The wolf that ate Georgia – Guardian.Co.Uk

Civilians are still suffering in Georgia and it is imperative for the world community to promote a lasting solution

Antonio Cassese guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 September 2008 08.00 BST

In Phaedrus's well-known fable of the wolf and the lamb, the wolf could easily have eaten the lamb without a word, but prefers to set out his "reasons". First, he scolds the lamb for muddying his drinking water (even though the wolf was upstream). Then he argues that last year the lamb had called him bad names (but the lamb was only six months old). The wolf then snarls that if it was not the lamb, it was his father; after that, he immediately moves into action.

The wolf's "justifications" for his evil action were a luxury that he allowed himself. At present, the United Nations Charter legally binds wolf-states – that is, the Great Powers – to offer justifications for their use of armed violence. This is all the more necessary for the Security Council's five permanent members because, aside from condemnation by public opinion, no sanctions are available against them for any serious breach of the charter.

Russia has set forth various reasons to justify its armed intervention in Georgia where the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are nonetheless under Georgian sovereignty. Russia argues that its invasion was aimed at (1) stopping Georgia's aggression against South Ossetians; (2) ending ethnic cleansing, genocide, and war crimes committed by Georgia there; (3) protecting Russian nationals; and (4) defending South Ossetians on the basis of the peace-keeping agreement signed by Boris Yeltsin and Eduard Shevardnadze in 1992.

None of these legal grounds holds water. By sending its troops to South Ossetia, Georgia no doubt was politically reckless, but it did not breach any international rule, however nominal its sovereignty may be. Nor do genocide or ethnic cleansing seem to have occurred; if war crimes were perpetrated, they do not justify a military invasion. Moreover, South Ossetians have Russian nationality only because Russia recently bestowed it on them unilaterally. Finally, the 1992 agreement authorises only monitoring of internal tensions, not massive use of military force.

Hence, as in Phaedrus's fable, the Kremlin's "justifications" are empty. Russia has breached Article 2 of the UN Charter, which enjoins member states to "refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."

There are several morals to the tale. First, when a lamb like Georgia gets smart and requests the protection of another wolf – in this case Nato – he must be careful, for every wolf guards his territory and is bent on "protecting" all those lambs that fall under his "jurisdiction".

Second, although Great Powers are de facto unbound by international rules on the use of force, they abide by a sort of unwritten "agreement between scoundrels" to behave similarly. The west violated that agreement in 1999 in Kosovo: Nato powers first attacked Kosovo and Belgrade, in breach of the UN Charter (although they were morally justified to do so, because there was a need to stop the serious atrocities underway); the west then promoted and blessed Kosovo's secession. As a result of that perilous precedent, Russia no longer feels bound by the unwritten agreement.

Finally, because it is mostly civilians that have suffered and are still suffering in Georgia, it is imperative for the world community to promote a lasting solution, as is stipulated in the agreement promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. But a lasting solution is nowhere in sight, because Russian forces, in blatant breach of that agreement – and of international customary law – remain in many parts of Georgia beyond Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These two regions have now proclaimed their independence, and Moscow has given its blessing to a secession that is likely to be the stepping stone to incorporation by Russia.

Georgia has taken the path that lambs (small countries) normally choose when facing wolves (major powers), brandishing law as a weapon. It has instituted legal proceedings against Russia before both the International Court of Justice for alleged violations of the UN Convention on Racial Discrimination and the European Court of Human Rights for alleged breaches of Articles 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibiting inhuman and degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Because Georgia is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, it could have requested the ICC Prosecutor to investigate Russia's allegations of war crimes and genocide as well as its own allegations of Russian crimes. Strangely, it has not done so, though, fortunately, the ICC Prosecutor has announced that he is keeping the situation in Georgia "under analysis".

Plainly, by itself the law may not be able to offer the right solution in such a complex and dangerous situation. Only politics and diplomacy can offer a lasting solution. Nevertheless, with both sides claiming the mantle of international law, authoritative legal decisions about these issues might perhaps push the parties to reach a lasting agreement.

