Georgia, ally of the west

August 13th, 2008 at 12:43 Björn Hallberg

As Georgia and its allies are fighting tooth and nail to control the negative media backlash that followed the disproportionate Georgian attempt at regaining control over South Osetia it is important to remember last year’s domestic troubles.

• End of the Rose Revolution as riot police are sent in to quell protests
• Saakashvili regime in Georgia using sonic blasters on civilians?

Apparently, not everyone is as happy with Saakashvili as we’ve been led to believe. Many are tired of Saakashvili blaming Russia for every little thing and not fessing up to his inadequacy. And while he managed to get a mass rally propped up yesterday, and get the images cabled out all over the world, including no less than four appearances on CNN, his position is not that strong. Interestingly he seems far more interested in playing to an American audience (addressing them in his near perfect English) than his own neighbors, Russia, his own people or even Europe. It is also clear from social bookmarking sites that the so called "bury brigades" (organized networks of semi-professional media censors) have gone to work on articles not favorable to the US or Saakashvili. And while Georgia claims that they are the victim of "cyber attacks", the arguably best news source in the conflict, Russia Today, faces very real DDoS attacks and their journalists get detained and beaten by Georgian troops in Gori and elsewhere.

America also didn’t wait long to chime in. Bush and Rice couldn’t wait to condemn Russia, and rush to the defense of poor little Georgia. They even decided to help transport the bulk of Georgia’s Iraq contingent back home to take part in the fighting. Some friends they are at the same time as they urge diplomacy. Bill Kristol and leading Neocons declare that they want war with Russia. And their would be champion, John McCain, in a remarkable display of swiftness, condemns Russia in no uncertain terms.

While I am no huge fan of Russia I do admire the fact that America’s imperial efforts in the region have finally been curtailed. And that America no longer stands unopposed. The one dark cloud on an otherwise clear sky being that Europe and its leading anti-russian governments seem awfully quick to fall in line behind America’s bellicose rhetoric. Well, we’ll see who gets the last laugh.

In related news, via Reddit:

• Stratfor: The Russo-Georgian War and the Balance of Power
• Ceasefire in Georgia: Putin Outmaneuvers the West
• Did the U.S. Prep Georgia for War with Russia?
• Georgia’s oil pipeline is key to U.S. support
• Russian FM: NATO encouraged Georgia - "it is necessary to pay attention to massive arms purchasing by Georgia … special troops who had been trained by foreign specialists are used”
• War Nerd: South Ossetia, the war of my dreams
• Russia Today Website Targeted In Cyber Attacks
• 5 Million Orphans, 1.2 Million Dead, 1.1 Million Injured Since the Iraq invasion — yet the U.S. criticized Russia over "disproportionate" Georgia response
• “There are lots of bodies over there, a lot of people have been killed, mostly Ossetians, but also Georgians, they had American emblems on their forearms and they were in black uniforms,” she said.

Entry 688 filed under: Caucasus Central Asia. This entry was posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago. RSS feed for comments on this post.