Mikhail Gorbachev chastises the U.S. and the media in the New York Times:
Those who rush to judgment on what’s happening in the Caucasus, or those who seek influence there, should first have at least some idea of this region’s complexities. The Ossetians live both in Georgia and in Russia. The region is a patchwork of ethnic groups living in close proximity. Therefore, all talk of “this is our land,” “we are liberating our land,” is meaningless. We must think about the people who live on the land.
Read the full op-ed here.
I think he makes some fair points, but then again I know next to nothing about Georgia. Reader insights?
4 Responses
Any connection between the Georgia-Russia conflict and the US putting those missile defense thingies in Poland?
the georgian incursions are being brought into question, how accurate are the reports? a lot of the imagery being used labeled as “georgian violence” is turning out to be russian in nature..
It certainly is bizarre that a violent incursion against an ethnic enclave by the Georgian government goes almost unnoticed, while the Russian incursion is presented as a new cold war. In the UK things have been a bit more balanced than in the US which, considering Putin’s people have been sprinkling radioactive seasoning on British citizens’ sushi, seems pretty bizarre.
I don’t know much about Georgia, either, but the folks at Registan.net do, and they’re furious: http://www.registan.net/index.php/category/caucasus/georgia/