Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Georgia: Is Conventional Wisdom Wrong?

Independent journalist Michael Totten is in Georgia, and he thinks that conventional wisdom is wrong about the start of the Caucasus crisis. Blurb, but read the whole thing:

Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. “The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion.

Virtually everyone is wrong. Georgia didn't start it on August 7, nor on any other date. The South Ossetian militia started it on August 6 when its fighters fired on Georgian peacekeepers and Georgian villages with weapons banned by the agreement hammered out between the two sides in 1994. At the same time, the Russian military sent its invasion force bearing down on Georgia from the north side of the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian side of the border through the Roki tunnel and into Georgia. This happened before Saakashvili sent additional troops to South Ossetia and allegedly started the war.

This all certainly needs looking into.

2 comments:

Pat Patterson said...

In reference to your comment on Patrick Buchanan it should be noted that he is now the poster boy for the hundreds of trolls defending Russian actions in Georgia. All you have to do is ask for some reliable sources and links to some of the various conspiracy theories and Russia as saviour of the South Ossetians and the reponse is usually quotes from Buchanan, Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell.

Mad Minerva said...

*Sigh.*

The speed alone of the Russian response indicates that Russia was poised and prepared to go it.

As for trolls, they do seem to be a-spawnin' at a great rate. I'm surprised (though pleased) that they haven't invaded my blog. Yet.