Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a halt to military operations against Georgia. The war is over. I’m sure civilians in Georgia and South Ossetia will be breathing a sigh of relief.
The cost of Saakashvili’s mad gamble has been around 200 soldiers and 100 civilians on the Georgian side, about 50 Russians, and around 2,000 Ossetian civilians, mostly killed when Georgian forces levelled the capital Tskhinvali with artillery. The latter amounts to around 3% of South Ossetia’s population.
Russia has established the facts on the ground, and will be able to dictate the terms of any peace. There is unlikely to be a return to the status quo ante. Instead, Georgia will likely have to accept autonomy for Ossetia, and likely Abkhazia as well - exactly the opposite of what they were trying to achieve. Given how predictable Russian intervention was, you have to wonder why Georgia started the war in the first place. Did they think they could have it over and done with in a day, and present the world with a fait accompli? Or did they seriously think the world (and particularly the US) would come to their defence if they started a war, and that this prospect would deter the Russians? Historians will have fun arguing over that. But whatever the answer, 2,500 people are dead because some nationalistic blowhard decided to play with his war toys. And that’s not something the world should forgive him for.
Idiot/Savant blogs on New Zealand and international politics from a left-wing perspective at No Right Turn.
Loading ...
3 users commented in " The War Is Over "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackNote: Georgian president ‘was greatly admired
by, cheney, bush…(wonder if he’s gonna be
welcome now?)
we got to get rid of these “politicans”, i’ve never seen such imbeciles. russia has no great
advanage, they’r still running that dodo putin.
what losers.
Thank God this didn’t go on as long as the Israel-Lebanon war. Yet another defeat for the Neocons in Washington. This philosophy is a disease within the Beltway and it is making America (and the rest of the world) sick.
South Ossetia has been de facto independent from Georgia since it declared independence as the Republic of South Ossetia early in the 1990s.
Georgia INVADED S.Ossetia and killed hundreds perhaps thousands of people many of whom were russians. They instigated a war and Russia came to S.Ossetia’s aid. It was reasonable for russia to counter-attack and push into georgia to neutralize their offensive threat.
Georgia is the aggressor who massacred people unprovoked. Theyre playing the victim and you’re all falling for it. Its not about oil and its not about Russia taking control of Georgia. As long as russia withdraws (which they will) there is no issue here. And western response to the situation is disgraceful.
Leave A Reply