-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Troops revolt in former Soviet republic Associated Press MUKHROVANI, Georgia — About 1,000 Georgian troops armed with tanks and submachine guns mutinied Friday, taking over an Interior Ministry base to demand back wages and better conditions in the former Soviet republic’s underfunded military. Georgia’s top security official, Vakhtang Kutateladze, called it “an attempt of a state coup and a military adventure.” Security was stepped up around the parliament building and the main government administration building in the capital Tbilisi. But the mutineers, and the head of Georgia’s national guard, insisted the protest was economic, not political. “We want normal conditions for our military service, we want our salaries to be paid regularly,” said an officer who gave only his first name, Lado, after he emerged from the seized base to speak to reporters. Poor governments throughout the former Soviet Union have been plagued by chronic wage debts, with teachers, doctors and soldiers going months and sometimes years without pay. In addition, hazing is rampant in the Georgian military and morale is low, and funding shortages mean uniforms, equipment, housing and food are often in short supply. The drama began Friday morning when a 400-strong National Guard battalion left during military exercises and appropriated an Interior Ministry base nearby, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of the capital Tbilisi. The mutineers had three tanks, two armored personnel carriers and submachine guns, according to Merean Kiknadze, an adviser to the defense minister. The men were joined by Interior Ministry troops, and their number grew to about 1,000, said Maj.-Gen. Dzhemal Chumburidze, the National Guard commander. The soldiers freed all the people on the base who did not want to join the protest, and a bus carried about 40 people out. An emotional President Eduard Shevardnadze said on state television that he was ready to help negotiate an end to the ordeal. “I know quite a few of them personally. I bestowed awards on many of them. And that’s why it is particularly painful. No matter how hard their service could be, they had no right to act in such a way,” Shevardnadze said on national television Friday evening. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
