The Russian line on South Ossetia moves from Independence to Annexation

For a laugh, I thought I'd watch Russia Today, the Kremlin's propaganda channel to see what Russians are being told about the conflict in Georgia, and it was clear that the Kremlin has a new agenda.

Last week the Russia Today line (fed to them and read out by british journalists taking the money and caring little about the real news) was that the "Fascist democratic government of Georgia launched an unprovoked attack on an defenceless sovereign state". Last week too the line from the Kremlin was about Ossetians wanting independence.

Today though the tack of the channel has changed. Now all the claims are of "Georgia and the Us attacking South Ossetia" and that "South Ossetia is not strong enough to stand up to Georgia and America as an independent state and they need Russian help". Other reports too were making the case for Russian annexation of South Ossetia.

So don' t be surprised if this is the next step in Russia's master plan. After all, Russia Today only reports what the Kremlin tells it to reports.

Update : Russia has had to admit that the figures it gave (and which Russia Today still reports), 1600 did not die in South Ossetia. Instead the figure is less than 10% of that figure.