August 17th, 2008
Just a quick follow-up to the story below about Reuters publishing fake photos of civilian victims in Gori. Russian bloggers have identified the photographer responsible for most of these images. He turned out to be Gleb Garanich (Глеб Гаранич) - a Ukrainian photojournalist working for Reuters. The photos, as it turns out, might have been staged.
As I expected, no Photoshop was used, but there is possibility that Garanich used “models” found among the helpful locals to stage his “action” shots. Reuters is still standing by their photographer and maintains that photos are authentic. After being contacted by Russia's Interfax news agency, Reuters released a sequence of photographs taken by Garanich.
It is not clear why Reuters editors thought that this sequence of photos would confirm the authenticity of Garanich's work. If the event was staged – either by Garanich or for his benefit – the sequence of shots released by Reuters confirms nothing. If anything, these photos raise more questions.
Upon close examination, all photos in the sequence released by Reuters show the “victim” on his back. And yet, there is at least one photo made by Garanich that shows the “victim” face down:
This photo was not part of the sequence released by Reuters. We can also see the “grieving relative” from the original sequence of shots, dressed in black calmly surveying the scene. Things just don't add up.
Another shot (below) shows the same “grieving relative” apparently in great distress, but now he is wearing a t-shirt and a black sleeveless shirt, similar to the one from the photo above. Did he go home to get dressed and then came back to pose for other photographers?
The photo above does not have the “Reuters” logo and does not appear in the sequence released by Reuters, so it might have been taken by someone other that Gleb Garanich. This would suggest that Garanich may not have been deliberately misrepresenting the events, but that the entire scene might have been staged for the benefit of visiting photojournalists, including Garanich.
And, of course, nothing explains the BBC video footage that shows the same “victim” being carried “to safety” by Georgian troops. In this BBC video, also shown on Russian TV, you can clearly see that the “victim” is wearing the same sneakers, pants, and shirt and has the same haircut as the subject in Garanich's photos.
As I expected, no Photoshop was used, but there is possibility that Garanich used “models” found among the helpful locals to stage his “action” shots. Reuters is still standing by their photographer and maintains that photos are authentic. After being contacted by Russia's Interfax news agency, Reuters released a sequence of photographs taken by Garanich.
It is not clear why Reuters editors thought that this sequence of photos would confirm the authenticity of Garanich's work. If the event was staged – either by Garanich or for his benefit – the sequence of shots released by Reuters confirms nothing. If anything, these photos raise more questions.
Upon close examination, all photos in the sequence released by Reuters show the “victim” on his back. And yet, there is at least one photo made by Garanich that shows the “victim” face down:
This photo was not part of the sequence released by Reuters. We can also see the “grieving relative” from the original sequence of shots, dressed in black calmly surveying the scene. Things just don't add up.
Another shot (below) shows the same “grieving relative” apparently in great distress, but now he is wearing a t-shirt and a black sleeveless shirt, similar to the one from the photo above. Did he go home to get dressed and then came back to pose for other photographers?
The photo above does not have the “Reuters” logo and does not appear in the sequence released by Reuters, so it might have been taken by someone other that Gleb Garanich. This would suggest that Garanich may not have been deliberately misrepresenting the events, but that the entire scene might have been staged for the benefit of visiting photojournalists, including Garanich.
And, of course, nothing explains the BBC video footage that shows the same “victim” being carried “to safety” by Georgian troops. In this BBC video, also shown on Russian TV, you can clearly see that the “victim” is wearing the same sneakers, pants, and shirt and has the same haircut as the subject in Garanich's photos.
Richard Holbrooke, the former US Ambassador to the UN and currently the vice chairman of Perseus LLC, is now in Tbilisi accusing the cowardly Russian soldiers of stealing pants off the dead bodies of Georgia's courageous warriors. Holbrooke is claiming that Russia is about to invade Ukraine and is getting ready to take over the world tomorrow night.
The information I have from a friend in Moscow, who is a senior journalist for one of Russia's leading business dailies, suggests that Holbrooke might have received as much as $4.8 million in salary from the Belgian PR firm, contracted by president Saakashvili to work with the journalists in Tbilisi.
