THE US is sending a third ship, the USS Mount Whitney, to the Black Sea at the end of the month with humanitarian aid for Georgia, the US Navy said today.
The Mount Whitney, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, will join the guided missile destroyer USS McFaul and the Coast Guard cutter Dallas in delivering relief supplies to Georgia, it said.
USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20), a Blue Ridge class command ship, is the flagship of the United States Navy's 6th Fleet. She is also the command and control ship for Commander Joint Command Lisbon and Commander Striking Force NATO. She had previously served for years as 2nd Fleet's command ship.
The Mount Whitney “is currently on-loading humanitarian relief materials in her home port of Gaeta, Italy, and will proceed to Georgia later this month,” the fleet said.
“The ships will deliver thousands of blankets, hygiene kits, baby food and infant care supplies to save lives and alleviate human suffering,” it said.
The McFaul departed from Crete yesterday for the Black Sea and was expected to be in Georgia within a week. The Dallas was slated to follow it from Souda Bay, Crete.
“The Russians have been informed along the way about our activities and our intentions,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
US military transport planes also have been delivering relief supplies to Georgia on a daily basis over the past week.
BUT, Where is the EU?
To be fair the French who hold the EU presidency for the time being, have been busy. After dispatching two planes with emergency relief supplies last
week, France sent an evaluator, a colonel in the fire department, to
Tbilisi on Saturday with a four-member civil security team provided by
EU countries.
They also rescued and returned to France 474 civilians, that number includes 315 French nationals, 71
Georgians, 17 Spaniards, 16 Belgians, 14 Italians, 11 Dutch, six New
Zealanders, four Germans, three Austrians, three Britons, three
Mauricians, two Russians, two Trinidadians, one Algerian, one American,
one Belorusan, one Dane, one Japanese, one Norwegian and one Swiss
national.
A DC-10 cargo plane leased by the Ministry of
Foreign and European Affairs arrived in Tbilisi the morning of the 20th, carrying
60 tons of emergency relief supplies (tents, cots, blankets and staple
goods) along with medical supplies. This flight was the third French
humanitarian flight, following rotations by an Airbus A-340 from the
Defense Ministry on Tuesday and Wednesday.
However, where is the British contingent ? The Dutch ? The Italians? Where are the Germans who are relying on not upsetting the Russians who may cut off their gas this winter but have coughed up some money. Where are the other EU relief supply aircraft?
Where is the Boy Miliband or Des Browne spouting political spin out of sending the RAF or Royal Navy in to help? (In fact where is Des Browne? Oh silly me, he's probably still on holiday in Saudi trying to flog the RAF).
All bloody talk talk and no soddin action. Couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.
