This morning I woke up, and while getting ready for work tuned in to watch more of the Summer Olympics. To my surprise, I found quite the epic battle in beach volleyball underway. I'm not a huge fan of beach volleyball - I prefer the indoor variety. I'm probably a bit of a traditionalist, I suppose. The match was between Russia and Georgia. I thought... "hmm... that's pretty ironic"... as I prepared to go to work.
Truth is that I've been giving thought to a blog post here regarding the recent conflict between the nations. While I'm not as prepared to discuss the details as I'd typically prefer to be, it seemed like to good of an opportunity for an opening paragraph to pass up! I'm going to touch on a few key points, offer some opinions, ask some questions, and call it a night.
First off (and this really should be no surprise), this is a very complex issue. One would hope that anytime conflicts escalate to the point of military action that there is an underlying complexity that drives such action. Russia is no doubt a large and complex nation. Georgia is a tiny nation (about the size of South Carolina both in area and population) with a long history and people of varied ethnic backgrounds. Georgia was formerly a republic of the Soviet Union. Two districts of Georgia are at the center of this current issue. Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia claim independence from Georgia, look for international recognition as independent states, but generally fail to receive that recognition. Russia is sympathetic to their cause for a variety of reasons. Georgia doesn't want to let go for a variety of reasons. Now we have a war.
Despite the complexity, the U.S. government and our presidential candidates have tried to make this a good vs. evil situation. John McCain even said in a recent campaign stop that, "today, we are all Georgians." (If you just want to hear the quote, advance to about 7:30 in the video.) I'm not sure I can put into words how ridiculous I think this statement is. President Bush's statement earlier today reiterates his (our?) unwavering support for Georgia.
On the international front, French president and acting European Union president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has taken the lead in negotiating a ceasefire between Russia and Georgia. Sarkozy worked out a six-point proposal with Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev. Their press conference can be seen here. Sarkozy was then to get support from Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili.
A few thoughts and open questions:
1. Sarkozy articulated his desire to bring the two sides together to stop the fighting before condemning one side's actions or the other. This press statement appears to be a subset of the transcript to the press conference linked above. I saw some of it in its original airing on C-SPAN was noticed Sarkozy commenting that his caution in judgment was not for a lack of courage. I couldn't help but think this was a statement directly aimed at Bush and the U.S.
2. And speaking of Bush and the U.S., why have we been so quick to judge and condemn Russia's actions? Here's a couple of things to consider: Georgia sent military support to Iraq to assist the U.S., they have a democratically elected government, a major oil pipeline owned by BP runs through Georgia, they aspire to join NATO where a military alliance with the U.S. would be solidified, and (as John McCain mentioned) they were one of the first states in history to establish Christianity as the official religion.
3. Does South Ossetia have a right to independence? When should a people be allowed to secede from their central authority? Does the U.S. pull for the underdog? Is Georgia the underdog or is South Ossetia?
4. Georgia has also announced that they will sue Russia for ethnic cleansing. Where? The International Criminal Court. Note that (today) the U.S. is not a member... Should we be subjected to another layer of unelected international government?
By the way, Georgia won the volleyball match.
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