War!

[aggienaut]

   So Russia's at war. I don't think most of America noticed, though I have heard a few random people talking about it. Anyway, I wrote several papers about Georgia and its breakaway provinces and Russia's interests in the area, so this development is interesting to me.

   For those who haven't noticed yet, Russia has invaded neighbouring Georgia. Ostensibly because either Georgia killed some of its peacekeepers there, or to "protect its citizens." Both of these explanations are more or less bullshit.

   Firstly, you should ask, well why were Russian peacekeepers IN GEORGIA. The answer is that a norther province of Georgia, South Ossetia, has been fighting for independance from Georgia. The fighting has been pretty low key thus far I believe, but Georgia had better things to worry about and left it alone. Russia's been backing the South Ossetians though, mainly to annoy Georgia.
   I say mainly to annoy Georgia because all other things being equal, Russia has compelling reasons NOT to support the South Ossetians. North Ossetia is in southern Russia and also, I believe, wouldn't mind being independant. Also the Ossetians are members of the Confederacy of Mountain Peoples along with the Chechen seperatists, who Russia has been at war with. So Russia's only interest in supporting South Ossetia is really just to mess with Georgia.

   Additionally, Russia has issued Russian citizenship to the people of South Ossetia. That is, they've given Russian citizenship to people living in Georgia. These people aren't ethnic Russians, and they haven't historically been part of Russia any more than Georgia itself has. Russia was just being saucy. So Russia now says they're "defending their citizens" but thats about as accurate as if America gave citizenship to half the Iraqis and then claimed in the invasion was to protect American citizens.

   And as to the Russian peacekeepers getting killed, considering Russias belligerancy on the issue and militant protection of South Ossetian seperatist forces, I don't believe for a second those "peacekeepers" weren't already actively engaged in military activities against Georgian forces.

   And word on the street is Georgia is doing remarkably well! Reportedly Georgia has destroyed 40 Russian tanks and downed 10 aircraft. Thats quite the pwnage! Too bad Russia can just keep sending hundreds of them things in.


   Also Georgia and (the government of) the USA are basically BFF. Russia conveniently waited until 2,000 American troops left Georgia this last month before beginning the offensive. American forces have been there on and off training Georgian troops. The Pankisi Gorge which is in Georgia but neighbours Chechnya has long been a hideout for Islamic militants, and jihadists are also believed to hang out in South Ossetia and the other seperatists provinces. So training the Georgian forces to be able to "pacify" these regions has been in US's interest in the War On Terror. Additionally Georgia is one of the biggest contributers to the coalition in Iraq, with about 3,000 troops there.

Comments

[silvershamrock.livejournal.com]

Hm ... this is actually a little scary. I can't find the damn link (at least, not in English), but a few months back I saw a BBC documentary on the rise of National Socialism in Russia.
The presenter claimed that Russia currently has the highest concentration of Neo-Nazis in the world, and that they have a fairly significant influence on the government: apparently the Mayor of Moscow (or whatever the Russian equivalent is) is a Neo-Nazi himself.
One thing they've managed to push through is Russian women that marry non-Russian nationals have their citizenship revoked (apparently; again, I can't find the evidence to back this up).
Are these South Ossetians 'aryan' by any chance, or am I just clutching at straws?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Hmm well "aryan" isn't actually an ethnic group I don't think. Its jsut something the nazis made up. The aryanns were actually an INDIAN ethnic group way back in prehistory, but they were the origins of the "indo-europeans" I guess. Anyway for example Persia changed its name to Iran in the 30s to emphasize they too were Aryan and suck up to Mr Hitler.

BUT the Ossetians are a distantly Iranian ethnic group I believe. So technically I suppose so. But nazi "aryans" probably never beleive they belonged to their made-up conception of their ethnicity.

What skinheads in Russia usually get excited about is people being Slavic. Hence they'll back the Serbs in the Balkans till the bitter end because their more Slavic than the Croats and the Albanians are Muslim.

Basically I don't think ethnicity really plays a part in this because the Ossetians aren't Slavic but neither are the Georgians (I don't think? They might be but that would be backwards as to who Russias supporting in this war), and both formerly belonged to Russia if one wants to harken back to the glory days. So.. yeah.

[silvershamrock.livejournal.com]

I'd heard about the Nazi concept of 'Aryan' versus the reality, I just wasn't sure how it worked out in this case. So, it's probably not the Russian Nazis then (now there's a concept for you: Communist Nazis. Pretty sure Simpsons have done that one already).

Even so. Untrammeled Russian aggression is probably not a good thing, especially if there's a strong undercurrent of the 'Bruderbund', or whatever the Slavic equivalent is.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah there are very definitely Russian skinheads (some left my brother unconscious in a snowbank in Estonia once), and Russian nationalism is definitely pretty strong right now. So yeah. I'm not sure there's a really convenient analogy to anything else but I dunno if you're in America but the Republicans have a kind of "America is awesome in whatEVER it does!!" kind of patriotism, and I think there a bunch of Russians that feel that way about Russia.

