Tuesday 12 August 2008

The fog of war


Unlike the recent theft of Kosovo from Serbia, the rights and wrongs of the current territorial dispute over South Ossetia are a little less clear. However, given that the BBC and Channel 4, together with both the UK and US governments have rushed to portray Russia as the aggressor and Georgia as the victim. it is a fair bet that Georgia has been up to no good.

Given the vagaries of the media's moral compass the very fact that Russia appears to have been the victor in the latest skirmish will invariably result in it being cast as the villain, however, difficult to accept as many in the press may find it, sometimes might can be right and now and then the underdog turns out to be a cur.

A alternative perspective on events can paint a very different picture and what appeared certainties can be a little more ambivalent.

If you were to ask a Russian to explain the recent series of events, they would probably respond that greater Ossetia is an overwhelmingly Russian area, by some estimates 90% hold Russian passports. Georgia has made numerous attempts to suppress the region and, as a result Russian peacekeeping troops have been in Ossetia for years and were approved in international agreements so as to protect the citizens of the region from attacks by the Georgian military.

Despite the international agreements Georgia, not Russia, started this war by the very fact that Georgia invaded Ossetia. Thousands of Ossetian civilians became refugees due to the Georgian assault and Russia responded in order to protect the Ossetian people, fighting the Georgia military so it could not continue its invasion.

It is not the way the BBC are reporting events, but does that make it any less true?

2 comments:

Robert said...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3580136,00.html

Georgia's defense minister, Davit Kezerashvili, is a former Israeli who is fluent in Hebrew.

Georgia's Minister tasked with the conflict zones is Temuri Yakobashvili.

Yakobashvili is a Jew and is fluent in Hebrew.

Anonymous said...

Here Fox News attempts to shut up two women who try to tell the truth anout what was happening in South Ossetia.

Meanwhile the Georgan leader eats his tie