RUSSIA MAY BE ABOUT TO USE A U.S. CITIZEN AS A PAWN IN A DIPLOMATIC CHESS GAME. Russia, desperate to justify its
brutal invasion of tiny Georgia, is trumping up charges against American citizen
Michael Lee White of Texas. The New York Times and other news outlets are reporting this as of late yesterday,
BUT THERE IS A BIZARRE TWIST TO THE STORY.
First, a summary from the New York Times (followed by the weird twist):
A senior Russian defense official, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said at a news conference in 
Moscow on Thursday that Russian forces had found a United States passport in a ruined building near Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. The position, he said, had been occupied by Georgian Interior Ministry forces.... [Russian] General Nogovitsyn said the passport was in the name of Michael Lee White of Texas, but gave no information on whether Russians believed that he was a member of the United States military. The United States Embassy in Georgia told The Associated Press that it had no information on the matter. (
Source: New York Times...)
The bizarre twist:
Last night, not sleeping well, I got up and listened to the radio for brief time.
A woman called in to Coast to Coast AM, a national radio show, and said she was the mother of Michael Lee White. First, a the summary from Coast to Coast's web site:
Maida in Austin, TX told George her son's missing passport that was found in Georgia by Russian defense officials. The passport, belonging to Texas resident Michael Lee White, is being used by Vladimir Putin to implicate the United States in the Georgia conflict.... According to Maida, her son's passport was stolen in Kazakhstan in 2005. He was traveling with a new passport and has gone missing in China, she said. Maida believes her son may be under arrest and fears he may be forced to confess to something he did not do. (Source: Coast to Coast AM
What Coast to Coast's web site omitted, from my notes taken as Maida spoke
is this:
Maida's son, Michael Lee White, has been teaching English as a foreign language in China for about two years.
The U.S. Department of State phoned her home earlier this week to warn them about the Russian-Chinese scheme to set him up, but too late. Michael had already returned to China, to teach in the new semester, just two or three days before the State Department phone call.
Think about this analogy: Police arrest a guy,
plant drugs in his pocket, and claim they arrested him for carrying drugs. That seems to be what Russia is doing with a U.S. passport lost or stolen in Kazakhstan in 2005.
Michael had been in Texas to help mother Maida care for his elderly father, who recently suffered a stroke.
The reason Michael may be missing and under arrest in China, Maida said on the air, is that - in her estimation - the Chinese are cooperating with Russia to set up the U.S. as the culprit in the Russia-Georgia war. Maida noted that there was a recent meeting of officials from Russia, China and Kazakhstan and that they cooked up the scheme to use Michael's lost 2005 passport for the set up.
The Chinese, said Maida, may try to extract a false confession from Michael, even though, she insists, he could not have been involved while he was caring for his ailing father in Texas.
Russia is obviously trying to score public relations points with this tactic. Let us pray for the safety of Michael Lee White, in the hands of the Chinese who are acting in coordination with Russia.
RELATED:
Georgia 'overrun' by Russian troops as full-scale ground invasion begins - Mail Online (UK)
Russia facing battle backlash - National Post, Canada
Putin links war in Georgia to GOP's ambitions - The Plain Dealer
Russia isolated over Georgia - elEconomista.es, Spain
Russian leaders act intoxicated by oil revenue - PennEnergy, TX
Understanding Putin and the conflict in the Caucasus - OpEdNews
Putin warns Europe not to support US - United Press International
Bush correct to rattle saber - Santa Maria (CA) Times
Putin blames West for manipulating news about Georgia conflict - Hindu, India