And yes, in the Simpsons McBane fights "Commu-nazis" in some short clips of one of his films.

[daniel (from livejournal.com)]

This account of Aryans and of the Aryan myth is a bit muddled.

Just where and how the Indo-European languages arose is controversial, but I've never seen an academic propose that it originated in India. (Rather, the name Aryan was pulled from the language and culture of Indo-Europeans in India.)

The most popular theories associate the language group with some initial group of people. For a long time, spread was presumed to have been by forceable conquest (and it was within this context that the notion of a superior Aryan race arose; though, mind you, this myth was adopted rather than generated by the Nazis), Colin Renfrew has proposed a fine, rival theory that the Indo-European languages spread largely as a result of settled agriculture displacing hunting-and-gathering. (Renfrew's theory then locates the original Indo-Europeans in what is now Turkey.)

[king-richard.livejournal.com]

This came as a bit of a surprise to me, I had to look on a map to see exactly where Georgia is and what countries it borders. But from my curosry research it would seem that there are some pretty big issues going on. The South Ossestia issue hold a mirror to Kosovo and Europe's recognition of their independance. Also I came across some mention of oil and gas pipelines, just to make things interesting.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean, there's actually a LOT of countries that have provinces within them which would probably vote for independance, and thats why a lot of countries have yet to recognize Kosovo's independance -- because if they do so that would set a precedent that they should honour the democratic wishes of provinces within themselves.

And yes, I don't BELIEVE the pipeline would go through Ossetia specifically, but the general idea is that it would HAVE to go through Georgia (to bring gas from the Caspian Sea to Russia and Europe) and I think Russia wants to keep Georgia in a weak bargaining position vis-a-vis that. The two papers I provide a much more in depth analysis, though they might be boring if one has little interest in the subject

[charliemc.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for sharing this.

Your paper is excellent, by the way. (I've made myself a link to it so I can keep and re-read it.)

You're right that average Americans don't tend to keep 'up' on international affairs, which is deplorable. (sigh)

As disturbing as this is, I'm doubtful about what -- if anything -- American government will do about this...

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Oh, the American government certainly won't do anything.

If anything they'll help rearm and retrain the Georgian military again when its over probably. Good times.

[snuh.livejournal.com]

Great piece. There's been a lot of disinformation about this, most likely because news organizations lack the understanding of such a nuanced situation. I came across a lot of info today, you've done the best job of being concise and knowledgeable.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank-you very much! Thats quite the compliment!

Yeah the media tends to lack the necessary understanding of the situation to correctly write about it. From what I've seen they seem kind of unsure whether to portray it as Russia or Georgia's fault, usually taking Russia's explanations at face value (which as I've explained above is bullshit). And from what I've heard from random people they're all just left confused "so.. there's this country in between Georgia and Russia and uh.. they both invaded it?!"

all we are saying is give peace a chance

[backasswardz.livejournal.com]

I think you are very well informed, surely better than I do, in details. The only thing, I doubt statistics about 40 tanks and 10 aircrafts. Numbers in such cases often being faked. Sadly, America didn't notice the thing meant for it, mainly. Also, it is meant for many minor nation enclaves inside Russia, to frighten and prevent them from thinking of independence.

I wish NATO affiliated Georgia before the shit began.

Selling weapon won't help much, it can only prolong the conflict and make it more bloody. For Saakashvili no way out except losing enclaves in question, thus he would save more human lives.

The most disgusting thing for me personally is anti-Georgian hysteria all over Russia at the moment, our chekist govt is really skilled in mass manipulation and raising hatrid. I am quite a dissident and a white crow.

Re: all we are saying is give peace a chance

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah I agree the numbers aren't very dependable. I wish I had a better source. Georgia did put two captured pilots on tv though so that can't be fake (and Russia admitted to those two) and even downing two Russian jets on the first day is pretty good.

But its barely an acceptabel outcome for Georgia to give up Ossetia. Look at a map, it'll make Georgia almost a doughtnut with a border very close to their capital and centre of their country. That would be a disasterous strategic situation for them.

Yeah I agree selling them weapons and stuff will only prolong the war, but thats what I think America will do for their ally.

Yeah if Georgia had gotten into NATO first I wonder if NATO would have actually acted on their "an attack one is an attack on all of us" creed.

Re: all we are saying is give peace a chance

[backasswardz.livejournal.com]

I agree that for tiny Georgia it would be bad to lose territories. Just, the question is, territories, or people. Besides, Ossetians and Abhazes have been very afraid of Georgians, more than Russians, that's why they began to keep company with Russians. Georgians made a fatal mistake, when they didn't learn how to get along with their neighbours, and Putin took the advantage of the situation. I think, they will be sorry if they agree to get attached to Russia. No many options for them, though. It would be better for them to establish independent states, but I doubt if Putin will allow that.

Re: all we are saying is give peace a chance

[backasswardz.livejournal.com]

Putin stays our tzar, not Medvedev.