Georgia War Crimes in South Ossetia

Georgia denies ‘war crimes’ claim

Georgia’s president Mikhail Saakashvili: “We strongly deny any accusation of war crimes”

President Mikhail Saakashvili has denied that Georgia’s armed forces committed war crimes during their attack on South Ossetia in August.

Evidence obtained by the BBC in the breakaway region suggests Georgia used indiscriminate force, and may have targeted civilians.

Witnesses said tanks had fired on an apartment block, and civilians were shot at as they fled the fighting.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has raised the issue with Tbilisi.

South Ossetia and another region, Abkhazia, broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Georgia’s attempt to re-conquer South Ossetia triggered a Russian invasion and the most serious crisis in relations between the Kremlin and the West since the Cold War.

Witness claims

The BBC recently undertook the first unrestricted visit to South Ossetia by a foreign news organisation since the conflict.

Marina Kochieva, a doctor in the regional capital Tskhinvali’s main hospital, told our reporters that she and three relatives were targeted by a Georgian tank as they were trying to escape by car from the town on the night of 9 August.

There were certainly war crimes committed, certainly not by us Mikhail Saakashvili The claims against Georgia

She said the tank fired on her car and two other vehicles, leading them to crash into a ditch. The firing continued as she and her companions lay on the ground, she added.Georgy Tadtayev, a 21-year-old dental student, was one of the Ossetian civilians killed during the fighting.

His mother, Taya Sitnik, 45, told the BBC he bled to death in her arms on the morning of 9 August after a fragment from a Georgian tank shell hit him in the throat as they were both sheltering from artillery fire in the basement of her block of flats.

Mrs Sitnik said she subsequently saw the tank positioned a few metres from the building, firing shells into every floor. Extensive damage to the five-storey block appeared consistent with her version of events.

Mr Saakashvili said: “We strongly deny… accusation of war crimes – but of course, we are very open for any kind of comments, we are very open for any kind of investigation.

There is a high level of anger towards Georgians in South Ossetia

“We called indeed for international investigation into [the] conduct of this war, into conditions leading to this war, into circumstances leading to this invasion.”He added: “Those areas which were under Georgian control – and they were not Georgian villages, they were basically villages mostly predominantly populated by ethnic Ossetians but they were affiliated with the Georgian government – were 100% destroyed.

“So, you know, there were certainly war crimes committed, certainly not by us.”

‘Without favour’

Mr Miliband – normally a strong supporter of Georgia – told the BBC: “I think the Georgian action was reckless, I think the Russian response was disproportionate and wrong.

“And that is the series of events that have landed us where we are.

“On my visit to Tbilisi of course I raised at the highest level in Georgia, the questions that have been asked and raised about war crimes and other military actions by the Georgian authorities.

“We have acted in this without fear, without favour.”

The BBC visit also confirmed the systematic destruction of villages inside South Ossetia that were inhabited by ethnic Georgians.

Some homes appeared to have been not just burned by Ossetians, but also bulldozed by the territory’s Russian-backed authorities.

Progress Being Made in Georgia – Avoiding a New Cold War

The recent events of the past month in Georgia become more complex everyday. This is especially due to information finally being unearthed.

Israel

Israel has banned all businessmen related its military industry to travel to the Caucasus region. Russia is known to protect its interests no matter what. So if Israel kept on dealing arms to Georgia, Russia in turn would start supplying Middle Eastern nations hostile to Tel-Aviv with modern weapons. To avoid risking this, Israel has decided to virtually halt its role as a Georgian ally and to avoid getting involved in the whole situation around Tbilisi.  Iran being a closer Russian ally, Israel does not want to give Russia reason to deal modern weapons to Tehran.

Georgia

Saakashvili may resign his Presidency sometime before, or in the beginning of, this upcoming winter. The question of Saakashvili’s resignation has been discussed actively in Washington by the Georgian opposition. According to Alexander Chachia, leader of the opposition movement “Samegrelo”, M. Saakashvili “will be made an offer he cannot refuse.” He also added that the U.S. has been looking into the question of having Saakashvili resign in September, but it would mean admitting their own “human resource” mistake. Saakashvili’s predecessor is presumed to be his fellow of the “Rose revolution” Nino Burdzhanadze, who is an ex-speaker of the Georgian parliament and currently is part of the opposition. She has already visited Washington. Nonetheless, experts say that this change will not bring about much change into the relationship between Moscow and Tbilisi. “Moscow will have to speak with the masters, not the servants,” says Alexander Skakov, and expert at the Russian Institute of Strategic Research. He states that Tbilisi’s foreign policy will still be coming from Washington.

American media is now becoming split in condemning and supporting Georgia. Most of the critics of Saakashvili in the West say that his actions went against Western interests and were completely orchestrated by Saakashvili.

