South Ossetia: war and politics

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Thomas de Waal, 10 - 08 - 2008

Georgia's blitzkrieg against one of its two breakaway territories, South Ossetia, is provoking a ferocious Russian response. This is a political as well as a military disaster, says Thomas de Waal - and the primary responsibility lies with Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili.

10 - 08 - 2008

The Caucasus is the kind of place where, when the guns start firing,
it's hard to stop them. That is the brutal reality of South Ossetia,
where a small conflict is beginning to spread exponentially.

Leave aside the geopolitics for the moment and have pity for the people who
will suffer most from this, the citizens - mostly ethnic Ossetians but
also Georgians - who have already died in their hundreds. It is a tiny
and vulnerable place, with no more than 75,000 inhabitants of both
nationalities mixed up in a patchwork of villages and one sleepy
provincial town in the foothills of the Caucasus.

(To read on, click here.... )

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David Dzidzikashvili (not verified) said:

Wed, 2008-09-10 14:45

Georgians did not start the war!

Many experts and diplomats wondered whether the Russian government is sick with xenophobia and with the nostalgia of "good, old Soviet Union" is trying to revive the forgotten empire. Or maybe they are just playing a very stupid game that will have extremely severe consequences to the future of Russia and its citizens.

It is not a new fact that the people from Caucasus republics are constantly being discriminated in Russia, are targets of Russian neo-Nazi groups and live second class citizens lives. The Russian government never tried to understand the mentality, culture and social norms of the people from the Caucasus region. Throughout history the Russian empire or the Soviets or Putin's regime have been applying one rule to the Caucasus region in order to maintain control over it: divide and conquer! Putin successfully fueled ethnic tensions between various Caucasus nationalities, so they all had to look up to the Russians for help and the roots of this policy date back to Tsar's Russian Empire, when the Russians were only able to take control over Caucasus with the help of Caucasus nations, primarily the Georgians. The Georgians thought they were doing a favor and Tsar would leave them alone to govern their own lives, but the Georgians were wrong.

After the collapse of Soviet Union the Russian government successfully fueled ethnic tensions between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Georgians and Ossetians, Georgians and Abkhazians, Ingushis and Ossetians, etc… This was the only strategy and the only game the Russian rulers played by: fuel hatred, divide the territories, resettle and arm the people so there will be no peace until the Russian soldier places his foot in the region. And of course, the Russian army is known for their outstanding performance in "peacekeeping" missions that have carried out, being involved in genocide, ethnic cleansing (Georgians in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Chechen civilians), rape, murder, torture and the list goes on. At the end it seems that the Russian "peacekeeping mission" is not that peaceful at all.

It is evident that the Russian political system always been in shape of a Pyramid, where all the political and economic control spheres of country is divided between a leader (Czar, or Secretary General or Prime Minister) at the top, who has a direct control and right hand support of secret service at one angle and military at the other. This is the heart of the Russian political life and everything else develops around it. With a strong propaganda machine, complete control over Russian citizens is assured, as well as "democratic" elections where one candidate always receives the vast majority (if not all) of the votes and there never seems to be opposition to the candidate. And what about the President Medvedev? He is just another toy in Putin's closet…

Putin decided to send a strong signal to the world and wished to overthrow the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, but he failed. He strongly believes that the fate of the Georgian people depends on his wishes and is determine to shape the borders of another sovereign country. This move directly threatens the World Order established after World War II. The current World Order is not perfect, but so far, with its deficiencies it is working.

After the brief war with Georgia, the Russian government tried to justify its move by saying that the Georgians started the war. Here is the first lie! The Georgian government has been saying since beginning of August 2008 that the situation in South Ossetia is escalating and the Russian "peacekeepers" are staging provocations together with illegal armed forces of South Ossetian separatist regime. They started killing Georgian police officers and firing artillery shells at the Georgian villages located in South Ossetia, but the world was preoccupied with getting ready for the opening ceremony of Beijing 2008 Olympics.

When the Georgian government officials told the Europeans in Brussels that we were at the brink of war, the Europeans politely warned the Georgians not to use the word "war" in the city of Brussels, because they do not like the word "war." It seems that old Europe is getting older each day and with the age, because numerous warnings and cries by the Georgian officials fell on the deaf ears of old Europe. Never mind the fact that it took Hitler conquering Poland and Czechoslovakia, before the Western Europe realized this was a war.

