# Did the whole world miss all these thousands of Russian troops on the Georgia border? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742 "2008-09-29T18:05:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/1 "2008-09-29T18:05:34Z")
How long were Russian troops massed on the Georgian border before the incursion? The first I heard of it was when they started bombing. Were they there or close-by all along? It would seem that in a rugged area like the Caucasus, that massive troop movements would not have gone unnoticed. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/2 "2008-09-29T18:44:55Z")
The Russians have lots of troops in Chechnya which is pretty nearby. Also many of the troops were patratroopers who were flown in. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/3 "2008-09-29T18:50:56Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > that massive troop movements would not have gone unnoticed. Someone in the original thread had a link to another forum, and the gist of it was that the russians had been engaged in wargames, a month before they actually went in. As for going un-noticed, that’s the perfect outcome for any military and the russians are masters of the macro rope a dope. The intel guys can weigh in with real world stuff, but think about the mechanics for a sec. Assemble your force structure, so now you have tank regiments mating up with low carriers and rail stock, that can be tracked by recon and signint assets. Add infantry and aerial assets that conduct an increase in live fire exercises and realistic training. In popular fiction some one jumps the chain of command after getting reamed by the boss, and saves the day. In real life, you know someone is going to have a bad day, but its only going to be 20/20 hindsight that you should have seen it coming. declan ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/4 "2008-09-29T19:53:55Z")
Russophobia nothwithstanding, while the Russiand most likely had detailed plans for just such a contingency, its unlikely that they actually expected it to come to what it did. The US no doubt has detailed warplanes for many contingencies. ---
**Author:** ![happ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@happ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happ)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/5 "2008-09-29T20:00:35Z")
Perhaps Sarah Palin wasn’t as vigilant keeping an eye on the neighbors as she claims to be. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/6 "2008-09-29T20:01:39Z")
^ should read “warplans” ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/7 "2008-09-30T04:33:06Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > ^ > > should read “warplans” Hah, concidering the last two iraq wars and air assets , you could be forgiven that typo. declan ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/8 "2008-09-30T05:09:29Z")
Why WOULDN’T the Russians have lots of troops there? Where else should they be? It’s not as if the border with Georgia was some kind of peaceful backwater prior to last month. And so what if the world did notice? Were you expecting the US to start telling the Russian army where they should and shouldn’t be deploying in their own country? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/9 "2008-09-30T06:49:00Z")
> [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](#): > > Why WOULDN’T the Russians have lots of troops there? Where else should they be? It’s not as if the border with Georgia was some kind of peaceful backwater prior to last month.\*\* And so what if the world did notice?\*\* Were you expecting the US to start telling the Russian army where they should and shouldn’t be deploying in their own country? So they had a convienient invasion force good to go , Georgia instigates a military operation within its own borders and the Russian cossacks ride to the rescue of those poor opressed people. I would think that bottom line, had the georgians been told of Putin’s options, they may have held off, forcing the russians to come up with another plan or to engage in diplomacy. As it happened , Georgia fell into a Russian trap. Declan ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/10 "2008-09-30T08:26:42Z")
> [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](#): > > Why WOULDN’T the Russians have lots of troops there? Where else should they be? It’s not as if the border with Georgia was some kind of peaceful backwater prior to last month. And so what if the world did notice? Were you expecting the US to start telling the Russian army where they should and shouldn’t be deploying in their own country? I don’t think that was the idea of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-whole-world-miss-all-these-thousands-of-russian-troops-on-the-georgia-border/465742/11 "2008-09-30T09:05:18Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > So they had a convienient invasion force good to go , Georgia instigates a military operation within its own borders and the Russian cossacks ride to the rescue of those poor opressed people. > > I would think that bottom line, had the georgians been told of Putin’s options, they may have held off, forcing the russians to come up with another plan or to engage in diplomacy. As it happened , Georgia fell into a Russian trap. > > Declan Hardly convinient, they had a paper corps HQ (an Army as they call it) and a single infantry divison the 19th, and little by the way of air assets. They had to airlift most of the troops, and 4th air army had to be reinforced. No doubt there was a warplan, but I really don’t think they expected to execute it until the 8th. Their battalion in Tskhinvali was cut to ribbons fighting the Georgians pretty much alone for two days. Those men probably won the war for Russia, allowed them to send in the reinforcements.