Antonio Cassese, the first President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and later the chairperson of the United Nations' International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, teaches law at the University of Florence.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2008.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/01/georgia.russia1

EU: Most Russian cease-fire allegations overblown

PAUL AMES ASSOCIATED PRESS

Most Russian claims that Georgia is violating a cease-fire agreement in the breakaway region of South Ossetia appear to be inflated, the head of the European monitoring mission there said Friday.
Russia should provide more details if it has evidence that Georgia is breaching the deal, Hansjoerg Haber said.
A war erupted in August when Georgia launched an attack to regain control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russian forces swiftly repelled the attack and drove deep into Georgia.
Russia withdrew its forces from parts of Georgia according to the terms of an EU-brokered cease-fire, and the EU sent more than a 200-member mission to monitor the situation.
But Moscow has complained that Georgian troops have failed to withdraw from areas near South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another separatist province, and have instigated shootings against Russian forces.
"In general, the observation is that such reports are overblown," Haber told reporters. "There may have been isolated shootings, but no major incidents have been registered."
If Russia and its allies in South Ossetia have evidence of Georgian wrongdoing, they should end their refusal to allow the EU monitors into the breakaway region so they can investigate, Haber said.
"We are pleased to come over to their side of the administrative boundary and inspect what has happened there," Haber said. "We invite them to invite us."
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the 225 EU monitors of turning a blind eye to Georgian troops' failure to withdraw from areas near South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"We don't get any details from the Russians, we just get general allegations," Haber said.
Asked specifically about allegations that Georgian special forces were in areas near South Ossetia, Haber said that some lightly armed units were there, but said their presence was "commensurate and adequate" for policing the region.
Georgia, meanwhile, accused Russian forces of destroying a bridge leading into Abkhazia in order to isolate ethnic Georgians living there. Russian troops demolished the bridge between Gali, in Abkhazia, and Zugdidi, in Georgia proper, Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.
The bridge was one of the last remaining border crossings into Abkhazia, Utiashvili said. Most of Gali's citizens are ethnic Georgians.
Russia's Defense Ministry was not immediately available for comment Friday. But the defense minister for Abkhazia's de-facto government blamed the bombing on Georgia.
Russia, meanwhile, appointed ambassadors to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations after the war and plans to keep 3,800 troops in each region a much bigger presence than before the war.
Georgia straddles a key westward route for oil and gas from the Caspian Sea region, and has become a focus of competition between Russia and the West for regional clout.
Associated Press writer Matt Siegel contributed to this report from Tbilisi, Georgia
source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/24/eu-most-russian-cease-fire-allegations-overblown/

What the Russians Left In Their Wake in Georgia

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

By MELIK KAYLAN

Having devastated vast areas of its own lands in the Caucasus, such as Chechnya and Ingushetia, in order to "protect" them from instability, Moscow's obliterating shadow has settled deep over Georgia -- with the usual consequences. The full barbarism of Russian actions in Georgia may not emerge for years; much of the evidence lies behind the lines in terrain newly annexed by Russia. But some details are now beyond dispute. Alongside the various human atrocities, such as the bombing and purging of civilian areas, the invaders looted and destroyed numerous historical sites, some of which were profoundly revered by the Georgians as sacred building blocks in their national identity. This is especially true of the region around South Ossetia that served as a kind of cradle of early Georgian culture. The Georgian Ministry of Culture lists some 500 monuments and archaeological sites now mostly under Russian occupation and out of sight. read full text

Two Estonian farms establish 'Soviet republic,' seek recognition

source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080903/116519145.html

ST. PETERSBURG, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - Two farms in north-east Estonia have joined forces to declare an independent "Soviet republic" and intend to seek Russia's recognition, a Russian communist organization said on Wednesday.

"We no longer want to live in bourgeois Estonia, where nobody cares about the common people...with raging unemployment and corruption, and where everything depends on NATO and the Americans," Russian communists from St Petersburg, who are assisting the 'republic,' quoted its founder, Andres Tamm, as saying.

Residents and founders of the 'Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic' have already formed a national 'Soviet government,' a police force, and have begun demarcating the state's borders.

Meanwhile, residents of the republic claim that the "bourgeois" Estonian government has sent a "squad of relatives of Estonian Nazi SS veterans" to regain control over the breakaway territory.

The republic is currently drafting a treaty of friendship with Russia to be submitted to the Russian president in the next few days.

Estonia is a former Soviet republic and a current member of both NATO and the EU.