For those of you who missed the news, The Times recently published “Georgia loses the fight with Russia, but manages to win the PR war,” by Tony Halpin and Roger Boyes, detailing Saakashvili's attempt to mislead Western journalists operating in Georgia's capital. Here's an excerpt from the article in The Times:
Holbrooke's involvement with the Belgian PR firm would explain his unexpected private visit to Tbilisi today and the ludicrous accusations he is making against the Russian army. In a CNN interview today Holbrooke claimed that the Russian soldiers, dressed in “stolen Georgian uniforms and carrying stolen American M16s”, are looting the town of Gori. Holbrooke provided no evidence to support his accusations.
All of you have seen the video footage of Russian troops in Georgia: the Russians have no problem displaying their national flag on their armored vehicles and they make no secret of their presence in Georgia. If anything, they seem to advertise their presence in the country. Rather than accuse the Russians of wearing stolen Georgian uniforms and carrying the ridiculous M16s, perhaps the more logical assumption would be that some Georgian soldiers, wearing their own uniforms and carrying their own M16s, decided to help themselves to the belongings of the fellow countrymen displaced from Gori by the war and that Richard Holbrooke decided to help himself to a few easy, tax-free millions. The man is just trying to retire - nothing's wrong with that.
The information I have from a friend in Moscow, who is a senior journalist for one of Russia's leading business dailies, suggests that Holbrooke might have received as much as $4.8 million in salary from the Belgian PR firm, contracted by president Saakashvili to work with the journalists in Tbilisi.
For those of you who missed the news, The Times recently published “Georgia loses the fight with Russia, but manages to win the PR war,” by Tony Halpin and Roger Boyes, detailing Saakashvili's attempt to mislead Western journalists operating in Georgia's capital. Here's an excerpt from the article in The Times:
“As foreign correspondents poured into Tbilisi a team of Belgian PR advisers launched a slick operation to keep them updated with e-mail alerts detailing the latest alleged aggressions by Russia and the Georgian Government’s reaction. On Sunday, for example, more than 20 e-mails went out to shape Georgia’s message that Russia had launched an invasion.
Some of the claims veered into outright exaggeration – such as stating that Russian jets were “intensively bombing Tbilisi” or that Russian troops had taken Gori – but the 24-hour news culture meant that many organisations repeated them without independent verification.”
Holbrooke's involvement with the Belgian PR firm would explain his unexpected private visit to Tbilisi today and the ludicrous accusations he is making against the Russian army. In a CNN interview today Holbrooke claimed that the Russian soldiers, dressed in “stolen Georgian uniforms and carrying stolen American M16s”, are looting the town of Gori. Holbrooke provided no evidence to support his accusations.
All of you have seen the video footage of Russian troops in Georgia: the Russians have no problem displaying their national flag on their armored vehicles and they make no secret of their presence in Georgia. If anything, they seem to advertise their presence in the country. Rather than accuse the Russians of wearing stolen Georgian uniforms and carrying the ridiculous M16s, perhaps the more logical assumption would be that some Georgian soldiers, wearing their own uniforms and carrying their own M16s, decided to help themselves to the belongings of the fellow countrymen displaced from Gori by the war and that Richard Holbrooke decided to help himself to a few easy, tax-free millions. The man is just trying to retire - nothing's wrong with that.
A quick update on my Verizon saga: I had to cancel my new Verizon Business FiOS and went back to my Comcast Business connection. There are just too many issues with Verizon's service. The primary problems are Verizon's impossible-to-reach customer service and its inept technical support, but there are also issues with quality of signal and network latency.
Did you know, for example, that if you opt-out of Verizon's phone service, you will have to spend up to half-an-hour on the phone before they would finally transfer your call to the appropriate call center? It's true: Verizon support tracks cusotomer accounts using the phone number, but only if you have your phone service with Verizon. If you did not get Verizon's phone service, you will be bounced between different call centers for 10, 20, even 30 minutes before they finally locate your information and patch you through to the right department. I had Verizon Business plan, which comes with a dedicated 24x7 support line, and I was still getting the runaround.
My hardware firewall runs a custom network monitoring script that I wrote a few years ago. Varios network performance data is collected, stored in a database and automatically charted. What I am seeing are unexplained spikes is network latency. Route trace shows that latency is limited to Verizon network. I have no idea what causes this, but I suspect it has something to do with Verizon's PVC configuration. I did not see significant network latency with Comcast.
Calling Verizon tech support is not just incredibly time-consuming, but also completely pointless. They just ping your router and tell you that there is no problem. After some complaining on my part, Verizon sent out a technician. He arrived the very next day but had no idea why they sent him. I showed him network performance stats I collected, but he told me he is not a "network guy". I thanked him for his time and then called Verizon to cancel my subscription. Good thing I still kept my Comcast connection, so switching back was just a matter of reconnecting the coax cable in the garage.
