Russia's "invasion" of Georgia and potential US "response"

[ Stratfor's Cold-war focused commentary ]

I'm not even going to go into CNN's "coverage" of this conflict - if you'd read those reports, you'd think Russia invaded Georgia proper without provocation and Georgia is just some poor, kicked, post-communist dog that Russia is currently beating with a large stick. There's a lot more involved here, and CNN's coverage is utter shit. That said, I'm surprised by Stratfor's response - I disagree with the cold-war analytical focus that Stratfor is putting out here. I'm rather disappointed, actually, because if I were PAYING for this information from them I'd be highly dismayed at how much this report (and the American media in general, obviously) is glossing over the factual background of this situation.

What the American media (and this article) keeps failing to mention is the fact that the region in question was an autonomous region under the Soviet Empire, separate from Georgia, and the majority of the population there supports becoming part of Russia. Imagine if Texas post-independence were then claimed as part of Mexico again but the majority of the people supported being part of the United States, then Mexico were to invade Texas in a bid to enforce it. Keep in mind that in Ossetia, the people who support the contested region being part of Russia are ethnically Ossetian (not Georgian) and historically Russian (3/4ths of the population there carries Russian passports and are Russian citizens), were part of Russia, and grew up as “Russians” – is Russia to abandon their citizens because Georgia has decided the region is theirs even when the majority of the population wants to be Russians and the land was never historically part of Georgia? There have also been reports of genocide against the Ossetians by the Georgians; bombing the cities level in the region in response to the pro-Russian sentiments so their quest for ownership of the contested region is easier to accomplish.

Georgia as only gotten cozy with the US to protect itself and have the US run interference on its behalf. It is pure political cold war and international relations 101. I think Georgia is TRYING to provoke foreign involvement on their behalf. Keep in mind that Georgia’s NATO application was recently rejected and the next time they will be up for NATO membership is this coming December – Imagine if they had become part of NATO! We’d (along with the rest of the NATO membership) would be obligated to defend them under NATO! I quite frankly see Russia’s actions as more of a response to the West’s NATO policies and the EU’s expansion into the realm of Russia’s “influence.” I think the time for action was years ago, when we first had the choice between integrating Russia back into the fold or isolating Russia by embracing the newly independent states and excluding Russia from security and economic arrangements. This current conflict is a reflection on that decision, certainly not a revenge-motive for Kosovo.

The conflict between Russia and Georgia in this area (and more generally) started way before the Kosovo independence. No one in Russia wants to invade Georgia, they just want the Georgians to stop killing Ossetians and leave them alone. Further, everyone is glossing over the fact that Georgia started this conflict… AND keep in mind that this conflict actually started almost a year ago when Russia began throwing out Georgians from the country due to escalating tension over this region with Georgia attacking peacekeeping forces located in the region since 1992. This was not a surprise overnight thing; they mobilized almost a year ago to the border when this all began (with the Russians throwing Georgians out)… So none of this was incredibly surprising to me.

Though I am glad Hubby is longer of draft age in Russia...

Post a new comment
Error

Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal
We will log you in after post

We will log you in after post

We will log you in after post

We will log you in after post

We will log you in after post

Anonymously

switch

LiveJournal

Facebook

Twitter

OpenId

Google

MailRu

VKontakte

Anonymously

Insert Bold

Insert Italic

Insert Underline

Insert Strikethrough

Insert Link

Insert LJ User

Insert Photo

Insert Video

Your reply will be screened

Your IP address will be recorded
Help
212 comments

Deleted comment

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login or password? OpenID Google Mail.Ru VKontakte
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…

Russia's "invasion" of Georgia and potential US "response"

Error

Yah right.

Re: Yah right.

I've seen this episode

Here you go. Western media actually being accurate.

About

Help

Get Involved

Legal

LJ Labs

Store