Georgia Splits the Kremlin - By Andrei Piontkovsky (Opinion)

(Andrei Piontkovsky is an independent political expert and a researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences)

The Georgia crisis revealed a new strategic force in the Kremlin that
opposes both Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev. We
still cannot name its players, but we are aware of its interests and impact
on events in the same way that astronomers discern a new but invisible
planet by recording its impact on known and visible objects in space.

One after another, loyal Kremlin pundits have appeared on television and
radio to denounce "provokers," whom they dare not name, for "planning the
incursion of Russian troops all the way to Tbilisi and the establishment
there of a pro-Russian government."

The line in the sand that U.S. President George W. Bush drew on the night of
Aug. 11, warning against Russian air strikes on Tbilisi's airport and
shortly thereafter sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit
Tbilisi, provoked a split in the Kremlin. The split divides those who are
and are not concerned about the fate of Russian elites' vast personal
holdings in the West.

I call these camps Russia's global and national kleptocrats. Both sides
firmly agree that there is nothing that the "weakened and cowardly West" can
do to restrain Russia, a nuclear and petroleum superpower, beyond financial
retribution against those Russian rulers with vast assets abroad.

But the national kleptocrats seem to believe that they can live without
overseas assets, or without educating their children and maintaining
residences in the West. Instead, they are content to own properties in elite
areas around Moscow and in Sochi.

Both Putin and Medvedev (and their television propagandists) currently
reflect the views and goals of the global kleptocrats. Neither leader wants
to capture Tbilisi. Putin, of course, would have been glad to see Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili, his sworn enemy, put in a cage. But other,
more down-to-earth considerations are more important to him.

That said, Putin is keeping his options open to join the national
plutocrats, in case their position dramatically strengthens. If he crosses
over to their side, he could even become their leader and triumphantly
return to the throne that he formally abandoned only recently.

While no one yet knows the national plutocrats' names, I believe that they
are new, influential players in or associated with the Kremlin, and that
they have now become bold enough to challenge both Putin and Medvedev.
Russia's military chiefs, for whom it is psychologically difficult to be
ordered by politicians to abruptly end a large-scale and successful military
operation, are their natural allies.

I cannot predict who will win this growing confrontation. But even if the
global kleptocrats sustain their more "moderate" position on Georgia, theirs
could be a Pyrrhic victory. Every day and every hour, by means of their own
propaganda, these globally minded kleptocrats, are setting the path to power
for the nationalists.

In order to justify their authoritarian rule and camouflage from the Russian
public their massive theft of the country's resources, the global
kleptocrats have already convinced ordinary Russians that they are
surrounded by ruthless enemies who are trying to dismember and destroy
Russia. Now it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to explain why
their wives and children are buying palaces in the capitals of countries
that are supposedly Russia's sworn enemies.

By contrast, the national kleptocrats' position is more consistent. They are
not constrained by huge assets in the hated West. It would not be difficult
for them to convince ordinary Russians, who have already been primed by
today's xenophobic propaganda, that Tbilisi, Sevastopol, Astana, and Tallinn
belong to Russia and should be taken by force.

Putin once said that "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth
century was the fall of the Soviet Union." The national kleptocrats may soon
start calling for its reversal, and they are in an increasingly strong
position to do so.

(c) Project Syndicate

source: http://www.sptimesrussia.com/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=27004

RUSSIAN INVASION OF GEORGIA - GOVERNMENT OF GEORGIA PRESS RELEASE

August 26, 2008

The documents below summarize the immediate results of Russian Invasion of Georgia. They are are represented in chapters as follows:

Read more:

Съезд крыши - Валерия Новодворская

То, что нами правят преступники (чекисты – это вам не какая-нибудь каморра, это гораздо хуже, потому что они зомби, выбравшиеся из могилы СССР), – это не так страшно, как то, что нами правят лузеры и непрофессионалы. Война с Грузией – это не только преступление, это ошибка. Поведение Путина, Медведева и Ко я не могу себе объяснить ничем кроме фразы "Крыша едет не спеша, тихо шифером шурша". На вопрос "За что воюем?" на этот раз можно ответить: "Я хату покинул, пошел воевать, чтоб в Грузии землю чекистам отдать. Прощайте, родные, прощайте друзья! Лубянка, Лубянка, Лубянка моя!"

