Siberian Light has a nice weekly round up of stories and comment on Russia and its surrounds. I particularly liked that the link to an article in Itar-Tass on the Russian response to the Georgian parliament's resolution for making the Russian military go away:

A high-ranking officer of the Russian Ministry of Defence, speaking in comment on demands being voiced in Tbilisi for an immediate withdrawal of the Russian military bases from Batumi and Akhalkalaki, told Itar-Tass here on Thursday that the Russian military bases can be withdrawn from Georgia not earlier than in three to four years' time. "This is the official stand of the Russian military leadership," the officer pointed out.

"We thoroughly examined all the options and arrived at a conclusion that three to four years constitute the minimum necessary period for a withdrawal of our bases from Georgia."

"What, is taking the concrete, sand, and gravel included in the timeframe? Seriously, I do find it surprising they have so much *stuff* in Georgia that it exceeds any and all free capacity at military bases in Russia. It makes me wonder if the military just likes the weather in Georgia.

And don't you just love the air of this quote: "This is the official stand of the Russian military leadership." Reminds me of the olden days when the civilian leadership was subservient to the military's. Or was it the other way around. Or did that matter. In any event, all I can say is, "I'm convinced!"

(Maybe, I shouldn't be too tough on it; if it was translated poorly, there may have been some changes in meaning.)