Word: gori
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...city of Gori has been getting a lot of attention lately, as the target of Russian air attacks that followed the outbreak of fighting in South Ossetia. But that's not the central Georgian city's only claim to fame. Gori is home to perhaps the world's only museum officially dedicated to the memory of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who was born there in 1878, and named Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. And, curiously enough, it turns out that many residents of Gori, have a soft spot for the dictator. His epic crimes and Russia's recent attack on their homeland...
...road to Gori - which is also the main artery linking Black Sea ports in west Georgia with the capital and points east, and which has been cut since the weekend - was supposed to have been clear on Wednesday, following a cease-fire between Russian and Georgian forces on Tuesday. The Georgian government announced its opening last night. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had planned to visit the town tomorrow, taking this road. But earlier today it remained cut off by Russian troops. Georgians, even senior politicians, as well as aid workers and journalists, were being turned back, reflecting ongoing...
Robizon Etgadashvili, 57, left his village of Kareleti, five miles from Gori, three days ago after looters whom he didn't recognize began ransacking the village and carting away possessions in stolen cars. They took TVs, rugs, even windows and doors. "I said to four men who came into my house, 'Take what you want,' and they said, 'We don't have to ask you, it is ours,' " said the farmer, who was walking the road to Tbilisi 80 km (50 miles) away. "When the Russian army goes, the Ossetians come and take everything." A neighbor and grandfather...
Even the governor of Gori was barred from returning to his town today. Waiting at a police checkpoint in his black Toyota Land Cruiser some 48 km (30 miles) from Gori, he said the Georgian government ordered him to leave yesterday for his own security after looters overran the town, ransacking his home and office. He said that, according to his sources, local Ossetians are urging Russian troops to stay. "They (Ossetians) don't want to be exposed (to retribution)," said the governor, Vladimir Vardzelashvili...
Meanwhile, less than 100 m (about 300 ft.) from Russian positions outside Gori, Georgian special forces are dug in, waiting to move back into the city. Goga Gegenava is a special forces lieutenant, suited up with Russian- and Austrian-made weapons and American protective gear. He says they have reports of 4,000 Russian troops still in Georgian territory. "They are doing what they want. We have no control," he says, shrugging. "They have tanks, bombs, jets. We Georgians can't do anything about this." Behind him a winding column of thousands of Georgian troops and artillery units is nevertheless...