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The Five Day War
August 12, 2008 |
Dmitri Medvedev announced the end of what he’s calling “peace enforcement” operations in Georgia, officially ending five days of fighting. “I have made a decision to end the operation to force Georgian authorities to peace,” he said in a meeting with his military staff. Fighting is still being reported, which isn’t surprising. War machines are easy to turn on. Turning them off requires a big wrench.
The final (preliminary) tally? Russia says about 2,000 civilians killed by the Georgian military; 18 Russian troops and 52 wounded. Russia used 9,000 troops and 350 armored vehicles. The Georgians claim 150 deaths and hundreds injured. Robert Guliye, the mayor of Tskhinvali, reports that 70% of his city’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Of the 30,000 residents, only half remain. So far there are no estimates on the amount of ordinance used in the conflict.
This is a big day for Dima. His first military victory as bat’ka. What no flight suit, big banner, and slogan? Surely Dima, you can squeeze some more political capital out of this?
I’m sure he will once he gets out from under Putin’s shadow. Putin, at least in the Western press, has been the face of the war, the little evil demon everyone loves to hate. A headline in the NY Times says it all, “Russia, and Putin, Assert Authority.” How does the Times come to this startling conclusion? Well, it uses a new theory to understand Russian politics: “The Rolled up Sleeves Theory.”
In recent days, Mr. Putin has appeared on television with his sleeves rolled up, mingling with refugees on the border with South Ossetia — the very picture of a man of action.
By contrast, Mr. Medvedev is shown sitting at his desk in Moscow, giving ceremonial orders to the minister of defense.
Putin looks all tough, Medvedev, always the bureaucrat, sits behind a desk. While Putin gets a firm talking to from Bush in Beijing, Medvedev cruises on the Volga. One wonders if the continued stress on Putin in the Western press is really because he is in charge or because he’s become the perfect villain, a kind of “Man of Action” action figure. Apparently, the answer is all in the rolled up sleeves.
Another way to look at the dyarchy is to wonder if balance even matters. Clearly, each man has their roles, and Dima, with his sweet smile and boyish looks, just doesn’t have the image (yet) to deal with international condemnation. Putin’s been around the block. Putting him up in front of the camera is a good PR move. I’m sure the Russians knew they were going to take all the shit no matter what they did. So why take the chance of having the new Prez get the beatdown. Dima is just too mild mannered and sensitive to deserve all that. Plus, Putin doesn’t give a rats ass about Bush and Cheney, let alone McCain and Obama. Basically, Putie’s position on all their blustering is “Save for the who gives a shit channel.”
Can you really blame the Russians? The anti-Russia propaganda machine immediately went into full swing as if all the talking points, footage, interviews and talking heads were already in the medai pipe. Black PR was already assembled. Reuters and other news outlets used staged photos in its reporting. Now CNN is being accused of using footage of wrecked tanks and blown out buildings from the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali and claiming it was Gori. Rumors and Georgian PR of Russia’s movements were swallowed throughout (even by myself). Fiction became fact. For example, there were constant reports that Russia took Gori but come to find out they didn’t. Reports are coming out about cyberattacks on media. Russia Today, the Kremlin’s English language channel, was crippled by alleged Georgian DDoS attacks (DDoS attacks were used by the Russians against Estonia during the Bronze Soldier affair) as was RT correspondent and commentator Peter Lavelle’s blog. Georgian officials also claimed that their sties were victim to Russia cyberattacks.
To get a sense of how thick the PR is take this passage from Ames’ “Georgia Gets Its War On . . McCain Gets is Brain Plaque”
The invasion was backed up by a PR offensive so layered and sophisticated that I even got an hysterical call today from a hedge fund manager in New York, screaming about an “investor call” that Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze made this morning with some fifty leading Western investment bank managers and analysts. I’ve since seen a J.P. Morgan summary of the conference call, which pretty much reflects the talking points later picked up by the US media.
