Sergei Ivanov reports
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/08/11/georgia.crisis.russia.dpm.ivanov.cnn
Monday, August 11, 2008
The western hypocrisy
The western hypocrisy is astounding here. This is a mirror of what happened in Serbia in the late 90s. Kosovo wanted to break off, but America ended up invading Serbia, violating its sovereignty and bombing the living heck out of it. Now the same thing is happening in Georgia but the sides are reversed. There are some key differences though:
-South Ossetia is Pro-Russia, while Kosovo is pro-NATO; Georgia is an American ally, while Serbia is a Russian ally. In other words, sovereignty is only important when it's a "friend" of ours.
-90% of South Ossetians hold Russian citizenship, and 12 Russian peacekeeprs were killed by the initial Georgian attack (during a cease fire mind you) which started this whole mess in the first place. (Russia is required by constitution to defend their citizens.)
-America and the west actually recognized Kosovo, whereas Russia has not recognized the two breakaway republics in Georgia, despite having every possible excuse in the world to do so. They could easily annex both regions if that was their goal.
Do people really have such short memories? One day we say one thing, the next we do the opposite, yet people seem to just nod their heads and say "we're right, we're always right". It's mind boggling. I can't believe our media, I can't believe our politicians, and most of all I can't believe the blatant, inexcusable hypocrisy being displayed by the American government YET AGAIN.
Why is our media not reporting on the atrocities in South Ossetia? The overflowing hospitals in North Ossetia and the 20-30,000 refugees (out of 70,000 total population) fleeing to Russia? There's a humanitarian crisis going on, there is no food, water or medicine in the destroyed capital of South Osseita. Yet all we're reading about in our media is the 10 some odd Georgian citizens who were killed by a Russian bomb that missed its military target.
I'm a Canadian born citizen, and I'm ashamed to be a part of this exclusive group of buddies called "the west".
Source: Stuman
-South Ossetia is Pro-Russia, while Kosovo is pro-NATO; Georgia is an American ally, while Serbia is a Russian ally. In other words, sovereignty is only important when it's a "friend" of ours.
-90% of South Ossetians hold Russian citizenship, and 12 Russian peacekeeprs were killed by the initial Georgian attack (during a cease fire mind you) which started this whole mess in the first place. (Russia is required by constitution to defend their citizens.)
-America and the west actually recognized Kosovo, whereas Russia has not recognized the two breakaway republics in Georgia, despite having every possible excuse in the world to do so. They could easily annex both regions if that was their goal.
Do people really have such short memories? One day we say one thing, the next we do the opposite, yet people seem to just nod their heads and say "we're right, we're always right". It's mind boggling. I can't believe our media, I can't believe our politicians, and most of all I can't believe the blatant, inexcusable hypocrisy being displayed by the American government YET AGAIN.
Why is our media not reporting on the atrocities in South Ossetia? The overflowing hospitals in North Ossetia and the 20-30,000 refugees (out of 70,000 total population) fleeing to Russia? There's a humanitarian crisis going on, there is no food, water or medicine in the destroyed capital of South Osseita. Yet all we're reading about in our media is the 10 some odd Georgian citizens who were killed by a Russian bomb that missed its military target.
I'm a Canadian born citizen, and I'm ashamed to be a part of this exclusive group of buddies called "the west".
Source: Stuman
Legality of Russia's involment
Russia's involvement in the conflict is indeed completely legal and actually mandatory according to international agreements between Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia. I suppose this may indeed come as a surprise to many of you. In accordance with international agreements, including the agreement of 1999 between Georgia and South Ossetia's separatists, Russia does not only execute peacemaking functions, but is obliged, in case one party breaks the cease-fire agreement, to defend the other party, which is exactly what the Russian government is doing in South Ossetia. Furthermore, the two breakaway regions of Georgia South Ossetia and Abkhazia have signed an agreement that, if one of them attacked, the other is supposed to offer military assistance. What I find really striking is that this piece of information gets censored in Western 'free' media and is never being reported.
It is interesting as well to read some comments that some nations such as Georgia can exert their right to be independent but others like Ossetia should be deprived of it. From historical standpoint, it was the case in the former USSR that some nations held the status of 'republics' and in legal terms were equal to Russia (e.g. Georgia, Ukraine, etc.). However, others such as North Ossetia and South Ossetia were ‘autonomous republics’ within Russia and Georgia respectively. It was a system created by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s that persisted until the breakup of the Soviet Union. As a matter of fact, Abkhazia for instance, the other breakaway region of Georgia, had the status of a ‘republic’ for a brief period of time until Stalin subsequently reduced it to that of an autonomous republic within Georgia. What bewilders me is that many of the freedom and democracy loving people who probably abhor Stalin use Stalin's criterion of determining which nations have a right to form independent counties and which others do not. It is also good to note that this is the same federal structure that former Yugoslavia copied from the former USSR in the 1940s. Croatia and Slovenia, for instance, were ‘republics’ with a right to secede from Yugoslavia, while Kosovo was a part of Serbia with an autonomous status.
