Flag of Georgia

I remember seeing pictures from the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, just a few years ago on EuroNews.. it looked so European, so open, so cultural, so.. normal! A very very different view from what the whole region spread as its aura in the last few decades..

From that moment on the whole region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea didn’t have a strong connection with the former Soviet Union or Turkey. I was all “Go Georgia!” Things may not be perfect. Perfection is nothing to be found on this planet in terms of rights, policy, etc. Therefore I don’t expect perfection!

Georgia, although I met just a couple of Georgians so far, is in my head the great hope for that region. I’m not anti-Russian, since I have Russian friends. But I am anti-Soviet Union, and through the invasion of Georgia by Russia, the Soviet Union is back. Transnistria is another example, but at least the mood in Moldavia is definitely much more neutral when it comes to West and East!

In Georgia, things were quite simple.

The democratic ruling power had a problem with areas inhabited mostly by Russians. Period! They were aware of that, and they were trying to settle things the best way they could, at their own pace. The fact that the things escalated is such a stupidity.. Take the Russian civilians in Georgian territories and the Georgian military. Now.. which of the two has the right to impose over the other?! Maybe I’m going to be misunderstood, but don’t forget the ruling power was democratically elected.

So, consider Georgia as being Romania.. when we had the mining people kicking ass in Bucharest, weren’t we supposed to put the military forces in positions and bust their ass? Of course we were. The fact that we didn’t says a lot about the “democratic” post-revolution regime, but that’s another story. Or take a hypothetical rebellion of the three mostly-Hungarian inhabited Romanian counties… if they go for a violent separation, isn’t it normal to suppress that? What about ETA in Spain?

Thus things are dead simple. You have a minority which is not pleased with the situation and a sovereign country. The Georgian military didn’t butcher the Russians in Abkhazia nor in South Ossetia. It wasn’t as if the problem was kept away from the international community either. It was a minority that needed a solution. Until that solutions came - shush! That didn’t gave them the right to go violent, nor did it gave the right for Russia to play the peace-keepers role!

That’s probably the most morbid joke! Russia in peace-keeping missions!

If Russia was really into peace-keeping, they would have sent a neutral group of forces there - Russian, Georgian + others - sent an agreement that all that they are looking after is to keep violence down, and that’s it.

I’m sorry, maybe I have the wrong picture here, but you must have seen Hotel Rwanda.. did you see the UN peace-keeping forces backfiring at the rebels? Like..NO! Because that’s not what peace-keeping forces do. They instate security through all other measures possible, and use force only when they are being attacked. Otherwise, they protect the non-military groups by offering them shelter and so on. No matter how much I disliked the non-combat attitude of the UN mission in Rwanda, that’s what peace-keeping is. The use of force means only one thing: invasion!

A Gori resident outside her apartment block, which was shelled during the conflict.

A Gori resident outside her apartment block, which was shelled during the conflict.

And that’s what Georgia is right now - an invaded country! The rule of gold: do not trespass a democratic non-hostile country’s sovereign borders! PERIOD!

If Russia really cared about the Russians, they would have moved them out of there and forced Georgia to act quicker in solving its internal issues with them. Let’s not be stupid now! Just occupying its harbor would have been probably enough to make Georgia bow, if Russia didn’t have any other interest. But they do.. who the hell are we misleading here?!

Of course, Europe had to go ahead with the biggest joke ever - Kosovo’s independence. Just what Russia needed! There’s a thin line between independence and great autonomy,

but that thin line makes the whole difference!

EU peace-keeping forces are supposed to step in and calm the situation (EU foreign ministers just announced it), but I really do wonder if Tbilisi won’t be occupied by the time that happens..

Even so.. EU at this point seems so.. malleable! I’m actually ashamed of that fact that Romania didn’t join Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and support 100% Georgia’s fight for its own territories. And the hell with Germany! Being constructive is one thing. Looking sideways from the issue is another. In order to be constructive, you must first deal with reality - and the reality is only one: Russia invading Georgia! If Russia was really doing peace-keeping work, we would have seen at least a couple of reports in international media about the Georgian rule of fist that the Russia military forces are fighting with!

Even humanitarian relief is despicable at this point. It’s like saying: we’ll give you food, but you keep fighting.. it’s nice to have public opinion divert its attention to situation that we don’t handle 100%.

We’ll see what happens in the next hours/days…

Last Modified on August 15, 2008 @ 12:30 am