The Stop the War meeting, GEORGIA, NATO & THE SPREAD OF WAR, held at Friend's Meeting House on 14 August and at short notice was packed out.

The meeting was a reflection of public concern and public knowledge, in the face of a political and media establishment who have, in this latest escalation of the 'long war', been feeding us untruths.

MARK ALMOND, lecturer in History, Oxford University and expert on the Caucasus, provided the meeting with the sort of background information on Georgia so sadly lacking on the BBC.

Visiting a Georgian prison he had expressed concern to the prison governor at the possibility that political prisoners may have been tortured. 'Don't worry,' he was told, 'We torture everyone.'

Saakashvili, far from being a democrat brought to power on the shoulders of an orange, yellow or was it rose revolution, was and is a placeman of the United States. US-educated, he was the last person to win the Enron Prize for Distinquished Public Service.

Georgian troops have been part of the US occupation force in Iraq (hurried back to Georgia in their desert fatigues).

Mark reminded us that it was the Georgians who started the recent conflict with their blitzkrieg attack on South Ossetia and in doing so broke the peace treaty which they had signed with the Russians. The majority of Ossetians wished to be part of the Russian Federation and didn't want to be embedded in Georgia. But, hey, when it comes to running pipelines from the Caspian basin through Georgia, democracy is not going to get in the way.

BORIS KAGARLITSKY, former director of the Institute of Globalisation Studies, Moscow and author of, 'Empire of the Periphery: Russia and the World System', said he was no fan of Putin or the Russian government, but the armed conflict was started by Georgia.

He told us that the Russian people have no problem with the Georgians, they loved to drink their wine, which is now unavailable to them, and eat their food.

There had never been a problem between Georgia and Russia so why now?

Could it be, he argued, something to do with the attempt by the US to stir up conflict on the fringes of Russia, to spread NATO and to control oil resources?

The US military have been heavily engaged in training and equipping the Georgian army.

Boris added that his analysis was correct because he loved the Georgians and was less fond of the wronged Ossetians who had a reputation for exporting lousy vodka to the Russians, killing many more than have died in any recent conflict in the Caucasus.

KATE HUDSON, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said that the conflict is in large measure the product of George Bush's policy of US global hegemony, in the Caucasus as in the Middle East.

The expansion of NATO began with the accession of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland.

It has now grown to include many more former east European states.

This threatening situation for Russia has been exarcebated by the placing of the US missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

JOHN REES, Officer of Stop the War Coalition and author of 'Imperialism and Resistance' argued that the situation in Georgia was evidence of a dangerous inter-imperial conflict with the US and NATO trying to encircle Russia.

There were important divisions in the West to be noted. Even Berlusconi has opposed the US policy and objectives whereas, of fourse, David Miliband and the British government follow loyally behind their US masters.

He asked the meeting to consider where we would all be if Georgia was already a member of NATO; a pact that must come to the armed defence of member states!

He concluded that the war in Georgia marks an escalation of the new imperialism from conflicts between major powers and smaller states to a wholly more dangerous phase of confrontation between major powers.

Audio recording to follow