Михаила Саакашвили умело спровоцировали, втянули в конфликт, довели до удара по Цхинвали. А не сделай он этого, его зубастая оппозиция смела бы его, как когда-то Звиада Гамсахурдиа, мешавшего "Мхедриони" и другим отрядам разбойничать в Самачабло, то есть в Южной Осетии, и давшего Абхазии статус субъекта конфедерации. Парламент не согласился, а за поддержку Абхазии, после того как "умник" Шеварднадзе ввел туда войска, и Звиад, и его парламент, уже изгнанные грузинскими "патриотами", то есть милитаристами, в Чечню, были исключены Союзом граждан Грузии из состава грузинского народа (sic!). А среди нынешней оппозиции есть и такие, кто прямо предлагал объявить войну России, так что отдавать им власть значило бы только приблизить катастрофу и, возможно, ядерный Армагеддон.

Слишком долго российские "миротворцы" разжигали войну в Южной Осетии, чтобы она не началась, и слишком усердно российская авиация бомбила села Грузии уже вне Самачабло, чтобы несчастный грузинский президент не подставился. Публичная, ничем не прикрытая аннексия Самачабло Россией была бы уже достаточным безумием. Но Путину этого показалось мало. И тут же был отдан приказ абхазам, давно уже утратившим гордость и честь и ставшим российскими наймитами, занять Кодорское ущелье и заодно Панкиси.

Когда беженцы с экрана плачут: "Помогите Южной Осетии!" – им можно посочувствовать. Но когда из толпы несчастных осетин звучит крик: "Помогите Абхазии!" (а еще кому? Приднестровью?) – начинаешь думать о массовке. Значит, загребущие чекистские лапы хотели и Абхазию прихватить. И не только. Российские войска вошли в Грузию. Гори, Сенаки, бомбежки Поти и Тбилисского аэропорта (локатор уничтожен, и только старые грузинские пилоты рискуют взлетать и садиться). В порту Поти, арендованном на 95 лет арабским шейхом (нам еще судиться с ним на международном уровне), не было военных судов. Бомбили трубопровод, по которому нефть идет в обход России. Бандитские войска, бандитская страна. "Пацаны" в России всех построили и решили, что так будет везде.

Чуркин в ООН называет цель России: убрать Саакашвили. В последний раз мир слышал о таком от отцов-иезуитов в XVI веке. Уничтожение "нечестивых принцев". Религиозные фанатики убили Генриха III и Генриха IV. С тех пор убивали, но не вслух. Что же, Кремль решил написать свою Mein Kampf? Или они там все угорели? По Грузии шляются бесхозные колонны танков с казаками, "добровольцами" и прочей мародерской швалью. Что делают в Гори российские танки? Собирают оружие? А может, грибы или пустые бутылки?

Искусственно созданные российские граждане и война, развязанная якобы чтобы их защитить, – это обыкновенный фашизм. И если бы не Америка... Кажется, Джордж Буш наконец понял, какую змею Запад пригрел на груди, и решительно встал за Грузию и против России. Мощная рука США легла на чашу свободы и западных ценностей. Гуманитарка на кораблях ВМС и самолетах ВВС США – это попытка остановить войну. Пока земля еще вертится, пока не пришлось использовать ядерный потенциал. Джон Маккейн пишет статьи, как российский диссидент. Президенты Польши, Украины, Эстонии, Литвы и премьер-министр Латвии митингуют, взявшись за руки, как на Майдане в Киеве.

Нас не поддержал никто, кроме Кубы и патентованного тирана Лукашенко. Нас выкинули из G8 и из цивилизованного мира в выгребную яму изгойства. Да если бы Южная Осетия и Абхазия просто хотели отделиться, никто бы не стал защищать Саакашвили. Право народа превыше права государства. Но они же не ищут свободы, они ищут выгодного рабства; не наделали своих паспортов, а получили российские. Они просто коллаборационисты, а не инсургенты. Одна только Америка может спасти грузинский народ и российских призывников от взаимного истребления. Россию же, боюсь, уже никто не спасет. Мы будем прокляты и отвергнуты человечеством.

Валерия Новодворская

source: http://grani.ru/Politics/Russia/p.140299.html

Georgian Civilians Tell of Miserable Conditions as War Captives

By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 24, 2008; Page A17

RUSTAVI, Georgia, Aug. 23 -- Georgian civilians captured and recently freed by Russian and South Ossetian forces on Saturday described beatings, forced labor and miserable living conditions in prison.

