[TheoRetiKule]

Hmm... stranger than fiction? Well, almost...

From today's Independent (UK newspaper):

http://www.independe...one-813039.html

Quote

Georgia says Russian jet shot down its drone

By Margarita Antidze, Reuters
Monday, 21 April 2008


Georgia today accused a Russian air force jet of trespassing into its airspace and shooting down an unmanned Georgian reconnaissance plane, but Moscow said the allegation was nonsense.



The Georgian air force released video footage it said came from the drone's on-board camera and which it said showed a Russian military MiG-29 jet launching a missile at the Georgian plane as it flew over the breakaway Abkhazia region.

The allegation is likely to further aggravate tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi, which are locked in a standoff over Georgia's ambitions to join NATO and Moscow's support for separatist regions of Georgia.

"On April 20 a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet shot down an unarmed, unmanned air vehicle which was performing basic reconnaissance over Georgian territory," Colonel David Nairashvili, commander of Georgia's air force, told Reuters.

"It's absolutely illegal for a Russian MiG-29 to be there," he said.

A spokesman for Russia's air force, when asked about the Georgian allegation, said: "Nonsense. What would a Russian jet fighter be doing over Georgian territory?"

Abkhazia is internationally recognised as part of Georgia but has been controlled by a Moscow-backed separatist administration since a war in the early 1990s. Russia has peacekeeping forces in the region.

Abkhazia's separatist administration said on Sunday its own forces had shot down the drone because it was violating Abkhaz air space. Georgia's pro-Western government is sensitive about any Russian involvement in the region.

Tbilisi last week accused Moscow of a de facto annexation of Abkhazia, and a second breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to establish closer ties with the separatists.

The video footage supplied to Reuters by Georgia's air force showed a jet aircraft firing a missile in the direction of a drone. A few seconds later the screen goes blank.

No identification markings are visible on the aircraft that fired the missile.

Nairashvili said the aircraft type meant it could only be a Russian air force jet. "The MiG-29 has a distinctive twin-tail marking. It's a Russian aircraft. Georgia does not possess it, nor do Abkhaz separatists," he said.

Radar records showed the aircraft took off from a base in Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast, and then crossed into neighbouring Russia after the attack, Nairashvili said.

[Rocky]

I took the above post out of another thread because it deserved it's own discussion.

How spooky is it that all those years ago when RSE scripted the misison plot for Ghost Recon, and picked a date way into the future, that with an accuracy of less than 1 week, events in Georgia are escalating to the point that it is entirely conceivable that Special Forces could be inserted covertly to assist Georgia.

The above is the actual news report from the weekend, here's the first mission briefing from Ghost Recon - written over 5 years ago.

Mission 1 briefing

Quote

Welcome to Tbilisi, gentlemen - I hope you got some shuteye on the flight from Bragg, because now that we're here we've got a lot of work to do.{p}Here's the situation: We've been deployed at the request of the Georgian government to help them deal with rebels on their Russian border. Our area of operations will be the South Ossetian Autonomous region - 1500 square miles of small villages and rugged backcountry. The Ossetians have been skirmishing with the Georgian army for years, but lately the attacks have escalated to the verge of all-out war. Washington thinks that the Russians have engineered the current flare-up as an excuse to step in and annex the whole region. Our job is to cut the legs out from under the revolution before that can happen.{p}Our first mission is a raid on a rebel base in the Caucusus Moutains. A rebel leader named Bakur Papashvili has been attacking army convoys across the Terek River. You'll need to take out his guard posts first, then hit his main camp. You'll find Papashvili in the caves at the top of the hill where he's set up a command center. Take him alive if you can, but remember that he won't surrender unless all his guards are eliminated.

Change Russian Border to Abkhazia and you've got to ask if RSE had some sort of inside info!

The second mission is a search and rescue for a downed plane - again, this news story is about a downed place, although in this case it is a UAV.

Mission2 briefing

Quote

We've been tapped for a search and rescue. The Navy's been flying sorties against rebel positions from its carrier battle group in the Black Sea. Last night, the bad guys got lucky with a SAM and took out one of our F-18s. The pilot and the weapons officer both bailed out before impact, but the rebels picked them up shortly after they activated their beacons. {p}They're being held for interrogation at a farm near the crash site. Your job is to go in and bring them back out alive. Recon photos show the F-18 is still largely intact but heavily guarded. If it's possible to plant a demo charge and blow the plane, do it - but don't jeopardize your main mission. {p}And try to minimize Ossetian casualties - the Russians are already making a big stink at the U.N. about us being here and we don't want to give them any more ammunition. If Moscow decides to intervene, we're going to find ourselves smack in the middle of a major war.