The way the situation is unfolding right now is exactly as I said on my very first post on August 8th, as Georgian artillery pounded Tskhinval:

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. Full Article Here

U.S. Policy in the Caucasus

Russian officials have stated that by sending back Georgian military personnel from Iraq to Tbilisi on August 8th, 2008, Washington has provided military support to Tbilisi in its fight in South Ossetia. Colonel-General A. Nagovitsin, head of the military operations in South Ossetia stated that, “[Georgian] political and military officials have lost control of the situation [during the conflict], and Mikheil Saakashvili has gone as far as asking Americans to provide him with a plane in case he had to leave.” He added that the panic in the country was so great that when 50 Georgian tanks were retreating from Tkhinvali, they were mistaken by the media and the government for Russian tanks, which in turn made the West think that Russians were pushing through Georgia.

Again, as was stated in the first article at CloserView:

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 Conclusion

Russia knows that it lost the informational war. Now it was what it is best at – cornering its opponents into admitting their mistakes. It will throw all its resources not into playing the informational war, for it cannot be won. Is has already won it’s battle with Israel sending modern weapons and modifying Georgia equipment. Czech Republic has already indirectly admitted to U.S. missile-defenses and radars being directed against Russia.

Now, Moscow wants Poland to admit it’s decision for letting the U.S. set its missile defenses on its territory wrong.

Most important battle that the Kremlin is fighting right now is getting Washington to stop backing Saakashvili and becoming an alternative to the U.S. as an ally for countries. Medvedev has openly stated that Kremlin’s policy is getting the world to stop being a one-sided game in Washington. Implying that it will do its best to defend its interests and interests of others even if they go against U.S. foreign policy interests.

Avoiding a new cold War means Washington and Russian politicians to set things straight around Georgia and to have everyone do their own things. When everyone starts getting involved in one conflict, two sides emerge and start clashing heads. If the battle remains only between Washington and Moscow, and the rest of the world stays out of it, a new Cold War will be avoided.

American Intelligence Confirms That Russia Is Right

RBC, a trusted and well known news source in Russia and especially in the European business world has just released a story that is titled, “American Intelligence Confirms That Russia Is Right” relating to the war South Ossetia. Here’s the link to the permanent site of the story on RBC. If anyone reading this questions my translation, feel free to pop this into a translator, or find a person who reads Russian. I guarantee direct translation.

American Intelligence Confirms That Russia Is Right

American intelligence confirmed that Russia’s actions were correct during the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict. According to their data, recent military actions in South Ossetia were begun by Georgia, which is why Russia’s position is correct.  Dana Rohrbacher (R – California) stated this on Tuesday’s hearing in Congress.

“All intelligence sources with whom I’ve talk – and I have talked to many during the summer [congressional] recess – confirm, that all recent military actions in Georgia and its separatist provinces were started by Georgia,” stressed Dana Rohrbacher, according to TV channel “Vesti-24″.

According to his words, “Georgia, not Russians, broke the ceasefire, and no talks about provocations and other things can change this fact.”

D. Rohrbacher said that all attempts to put all of the blame for the military actions on South Ossetia are a “fig-leaf”**. “Russians are right, we are not. Georgians started it, Russians finished it,” said the politician.

**A fig-leaf is the little leaf that covers the private parts of statues. This is a direct Russian translation and a “fig” here is not the fruit, but rather meant to express that it does not serve a lot of purpose, as the statue is naked already.

The Conclusion

This will NEVER be aired or written anywhere in America. A thorough Google, Yahoo!, etc search will not find anything even mentioning this in English language. Rohrbacher’s statements undermine the whole political stance of the West in the conflict. Even though American intelligence is the source of all of this, the politicians who have a lot at stake here will do all they can to make sure this does not get out into the Western newspapers and tabloids soon, if at all. U.S. will completely lose face if a story even slightly mentioning this is published anywhere in Europe, even more so if it is published in the States.

Ukraine and Georgia – When the Body Doesn’t Listen to the Head

The leaders in Ukraine and Georgia – Yuschenko and Saakashvili respectively – seem to be losing hold of their governments and their public support is falling each day. News are coming out quite frequently hinting at tensions between the Presidents of the two countries and their governments. Oppositions are using this chance to bring forth their ideas and show what they have to offer their countrymen.

Ukraine

Newspapers from Russia and Ukraine are reporting that Yuschenko and the Rada (Verhovnaya Rada is Kiev’s Upper House) are more tense than ever. The Ukrainian parliamentariansare introducing a new bill that calls for renaming the Ukrainian Internal Forces to the National Ukrainian Guard. In essence, this gives the control of the military to the Rada, and takes it away from Yuschenko. Nikolai Dzhiga, a Ukrainian parliamentarian, pointed out that in this way, Yuschenko will not be able to use the military to pursue his political goals.

In 2007, during the Ukrainian political crisis, Yuschenko tried to issue an order for the military to step in when the special police units loyal to the head of the Ministry of Interior took control of the building of the Secretary of State’s building. No one followed the order as they did not agree with it and Ukrainian parliamentarians shot down the order, deeming it unconstitutional.

This shows, that Yuschenko is the only one who is backing his political goals. Ukraine is virtually split, the East and the South regions supporting Russia and pro-Russian parties, while the West and the North are supporting the complete opposites. It is important to note that one that thing that everyone in Ukraine has in common, is lack of support for Yuschenko.

