I have been bombarded some odd weeks now with the Georgian- Russian affairs.
I am, in some sort of unbalanced introduction, a 17 year old senior at Interlochen Arts Academy. I desire to become a foreign diplomat as per my career. Thus I keep an eye on politics, especially international affairs.
Now.
I wasn't really sure what to think on the entire issue of this sudo-war that Russia and the former Soviet province Gerogia are engaging it. Both sides present perfectly plausible points. Both sides are also being completely idiotic.
GEORGIA: says that the province of South Ossetia has been giving them hell for "16 years of semi-independence" [1] South Ossentia was seeking to possibly join Russia once more, thereby effectively removing herself from Georgia.
And, like the Confederate States of America leaving the Union, Georgia get pissed. Really pissed. No one saw that coming huh?
"Georgia launched a military strike on the province of South Ossetia, aiming to reclaim it after 16 years of semi-independence. In response, Russia sent tanks in. Moscow says Georgian forces had killed Russian peacekeepers there and were committing acts of "ethnic cleansing" of native Russians living there." [1] Thus goes the argument. Now some would argue that it's Georgia's problem- why is Russia getting involved? That too, is also answered.
"Many of the 70,000 people in South Ossetia speak Russian and carry Russian passports. Relations between the two have been tense, as Moscow tries to reassert influence over nations that border it." [1] Surprise, surprise.
Whoa. Wait. Backup. Did you catch the line about ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia- what Russia is portraying?
"Already on Sunday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev directed the procuracy in Moscow to collect evidence of acts of genocide by Georgians in South Ossetia, and the investigative committee of that body has now assembled evidence about the murder of Russian citizens there.
In addition, Russian cultural officials said that Georgia should be charged with genocide because of what Moscow says are its destruction of cultural monuments of the Ossetian people in the past and during the current conflict, Kommersant reported in a roundup article yesterday.
But Russia faces other problems as well if it continues to pursue this line of attack. First of all, much of the “evidence” Moscow has put forward to date has been shown to be false or at least highly exaggerated, something that raises broader questions about what Moscow is claiming about the Georgians.
Second, raising this issue will lead international human rights activists to ask, as Helsinki Group’s Aslambek Apayev has, why Moscow should get away with “double standards” because “before talking about genocide in Georgia and South Ossetia, the powers that be in Russia ought to remember Chechnya.”" [2] So goes the blogpost from the New York Times. Not only this, but as is cited earlier in the blogpost, the South Ossetian government was actually ousting Georgians from the province in order to make room for Ossetian refugees- some 18,000 of them. Ah-ha. There goes Russia's main line of defense for their actions. So now we can ask WHY IS RUSSIA INVOLVED?
I have entertained the idea for some time now that, as Georgia is an ally of the U.S., it is the beginnings of chafing at the U.S.. Does it really have anything to do with South Ossetia? Quite possibly yes. But one would think that Russia has enough problems to deal with without inciting a war. Unless is was a war to piss off Bush. And it seems to have done the job. Is it me, or does it feel like Russia and the U.S. are just itching to start a fight? So by now, troops have more or less withdrawn, etc etc. Ahh but October 3rd, Russia issues a warning to Georgia that if it supports an American attack on Iran, there are going to be serious problems.
""If it decides to carry out rocket and bomb attacks against Iran, the US
will need loyal allies. And if Georgia is involved in this war, this will
pose additional threats to Russia's national security," Russian Security
Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview with the Izvestiya
newspaper on Thursday."[3]
Georgia, which has been wanting the U.S. to decisively do something about thier "Russian problem" for some time now- aside from supplying aid and sending i troops to train theirs- may see this as a potential starting point, the beginning of a wild fire.
Who knows? Maybe not. But America's recent history sure doesnt suggest that much.
[1] http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-08-question-answer_N.htm
[2]http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/ethnic-cleansing-in-south-ossetia/
[3]http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=40925