FiOS has good potential, but Verizon still can't get it right. My advise to people who are picky about their network: don't jump on the FiOS bandwagon just yet - give Verizon another year to figure out what it's doing. Comcast is promising a faster network in my area in six months, so maybe I won't have to go back to Verizon.
Did you know, for example, that if you opt-out of Verizon's phone service, you will have to spend up to half-an-hour on the phone before they would finally transfer your call to the appropriate call center? It's true: Verizon support tracks cusotomer accounts using the phone number, but only if you have your phone service with Verizon. If you did not get Verizon's phone service, you will be bounced between different call centers for 10, 20, even 30 minutes before they finally locate your information and patch you through to the right department. I had Verizon Business plan, which comes with a dedicated 24x7 support line, and I was still getting the runaround.
My hardware firewall runs a custom network monitoring script that I wrote a few years ago. Varios network performance data is collected, stored in a database and automatically charted. What I am seeing are unexplained spikes is network latency. Route trace shows that latency is limited to Verizon network. I have no idea what causes this, but I suspect it has something to do with Verizon's PVC configuration. I did not see significant network latency with Comcast.Calling Verizon tech support is not just incredibly time-consuming, but also completely pointless. They just ping your router and tell you that there is no problem. After some complaining on my part, Verizon sent out a technician. He arrived the very next day but had no idea why they sent him. I showed him network performance stats I collected, but he told me he is not a "network guy". I thanked him for his time and then called Verizon to cancel my subscription. Good thing I still kept my Comcast connection, so switching back was just a matter of reconnecting the coax cable in the garage.
FiOS has good potential, but Verizon still can't get it right. My advise to people who are picky about their network: don't jump on the FiOS bandwagon just yet - give Verizon another year to figure out what it's doing. Comcast is promising a faster network in my area in six months, so maybe I won't have to go back to Verizon.
Strength and composition of the Georgian army are a big mystery. I checked over a dozen of authoritative sources and no two report the same numbers. Jane's published a detailed list of major weapons acquisitions by Georgia since 2000. However, in the past few days the Russian military captured weapons not previously known to be in Georgia's inventory.
One of the more interesting finds were six 9A33 “Osa” (NATO designation: SA-8 “Gecko”) mobile SAMs. The “Osa” is a tough little package that carries powerful radars and a six-missile launcher on a 6x6 amphibious chassis. The system is highly mobile and notoriously difficult to track. The “Osa” can take out targets ranging from cruise missiles flying at an altitude of 25 meters to supersonic bombers at 5 kilometers. In 1999 the SA-8 was credited with most ground-to-air kills of NATO manned and unmanned aircraft – both acknowledged and unacknowledged by NATO officials. Not a single Yugoslav SA-8 was destroyed or captured by NATO during or after the war.
Six upgraded SA-8 "Osa" mobile medium-range SAMs belonging to the Georgian army were captured intact by the Russian ground forces. The SAMs were secretly purchased from Ukraine in 2006-2007. An SA-8 of the Polish army is pictured above.
Where did Georgia get these SAMs? The two most likely sources are the same as for Georgia's other weapons purchases: Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Both countries are marketing upgraded SA-8s. Here's a brief note from the August 2008 Jane's World Air Forces about Georgia buying one SA-8:
It would seem that this one SA-8 was shortly followed by another six from Ukraine. Previously I mentioned that Georgia would made an emphasis of beefing up its air defense, if Tbilisi was expecting Russian military response to the attack on Tskhinvali. Now it appears that Georgia did spend quite a bit of money of upgrading its air defenses and, therefore, did at the very least anticipate a military response from Russia. According to the latest official Russian reports, three Russian Su-25 ground attack jets and one Tu-22M3R reconnaissance aircraft were lost to Georgian air defenses.
According to Col. Igor Konashenkov, assistant to the Commander of Land Forces of Russia, in the past few days Russian forces captured 65 Georgian tanks. Over 20 of these tanks were destroyed after being captured because they were either damaged or too old (T-62s) to be of any further use. However, about 30 upgraded T-72s (the ones Saakashvili bought from Ukraine and the Czech Republic in 2005) were hauled away by the Russian vehicle recovery squads. It is interesting that Georgia deployed virtually its entire tank force to deal with South Ossetia. Clearly, Tbilisi's hope was for a quick and overwhelming victory against the poorly-armed South-Ossetian militia.
