open Democracy News Analysis - conflicts - Comments

Manfred Ostrowski on "Georgia's pluralistic feudalism: a frontline report"

Manfred Ostrowski — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:25:21 +0100

Manfred Ostrowski

The article does not address the main reason for Georgia's

crisis: A highly hostile Russia which took control over two

parts of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The conflict

between Russia and Georgia is centered around the Russian

claim to support "independence" for Abkhazia and South

Ossetia for ethnic reasons. I have studied Caucasian languages for many years and would like to mention

some crucial facts regarding this conflict:

There are only around 97 000 Abkhaz in what is now Abkhazia, less than 20% of the pre-war population

of this territory; the remaining inhabitants were Georgians,

the Mingrelians (near relatives of the Georgians), and

people of Russian descent. Only a minority of these

roughly 97 000 ethnic Abkhaz still speaks their native

language, and since the Abkhaz remain a minority in the territory of (now Russian-controlled) Abkhazia, the ethnic argument for an independent Abkhazia which neglects rights to the Georgian and Mingrelian part of the population is completely flawed.

According to official data, there were around 180 000

ethnic South Ossetin in pre-war Georgia, the majority

in South Ossetia, but others living in ethnic "pockets"

elswhere in Georgia. Many Georgians lived in South

Ossetia, and a lot of Georgian place names testify that

Georgians were the native and autochthonous inhabitants

in the main part of what is now South Ossetia. So it is

highly problematic to divide politically along Ossetin:
Georgian lines to construct borders, since this ultimately

means the resettlement of large numbers of ethnic Georgians

and ethnic Ossetin. Georgia surely has not yet recovered

from the war last year, but the factual weakness of Russia's

political justification for dismantling Georgia should not go unnoticed, and if one speaks about democracy in Georgia,

one should also take a look at Abkhazia and South Ossetia

where current lack of political freedom is obvious.

liopik on "Moldova: recession hits a frozen conflict"

liopik — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:10:43 +0100

Yes, this article is 100% true. And, unfortunately, I don't believe that some day Moldavian Government(whatever party it will belong to) will start to think about people. Its impossible... at least in nearest future.

JEYASENTHI on "Sri Lanka - camps, media…genocide? "

JEYASENTHI — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:31:02 +0100

It is not CIVIL WAR but SYSTEMATIC RACIST GENOCIDE by Srilanka using Buddhism and Democracy to fool the world.
Srilankan army commander, Ministers and the Medievil Monks(please don't insult the Great Buddhism by naming the Monks as Buddhists because they humiliate Buddhism when they act and open their NAZI mouths every time when they talk)recently repeated their RACIST MOTTO - Srilanka ONLY for SInhalese not for Tamils or Muslims.
And, the Same Army Commander just days ago declared that TAMILS DON't NEED TO HAVE ANY POLITICAL SOLUTION AT ALL.
And, the president declared there is no Minorities- meaning The Srilanka going to COLONISE all island with SINHALESE to stop minorities to rise again demanding autonomy.
The NAKED SRILANKAN RACISM is OBVIOUS one not elusive but the whole world behaving like BLINDED gullible people even now after Srilanka locked the so called liberated 300,000 Tamils in the NAZI style BARBED WIRED CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
It is about time the whole world ISOLATE the Srilankan Sinhella fundamentalist NAZI regime like the APATHEID SOUTH AFRICA. Srilanka was the only one sent cricket team to APATHEID South Africa against the World Boycott.
And, hold UN referendum in North and East of the island to know the will of minorities like the one held in East Timor.
Tamils were the only owners of the ENTIRE ISLAND called Srilanka.
1)Muslims adopted Tamil as their mother tongue because Tamils were the only rulers of the island like we came to the UK and adopted English.

2)Sinhala language itself created out of Tamil, example 90% of Sinhala alphabet resembles and sounds similar to those of Tamil and more than 25% of Sinhala words are Tamil words.

Seyon on "Sri Lanka - camps, media…genocide? "

Seyon — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:24:39 +0100

2)Sinhala language itself created out of Tamil, example 90% of Sinhala alphabet resembles and sounds similar to those of Tamil and more than 25% of Sinhala words are Tamil words.

KyllieKay80 on "Uses of genocide: Kenya, Georgia, Israel, Sri Lanka"

KyllieKay80 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:34:51 +0100

t's a shame that the word genocide even exists. It's human nature to oppress and retaliate. It's the natural flow of humanity.

How do we explain this? It is not so much human suffering as such which evidently bothers some people, but human suffering in so far as Israel was responsible for it

Kylie

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Felixfree on "Uses of genocide: Kenya, Georgia, Israel, Sri Lanka"

Felixfree — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:37:11 +0100

Genocide and war is the most shabby act wich humen can do!

Freebies

Eduardo 'how to make friends' Amado on "Uses of genocide: Kenya, Georgia, Israel, Sri Lanka"

Eduardo 'how to make friends' Amado — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:48:50 +0100

What is going to happen there?

That regime is absolutely insane, with the supreme leader basically saying that democracy is non-existent.

I'm really not sure about the future of that nation, and I'm afraid for them.