These kinds of conference calls are generally conducted by the heads of companies in order to give banking analysts guidance. But as the hedge fund manager told me today, “The reason Lado did this is because he knew the enormous PR value that Georgia would gain by going to the money people and analysts, particularly since Georgia is clearly the aggressor this time.” As a former investment banker who worked in London and who used to head the Bank of Georgia, Gurgenidze knew what he was doing. “Lado is a former banker himself, so he knew that by framing the conflict for the most influential bankers and analysts in New York, that these power bankers would then write up reports and go on CNBC and argue Lado Gurgenidze’s talking points. It was brilliant, and now you’re starting to see the American media shift its coverage from calling it Georgia invading Ossetian territory, to the new spin, that it’s Russian imperial aggression against tiny little Georgia.”
The really scary thing about this investor conference call is that it suggests real planning. As the hedge fund manager told me, “These things aren’t set up on an hour’s notice.”
War is waged through imagery and propaganda mediated by the government official, the public relations agent and the investment banker. Unfortunately for Georgia, its seems that Saakashvilli’s little adventure is going to cost them. The Bank of Georgia has halted all loans and suspended online banking for fear of mass withdrawals and capital flight. Georgia’s economic future, which until a week ago looked bright, is now in question.
Now that the fighting is winding down, the main question is: what is to be done? What to do with Saakashvilli? Surely, things can’t go on as they did. The use of violence has essentially provided the answer: South Ossetia will split from Georgia. Permanently. It’s only a question of when. Violence has redefined the theater of politics.
Many have pointed out that the South Ossetians and Georgians lived in peace in everyday life. The same was said about the Serbs, Bosians, Kosovars, Shia, and Sunnis. But violence is an act of creation as much as destruction. Violence concretizes Identities. As Franz Fanon pointed out in a different context, violence initiates a series of acts of mutual and self recognition. It is first the recognition of the Other. “They are the Georgians, we are Ossetians.” Second, it is an act of self-recognition. “We, Ossetians, are here!” Or “We, Georgians, are here!” Lastly, violence is a strange recognition of one’s own humanity. As Sarte wrote in his “Preface” to Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, “Don’t be mistaken; it is through this mad rage, this bile and venom, their constant desire to kill us, and the permanent contradiction of powerful muscles, afraid to relax, that they become men.” Is it possible that this five day war has created a new sense of Ossetianess? Of Georgianess?
And what of Russians? The media chorus has announced that for Russia the South Ossetian War was a declaration of Russia streghten. A kind of perverted “We’re here. We’re queer. Get used to it!” True, the Russian leadership has been tired of America’s finger wagging and double dealing for too long. It’s quick response in South Ossetia was a statement that Russia is back. It dashed Georgia’s NATO ambitions with guns and bombs in a mere five days. The Europeans were already reluctant about letting Georgia into the gang. Now there is no way they’re going to grant NATO membership to Georgia and risk being drawn into a future military conflict with Russia. Sure, they may like Saakashvilli’s pro-Western prostrations, but at some point they become a burden.
In Russia, the war was a prime-time sensation. It captivated the nation, intrestingly not unlike Russian football. As Kommersant reports,
Indeed, the Olympics, feature films or soap operas were practically of no interest to the Russians older than 18 years. The nation was watching the news, doubling and tripling the ratings of news programs. News spots won the first five lines in Top 20, which had happened in peacetime very long ago given that it is the height of summer now.
Russia’s political parties were all towing the line in their own belligerent fashion. Duma Speaker and United Russia leader, Boris Gryzlov exhumed Hitler and declared that Saakashvilli should put in prison. “There is no other place for him,” he said. Just Russia’s Sergei Mironov also played the Hitler card. As did the Communists. Zyuganov called Saakashvilli’s actions “fascistic.” Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia was a “war crime.” There is a specter haunting Eurasia . . .
