It only took 10 weeks for the French to surrender, this time. So much for Sarkozy’s “sanctions”. Russia has successfully reasserted its power over its near abroad. Its neighbors’ powerlessness and lack of resolve has been demonstrated again, for anyone who needed further demonstration.
Thus ends the lone sanction Europe placed on its belligerent neighbor after the August war. The talks are back on, but Georgians are still waiting for the promised pullback of Russian soldiers to their prewar positions. Numerous Russian troops remain in the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose self-declared independence has been recognized by only Russia and Nicaragua.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians are still unable to return to their homes both in and outside the conflict zone. EU and other Western observers remain blocked from entering the most war-torn areas, and as recently as Sunday were still reporting incidents in which they’d been fired upon near Abkhazia.
Of course, who can blame the EUnuchs? Would you bet that President Hopenchange would back you up on a strong line against Russian military adventurism?
Sorry, Georgia.
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Why should they count on it? Unless they’re willing to pay in cold, hard cash, why should the US be their shield? Are there any US interests at stake? Yes, Russia is poised to choke pipelines to Europe, but that’s not a US problem.
I don’t know in what remote part of the world the writer of this article lives. But it is a well known fact now that the ethnic nationalistic Georgian government has terrorized the Ossetian and Abkhaz minority population for many years now. It is also quite clear from recent events that Georgia did a genocide attempt for the second time on Ossetians. If there is one good reason to not want to be part of Georgia and rather be part of Russia or for needing help from Russia then it is because the majority in the country you live in wants to kill you and remove you from the land you have always lived. Russia did a good job preventing further genocide on the Ossetians. And the world should follow it’s example and acknowledge the independent nations of Abkhazia and South-Ossetia. Saakashvili should be arrested as soon as possible for not only war-crimes but for putting his army before his own Georgian citizens. Georgians live in poverty and bad conditions because Saakashvili puts all the money into it’s USA trained military.
Ignoring the gnat for a minute, I have a story about Russians.
I have a friend who’s a farmer. He was sent to Russia by our government to teach wheat farming to some people there. He was lodged at this ancient house, hosted by a Russian native.
He noticed a rifle hanging over the fireplace, which he thought odd, since we have been led to believe europeans in general and communists in particular (but perhaps I repeat myself) don’t allow common folk to own guns. It turns out she wasn’t common folk, owning an estate and all.
He asked her what the gun was for, and she matter-of-factly told him it was so she could shoot the German down the road, whose family of interlopers had taken over land that rightfully belonged to Russians.
He asked her when that happened, and she said 100 years earlier.
Ethnicity is important to feeble-minded Europeans in ways that Americans seldom get to see close up. Couple that with a clever manipulator like Putin wanting to grow his empire, and you end up with this crap in Georgia.
And then you get useful idiots like Seraphiel and suddenly it’s a crime (or sign of guilt) to have a “USA trained military”.
As far as the “independent” nations of Abkhazia and South-Ossetia, I do not think that word means what you think it does.
A visit from an Ossetian separatist hack.
My grandfather was born in the Volga River Vally, they taught US farmers how to grow crops in colder climates. After the Soviet takeover most of the farmers were “relocated” to Gulags or killed(the grands left in 1910). Great way to maintain the best farmland on the continent.
Yo, Ser-Astro-Bot, the Georgians, Abkhaz, and Ossetins were co-existing just fine until the Russians started fostering ethnic tensions to destabilize the former SSRs. If you swing on back and prove that you’re not a bot, then you might be even worth insulting.
At least the Russkis aren’t as good at automated astroturf yet as David Axelrod is.