Georgian T-72 main battle tanks leave Gori, some 46 km from the border of Georgia and South Ossetia, in 2006 (Source, photo and caption: Jane's Defense Weekly, January 2, 2007)
In addition to the 65 tanks and 6 SA-8s, the Russians also captured 15 BMP-2 APCs, a number of D-30 towed howitzers, the Czech-made “Dana” self-propelled howitzers, and US-made armored vehicles (the type was not named). According to Col. Konashenkov, most of the armored vehicle were upgraded by Ukraine.
US-trained Georgian soldiers during a farewell ceremony at the Krtsanisi military training centre outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi in March 2006. about to leave for Iraq (Source, photo and caption: Jane's Defense Weekly, January 2, 2007). From Venik: someone should have told Saakashvili that having his army look like Americans was not enough to fight the Russians.
Earlier in the week Russian troops raided the Georgian military base near Gori. This is one of Georgia's largest bases and was the primary staging point for the push into South-Ossetia by the Georgian army. At the base the Georgians left 15 main battle tanks, dozens of APCs and towed artillery pieces, tons of artillery rounds and unguided rockets. All of the equipment was reported by the Russian to be in working order. The Russians destroyed the ammunition and moved other captured equipment outside of Georgia.
The military base at Senaki, which was opened in 2006 (Source, photo and caption: Jane's/D Hammick)
At another military base near the town of Senaki – also abandoned by the Georgian army without a fight – the Russians 1,728 firearms, including 764 M16 US-made automatic rifles, 28 US-made M-40 machine guns, 754 Kalashnikov automatic rifles of various models, handguns and other weapons. Earlier the same day Russian aviation destroyed two Georgian military helicopters – an Mi-24B/P and an Mi-8MT – at the Senaki military airfield.
Just a reminder, several days ago Georgia's fast guided missile boats attempted to intercept warships of the Russian Black Sea Navy. The Russian vessels opened fire before Georgian attack boats got in range. One Georgian French-made Combattante II Class craft, purchased from Greece in 2004, was sank.
Interior ministry troops advance toward anti-government protesters down Tbilisi’s main avenue on 7 November 2007 (PA Photos). From Venik: beating unarmed civilian is the Georgian army's main speciality. Take a closer look at the hexagonal dish in the background on the right and the round dish on the left: these are the American Technology Medium Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), aka the "sonic guns" - some of the most inhumane "non-lethal" weapons designed to apply HF sonic vibrations to your internal organs.
Today in Kodori, Abkhazia, local self-defense force captured a number of Georgian 127-mm and 82-mm mortars, 120-mm D-30 towed howitzers, 100-mm artillery pieces, anti-aircraft guns, several BM-21 “Grad” MLRS systems, and over a thousand firearms of various types.
Since 2004 Saakashvili spent nearly $2.5 billion (including nearly $300 million in military aid from the US and Turkey) on training his army and buying weapons. The primary sources of these new and upgraded weapons were Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Now most of this hardware will probably be transferred by the Russians to the self-defense forces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
One of the more interesting finds were six 9A33 “Osa” (NATO designation: SA-8 “Gecko”) mobile SAMs. The “Osa” is a tough little package that carries powerful radars and a six-missile launcher on a 6x6 amphibious chassis. The system is highly mobile and notoriously difficult to track. The “Osa” can take out targets ranging from cruise missiles flying at an altitude of 25 meters to supersonic bombers at 5 kilometers. In 1999 the SA-8 was credited with most ground-to-air kills of NATO manned and unmanned aircraft – both acknowledged and unacknowledged by NATO officials. Not a single Yugoslav SA-8 was destroyed or captured by NATO during or after the war.
Six upgraded SA-8 "Osa" mobile medium-range SAMs belonging to the Georgian army were captured intact by the Russian ground forces. The SAMs were secretly purchased from Ukraine in 2006-2007. An SA-8 of the Polish army is pictured above.
Where did Georgia get these SAMs? The two most likely sources are the same as for Georgia's other weapons purchases: Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Both countries are marketing upgraded SA-8s. Here's a brief note from the August 2008 Jane's World Air Forces about Georgia buying one SA-8:
“Georgia has no interceptor aircraft and until 2006 was incapable of engaging enemy aircraft flying above 8,000 m with its ageing Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs). First steps in rectifying this deficiency was taken in 2006 with the modernisation of Georgia's Air Operations Centre connecting military and civilian radar networks and weapons fire control systems, as well as the procurement of a mobile OSA-AKM 9M33M3 (SA-8 Gecko) SAM system from Ukraine. This should extend interception range above 10,000 m but still only has an effective range of 15 km.”