This Story

• Georgian Civilians Tell of Miserable Conditions as War Captives
• Russia-Georgia Conflict
• Russia Withdraws From Gori But Stays in Georgia

Georgian officials said that 79 Georgian civilians have been released over the past few days but that at least 75 civilians, almost all of them young men, remain in captivity in Tskhinvali, capital of the separatist territory of South Ossetia.

The former prisoners, half a dozen of whom were interviewed at a school serving as temporary housing in this industrial city, said they were seized from their homes or as they fled advancing Russian and South Ossetian forces. Some said they were held for as many as 12 days at a jail in Tskhinvali.

The detainees, many of them elderly fruit farmers from villages along Georgia's northern border, said male inmates were forced to clean streets and bury the war dead, and occasionally endured beatings that left them with bruises and welts. More than 100 men and women were packed into a cell with a single toilet, they said.

"I thought they would kill us. I was very much afraid," said Manuna Gogidze, 48... Read more.

Russia Always Wanted a War with Georgia

August 22, 2008

Dodona Kiziria, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Indiana University

Mr. Gorbachev’s article “Russia Never Wanted a War” (see New York Times, August 20, op-ed section, page 23) can be accepted at face value by those who remember him as “darling Misha” and still credit him, quite erroneously, for bringing down the “evil empire.”

However, those who are familiar with the events which took place during the final years of the Soviet Union should remember (the Georgians certainly do!) that it was Mr. Gorbachev who sent tanks to crush the peaceful demonstration in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on April 9, 1989. Georgia was demanding independence, and Mr. Gorbachev, then the head of the Soviet government, could not tolerate such heresy. 22 innocent people, most of them eighteen to twenty years old, were hacked to death by Russian soldiers. The name of the place was fittingly called “Lenin Square.” I do not remember Mr. Gorbachev bemoaning death of those innocent victims. Moreover, in 1991 he threatened President Gamsakhurdia that Georgia will have separatist movement in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He certainly kept his promise.

In the civil war that broke out in Georgian in1991 and lasted almost three years, Russia played active role supplying arms to warring sides favoring separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. After the end of the war Russia claimed the role of the peacekeeper in these regions but instead of facilitating a peaceful solution of the problem, she intentionally exacerbated ethnic tension keeping Georgia in a permanent state of instability.

In the 1990‘s, during the war in Chechnya where many innocent lives were destroyed and the city of Grozny burnt to ashes (did Mr. Gorbachev deplore the war with the same passion?), Russian government made another “friendly” gesture to its neighbor, a gesture aimed at crippling Georgia economically. Citizens of Georgia were barred from traveling to Russia without visa supposedly because Chechen fighters could penetrate to Russia from Georgia. Considering the opportunities open to the Chechens along the porous borders of the Caucasus, it was a very lame excuse indeed, especially since at that time no other member country of the CIS was burdened with visa requirements.

A few years ago the Russian government delivered another blow to Georgia’s economy; they blocked import of Georgian goods, suspended all flights and financial transactions with Georgian banks. At the same time, citizens of Georgia, living in Russia legally or illegally, were rounded up by the police and deported to Georgia in cargo planes. The operations were conducted in a manner that resulted at least in three deaths and caused great human misery.

Having strengthened its grip on Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russian government never stopped provoking Georgia or creating additional hot spots inside the country. Russian planes have repeatedly made brazen flights over Georgian territory, and just two months ago shot down a Georgian unarmed drone plane near South Ossetia’s boarder, a border that is legally part of Georgian territory. Had any of these actions been committed by the Government of Georgia, Russia would have started a war long time ago. Mr. Gorbachev have not mentioned innocent victims killed, villages razed to the ground, towns bombed, houses pillaged and bridges blown up deep inside Georgia, many kilometers away of the conflict zone.

This is not a war launched in defense of South Ossetians who, like many other ethnic minorities of the region, are derisively referred to by the Russians as “persons of Caucasian descent.” It is a war to punish Georgia for wanting to be free from the iron embrace of its “big brother.” It is a war Russia always wanted.

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EDITORS NOTE: By the author's request copyrights restriction does not apply to this article.

Russland den Russen

von Florian Willershausen

Ihre Restaurants bleiben leer, tägliche Schikanen durch Behörden und immer häufiger offener Fremdenhass: Die Lage der über eine Million Georgier in Russland ist schon lange prekär. Nun macht der neue Kaukasus-Konflikt ihr Leben endgültig unerträglich - Leidensgeschichten aus Moskau.