The outcry in the Duma had its populist antecedent. Andrei Bely’s Movement Against Illegal Immigration announced that it will raid places where Georgians gather in Moscow. On Monday, 500 members from the pro-Kremlin youth groups Nashi, Molodaya gvardiia, and Mestnye staged an Orthodox pray-in for God to stop Georgia’s aggression. Orthodox prayers were accompanied with the slogans, “Ossetia, we mourn with you!” and “Saakashvili is a hitman.” Unsurprisingly, Nashi has taken to the war. War, whether real or virtual, has always been truer to its calling. On its website, it echoed calls that Saakashvilli is a war criminal and demanded that Georgian athletes be expelled from the Olympics. They even demanded that the bronze medal the Georgians won in women’s shooting should be revoked. Nashi and Mestnye also staged a 300 strong rally in front of the Georgian embassy in Moscow. Perhaps commentators are right and Nashi has indeed lost its purpose. They just lack the umph of three years ago. No 50,000 or 100,000 beaming youths in red and white T-shirts on the streets. One would thinka real war would be a perfect opportunity to mobilize the masses. It just goes to show that History does indeed occur twice. The first time as tragedy and the second as farce.
As for the Russian public, poll figures provided by the Levada Center show that Russians firmly support (71%) South Ossetia in the conflict and the vast majority (80%) think that South Ossetia should join Russia (46%) or become an independent state (34%).
Finally, the peace plan drawn up between Medvedev and French President Sarkozy has been released. Its six points are as follows:
1) Non-use of force.
2) Stop all military action.
3) Free access to humanitarian aid.
4) Georgian troops return to their previous positions before the conflict.
5) Russian troops return to the lines they held before the start of the military operation. Before an international solution is worked out Russian peacekeepers are taking up an additional security role.
6) The start of an international discussion over the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
It seems that Saakashvilli will keep his job. That is of course there isn’t talk behind the scenes of him bowing out “gracefully.” It does sound like a good time for him to “spend more time with his family.”
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RIA Novosti- Global Voices: Russia
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Let me remind folks that I’m definitely not a fan of the Putin government. Having said that, a few simple remarks follow:
1. I’m repeating myself, but once again: I cannot see how can anyone think that Saakashvili’s decision to attack South Ossetia was not idiotic and self-destructive. Russia’s military reaction should have not been a surprise to anyone.
2. Lies and overblown rhetoric on all sides. “Tsinkvali completely destroyed.” “Gori occupied.” “Genocide.” In any event, the casualty count is probably considerably lower than what people on all sides initially claimed.
3. About Russia’s military campaign: in addition to taking control of South Ossetia, it made perfect sense to strike deep into Georgia, even if they always intended to eventually return within the borders of South Ossetia. Too bad Russia’s military is rather heavy-handed, but that’s another issue.
4. If I were in the Russian military I would be quite unhappy about the fact that the Georgians were able to knock down at least four Russian airplanes (last time I checked, a while ago, that was the number confirmed by Russia). I’m sure that if we compare the ratio of downed planes to number of sorties with the with American and Israeli figures, the Russian figures are not very encouraging to Russia.
4. That embarrassing video of Saakashvili running down the street and then being pushed to the ground and covered by a bunch of also confused and nervous bodyguards made me think, “and this is the leader who sent his own soldiers to face the bullets!” The Georgians deserve better than that. The journalists had more presence of mind than Saaskashvili and his entourage. Any leader knows that part of being a leader, especially in a war situation, is to, well, behave like a leader. Whether a leader likes it or not, people are always looking at them.
“We’re here. We’re queer. Get used to it!”
Genius, Sean!
I agree with you on everything Kolya.
My feelings are very conflicted.
First, people dying sucks.
Second, I am still seething with outrage and contempt for Saak, and for the people who were selling him as a “democrat” for all these years.
Third, I actually feel sorry for the Georgians who thought their “alliance” with the US was going to let them do anything they wanted. They must feel horribly betrayed. My former usual cab driver was a (really nice) Georgian guy, and he used to go on and on about how Georgia was going to have a glorious future because now the US was helping them out and Uncle Sam would always stand by them. He seemed to have actually thought NATO would use military force against Russia over Georgia. I never had the heart to tell him what I thought.
Incidentally, please note the effectiveness of the Russian military this time around as opposed to the Chechen campaigns, especially the first one. Maybe there was something to that military reform after all.