[Thales_]

Ive always wondered that Ghost Recon, released in 2001, was far ahead from its time, but thats amazing.

[Rocky]

I guess if we want to know what happens next, we just have to read Ghost Recon's third mission briefing.

Quote

Word just came down from HQ, gentlemen. We have official confirmation that at 0600 hours three Russian armored divisions crossed the border and linked up with the rebel forces in the north. The Russian foreign minister has issued a statement condemning "international meddling in regional affairs". Looks like we've got ourselves a full-scale international incident.

For now the U.S. is still backing the legitimate Georgian government. Our orders are, quote, "to aid the Georgian army's defensive operations in any way practical". Short and sweet that means we've got the green light to blow stuff up.

First priority is to slow down the main armored column headed for Tbilisi. We've identified an ambush point about 60 klicks west of here where the highway crosses under a rail line. A Georgian command post is nearby - if it's overrun their entire western flank will collapse. Take out the Russian advance patrols first, then the tanks. And keep your demolitions expert under cover until you need him - those tanks aren't going to be stopped by anything less than a rocket up the tailpipe.

So the Russians are going to give Abkhazia military hardware to support their fight against Georgia, and the US is going to support Georgia, well, NATO and the UK have already pledged their support for Georgia so things are really on line for following the GR plot!

[Thales_]

Rocky, on Apr 22 2008, 09:18 AM, said:

I guess if we want to know what happens next, we just have to read Ghost Recon's third mission briefing.

[Forrester]

I fear the region will fall down in war quite soon....
though its fun to see that GR wasn't far from real it is also frightening

[BS PALADIN]

Alot of central asia is in turmoil. Wouldnt take much to set the whole region on the road to all out war. Thats why Ghost Recon was so good. It was believable. I cant see mexican rebels staging a coup on the Mexican government, can you?

[Creatch]

BS PALADIN, on Apr 22 2008, 02:47 PM, said:

Alot of central asia is in turmoil. Wouldnt take much to set the whole region on the road to all out war. Thats why Ghost Recon was so good. It was believable. I cant see mexican rebels staging a coup on the Mexican government, can you?

The Mexican government can't even keep tourists safe from drug gangs in the major vacation areas.
The drug gangs are mostly kids with no fear of police or the military.
However it is possable that their southern neighbours could stage such a cross boarder incursion as they have been trained and equiped and have been fighting for years.

Never attribute to malace that which can easily be explained by stupidity.

[CR6]

Well, not sure if you guys noticed but the bad guy in Rogue Spear was based on Osama Bin Laden, and that was way before 9/11.

A couple of the scenarios in Rogue Spear have "come true" after the game came out including the take over of a Russian theatre by terrorists and the downing of a NATO helicopter in Bosnia.

[Rocky]

CR6, on Apr 23 2008, 06:32 AM, said:

Well, not sure if you guys noticed but the bad guy in Rogue Spear was based on Osama Bin Laden, and that was way before 9/11.

A couple of the scenarios in Rogue Spear have "come true" after the game came out including the take over of a Russian theatre by terrorists and the downing of a NATO helicopter in Bosnia.

Hmmm, there's a whole new article in there CR6

[Pave Low]

Georgia-Russia tensions ramped up

Quote

Russia has warned it will retaliate if Georgia uses force against its breakaway regions.

Moscow has accused Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia, and says it is boosting Russian forces there and in the South Ossetia region.

[Rocky]

[dporter]

Could someone who has connections at RSE tell them to make a game about a guy named, oh I don't know David Porter, and how on July 3 2009 he just happens to get all the winning lottery numbers right on the mega millions?

I guess in a few more years we'll have to start watching more closely our neighbors to the south.

[pz3]

Some kind of conspiracy here. RSE never predicted the future with R6 series and they just signed with UBI right after GR released. Some cover up before hand to hide the fact UBI was trying to start a war with its politically motivated video games?

In all seriousness it is bizar.

and I hate typing on laptops!

This post has been edited by pz3: 05 May 2008 - 06:37 AM

[xuin39]

I just stumbled across the drone article a little while ago. It was sort of shocking to read that article, considering I just re-installed GR1 a few days ago, then tonight I happened across that. I wonder what's up next...