directly to “Mr. Saakashvili and his Western friends” as a source of this mayhem.

Zema Vazhenina who is only 26 years old had spent 3 days in the middle of this fighting while her walls and ceiling shook from shelling and in the end this is what she described her experience as, “it looked like the end of the world.”