(Contributing author at - How to make Friends - TheFriendshipBlueprint.com)

Ortan on "Uses of genocide: Kenya, Georgia, Israel, Sri Lanka"

Ortan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:28:00 +0100

Even in a controlled society like the US you still have gang wars. People killing one another is the most disgusting act a human could ever do. Yet it's celebrated on TV, in video games, music etc. Awareness helps.

nursing degree | economic degree | mass communications

Biniam on "Isaias Afewerki and Eritrea: a nation’s tragedy "

Biniam — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:32:53 +0100

Selam, your article is exceptionally impressive. There is no need for anyone to doubt the accuracy of your article. Esyas has introduced a brand new form of dictatorship to this world. What is surprising, however, is our failure to say ‘enough is enough’. It is a mystery to me that there are many Eritreans who see Eseyas as an angel despite his flagrant disregard of the country’s interest. We may not need to go into details to know who Eseyas is. He is the one who is ready to see his people dying rather than accepting assistance from the international community. Anyone who still cannot see Eseyas’ cruelty today is either someone who is taking advantage of the situation or someone who still living far from the country or someone who is insane. I left the country at the end of 2007 after suffering from hunger not to mention violations of dozens of my basic rights and if there is anyone who would tell me Eritrea is fine, he/she must be insane.

jelger72 on "A Georgian appeal: open letter to the west "

jelger72 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:17:35 +0100

Georgia needs to unite and not split itself by people who choose themselves to be a
maverick, and promising "real democracy" without really indicating specifically what that
means.

Burjanadze, and many others do not seem to realize that their current behavior adds to
the Russian abuse of Georgian territories. They blame Saakashvili for the August war, but
fail to recognize the well documented processes and events in the months before the war,
which clearly indicate a Russian hand, means and prupose in provoking the war in such a
way that any country who respects itself cannot just sit by and laugh it off. The
opposition is least to say very naive about the prelude of the war, and where to put the
final blame of the occurence of the war.

"or support a decisive campaign for freedom and real democracy in Georgia. "

I have learned to be very sceptical about such expressions. "real democracy". The
democracy of Burjanadze is the one where the voter votes, and the extra-parliamentary
opposition decides that the vote of the people should be neglected. That is what i see.
Despite irregularities reported in presidential elections both in campaign and in voting,
they were not that big that the election result would have been different in "perfect 10"
conditions. Obviously the task should be to correct authorities on the democratic level.
That does not necessarily means to ask for regime change.

Marta Gual Zereba on "Isaias Afewerki and Eritrea: a nation’s tragedy "

Marta Gual Zereba — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:32:56 +0100

"Only by starting from common principles agreed upon by all, rather than limiting ourselves to the principles which only we believe in, will we make progress with human rights." Shirin Ebadi

Do Eritreans agree upon what to make of the assault against the sovereign nation in 1998-2000? Writing off the offensive-turned-defensive posture between 1991 to 1998 of the leader as some "ideological rationalisation rather than a genuine response to new circumstances" is flat unreal; Eritrea enjoys no luxury to put aside rationalization because of new circumstances! The regime is driving the wedge of political and religious oppression in the name of national security while the Eritrean opposition movement fuels that wedge in the name of promoting democracy and human rights! If Eritrean history sheds little insight into this matter, the on-going history of English & US involvement in Iraq and Iran in the past 50-60 years should give thinking Eritreans reason to pause, re-evaluate what "western support" means before diving in head-first! A nation which has no credibility to point a finger at Eritrea may militarily and economically over-power Eritrea covertly and overtly but please don't call it democracy - that's survival of the "fittest!" Any reporting about Eritrea that disregards this cruel reality commits the lie of ommission. For that, I say "may they who bury the truth be buried alive." (Haki di kebur, mis tinfasu yikeber)

simon12 on "Isaias Afewerki and Eritrea: a nation’s tragedy "

simon12 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:52:57 +0100

Oh Selam, I think your hate for the government is clouding your mind.

I can list so many impressive achievements, but I will leave you with reports from WHO and Unicef that you can verify.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30864223/wid/11915773/
Eritrea increased its average life expectancy by 33 years to 61 for men, and by 12 years to 65 for women overtaking Russia.
"WHO’s annual World Health Statistics"

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/eritrea_46858.html

She noted that Eritrea’s under-five mortality declined by roughly 50 per cent.

“Eritrea has provided an example that if concerted efforts are made, a lot can be achieved for children,” she said.
"unicef"

And here are the results of the most aid recipient countries in the Horn of Africa that are NGOs' playgrounds.
http://www.wfp.org/crisis-horn-africa
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8103355.stm

I will leave the readers to judge who is making progress and who is better off.

Finally, stop spreading false rumours, you very well know the Asena story you quoted is a lie, similar to the false story they spread about Iran having a submarine base in Eritrea. What next, a sighting of Bigfoot in Eritrea ?

Sarah11 on "Isaias Afewerki and Eritrea: a nation’s tragedy "

Sarah11 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:47:33 +0100

Selam,

Please don't call your self human-rights activist, because that will be denigrating and de-service to the real human-rights activists.

If you love to spread unsabstaciated rumors and lies, why don't you tell the open democracy readers that you are from the opposition camp and you are the daughter of one of Mengistu (Butcher of Ethiopia's) hench man.

johnzbasement on "Uses of genocide: Kenya, Georgia, Israel, Sri Lanka"

johnzbasement — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:28:12 +0100

It's a shame that the word genocide even exists. It's human nature to oppress and retaliate. It's the natural flow of humanity. Even in a controlled society like the US you still have gang wars. People killing one another is the most disgusting act a human could ever do. Yet it's celebrated on TV, in video games, music etc. Awareness helps.

Long Island Basements

TomG on "Uses of genocide: Kenya, Georgia, Israel, Sri Lanka"

TomG — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:18:22 +0100

Genocide has been used for thousands of years as a political weapon. I would hope that we would evolve past that point in the future. There are glimmers of hope but we're not there yet.

Tom

San Diego Health Insurance