Sorting Out South Ossetia
By Sean at 23 October, 2008, 9:43 am
What happened in South Ossetia? The war may be over but questions linger. Who started the war? Was there ethnic cleansing of Georgians? What role did South Ossetian militas play in the conflict. BBC has made available the first part of Tim Whewell audio documentary on South Ossetia where he uncover more pieces of the puzzle. Here’s BBC’s program description:
This summer’s war in Georgia sparked the biggest crisis in east-west relations for 30 years. When Russia sent its tanks across the border, its intervention was denounced around the world.
Reporting from Moscow and Georgia, and with rare independent access to the disputed territory of South Ossetia, Tim Whewell investigates allegations of ethnic cleansing of Georgian villages, and counter-claims that Georgia’s army was guilty of war-crimes against Ossetian civilians.
I recommend giving it a listen.
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I heard it too. It smacked of careful whitewashing, the inference given by at least two sources in the programme that Georgia ‘accidentally’ thought it was being invaded by Russia and couldn’t tell the difference between APCs, MBTs and how many of them there were.
It is conveniently forgotten that Georgia had a brand new multi-million dollar SIGNIT base in Poti stuffed to the gills with the latest US/Israeli/whatever gear snooping on Russian/S.Ossetian/Abkhazian signals (all now ‘liberated’ by the Russians). Or is the equipment fine but those operating it mentally defective, not to mention that Georgia almost certainly had US ‘advisors’ on hand…
Thus, it is extremely hard to believe that accident theory has anything but very, very short legs.
I think the clue to this all is when the report mentions a way of ‘cooling relations with Russia, i.e. “we now say you didn’t start it, we say in private we know the georgians started it but to save their pride (Saakasvili) won’t mention it) and we may ourselves have sent out ‘mixed’ signal. So, lets forget about it and we can all get down to business and sort out the future EU-Russia relations”. The EU is still trying to pull out some sort of PR victory/damage control.
Georgia’s EU allies clearly do not want to loose any further face, hence the PR spin from “insane Saakashvili” by unnamed diplomatic sources to “Accident prone Saakashvili”.
There is of course the problem for Georgia’s allies as to whom they can count on to replace Saakashvili, whose near term decommissioning also needs to be spun (i.e. preferably a resignation rather than being ousted).
I’ve read that IMEDIA, the only ‘opposition’ tv station is now 70% owned by Joseph Kay (Patarkatsishvili’s cousin), a U.S. national.
I am still stunned by the US and EU’s total silence on Saakashvili’s actions, i.e. the massed artillery and rocket attacks on Tishkinvali at night. Political leaders have been arrested and sent to the war crimes tribunal in the Hague for less (Milan Martic RSK PM who rocketed Zagreb in 1995 in response to the Croats US/German/everyone backed ethinc cleansing “Operation Storm”). Looks like having the right buddies is more important that rule of law….
As for stopping ‘ethnic cleansing’, NATO has particular expertise since 1999 on that one.
Pot, Kettle, Black.
Other interesting stuff:
Topolánek and the rightists get a pasting (disapproval of the missile deal???):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/czechrepublic/3230070/Czech-prime-minister-Mirek-Topolanek-faces-calls-to-resign-after-regional-elections.html
6 nukes worth of uranium shipped from Budapest to Russia via a long and circuitous route specifically to avoid the Ukraine!:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081022/ap_on_go_ot/russian_uranium
I listened. What a tragedy of errors. It wasn’t a whitewash. e.g. the journalist did press Saakashvili on the accidental loss of evidence; it was obvious he was lying. I’m just finishing David Fromkin’s “Europe’s Last Summer” about the lead up to World War I. The players have changed, but some of the state behaviors seem so parallel. Georgia in the role of Serbia. Has anyone else read it?
Doom agrees with Alex. The “global outrage” over Russia’s actions in Georgia was and is a sham, designed in order to save face, just like growlings of “a new Cold War.” It is an attempt on the part of the EU and US to avoid looking like asses in public, while at the same time they actually agree with Russia. It is akin to when Doom appeared to be abstaining from conflict during Secret Wars, when all the while he was planning to steal the Beyonder’s great power.
Doom is well acquainted with the Machiavellian, oh yes.
Medvedev appointed ambassadors to S. Ossetia and Abkhazia. Period.
Медведев назначил послов в Южной Осетии и Абхазии
Президент России Дмитрий Медведев назначил послов в Южной Осетии и Абхазии, сообщает РИА Новости. Соответствующий указ Медведев подписал 24 октября 2008 года, почти через два месяца после официального признания независимости двух республик. Представлять Россию в Южной Осетии будет Эльбрус Каргиев, а в Абхазии – Семен Григорьев.
Эльбрус Каргиев до назначения послом России в Южной Осетии занимал пост главного советника четвертого департамента СНГ МИД РФ, он также некогда работал в правительстве Цхинвали. Посол РФ в Абхазии Семен Григорьев работал в том же департаменте, что и Каргиев.
На встрече с послами Медведев попросил их поделиться планами о будущей работе и предупредил Каргиева и Григорьева, что им придется нелегко. “…Вы приступаете к работе в довольно сложный период: это молодые страны, где еще очень многое предстоит сделать, даже с точки зрения государственности этих новых субъектов международного права”, – сказал президент послам в Южной Осетии и Абхазии.