Russia used 9,000 troops and 350 armored vehicles.
Funny you mention. During his speech today, Mishiko Saakashvili mentioned Georgia destroyed 21 Russian warplanes and 500! tanks. Now I know Ukraine and Israel have supplied him with weapons. Who supplies him with drugs?
By the way as far as I know, that speech (or parts) was live on CNN. Putin’s remarks yesterday about Gerogian atrocities for a strange reason did not make the full cut, netiher did most of Russian UN ambassador Churkin’s responses to Western allegations. What can I say, they have to leave some spare airtime to discuss John Edward’s affairs.
Saakashvili actually said that 80 Russian planes had been shot down on one occasion.
One question. Why are you sympthetic to Russia? Is it Nationalism or do you think they were right in there reaction.
Furthermore Georgia never went into Russia, yet Russia has fully invaded Georgia. You can bet if part of Russia wanted to secede like South Ossetia does Russia would slughter those people.
There seems to be a double standard on you blog.
PhotoFakery @NYT via boingboing.net (http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/12/errol-morris-on-phot.html):
http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/?ref=opinion
Some stuff on Georgian air defenses taking down Russian planes:
http://www.aviationnow.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/AIR08118.xml&headline=Georgia%20Strikes%20Back%20With%20Air%20Defenses&channel=defense
Aviation Week: Georgia Strikes Back With Air Defenses
The Russians certainly did a credible job, but if they’d had enough of the right equipment available (laser bombs, guidance kit etc.) , they shouldn’t have lost any aircraft. Bad tactics too, as noted in the above article.
We’ve all got too used to watching NATO wars on tv where they show the nice little cross hairs on a target and a little cloud appearing when the bomb/missile hits.
Who can forget Norman Schwartzkopf in the first gulf war showing the video of one of the bridges in Baghdad being lased when a car drives right through the cross-hairs several seconds before the bomb impacts and commenting that the driver ‘was the luckiest guy in the world’. That’s how NATO does it, showing pictures of bits of people are preferable shown when the other side is responsible….
“One question. Why are you sympthetic to Russia? Is it Nationalism or do you think they were right in there reaction.”
The Kremlin pays us. That’s why I get to live on a yacht.
Interesting quote from Dimitry Rogozin from the time of the Kosovo independance row in February “… or if NATO steps beyond its mandate in Kosovo. And then I think that in order to be respected we will have to use force”. He qualified that by saying that Russia did not intend to get involved in an armed conflict in Kosovo. Rogozin is incidentally of Serbian descent a Serbian journalist told me.
Your loyalty can be bought. You are a sick person. You live off the Russian people who are mostly poor. You are also a sad person.
Yes I am! While I walk around on my yacht sipping wine from my solid gold chalice on often think of the horror and pain off of which I derive my suffering, and I smile.
off of which I derive my pleasure, I mean. Or maybe I was just being poetic.
The Kremlin pays me too, in Doritos. Time to open another packet.
BBC is interviewing fruitcakes like Robert Kagan & Edward Lucas. Lucas suggest building lots of nuclear power stations to reduce ‘dependence’ on Russia, kicking them out of the G8 and suspending them from PACE. LOL! Fortunately he is distraught about the lack of punishment for Russia. To their credit, they did have Thomas de Waal and Masha Lipman wasn’t too bad either.
You have no ability to debate.
I get part of my payment in concubines. It is the best job ever.
The Kremlin pays me too, in Doritos.
You get Doritos for this? Damn, this means I have been spreading lies for free all this time?
And what do you have to do to get a yacht, Chrisius Maximus? I wont even ask about the chalice.
I just can’t figure out if Lucas takes himself seriously. He is either insane, or doesn’t mind being an object of ridicule. I can’t figure people like that out.
Do you really have no response to my questions? Are you that much of a coward? You write but you connot be challenged?
Honestly, I fear you. I greatly fear you. You might push me off my yacht into the water, and I can’t swim.
your fake elitism is boring. I thought this site might contain some balls. but instead it is all smooth like the nether regions of a plastic doll.
