The last few days, some interesting things have been taking place. No, not the big thing in China. Everyone knows about the big event in China. I am talking about what's going on a little North and West of there. In a place called Georgia. Not the American state, I mean the former Soviet Republic of course.
The world's other super power, perhaps just a shell of its past self is busy blowing stuff up in someone else's country once more. So what happened? I don't know for sure, but here's what it looks like from here. It looks like the Georgians decided to re-take their territory, you know territory in name, like Kosovo is Serbian in name. In Kosovo's case, the Serbs are out of luck. A lot of the world has recognised Kosovo as the world's newest country, ignoring Serbia and Russia's opposition to it. Now, when it comes to the Georgian territories, Russia is not having any of that. They seem to be hell bent on showing the rest of the world that Russia isn't a has-been by any means and can show its ruthlessness and military prowess when needed.
The Western world is slowly getting up in arms about this. The American presidency and the government there has been using lovely diplomatic words like 'dramatic and brutal escalation' to describe the Russian exploits. Well and good I suppose. The Europeans are acting a little differently. Sure they have similar terminology. But really, they seem much more interested in finding a solution and stopping the Russians from doing more damage to Georgia and to try and limit the inevitable danger the civilians will be placed in should the Russians move into, lets sat Tbilisi. So the current chair of the EU, France, has sent their foreign minister out to try and make peace with the warring sides. Except, the Russians don't seem to care.
Now, there are many, many, many ironies here. It is comical almost to see the Western world react the way they did. They seem downright indignant that the Russians are doing what they've done in the past. They're invading a sovereign country as it were and that isn't very cool in the 21st century. That is true. Except... the West has been doing that for a while now. Lets see, where shall we start? Kosovo? Yes, there was alleged genocide, yes there was brutality, but in the grand scheme of things, how different is it from those Georgian regions? There are 'terrorists' who are attacking the country, there are civilians who are no doubt being attacked and 'war crimes' being conducted by the Georgians (or so the Russians say) and that's why they interevened. Sound familiar? I think so. Go back to 1999. A different set of Presidents (Clinton and Milosevic) but the same game. And guess who's part of the party? Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, The United States... What happened? Lots of bombings, lots of dead people, a country side destroyed, all sorts of rhetoric at the UN and finally, a UN peace keeping contingent sent out to carve out a new country, mainly manned by the folks who were bombing Kosovo a little earlier.
Fast forward 4 years and we run into a different set of Presidents, this time George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein. Oh, we have the same side-characters, Tony Blair in this case, but this time, there are dissenters. The Canadians aren't really sure they want to be a part of it, the French are downright against it, the Germans, we are not so sure of. The Georgians, they are the third largest contingent to send troops (well, now they are). Still, under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction, 'terrorists' and various crimes against civilians, the world allows America and its defenders of freedom (those of them who are with them as opposed to against them; my take on... either you're with us or against us) to ride roughshod over Iraq, destroy significant portions of the country and then try to make peace. What happened? Well, shit happened. The war isn't over, the country is in shambles and America no longer wants to be there (or at least is trying to find a way out of the mess that it has now become). In the mean time, lots of young American soldiers are dying and god knows how many Iraqis and others are dead and sufferring.
So why are we so mad about Georgia? If you listen to the Russians, they are using almost the exact same excuses and terms as the West has, to justify what they are doing. You hear words like 'war crimes', 'terrorists', extermination etc. Are they right? Who knows. Were the Americans, the British, the Canadians right about Kosovo or Iraq? Who knows.
So, what have we learned? Both sides uses the same excuses to try and justify their wars. Both sides use rhetoric where they can to make their case, especially at venues like the UN. Remember General Powell showing the world pictures of the mobile WMD lab? Remember how we've still not found any of these labs? Or been attacked by any of them? I am sure the Russians will find weapons caches and indications of genocide and what not. Both sides like to think they are doing something benevolent. The Russians say they are out to defend ethnic Russians and Russian passport holders in those parts of Georgia. That is a noble thought, no? But really, is it?
And what of the rhetoric coming from the West? If America and Britain and France and Germany cares about Georgia, why not do a couple of things? Lets say, you send a good chunk of your air force in Europe out on a jaunt to the Black Sea, say based in Turkey? Why not send some ships into the Black Sea as well? Well, maybe sending ships will be a little harder... but planes can definitely go there. Why not stop buying Russian fuel? Why not threaten the Russians with a crap load of sanctions and big weapons if they decide to go after a Western Ally?
Why not? Well, the answer is simple really. No one cares about Georgia in the West. They are too small a fish to fight over with Russia. The Russians would turn off gas and a third of Europe would go dark. And I kid you not, the Russians would kick some ass if someone took a fight to them in their part of the world. It wasn't just winter that stopped Hitler on his way to Moscow. And I don't think the Russians ever forgot the lessons of that war. And if the West pisses off the Russians, you can kiss goodbye to any help they are willing to provide in reigning in the Iranians or the North Koreans or help fight the scourge of Islamic terrorism. So, we sacrifice Georgia for the West's larger needs and wants. Basically, we are willing to criticise and throw out lofty statements about sovereignity and world peace and all that but we are not about to jeopardise our cushy comfortable lives for the sake of those ideals.
Why else would we all be happily playing games in China while many human rights are violated, not just in China, but in other parts of the world, thanks to China? Because we are willing to think one way but sacrifice everything for our short term benefit, throwing away our beliefs by the way side.
Dear people of Georgia, I hope you guys don't get shafted too badly. I hope you live to see that the world is really selfish and only cares about its own needs. And I hope you realise that you need to make peace in your break-away territories without the gun. Or move further West. But since you can't do that, you're fucked.
