South Ossetia War

Russia and South Ossetia.

Tanks in the streets, planes bombing targets, soldiers engaged in fierce combat. This is a war. Now, questions loom over the international community – what will happen? Who is to blame? What is the world’s reaction? What are the motives for the world’s reactions? There are many more and as this is a war that has already drawn in two countries with professional armies, this could escalate and blow out of control of politicians and world leaders.

In a way, it already has. South Ossetians have a history of resisting Georgian rule. They have been somewhat autonomous for the last 16 years. Now, that Georgia has moved in with full force, there is no way that South Ossetians will want to remain as part of Georgian territory. Blood has been shed, and Georgia has committed a big mistake.

In South Ossetia, 90% of the population are Russian citizens. They have been calling for Russia to come to their aid ever since the attacks began. Russia stood by as the Georgians rolled into the capital of South Ossetia – Tskhinvali. However, when the Georgians started shooting at Peacekeeping forces, it had no choice, but to move in. If Russia had not responded in force, the peacekeeping mission would not have been doing its job, which is to promise to protect the citizens of a territory in case of an attack.

Those that condemn Russia’s actions say that Russia is challenging Georgia’s sovereignty. Well, if Russia had not stepped in, their future promises to their allies would be looked at as nothing more than empty promises. Besides, everyone condemns Russia crushing the attempts of Chechnya to separate, yet support Georgia doing the same with South Ossetia. Russia is protecting the weak in Georgia. Think about it this way, if you know your neighbor beating his little kid, would you just go up to him and tell him to stop, or would you be a hero and step in for the child? It is as simple as that.

Acts of Georgian soldiers executing civilians and peacekeepers, and ethnically cleansing areas that they have taken, have been reported by CNN, RBC, BBC, Vesti, The Guarding, and multiple other news agencies all over the world. It is absolutely justified that Russia is helping repulse Georgians trying to level the separatist republic. They are holding true to their promise and stepping in for their citizens.

U.S. Involvement in the Conflict.

The U.S. has somewhat “quietly” condemned Russia’s actions. There is nothing else they can do – Saakashvili is/was a U.S. citizen, he has lived in New York for a considerable chunk of time, and has moved back to Georgia to organize the Rose Revolution. In a short period of time he has made many friends that opposed the former Georgian rule and became President of Georgia. U.S. endorsed Saakashvili and backed his every action. It is ridiculously obvious that the U.S. is pulling the string him.

That in mind, why has the U.S. not stepped in to help Georgia? Simple – Saakashvili did not talk it over with the U.S. He is now officially making decisions for himself, and this is not a decision that Washington truly supports. They HAVE to condemn Russia’s actions because Russia and U.S. have never sided on the same side of any major issue. The United States will not move in help Georgia because no one wants the East and West to be in conflict, which could easily bring up the differences between the two ideologies, turn into an open war between the two countries, and drag the world into World War 3. United States will do one of the following: remove Saakashvili from power or wait for the conflict to end and then congratulate the victor. Saakashvili seems to think that he has brought Georgia to the global level, but no one really cares. It is as simple as that. Access to the Black Sea and a base near the Caucasus Mountains is not reason enough for the U.S. to go to war with another power. Remember, U.S. has not fought a powerful nation since Korea (!!!). Vietnam. Iraq, Afghanistan are not technologically advanced countries with professional armies. Russia is a different story and U.S. does not want to risk a war.

It is easier for Washington to dump Georgia, say that Saakashvili is a rogue, and that US was wrong to think he was a democratic leader, rather than risk war with Russia.

What to Expect?

South Ossetia or Russia will never forgive the slaughter of their people in hospitals and their homes. Expect the final result to be the autonomy of the South Ossetian Republic.

For that to happen Russia needs to simply keep Georgians out of South Ossetia, not violating the territorial sovereignty of Georgia outside the autonomous republic of South Ossetia.

Remember this – Russia today, in 2008, is not Russia in 1990’s. The people in Kremlin have responded to such aggression when they held offices in USSR. The Russian army has money now. They can roll over Georgia in a matter of months. Georgia knows this. They are trying to draw Russia deeper into this conflict. They are failing to recognize that U.S. will stay away from this conflict. We’ll see where this goes