It would seem that this one SA-8 was shortly followed by another six from Ukraine. Previously I mentioned that Georgia would made an emphasis of beefing up its air defense, if Tbilisi was expecting Russian military response to the attack on Tskhinvali. Now it appears that Georgia did spend quite a bit of money of upgrading its air defenses and, therefore, did at the very least anticipate a military response from Russia. According to the latest official Russian reports, three Russian Su-25 ground attack jets and one Tu-22M3R reconnaissance aircraft were lost to Georgian air defenses.
According to Col. Igor Konashenkov, assistant to the Commander of Land Forces of Russia, in the past few days Russian forces captured 65 Georgian tanks. Over 20 of these tanks were destroyed after being captured because they were either damaged or too old (T-62s) to be of any further use. However, about 30 upgraded T-72s (the ones Saakashvili bought from Ukraine and the Czech Republic in 2005) were hauled away by the Russian vehicle recovery squads. It is interesting that Georgia deployed virtually its entire tank force to deal with South Ossetia. Clearly, Tbilisi's hope was for a quick and overwhelming victory against the poorly-armed South-Ossetian militia.
Georgian T-72 main battle tanks leave Gori, some 46 km from the border of Georgia and South Ossetia, in 2006 (Source, photo and caption: Jane's Defense Weekly, January 2, 2007)
In addition to the 65 tanks and 6 SA-8s, the Russians also captured 15 BMP-2 APCs, a number of D-30 towed howitzers, the Czech-made “Dana” self-propelled howitzers, and US-made armored vehicles (the type was not named). According to Col. Konashenkov, most of the armored vehicle were upgraded by Ukraine.
US-trained Georgian soldiers during a farewell ceremony at the Krtsanisi military training centre outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi in March 2006. about to leave for Iraq (Source, photo and caption: Jane's Defense Weekly, January 2, 2007). From Venik: someone should have told Saakashvili that having his army look like Americans was not enough to fight the Russians.
Earlier in the week Russian troops raided the Georgian military base near Gori. This is one of Georgia's largest bases and was the primary staging point for the push into South-Ossetia by the Georgian army. At the base the Georgians left 15 main battle tanks, dozens of APCs and towed artillery pieces, tons of artillery rounds and unguided rockets. All of the equipment was reported by the Russian to be in working order. The Russians destroyed the ammunition and moved other captured equipment outside of Georgia.
The military base at Senaki, which was opened in 2006 (Source, photo and caption: Jane's/D Hammick)
At another military base near the town of Senaki – also abandoned by the Georgian army without a fight – the Russians 1,728 firearms, including 764 M16 US-made automatic rifles, 28 US-made M-40 machine guns, 754 Kalashnikov automatic rifles of various models, handguns and other weapons. Earlier the same day Russian aviation destroyed two Georgian military helicopters – an Mi-24B/P and an Mi-8MT – at the Senaki military airfield.
Just a reminder, several days ago Georgia's fast guided missile boats attempted to intercept warships of the Russian Black Sea Navy. The Russian vessels opened fire before Georgian attack boats got in range. One Georgian French-made Combattante II Class craft, purchased from Greece in 2004, was sank.
Interior ministry troops advance toward anti-government protesters down Tbilisi’s main avenue on 7 November 2007 (PA Photos). From Venik: beating unarmed civilian is the Georgian army's main speciality. Take a closer look at the hexagonal dish in the background on the right and the round dish on the left: these are the American Technology Medium Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), aka the "sonic guns" - some of the most inhumane "non-lethal" weapons designed to apply HF sonic vibrations to your internal organs.
Today in Kodori, Abkhazia, local self-defense force captured a number of Georgian 127-mm and 82-mm mortars, 120-mm D-30 towed howitzers, 100-mm artillery pieces, anti-aircraft guns, several BM-21 “Grad” MLRS systems, and over a thousand firearms of various types.
Since 2004 Saakashvili spent nearly $2.5 billion (including nearly $300 million in military aid from the US and Turkey) on training his army and buying weapons. The primary sources of these new and upgraded weapons were Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Now most of this hardware will probably be transferred by the Russians to the self-defense forces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
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