I am writing this from Vladikavkaz, the capital of N.Ossetia a.k.a. Alania, so you may think I am biased. Indeed, biased I am – I really hate double standards, and it really doesn’t matter who enforces them – Western politicians or their vis-a-vis here in Russia. I am writing this, simply to add yet another note about the very simple fact – current war is not the issue of wild Russians trying to take over poor Georgian people, it’s not the issue of freedom-loving people of South Ossetia on their quest to independence either. Such cases are for Hollywood, and we are in real life, aren’t we?
Let me summarize what I think is quite obvious (once you purge political sentiments from your head):
- We have to separate people of Georgian Republic, and Saakashvili – his political bankruptcy doesn’t automatically mean that people of that country is to be portrayed as wild beasts. They are not, they are mere mortals, just like you and me.
- Hard pill to swallow for Western democracies, but let’s try to understand – Russian people are not stupid animals without imagination beyond using the pure force to resolve political issues. Believe it or not. When, on UN Security Council meeting, Russian diplomat talks about principles – he is not trying to fool you; when he quotes the figures of already killed – he is not trying to scare you; when he asks to force the Georgian force BACK to where they were prior to their attack – he is not asking you to give up the Georgian democracy;
- US backs the Georgia – and not for the sake of democratic institutes. Still, US government wants to have it all w/o sacrificing too much (thus its rhetoric doesn’t match its actions) – pragmatic position, but quite a cynical one. I don’t want to blacken the image of America, politics is what it is – cynical activity. Till Georgian President believes that US would help him out of any trouble, we would still have the conflict – either open or implied.
- Conflict would be resolved when Western democracies would not search for guilty or innocent, but would understand that since it was Georgia who started the bombings of South Ossetian territories, and war takes place within South Ossetia, it is Georgian troops that have to pull of the conflict. As about Russian troops – and they are dislocated there legitimately – they should be deminished to previous numbers once diplomatic actions are underway!
- Do NOT start the hysteria about poor small country being attacked by big non-democratic beast – DO NOT, until you see that Russia enters the Georgia, right now everything is happening in South Ossetia – which is NOT a part of Georgia..and here comes the main point
- When Soviet Union vanished Georgian elite was quite eager to break up with the communist past and force country’s way to democracy. It was undertaking UNCONSTITUTIONAL action (and either you like the USSR or not, it had a constitution you know), and overall I am really happy for Georgian people – totalitarian regime had to go. However, it wasn’t that eager to grant South Ossetia and Abkhazia (another struggling region) the right of referendum, simply because they were suspecting that once conducted it would bring unwanted results – Ossetians were believed to favor Russia more and Abkhazians wanted to be a separate country all together. And you know what? Borders (and that were administrative borders of then dissolved political entity – Soviet Empire) were de-jure left intact, while de-facto both South Ossetia and Abkhazia wasn’t under control of Georgian prior any more.
- I really do not hope that many washed up brains would follow my arguments, I really don’t. But I hope that conflict would be stopped, and stopped before point of no return is passed (although I am not sure it’s still not passed). I am not a big Russian politics fan, but I love Russia, and I really love to see it becoming more democratic, but not the US-way of democratic. I actually like to see US becoming more democratic. Right now, by constantly deploying double standards, Western countries, undermine the very principles they were once praised to be champions of.
I hope the war would be ended soon, but as I said – we are in real life. And as such it wouldn’t go away soon – many more people would die, many more buildings would vanish, many lives would be rewritten. How many more political puppets should come and go, before conflicts could be resolved via diplomatic means, without resorting to brute force?
no comment untill now