Russia Invades Georgia

The former KGB men who run the Russian Federation have shown their true colors this week-end. After talks between the Georgian government and separatists of South Ossetia (mostly of Russian ethnicity) resulted in a ceasefire, which Georgia broke on Thursday, Russian troops entered South Ossetia. However, the Russian military hasn’t stopped there. Russia has launched air strikes on the Georgian capital Tblisi, and there are reports that Russian troops are in Georgia proper. The Georgian government has signed a cease-fire deal brokered by France and Finland, but no word yet from Moscow.

In the fog of war, it is difficult to figure out precisely who did what when. It makes no sense for Georgia to sign a cease-fire with the South Ossetians and then attack. So, was there a rogue officer in the Georgian military? Or were Russian agents provocateurs involved? Were there hard-line South Ossetians who wanted to derail the Thursday cease-fire? The truth may be years in discovering.

At the heart of the problem was the 1992 treaty that ended the fighting between South Ossetia and Georgia when the Soviet Union collapsed. Russia sent in “peace-keepers” to monitor things. This is a bit like the fox being in charge of the hen house. Georgia’s American-educated president, Mikhail Saakashvili has been a thorn is Russia’s side since his election in 2004. Prior to that, Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet Foreign Minister, had been president, a man more in sympathy with the Chekists in Moscow. Mr. Saakashvili has vowed to bring South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, back under full Georgian control. This the Russians don’t want.

The concern in Moscow is that Ukraine and Georgia are going to join NATO. The Russians have historically feared encirclement, and with no small justification. By destabilizing Georgia, by handing out Russian passports to the 70,000 South Ossetians (thus creating the conditions for claiming Moscow’s actions merely are to protect its citizens), and by using force, the Kremlin hopes to derail Georgia’s NATO application for a generation on the grounds that the region is too unstable.

As for outsiders, Russia has no desire for their participation. Indeed, the Cold War language is returning. This from Pravda’s English language site, “USA Approves Georgia’s Aggression against South Ossetia and Russia,” and “Georgian Troops Burn South Ossetian Refugees Alive,” and “War between Russia and Georgia Orchestrated from USA.” One hopes that the EU ceasefire kicks in quickly, but even when the violence is toned down, there is a major problem in this part of the world that isn’t going away anytime soon.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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