Source: georgi81
It is interesting as well to read some comments that some nations such as Georgia can exert their right to be independent but others like Ossetia should be deprived of it. From historical standpoint, it was the case in the former USSR that some nations held the status of 'republics' and in legal terms were equal to Russia (e.g. Georgia, Ukraine, etc.). However, others such as North Ossetia and South Ossetia were ‘autonomous republics’ within Russia and Georgia respectively. It was a system created by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s that persisted until the breakup of the Soviet Union. As a matter of fact, Abkhazia for instance, the other breakaway region of Georgia, had the status of a ‘republic’ for a brief period of time until Stalin subsequently reduced it to that of an autonomous republic within Georgia. What bewilders me is that many of the freedom and democracy loving people who probably abhor Stalin use Stalin's criterion of determining which nations have a right to form independent counties and which others do not. It is also good to note that this is the same federal structure that former Yugoslavia copied from the former USSR in the 1940s. Croatia and Slovenia, for instance, were ‘republics’ with a right to secede from Yugoslavia, while Kosovo was a part of Serbia with an autonomous status.
Source: georgi81
US involvement in South Ossetia and Georgia war
Since Georgia fired the first shot, and would surely never start a war with Russia unless it had been assured it had the backing of a larger power, the role of the US in this cannot be ignored.
The statements from Bush the Lesser are rather conspicuous - especially since the Georgian forces were trained and enabled by the US and Israel - since he never issues such statements when Israel attacks the Palestinians, but when Russia responds to aggression by US-backed forces, suddenly he finds the words "disproportionate response" easy to utter.
So what is the motive here?
Is this simply the Neo-Cons further provoking Russia? Is this about the pipelines from the Caspian, that either Bush hopes to seize, or disable in order to make his new pipelines in Afghanistan more viable?
Or, as two more carrier groups head for the Straits of Hormuz, is this about tying up Russian forces while the US and Israel gear up for an illegal strike on Iran, in order to limit its response to their aggression?
Source JordanThornton
The statements from Bush the Lesser are rather conspicuous - especially since the Georgian forces were trained and enabled by the US and Israel - since he never issues such statements when Israel attacks the Palestinians, but when Russia responds to aggression by US-backed forces, suddenly he finds the words "disproportionate response" easy to utter.
So what is the motive here?
Is this simply the Neo-Cons further provoking Russia? Is this about the pipelines from the Caspian, that either Bush hopes to seize, or disable in order to make his new pipelines in Afghanistan more viable?
Or, as two more carrier groups head for the Straits of Hormuz, is this about tying up Russian forces while the US and Israel gear up for an illegal strike on Iran, in order to limit its response to their aggression?
Source JordanThornton
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Georgian aviation bombed apartment building
Georgian aviation bombed apartment building in Tshinvali (S.Ossetia)Moday night.
© AFP
© AFP
after-georgian-attack-sossetia-chinvali
After georgian military left Tskinvali
S.Ossetians hiding from Georgian attackers
In the hospital basement. S.Ossetians hiding from georgian military
source: © AP Photo/Scanpix,
© Reuters/Scanpix - Denis Sinyakov (http://www.denissinyakov.com/)
S.Ossetians hiding from Georgian attackers
In the hospital basement. S.Ossetians hiding from georgian military
source: © AP Photo/Scanpix,
© Reuters/Scanpix - Denis Sinyakov (http://www.denissinyakov.com/)
Russia points to media bias in coverage of S.Ossetia conflict
"Russia says Georgian forces have killed around 2,000 South Ossetian civilians, mainly Russian nationals, in attacks that began on Friday, and that 34,000 locals have been forced to flee to Russia. In response to the Georgian offensive, Russia sent tanks and troops into the province, and carried out a series of air strikes on Georgian military targets.
"We want television screens in the West to be showing not only Russian tanks, and texts saying Russia is at war in South Ossetia and with Georgia, but also to be showing the suffering of the Ossetian people, the murdered elderly people and children, the destroyed towns of South Ossetia, and [regional capital] Tskhinvali. This would be an objective way of presenting the material," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told a RIA Novosti news conference.
Current Western media coverage of the events in the separatist republic is "a politically motivated version, to put it mildly," he said.
The United States, Georgia's key ally, has called Russia's strikes on Georgian territory "dangerous and disproportionate," and warned that they could harm relations with Washington in the long-term. Georgia said on Friday that 300 of its citizens had been killed, mainly civilians, by Russian forces.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier called Russia's actions "absolutely justified and legitimate from the legal standpoint," and accused Georgia of "full-scale genocide."
At the premier's meeting with South Ossetian refugees at a makeshift hospital camp in Russia's North Ossetia on Saturday, eyewitnesses described atrocities committed by Georgian troops, including an incident where a group of local young women were rounded up and burned alive, and killings of old people and children.