The world's other super power, perhaps just a shell of its past self is busy blowing stuff up in someone else's country once more. So what happened? I don't know for sure, but here's what it looks like from here. It looks like the Georgians decided to re-take their territory, you know territory in name, like Kosovo is Serbian in name. In Kosovo's case, the Serbs are out of luck. A lot of the world has recognised Kosovo as the world's newest country, ignoring Serbia and Russia's opposition to it. Now, when it comes to the Georgian territories, Russia is not having any of that. They seem to be hell bent on showing the rest of the world that Russia isn't a has-been by any means and can show its ruthlessness and military prowess when needed.
The Western world is slowly getting up in arms about this. The American presidency and the government there has been using lovely diplomatic words like 'dramatic and brutal escalation' to describe the Russian exploits. Well and good I suppose. The Europeans are acting a little differently. Sure they have similar terminology. But really, they seem much more interested in finding a solution and stopping the Russians from doing more damage to Georgia and to try and limit the inevitable danger the civilians will be placed in should the Russians move into, lets sat Tbilisi. So the current chair of the EU, France, has sent their foreign minister out to try and make peace with the warring sides. Except, the Russians don't seem to care.
Now, there are many, many, many ironies here. It is comical almost to see the Western world react the way they did. They seem downright indignant that the Russians are doing what they've done in the past. They're invading a sovereign country as it were and that isn't very cool in the 21st century. That is true. Except... the West has been doing that for a while now. Lets see, where shall we start? Kosovo? Yes, there was alleged genocide, yes there was brutality, but in the grand scheme of things, how different is it from those Georgian regions? There are 'terrorists' who are attacking the country, there are civilians who are no doubt being attacked and 'war crimes' being conducted by the Georgians (or so the Russians say) and that's why they interevened. Sound familiar? I think so. Go back to 1999. A different set of Presidents (Clinton and Milosevic) but the same game. And guess who's part of the party? Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, The United States... What happened? Lots of bombings, lots of dead people, a country side destroyed, all sorts of rhetoric at the UN and finally, a UN peace keeping contingent sent out to carve out a new country, mainly manned by the folks who were bombing Kosovo a little earlier.
Fast forward 4 years and we run into a different set of Presidents, this time George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein. Oh, we have the same side-characters, Tony Blair in this case, but this time, there are dissenters. The Canadians aren't really sure they want to be a part of it, the French are downright against it, the Germans, we are not so sure of. The Georgians, they are the third largest contingent to send troops (well, now they are). Still, under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction, 'terrorists' and various crimes against civilians, the world allows America and its defenders of freedom (those of them who are with them as opposed to against them; my take on... either you're with us or against us) to ride roughshod over Iraq, destroy significant portions of the country and then try to make peace. What happened? Well, shit happened. The war isn't over, the country is in shambles and America no longer wants to be there (or at least is trying to find a way out of the mess that it has now become). In the mean time, lots of young American soldiers are dying and god knows how many Iraqis and others are dead and sufferring.
So why are we so mad about Georgia? If you listen to the Russians, they are using almost the exact same excuses and terms as the West has, to justify what they are doing. You hear words like 'war crimes', 'terrorists', extermination etc. Are they right? Who knows. Were the Americans, the British, the Canadians right about Kosovo or Iraq? Who knows.
So, what have we learned? Both sides uses the same excuses to try and justify their wars. Both sides use rhetoric where they can to make their case, especially at venues like the UN. Remember General Powell showing the world pictures of the mobile WMD lab? Remember how we've still not found any of these labs? Or been attacked by any of them? I am sure the Russians will find weapons caches and indications of genocide and what not. Both sides like to think they are doing something benevolent. The Russians say they are out to defend ethnic Russians and Russian passport holders in those parts of Georgia. That is a noble thought, no? But really, is it?
And what of the rhetoric coming from the West? If America and Britain and France and Germany cares about Georgia, why not do a couple of things? Lets say, you send a good chunk of your air force in Europe out on a jaunt to the Black Sea, say based in Turkey? Why not send some ships into the Black Sea as well? Well, maybe sending ships will be a little harder... but planes can definitely go there. Why not stop buying Russian fuel? Why not threaten the Russians with a crap load of sanctions and big weapons if they decide to go after a Western Ally?
Why not? Well, the answer is simple really. No one cares about Georgia in the West. They are too small a fish to fight over with Russia. The Russians would turn off gas and a third of Europe would go dark. And I kid you not, the Russians would kick some ass if someone took a fight to them in their part of the world. It wasn't just winter that stopped Hitler on his way to Moscow. And I don't think the Russians ever forgot the lessons of that war. And if the West pisses off the Russians, you can kiss goodbye to any help they are willing to provide in reigning in the Iranians or the North Koreans or help fight the scourge of Islamic terrorism. So, we sacrifice Georgia for the West's larger needs and wants. Basically, we are willing to criticise and throw out lofty statements about sovereignity and world peace and all that but we are not about to jeopardise our cushy comfortable lives for the sake of those ideals.
Why else would we all be happily playing games in China while many human rights are violated, not just in China, but in other parts of the world, thanks to China? Because we are willing to think one way but sacrifice everything for our short term benefit, throwing away our beliefs by the way side.
Dear people of Georgia, I hope you guys don't get shafted too badly. I hope you live to see that the world is really selfish and only cares about its own needs. And I hope you realise that you need to make peace in your break-away territories without the gun. Or move further West. But since you can't do that, you're fucked.
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