Who really started shooting first in the Georgia-Russia conflict and why? Who has the most to gain? Are the White House and Kremlin playing games again? And what is the role of Digital Journal in all this.
Just a couple of weeks ago, a Digital Journal
article on Russia's veto on UN sanctions against Zimbabwe made mention of Russian ambitions to rebuild the old USSR.
"Putin’s looking to set Russia even further back on the road to democracy, all the way back to the times of Catherine the Great. Which will need to involve the reconstituting of the old USSR as a first step. They’ve done it before so it shouldn't’t be too hard; just add blood, stir it up, bring to a boil".
The piece didn't go further in naming the names of the obvious dominoes which need to fall for this to became a reality but strategically placed, NATO wannabe Georgia is certainly one of them.
Russia has been working a campaign of low level agitation against the Georgian government ever since it broke away from the USSR in 1993. The pace heated up last year when Russia raised gas prices significantly to Georgia, which responded by reminding Russia that its most vital oil pipeline passes through a large part of Georgian territory. Georgia is developing into an international transport corridor through Batumi and Poti ports, with an oil pipeline from Baku through Tbilisi to Ceyhan, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) and a parallel gas pipeline, the South Caucasus Pipeline.
This is reason enough for the Russians to want to get Georgia and the pipeline firmly under Russian control. Throw in Georgia's deep water ports on the Black Sea and the deal looks awful sweet to the Kremlin.
That at the same time Georgia has been cozying up to the West big time in the hopes of becoming part of NATO has Russian noses severely out of joint. Which accounts for the recent steady flow of Russian "peacekeepers " into the breakaway South Ossetia region. These are the initial shock troops some of whose deaths early on in the Georgian offensive, was used by Russia to justify the military actions which continue at time of writing, ever after the Georgian government pulled back its troop and called for a ceasefire.
There will be no cease fire and Georgia has forever lost South Ossetia. There may be worse to come; just last month 1,00 marines were in Georgia training its troops and the US is currently airlifting Georgian soldiers serving in Afghanistan back to defend their homeland. Once the Russian tanks got rolling, this stopped being a proxy dustup and put out the word from here on in the UN will be dealing with Russia directly.
As Russian bombings of Georgian territory continue and oil shoots up two dollars a barrel, I'm hearing the same old recipe; mix oil and emotion and there will be blood.
So Vladdy Putin, if you're still reading DJ, I was just discussing the issue generally and had no idea you were so ready to do the deed. Sorry if I hit a nerve and pushed you into this.
C'mon, you know it isn't worth pushing NATO's buttons on Georgia. Because while the Euros have a hard time getting all excited about the war in Afghanistan, Russian imperialist moves on European soil will put troops on the ground.
Besides, it won't be long before both Russia and NATO will be confronting scenarios in which y'all will have to learn to play nice together. Georgia would be a good place to let the learning begin.