Events around Yuliya Timoshenko, a leader of an opossition party to Yuschenko, has been the center of media attention for the past week.She has taken a pro-Russia stance, as Yuschenkoputs it, with repsect to Georgia and Crimea. Timoshenko said that Yuschenko is only putting the Ukrainian people in danger by tensing the situation in the Black Sea and supporting Georgia, events around which have become a political turmoil. Timoshenko also said that she has noticed a “tail” behind her wherever she goes. Most likely from the Ukrainian Secret Service at the request of Yuschenko. Because of her stance on Georgia and Crimea, she has been called a traitor to Ukraine by Yuschenko, however, no one else seems to echo his thoughts on the matter.

Georgia

Opposition leaders in Georgia are calling for Saakashvili’s resignation. The opposition leader of the party called “New Right” David Gemkrelidze said that is was “irresponsible of Saakashvili to bomb Tkhinvali, it was a trap, whichw as set for Georgia, against which the U.S., Europe, and the Georgia people have warned.” He also added, that now NATO does not know within which borders to accept Georgia into it’s organization. It is true, though, South Ossetian War has truly backed up Tbilisi’s attempts to join NATO.

The leader of the opposition also stated that he will meet with other opposition leaders to work out a plan of action of how to act in situations such as the one on hand. Soon, they will release their own, independent analysis of the short war in South Ossetia and will presented to the world.

Although the opposition is condemning Saakashvili, they are not taking a pro-Russia stance. Knowing, that the Georgian citizens have only been fed Saakashvili’s take on the war and read only the stories published by state controlled media, they have to take a stance which shows them as saying that this conflict was wrong and that the territorial sovereignty of Georgia has been destroyed. Nevertheless, they are not blaming Russia for the actions and are placing all of the blame on Saakashvili.

The Conclusion

United States is losing the grip on the “friends” in Tbilisi and Kiev. The oppositions in the countries are becoming more and more popular, as the current administrations do not give the Ukrainian and Georgian people what they want, and that is security (as seen in the South Ossetian War and the tensions in Crimea), and stable economies (spending a lot on military, while not paying attention to important domestic issues). It will be interesting to see how the elections in Ukraine and Georgia will be affected by the wave of current events, what role the U.S. will play.

CNN and Western Media in South Ossetia

Yellow Journalism

CNN is a trusted news source in the Western world. It made a name for itself, and it’s editors know this. Eduard Kakoiti, while visiting a hospital near Tskhinvali, saw a CNN journalist, who was with the Georgian Army at the time of attack. He was quoted by RBC to say that the journalist told him, that he was told there will be a form of “blitzkrieg”. That the Georgian Army will sweep into South Ossetia and will topple the South Ossetian government. Well, this did not happen, and the journalist, remaining unnamed, was actually wounded and taken to a hospital in South Ossetia. Kokoiti also was quoted, as saying that when the journalist goes back to the U.S., he should tell the truth about the conflict. Needless to say, the journalist will most likely never release his encounter with the South Ossetian leader to the Western public, and CNN will most likely do everything it can, so the story does not leak out.

CNN also is accused of using the wrong footage to cover the events in Georgia. In a nutshell, CNN is accused of using videos of Tskhinvali, to demonstrate destruction of Gori. Not only is this copyright infringement (the videos shot by Russian camera men belong to them, if privately shot, or to the TV company, for whom the journalist works), but this is disinformation of the masses. It is the biggest crime that is imaginable. If the U.S. does not have the decency to calm down Saakashvili and tell him not to bomb civilian population, at least make sure the mass media presents true facts. Here, are two videos. The first video was shot by the man that speaks in the second video. The first video shows Tshkinvali, capital of South Ossetia. Second video is in English and requires no translation.

Fox News Controversy

Fox News Studio B’s anchor Shepard Smith has shamelessly been rude on live TV to survivors from South Ossetia – 12 year old Amanda Kakoeva (an american-ossetian living in the U.S.) and her aunt Laura Tadeeva-Koreviski. An interview was set up to give live accounts of what happened in South Ossetia. Obviously, FOX did not get the storyline they needed, instead, they got two survivors blaming Saakashvili. Both were visiting their relatives in South Ossetia when the Georgian Army attacked. Smith continuously interrupt the guest speakers in places where they talk about Georgian President’s Saakashvili Army bombing civilians and committing war crimes. Towards the end of the video, Laura is interrupted by Shepard Smith abruptly to go to commercial. Both were quoted later as saying they were really pressured into not saying what they had to say, but seeing this was live television, they took the opportunity to do so. See for yourselves:

The Conclusion

Saakashvili went out of line during his military operations. Now, the West is faced with “inconvenient truth”. Those in power will do their best, to turn the mass media away from the reality of the conflict. As was mentioned before on this blog, Russia has won on the battlefield, but the media war is being lost. Not completely, but it is slowly slipping out of their control. It is vital, to analyze the tiniest details, when looking at politics, for the real reasons are never evident to the naked eye.