Karasin said on Saturday that the country may ask the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights to investigate war crimes committed by Georgia.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said on Sunday that Georgian forces had fully withdrawn from the separatist province.
However, a spokesman for the peacekeeping command told RIA Novosti: "This statement is a lie, just like [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili's statement on the impossibility of using military force in conflict zones."
Russia has also denied bombing Georgian towns.
"The Georgian side has named some nearby populated areas and towns, saying they are being bombed by the Russian Air Force. I take full responsibility in saying that the Russian side did not bomb any populated area," Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, told a news briefing on Sunday"
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080810/115936076.html
"We want television screens in the West to be showing not only Russian tanks, and texts saying Russia is at war in South Ossetia and with Georgia, but also to be showing the suffering of the Ossetian people, the murdered elderly people and children, the destroyed towns of South Ossetia, and [regional capital] Tskhinvali. This would be an objective way of presenting the material," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told a RIA Novosti news conference.
Current Western media coverage of the events in the separatist republic is "a politically motivated version, to put it mildly," he said.
The United States, Georgia's key ally, has called Russia's strikes on Georgian territory "dangerous and disproportionate," and warned that they could harm relations with Washington in the long-term. Georgia said on Friday that 300 of its citizens had been killed, mainly civilians, by Russian forces.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier called Russia's actions "absolutely justified and legitimate from the legal standpoint," and accused Georgia of "full-scale genocide."
At the premier's meeting with South Ossetian refugees at a makeshift hospital camp in Russia's North Ossetia on Saturday, eyewitnesses described atrocities committed by Georgian troops, including an incident where a group of local young women were rounded up and burned alive, and killings of old people and children.
Karasin said on Saturday that the country may ask the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights to investigate war crimes committed by Georgia.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said on Sunday that Georgian forces had fully withdrawn from the separatist province.
However, a spokesman for the peacekeeping command told RIA Novosti: "This statement is a lie, just like [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili's statement on the impossibility of using military force in conflict zones."
Russia has also denied bombing Georgian towns.
"The Georgian side has named some nearby populated areas and towns, saying they are being bombed by the Russian Air Force. I take full responsibility in saying that the Russian side did not bomb any populated area," Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, told a news briefing on Sunday"
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080810/115936076.html
Russia's involvement in the conflict. South Ossetia
"Russia's involvement in the conflict is indeed completely legal and actually mandatory according to international agreements between Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia.
I suppose this may indeed come as a surprise to many of you. In accordance with international agreements, including the agreement of 1999 between Georgia and South Ossetia's separatists, Russia does not only execute peacemaking functions, but is obliged, in case one party breaks the cease-fire agreement, to defend the other party, which is exactly what we are doing in case with South Ossetia. What I find really striking is that this piece of information gets censored in Western 'free' media and is never reported.
Another point I would like to make is about the right of some nations such as Georgia to exert their right to be independent but others like Ossetia to be deprived of it. In the former USSR, some nations had the status of 'republics' and in legal terms were equal to Russia (e.g. Georgia, Ukraine, etc.). However, others such as North Ossetia and South Ossetia were autonomous republics within Russia and Georgia respectively. It was a system created by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and persisted until the breakup of the Soviet Union. What bewilders me is that all the freedom and democracy loving Canadians who probably abhor Stalin use Stalin's criterion of determining which nations have a right to form independent counties and which other do not.
By the way, why are democratic leaders in North America and Western Europe covering up for crimes against humanity and possibly genocide committed by the Georgian government? Does anyone realize that in a single day about 1,400 people have died, a number that constitutes 2 % of its entire population and about 30,000 since Thursday have fled South Ossetia (roughly 45 % of the population)? "
source: georgi81
I suppose this may indeed come as a surprise to many of you. In accordance with international agreements, including the agreement of 1999 between Georgia and South Ossetia's separatists, Russia does not only execute peacemaking functions, but is obliged, in case one party breaks the cease-fire agreement, to defend the other party, which is exactly what we are doing in case with South Ossetia. What I find really striking is that this piece of information gets censored in Western 'free' media and is never reported.
Another point I would like to make is about the right of some nations such as Georgia to exert their right to be independent but others like Ossetia to be deprived of it. In the former USSR, some nations had the status of 'republics' and in legal terms were equal to Russia (e.g. Georgia, Ukraine, etc.). However, others such as North Ossetia and South Ossetia were autonomous republics within Russia and Georgia respectively. It was a system created by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and persisted until the breakup of the Soviet Union. What bewilders me is that all the freedom and democracy loving Canadians who probably abhor Stalin use Stalin's criterion of determining which nations have a right to form independent counties and which other do not.
By the way, why are democratic leaders in North America and Western Europe covering up for crimes against humanity and possibly genocide committed by the Georgian government? Does anyone realize that in a single day about 1,400 people have died, a number that constitutes 2 % of its entire population and about 30,000 since Thursday have fled South Ossetia (roughly 45 % of the population)? "
source: georgi81
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