And what about the Americans? The American society is in the midst of elections, the Democrats want to see Europe take more responsibility for security in Caucasus region, the Republicans are divided and worried about gay marriage and abortion rights… The friends of Georgia in new Europe are trying everything to force the old Europe take harsher approach towards Russia, but Europe is dependent on Russian natural gas and oil.
Giving up on a young democracy does not seem plausible for the Europeans, but the old Europe is scared of the new Russian bear. The new Russia is controlled by a xenophobic psychopath who has decided to break all the rules of the game, in order to change those rules. And the question comes: how can you stop a bully? Everyone can keep condemning the Russian government, but that paper will wind up in Putin's toilet again… The only way to stop a bully is bully up against the bully – simple rule of life.

With the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Russian government has proven the world that they will violate international laws whenever they feel like it and they will use aggression in the name of peace as they did in Prague 1968. If the world would not stand up for Georgia, who will be the next prey of the hungry Russian bear? Maybe Ukraine? Or Moldova? Or who knows… The Russian government is as unpredictable as the weather in England…

The Georgian people are united and stand united, we have survived the onslaught by Mongols, Persians, Arabs, Turk-Seljuks throughout the history and we have still survived and we are not scared of the Russian bear either.

Just last question to Mr. Putin. Mr. Putin, if you are so concerned about the freedom of small minorities, why not recognize the independence of Chechnya? Then Daghestan? Then Ingushetia? And then all the other autonomous republics where the citizens do not even speak Russian? Think about that at first and then lets discuss the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, after 300,000 Georgian refugees return to their own homes.
And to my fellow Abkhazian and South Ossetian brothers and sisters. Yes, there will be dancing and celebration in Sokhumi and Tskinvali. Yes, you will be smiling and waving flags - Georgian flags of course….

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PeterFacey (not verified) said:

Mon, 2008-08-11 10:23

The World party’s as the Tanks roll.
On Friday (8th August) I like billions of others was watching the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing. Little did I know that while the TV showed smiling world leaders clapping their teams, Russian tanks had crossed the Georgian border defend the break away region of South Ossetia. Georgian troops had launched a full-scale attack the night before after days of fighting to retake South Ossetia.
The region effectively broke away shortly after Georgia gained its independence following the break up of the USSR. Russia enforced a cease-fire and has maintained peacekeepers in the region ever since, even though the separatists aim is to become part of Russia and join with the ethnic cousins in North Ossetia.
Now I am not going to paint Georgia as the paragon of virtue, it is a flawed democracy and its President has shown authoritarian tendencies.
But at the worst Georgia was doing what Russia did in Chechnya or Croatia did in the Krajina to attempt to impose its rule by force within its internationally recognized borders. And unlike Croatia it has offered full autonomy within Georgia under international supervision.
Now Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of South Ossetia saying it will not cease-fire until it has recaptured all the territory lost to the Georgians in the last few days. Georgia has said that it is at war with Russia and called for an immediate cease-fire.
Now this conflict goes beyond the rights of Georgia and South Ossetia, we now have a member of the Council of Europe that aspires to EU and NATO membership being invaded by a UN Security Council Member.
If it stays as and Russia effectively takes control of S Ossetia and annexes it in all but name, then we are back to real politic and the idea of big states doing what they like in their own backyard. This will not only mean that Georgia’s European dream ends, but that other states on the border of Russia face the real danger of becoming vassal states.
Europe and the wider international community must put pressure on Russia even to call a cease-fire and accept peacekeepers into South Ossetia. These peacekeepers cannot be Russian, as Russia is now party to the conflict. If necessary we must be willing to impose economic sanctions on Russia and Georgia if they refuse to cease-fire and allow in neutral peacekeepers.
The EU must offer to put in troops to allow both sides to withdraw, this would meet Russia formal objective of securing South Ossetia and allow people to return to their homes and rebuild, both those who fled recently and those who were forced out in the 1990’s. The Georgian Government has said they are willing to give S Ossetia full autonomy, if the EU took over peacekeeping this could be achieved with Russia and the EU guaranteeing S Ossetia’s autonomy within Georgia, thereby achieving both countries formal demands. Now I am not naïve enough to believe that such a deal would be easy.
But If this does not happen then 2008 will be remember not for a good party in Beijing, but as the year that Europe was again divided to formal spheres of influence and a new cold war divided our continent.
Peter Facey
(writing in a individual capacity)