That was actually pretty funny!
Thanks for the very interesting links, Aleks! It’s such a disappointment, I thought that Godzilla picture was for real.
If the above number of Russian troops involved is largely correct, then I have to say I’m both more impressed by the performance of the Russian army and more than unimpressed by the rapid collapse and panicky flight to Tbilisi of the Georgian army.
Chris, pretty much the same with me. I like the Georgians and even have some distant Georgian relatives (my mother’s aunt married a Georgian, settled in Georgia, and had a large family). Besides all those needless deaths, I’m not at all happy about the humiliation and anger Georgians are feeling now.
”The Kremlin pays me too, in Doritos.
You get Doritos for this? Damn, this means I have been spreading lies for free all this time?”
They stopped paying me in Belomor cigarettes and pelmeni back in 1995 when I protested against the First Chechen War. Now in Rich Russia Doss is on a yacht with concubines, Aleks is getting Doritos and Averko writing lessons and here I am having to actually perform manual work for a living. Man, I picked a loser!
”Chris, pretty much the same with me. I like the Georgians and even have some distant Georgian relatives (my mother’s aunt married a Georgian, settled in Georgia, and had a large family). Besides all those needless deaths, I’m not at all happy about the humiliation and anger Georgians are feeling now.”
I think this is what is upsetting me the most. Georgia has had its knickers pulled down and got done up the bum, followed by a spanking and then tossed aside. I know I’m repeating myself but Russia had them beaten by saturday morning and should have left it at that. They have punished oridnary Georgians for the folly of Saakashvilli.
Weren;t the Georgians still attacking South Ossetia after Saturday morning? I heard a report about it a few hours ago.
Hi Kolya,
I’m impressed that the Russians didn’t screw up more, but it is still early days and I’m sure that there are some embarrassing stories still to come out. Hopefully they will learn. As for the Georgian panicky collapse, at some point they would have had to decide to pull back or they would have had no soldiers left to ‘protect’ Tblisi.
I’ve got a friend call Georgian, but he is not a Georgian. Does that make me anti-georgian?
As for the smooth dolls, I’ve heard that one can buy anatomically correct ones over the Internet. Oops! Cat is out of the bag.
PR and false footage: I’ve been watching TV here in the US, and looong before the RT story broke, I’ve been thinking, hm, that’s strange. I guess no on in the newsroom reads Russian, because they’re saying this is footage of Gori, but the footage, in Russian, says South Ossetia. Huh. Propaganda or sheer incompetence, I can never be sure. But it was weird they were using Russian footage…
Tandemocracy: Oh, I try to avoid these games where people try to figure out what the Kremlin is up to. But it was just so striking, wasn’t it? And reminded me that they did the same “good cop-bad cop” routine in the Mechel scandal. So you think it is intentional? I guess in some way it makes Dima look good, but it also makes him look like he’s going around cleaning up Putin’s messes…
Chris: Or maybe I was just being poetic.
Hippie.
To Whomever is Concerned: I am sympathetic to Russia but sadly not being compensated by the Kremlin for my work. Who do I call?
”Weren;t the Georgians still attacking South Ossetia after Saturday morning? I heard a report about it a few hours ago.”
The BBC were reporting sat morning that the Georgians had been cleared out of Tskinashvilli. You think I’m being a bollocks about this, but it did seem the Georgians were spanked very early on indeed.
”PR and false footage: I’ve been watching TV here in the US, and looong before the RT story broke, I’ve been thinking, hm, that’s strange. I guess no on in the newsroom reads Russian, because they’re saying this is footage of Gori, but the footage, in Russian, says South Ossetia. Huh. Propaganda or sheer incompetence, I can never be sure. But it was weird they were using Russian footage…”
According to monday’s TMT, a Russia Today journalist had to quit cos he said Russian jets were bombing Gori on saturday - which didnt go down well for ’some reason’…
Tskhinvali is not synonymous with South Ossetia.
“According to monday’s TMT, a Russia Today journalist had to quit cos he said Russian jets were bombing Gori on saturday - which didnt go down well for ’some reason’…”
Could be. Who knows? None of us work there.
