“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices” – Walter Lippman
No one should be surprised that US interference in the Caucasus has led to Russian intervention in South Ossetia. By interfering in the volatile politics of the Caucasus, and trying to recruit the governments there to become American “fitters” for various purposes, the United States has only drawn retaliatory Russian fire.
In Washington, Bush stepped out into the Rose Garden of the White House to declare, “Russian assaults inside Georgia – a swift and crushing deployment of military force that the Russians called ‘Operation Clean Field’ – must cease.”
What a misleading blunder! “Operation Clean Field” was the name given by the Georgians to their initial attack on South Ossetia and Tskhinvali – now in ruins – which was pounded by heavy artillery barrages by the Georgians, not the Russians. Why are we trying to brainwash people, thinking them so dumb that they cannot see through this manipulation of news? It would be much more advisable for Mr Bush to learn how to pronounce the Georgian leader’s name properly! Don’t you agree?
“It appeared that Russia might be attempting to ‘depose the duly-elected’ government of Georgia,” Bush said, declaring, “Such action is unacceptable in the 21st century.” (Question: Wasn’t Saddam Hussein duly elected, albeit in an election no less fair than the one held in Florida in 2000? Just asking!)
In its edition of 14 August, The Economist assented (although unwillingly) that “Both sides are to blame for the Russian-Georgian war,” but stopped short of condemning Georgia for unleashing a war and bombing Ossetia indiscriminately It continued with a scathing attack against Russia, even cynically bringing into play Stalin’s statue. Incredibly, no mention or drawing of any parallel with Kosovo and Serbia in this totally biased and frivolous article was made in such a pretentious publication!
But why does the Western news coverage remain so one-sided and biased? Coverage in the US and Europe is leaning heavily on reports on the Georgian casualties of Russian bombing over the weekend. Few details are being given about the thousands said to have been killed when Georgia attacked Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. The Western media is a well-organised machine that only shows those pictures that suit its interests. It is rather difficult to manage to squeeze in any opinion or speculation running counter to their assigned tasks. Haven’t we had enough factoids yet?
It would have been very relevant had the media sought to explain why Serbia’s military intervention against Kosovan separatists was “a war crime”, but Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia was “legitimate”!
Some time before the Georgian invasion, Russia had been working to secure a United Nations Security Council statement calling for the renunciation of force by both Georgia and South Ossetia. Western countries blocked the statement that could have averted bloodshed.
Why should a country of approximately four million people provoke a country the size of Russia unless such country were not encouraged and promised support by another larger country, in this case, the USA?
Neocons had readied a Wall Street Journal editorial article for Saakashvili declaring: “This is not about Georgia any more. It is about America, its values,” and “The war in Georgia is a war for the West.”
The truth, hidden by most of the corporate media, is that Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili, unleashed his – US and Israeli-armed and trained – forces on the tiny autonomous region of South Ossetia, murdering civilians and attacking Russian peacekeeping troops stationed there. Only then did Russian troops respond! How much more humiliation was Russia expected to take?
“Tskhinvali doesn’t exist,” said Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Head of the Russian General Staff. “It’s like Stalingrad was after the war. Schools. hospitals, houses – all infrastructure is ruined. There’s no water, no electricity. We will rebuild it.” And all this thanks to the Georgian overbearing manner and presumptuous claims resulting in its military aggression.
At least, Human Rights Watch has finally, after an on-the-ground inspection, admitted: “Witness accounts and the timing of the damage would point to Georgian fire accounting for much of the damaged described (in Tskhinvali).”
Mr Saakashvili has contemptuously demonstrated that he is unafraid of aggression and the world’s reaction to it. He totally misunderstood the Kosovo example at his own expense.
What’s next for poor Georgia?
Since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, one former member after another, as well as former States of the Soviet Union, have been coaxed and in many cases bribed with false promises by Washington to join the counter organisation Nato. Now Washington is exerting pressure on EU/Nato member countries to admit Georgia and Ukraine by December.
The West-leaning President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, felt the need to raise the military budget of his country from US$30 million to US$1,000 million and is also receiving military equipment and training from the USA and Israel. Not a very promising and mollifying omen!
As American military cargo planes start landing in Georgia and USA naval forces arriving at Georgian ports on the so-called “humanitarian aid” operation just one day after the hostilities ended much faster than the aid to Louisiana for the victims of Katrina, a lot of jaws dropped. Viewed in close relationship to the planned installation of the US Missile Defence System in Poland and the radar system in the Czech Republic, many Georgians have been worried by Saakashvili’s tendency to portray western support as an excuse to provoke Russia. Even poor old Poland, not unlike the Czech Republic and the UK, has fallen into the trap of becoming an American puppet.
A new world order has grown out of the greed and corruption of Bush and Co., not excluding UK interests. If the Georgians want to live in a kind of American so-called democracy, i.e. ruled by a small majority of corrupt individuals, who happen to be filthy rich, together with the US military, that would be of their own choosing.
One hopes that the thorns of the so-called “Rose Revolution” will not continue to shed more innocent blood!
Washington likes to appeal to international law and opinion, although it’s interesting to note that the champion for disregarding international law is the United States.
Every country is tired of war, except for the USA. “Maybe war is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.”
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” – Sir Winston Churchill.