MOSKAU. Das Trottoir vor der Botschaft Georgiens in Moskau ist fest in russischer Hand. Über dem gusseisernen Zaun wehen die weiß-blau-roten Flaggen der Kremlpartei "Einiges Russland". Berufsdemonstranten haben am Straßenrand ein Zelt aufgeschlagen. Ein klobiges Mischpult steht darunter, verkabelt mit einem Verstärker und zwei scheppernden Boxen. Rap-Musik übertönt das Dröhnen des Benzingenerators, der die Anlage am Laufen hält. Daneben stehen junge Männer mit spärlichem Bartwuchs und schlagen rauchend die Zeit tot. Junge Mädchen mit weißen Halstüchern lehnen sich gelangweilt an die Backsteinpfosten der Botschaft und spielen mit ihren Handys... read more

Russia scales down Georgia toll

Russia has issued new, reduced casualty figures for the Georgian conflict, with 133 civilians now listed as dead in the disputed region of South Ossetia.

The figure is far lower than the 1,600 people Russia initially said had died.... read more

SOS Géorgie ? SOS Europe ! (Fr. "Liberation")

André Glucksmann, philosophe, et Bernard-Henri Lévy, philosophe, directeur de la Règle du jeu, membre du conseil de surveillance de Libération.

QUOTIDIEN : jeudi 14 août 2008

N’allez pas croire à une affaire simplement locale : il s’agit probablement du tournant le plus décisif de l’histoire européenne depuis la chute du mur de Berlin. Ecoutez Moscou donner de la voix : «génocide !» accuse Poutine, qui n’a pas daigné prononcer le mot lors du 50^e anniversaire d’Auschwitz ; «Munich !» évoque le tendre Medvedev, insinuant que la Géorgie, avec ses 4,5 millions d’habitants, est la réincarnation du III^e Reich. Nous nous garderons de sous-estimer les capacités mentales de ces dirigeants. Aussi devinons-nous qu’en feignant l’indignation, ils manifestent leur volonté de frapper un grand coup. Visiblement, les spin doctors du Kremlin ont révisé les classiques de la propagande totalitaire : plus mon mensonge est gros, mieux je cogne... read full text

"Did Russia pollute Georgian soil by planting in radioactive material together with mines?"

Nika Aslanidse

www.presa.ge

On the 15th of August Russian helicopters set, in breach of international conventions, on fire the territories surrounding the cities of Borjomi and Daba Cemi by using inflammatory ammunition; huge areas of the woods in southern Georgia are burning. The Russian Federation has thereby ignored international treaties and caused irretrievable losses of parts of the local ecosystem.

By destroying the natural resources of the country, the ecological balance of Georgia and the whole region is at risk.

Borjomi's unique mineral water and air are being damaged seriously, endangering the health of the local population.

"Among other diseases, it is to be expected, that the cancer rate here is going to rise up significantly" says Prof. Vasil Tqeshelashvili in an interview with "Pressa.ge".

These acts of vandalism committed by the Russian army on the territory of Georgia have definitely to be judged adequately by the international community, in order to demand, in a next step, compensations for these deeds as for the other acts of vandalism. The Amount of compensation should be agreed on according to international values of the inflicted damage.

It should also be taken into consideration that when the Russian military burned the forests of Kaspi and mined them, it may have deliberately radioactively polluted Georgian soil by implanting radioactive material together with the mines; this is to be supposed after a relevant order within the structures of the Russian army became known to the public.

If such mines will explode, the radioactive material they contain will be spread; the consequences for man and nature in the region then will be disastrous.

Prof. Tqeshelashvili concludes: "In the light of what has been stated before, it is recommended that de-mining should be carried out by the Russian Federation itself while settlements and nature of the occupied territories should be under constant surveillance to check radioactive contamination."

Russia 'distributing passports in the Crimea'

By Adrian Blomfield
Last Updated: 7:42PM BST 17 Aug 2008

Ukraine is investigating claims that Russia has been distributing passports in the port of Sevastopol, raising fears that the Kremlin could be stoking separatist sentiment in the Crimea as a prelude to possible military intervention.