”Could be. Who knows? None of us work there.”
Ah, there isnt any confusion - thats why he had to resign. He said it himself. A Russian government news agency did not want it known that Gori was being bombed, though the whole world and his dog knew it already courtesy of the BBC.
Clearly RT not the best place to go for info, lads.
“He said it himself.”
Naive much?
Don’t forget that the whole world and his dog also knew, courtesy of the BBC, that Gori was occupied.
Unlike the BBC…
Anyway, I wasn’t talking about RT, I was talking about my local broadcast using footage labelled “South Ossetia” in Russian when talking about Gori.
”Tskhinvali is not synonymous with South Ossetia.”
Wasnt the attack on it the reason Russia went in in the first place?
Ger, now you’re just being obtuse.
”He said it himself.”
Naive much?”
Well either that or a long running labor dispute was finally settled on the 2nd day of the war whilst the man happened to be in Gori, and he happened to resign right there and then. At that moment. He finally go done for slapping Olga in the office on the arse once too often, not cos he said something RT didnt want said. Funny that.
”Unlike the BBC…
Anyway, I wasn’t talking about RT, I was talking about my local broadcast using footage labelled “South Ossetia” in Russian when talking about Gori.”
I know you werent. But I said I’d through it out their again anyway, cos its amusing.
“Well either that or a long running labor dispute was finally settled on the 2nd day of the war whilst the man happened to be in Gori, and he happened to resign right there and then.”
Either that, or he decided it would be a good career move or whatever. Who the fuck knows? Do we even have any evidence he left on that day? All we have is one guy’s word for it.
I don’t care either way.
”Either that, or he decided it would be a good career move or whatever. Who the fuck knows? Do we even have any evidence he left on that day? All we have is one guy’s word for it.
I don’t care either way.”
Alright, I’m just being a bitch. Time for bed. Am off to Connemara(Irish speaking enclave) for the day tommorow and will bring back an Irish language textbook for you, so you can do some grammar porn. Fair enough?:-) Peace?:-)
Grammar porn! Woot!
”Grammar porn! Woot!”
I only became aware of the term ‘food porn, the other day. Its those big photos of dishes that restaurants have on the window. I dont get out much, clearly.
Is the Russian postal system safe to send a book through?
I’ve gotten a couple. A friend hasn’t though.
Sean,
Thank you for an excellent article and thank you all commentators for insightful and entertaining comments.
As a Russian speaker in Canada with access to live news on both sides of the Atlantic I was appalled by the one-sidedness of Georgia conflict coverage in Western media. Russian media was quite biased as well, but at least it focused on the real tragedy of Ossetians being carpet-bombed in their sleep in the middle of the night. War is war, and subsequently some Georgian civilians suffered, but the massive murder of Ossetians seemed to have been completely ignored by any non-Russian media. After today though, some Europeans are starting to talk sense. Take a look at this one for example:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3558378,00.html
Hope it’s not too late to form a more balanced public opinion before Olympics news take over. Russia may have (expectedly) won the military campaign but it clearly lost on the the information front. Poor PR just might be Russia’s worst enemy, let’s use the blogosphere to at least partially mitigate this.
Putin and Medvedev are obviously playing not so bad cop/really bad cop.
Sitting now in a cafe in Bulgaria with Jonathan, his wedding is Sunday, and he’s writing some war stuff for Jane’s, and he’s got a phone interview with Radio Dublin tommorow. I wrote my take on facebook, if you want to read it Maya can access it.
‘Lies and overblown rhetoric on all sides. “Tsinkvali completely destroyed.”‘
Well, “completely destroyed” means “nothing left,” which never happens. Not even Berlin was “completely destroyed” in WWII. But if 70% of the city was destroyed, which seems plausible considering it’s a small place with a population of only 10,000 getting hit by Grad missiles, I wouldn’t call the slight exaggeration malicious.
Let’s wait and see.
