Georgia planned a campaign of genocide against the peaceful citizens of South Ossetia, but, the Russian government intervened, preventing ethnic cleansings that would have been of equal extent to those in the former Yugoslavia, Darfur, Rwanda, and Somalia. Undoubtedly, Georgia systematically prepared for this war. In the past five years, military expenditures rose 40-fold. The national wealth of this relatively-small Transcaucasian state was not used not for the peaceful development of the economy, but, for military purposes. Moreover, it seemed that its actions did not serve the immediate needs of its defence, but, the aggressive attitude of the Georgian leadership did not come from the Georgian people, it came from foreign sources.
The present leader of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili tried to enflame Georgian nationalism, and rattling his sabre, boasted that he would forcibly incorporate two regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, into the Georgian state. However, as far as South Ossetia was concerned, the situation was under control due to the presence of Russian peacekeeping forces. “The USA did nothing to protect the innocent civilians of South Ossetia from Georgian aggression”, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. As a result, this “small victorious war” far from the shores of the USA, apparently, planned in Washington, ended in a military rout and a political débâcle for Tbilisi.
Natalia Narochnitskaya, the deputy chairman of the RF Gosduma committee on international affairs, analysed the consequences of the Georgian adventure in South Ossetia. “If Russia, in accordance with its mandate of peacekeeping and protecting the lives of innocent civilians, did not interfere in the conflict, then, the threat of a widespread fire throughout the Caucasus would have become a reality. Our country protected not only its own national interests, but, also those of its neighbours, and restored the status quo in this complicated region. After restoring the peace, at the same time, Moscow gave the West to understand that after Saakashvili committed this crime with the tacit support of the USA, it is necessary to recast the discussion concerning the future of this region. We shall be not be bound by previous agreements, and, in the new strategic situation, the role of Russia in the Caucasus shall grow”, she said.
Now, the noise of artillery fire no longer muffles the words of diplomacy, and it is possible to see the foresight of Russia and “old” Western Europe in opposing the bid of Tbilisi for NATO membership. Indeed, if this had happened, the French newspaper Tribune noted, Europe would have been directly embroiled in this strange little war. In any case, western strategists should think over the worth of moving NATO eastwards, including those countries whose leaders, to put it mildly, are not characterised by maturity.
15 August 2008
Dmitri Fonin
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=80441&cid=349&p=15.08.2008
Editor’s Note:
Indeed, there is a result in this that Condoleezza Rice overlooked in her planning of this dirty little campaign. The interests of continental Western Europe do not coincide with those of the Anglosphere. You see, the Americans believed their own propaganda. There was no “intelligence failure”, nor was there a nefarious plan by Russia to invade Georgia as soon as the conditions warranted it. Americans believe that Russia is incompetent, weak, and friendless. Most American commentators describe Russia as a soulless, decrepit, and poor totalitarian state. They made their plans accordingly. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the world, the exact opposite was true.
The US built up this little dictator, and he began to have grandiose illusions a là Solano Lopez in the 19th century. Is he going to end in the same way? Note well that this war began on the opening of the Olympics. Liberals and neocons in the US were angry that George Bush did not “punish” China for the events in Tibet earlier this year by boycotting the games. By encouraging Saakashvili, they would reach several objectives at the same time. It would embarrass China and take world attention away from the Olympics. It would discomfit the Russians and prove them, before the world, to be incompetent blowhards. It would be an object lesson to all, “Do not disregard the diktat of Washington, or, you shall pay a very dear price”.
Indeed, even the very plan used bears signs of following present American military operational doctrine, which indicates that it was planned by American advisors. That is, the Russians would be drawn into a battle for an objective they could not abandon, and the Georgian forces on the heights surrounding Tskhinvali would make the terrain around the city a killing zone for the Russian forces. Not a bad little plan, but, unfortunately, it was carried out by the Georgian forces, one of the most incompetent and corrupt military forces in the world. American soldiers in Iraq report that the Georgians are notorious for their thievery and lack of discipline.
Russia did not mobilise its forces, nor did it send additional mechanised forces to the region. The only out-of-theatre forces sent were a strategic reserve airborne division from Pskov and a spetsnaz regiment from Moscow. This was far from the entire Russian army, and the road network of the region would not support a much larger force, in any case. The heights were not cleared until Sunday, which indicates that it took some time to collect the forces to do the job.
Nevertheless, the Georgian forces crumpled rapidly in terrain that favoured the defence, and where they had countless opportunities to conduct a slow fighting withdrawal. Indeed, the Georgians made no attempts to interdict the Russian supply lines with special ops troops or take the Roki tunnel, which would have delayed the Russian forces immensely. All that this campaign did was to point up standing deficiencies in the Russian forces, and you can be certain that the Russian general staff is going to put them right, and in very short order. The swiftness of the Russian victory was not due to overwhelming force, but to the incompetence and corruption of not only the Georgian forces, but, the incompetence and malfeasance of Mikhail Saakashvili and his whole evil junta.
Lastly, America must understand that its bullying and intimidation must cease. Russians have opened their hearts to the Ossetian refugees, and what they have seen disgusts them, as it would any civilised and decent people. America approves of late-night rocket strikes on sleeping civilians. It is warning to all Americans, the neocons are dangerous criminals and must be stopped. Their liberal allies are just as bad. How low has America fallen? It was once not like this. Reflect on the fact that the neocon attack on Russia (for that is what it was) led to nothing more than a fatal stab wound to NATO and the increase of Russian influence throughout the world. There is a God after all, and He shall not be mocked…
BMD
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