Trouble in the Caucasus. The Daily Telegraph reports that the US is blaming Russia for stirring up South Ossetia against Georgia. The UN Security Council will meet at one hour to midnight, Eastern Time, to discuss the situation there.
“The United States swiftly called for calm, but appeared to apportion more blame on Moscow and the separatist forces it supports for taking the volatile region to the brink of war. …The United States condemned Russia’s interference in the region as provocative, while the European Union has repeated its commitment to the inviolability of Georgia’s territorial integrity.Relations between Russia and Georgia have been sour ever since Mr Saakashvili was swept to power in 2003 after the Rose Revolution and pursued a determined policy to break free from Moscow’s influence.”
Reuters says that “Members of the U.N. Security Council agreed to a Russian request and will hold a rare late-night session on Thursday after Georgia sent troops into its breakaway province of South Ossetia.” The IHT describes breakaway regions as de facto autonomous, following their emergence after the breakup of the USSR. But after “Saakashvili challenged Russian pre-eminence in the region by seeking NATO membership and stronger ties with the West” and under the sting of Kosovo’s declaration of independence, an act widely regarded as humiliating to Russia, the Bear struck back.
“It does give off the appearance that the violence is linked to strategic moves by one or both sides to improve their positions,” said Ana Jelenkovic, an associate at the Eurasia Group, a political risk analysis consultancy.
In the violence this week, separatist fighters from South Ossetia used rocket-propelled grenades to blow up a Georgian armored personnel carrier, killing two soldiers and wounding six others, said Shota Utiashvili, a Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman. As many as eight Georgian civilians were killed Thursday in a mortar attack on Avnevi, a village in the border region, he said.
On the South Ossetian side, at least 20 people were wounded when villages came under fire from Georgian positions, said Tamara Keleksayeva, of the South Ossetia separatist government.
Potentially complicating matters, about 300 volunteer fighters from Russia have arrived in South Ossetia to aid in the fight, she said.
Tip Jar.
“Volunteers” from Russia, eh? Color me surprised…more likely a Russian replay of the 1939 Gleiwitz incident – staged attack by Germans dressed as Poles to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany, to justify the subsequent invasion of Poland.
I don’t see any reason why the USA should encourage Georgia to incorporate South Ossetia. Let the people who speak the Ossetian language have their own one little place on Earth where they can continue to protect and maintain their language. The people of South Ossetia should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to remain independent or join Georgia.
The USA should be giving Georgia good advice to back off and develop friendly relations with South Ossetia.
South Ossetia welcomes Russian protection against Georgia. There is no good reason why the USA’s protection couldn’t be welcomed likewise.
South Ossetia does not matter to the US. Russia deciding to act “now” with oil revenues and create a military empire of Eastern Europe (and perhaps more) against what in Europe is mainly border guards and police, incapable of arresting violent criminals in their own country much less fighting off foreign invaders, does.
Russia if it wanted to, could seize pretty much most of Eastern Europe and perhaps also Germany and even France. The pathetic state of military affairs there is that bad.
Drawing a line somewhere against Putin’s desire to reconstitute Stalin’s slave empire is important.
I still can’t get that old Simpsons episode out of my head, the one where the Russian UN ambassador flips the name card back to Soviet Union, laughing maniacally as he does so. Lenin busts out of his glass case declaring “must crush capitalism”, and the giant panda parades fall apart to reveal missile carriers and tanks.
How prophetic.
Mike S – so we are defining countries by language distribution now? The Swiss won’t know what to do in your new world order!
And here comes that Caliphate we were all dreading, since everyone in that region speaks Arabic. On the plus side, the English (nee British) Empire is feeling much better, thank you.
Well, yes, countries are defined largely by languages. Switzerland is an exception to a general rule. Haven’t you noticed that the people who speak Romanian live in a country called Romania, the people who speak Lithuanian live in a country called Lithuania, and so forth? Look at a world map for a while, and you will notice many such examples.