If in two months or a month (or maybe even less) Israel “suddenly” bombs the crap out of Iran then it means that our government (USA) made a deal with Russians. Basically, “we’ll give you Georgia and you’ll give us Iran” strategic deal.
If, on the other hand, no one attacks Iran by November/December then it means that Mr Saakashvili made the decision to attack South Ossetia on his own.
If that’s the case then unfortunately Mr Saakashvili is turned out to be an untrustworthy character with serious issues inside his head. Mikheil would be a complete waste of our taxpayers money and a serious risk to our reputation. In short: He would be a liability. We would need to kick his ass really hard so that no one else in Eastern Europe follows this maniac’s example. Countries like Moldova and Ukraine could be in danger if we won’t punish this guy.
It’s time to shake off cold war era prejudices and embrace Russia, which can (and should be) our ally and partner.
Where is this video of Saak running down the street? I must have it!
btw, lavrov is claiming that Georgian peacekeepers turned on the Russian peacekeepers with whom they were serving side by side. Does anyone know if there is any truth to that?
The video is easy to find. Google “Saakashvili” and “plane.”
Jesse “btw, lavrov is claiming that Georgian peacekeepers turned on the Russian peacekeepers with whom they were serving side by side. Does anyone know if there is any truth to that?”
The cameraman who took the pictures in Tskinvali that CNN used as a background to a story about Gori,was interviewed and he said incidentally in the interview that he was the last one to see the Russian peace keepers in and that they were down to seven rounds a man and then they were overrun. My impression was that he was an honest Joe in shock from his experiences and pretty upset and not b/sing for propaganda. The main purpose of the interview was to express his outrage with CNN because he risked his life to take pictures in a real fight and they used them for a bogus one.
Incidentally I increasingly do not share the view that Saakashivili acted alone. My reading is that he was told by the elements in the US administration that he could have a go at a quick takeover but if he failed he was on his own. I think there was close, if not actual participation of US, Israeli and Ukrainian special forces. As Dick Marty who revealed the Extraordinary rendition business.,said “time will do its work the dynamics of truth will operate”. But do not expect to find out about it in the MSM too much. Yet again there has been a major drive to bury what happened particlualry at the start of this affair because it is too embarrassing for the NATO/US etc. The mad gambler Saakashvili line being spun is a convenient theory that suits everybody except Russia.
Also, re: rolled up sleeves. We have a major preoccupation with this in the U.S. for some reason. Aides to then-FEMA director Michael Brown (\’Brownie\’) blackberried him during the Katrina crisis and told him to roll up his sleeves \’like President Bush\’ because it gives the impression of action. See this photo - http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/images/20050902-2_f1g5125-515h.jpg
Anyway, it is amusing that after 8 years of a \’sleeves rolled up\’ president, our media would still be under the impression that this is a signal of competence and action.
lolz - this is my favorite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK0_yznaM5U
“Incidentally I increasingly do not share the view that Saakashivili acted alone.”
But you love conspiracy theories!
For Chrisius Maximus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vote_Saakashvili.JPG
That is the coolest thing ever.
”As a Russian speaker in Canada with access to live news on both sides of the Atlantic I was appalled by the one-sidedness of Georgia conflict coverage in Western media.”
I’m getting in the neck from my russkaya zhena cos of this. You’d think ordinary punters were the cause of the ‘Eng. lang. mASS media biases’ In fairness, our own national station here, http://www.rte.ie ,doesnt seem to be heavily biased and is just reporting stuff it hears.
”Russia may have (expectedly) won the military campaign but it clearly lost on the the information front.”
I think a lot of that is down to the fact that Saakashvilli was at least to some extent supported or favoured by the US. The Russians dont help themselves though: Sergei Markov ranted and raved like a lunatic on the BBC the other day, it was actually embarrassing (with no help from the ‘biased’ BBC either) and Putin has a face on him like a slapped arse 24/7. They should let Lavrov (a genuinely cool customer) and the witty Sergei Ivanov do the talking. It shouldnt be forgotten that bombing villages is bad PR too and lets face it, levelling Grozny twice has hardly helped Russia’s cred either.