The allegation has prompted accusations that Russia is using the same tactics employed in the Georgian breakaway regions of Abhkazia and South Ossetia in order to create a pretext for a war.

read the full text here

Investigate Violations and Protect Civilians - Human Rights Watch

Investigate Violations and Protect Civilians

(Tbilisi, August 18, 2008) – Mounting evidence that Russian and Georgian military used armed force unlawfully during the South Ossetian conflict highlights the need for international fact-finding missions in Georgia, Human Rights Watch said today. Ongoing militia attacks and a growing humanitarian crisis also indicate the urgent need for the deployment of a mission to enhance civilian protection.

At the start of the military conflict on August 7, 2008, Georgian military used indiscriminate and disproportionate force resulting in civilian deaths in South Ossetia. The Russian military has since used indiscriminate force in attacks in South Ossetia and in the Gori district, and has apparently targeted convoys of civilians attempting to flee the conflict zones. Ongoing looting, arson attacks, and abductions by militia are terrorizing the civilian population, forcing them to flee their homes and preventing displaced people from returning home...... Read more

It's 1938 in Europe! - Russia's War of Opportunity - HUMAN EVENTS

08/14/2008
The Russian invasion of its former satellite, Georgia, is still under way despite the supposed cease-fire and Russian denials of further military aggression. Speaking early Tuesday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili appealed to the European Union and other international groups to intervene, asking for mediation. But, he said, “Russia isn’t ready” for that.

And it clearly isn’t. Later Tuesday, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saakashvili had to be forced from office before violence could end. Lavrov, “…said Russia can no longer view ‘a man who issued orders to commit war crimes’ as a negotiating partner and therefore ‘without the departure of Saakashvili it is impossible to stop the conflict in South Ossetia’.”

Saakashvili, who is apparently more knowledgeable of history than the heads of state to whom he appeals, said the Georgians would never allow their nation to be broken into pieces. Russia says its attacks have stopped, but -- as President Bush said Wednesday morning -- it’s clear that they have not.

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Did Russia Plan Its War In Georgia? (Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty)

By Brian Whitmore

Before the guns of August, there were the maneuvers of July.

Less than one month before Russia's armed forces entered Georgia on August 8, they held massive military training exercises in the North Caucasus involving 8,000 servicemen and 700 pieces of military hardware.

At center stage in those maneuvers -- which took place in the second half of July, not far from Georgia's border -- was Russia's 58th Army, the very unit that would later play a key role in the incursion.

Those exercises are just one link in a chain of incidents suggesting that Russia's military action in Georgia was planned months in advance, awaiting only an appropriate pretext to act.

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer says the aim, from the start, was to overthrow Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his pro-Western government.

"This was prepared long ago," Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based military analyst tells RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service, adding that according to his information, a decision to go to war was made back in April.

see full text here

Russian Nation Against Russian Aggression in Georgia

8 August 2008 Russia claiming "the protection of its citizens", started aggression against Georgia in S. Ocetia.

According to "СМИ" Russian military aviation bombed Gori. According to Georgian officials Russian Airplanes bombed Poti, Senaki and Tskhinvali. Russian "СМИ" stated that paratroopers "РФ" were deployed in Tskhinvali.

August 8, in the evening on UN Security Council session Russian ambassador Vitali Churkin admitted the fact that Russians were bombing Georgian Teritory. At the beginning of the Russian Agression in Georgia Russia strengthened anti-Georgian propaganda. Russian media was talking only about Georgian military activities in s. Osetia, however they were silent about shooting and bombing Georgian villages by the regime of Eduard Kokoiti. On august 8 Georgian governmental web-pages and the web-page of Rustavi 2 (Georgian broadcasting company) were hacked.

On August 8 International Society Мемориал discussed the advance of Georgian military forces in Tskhinvali which has been characterized by Georgian officials as "constitutional way for establishing peace" (http://www.memo.ru/2008/08/08/0808081.htm) but whatever is happening in Georgia, Russia doesn't have a right of using military force in foreign territory. The status of Russian peace-keepers in Georgia is defined by intergovernmental agreements. Russia has lost the moral right for conducting the peace keeping mission in Abkhazia and S. Ossetia when Russian government has provoked the conflicts and was supporting the separatists. And as Russian troops have bombed and invaded Georgian territory way beyond than S. Ossetia, Russia became a part of the conflict.

President Medvedev stated that he has an obligation to protect the lives of Russian citizens despite of their location. However as it is reaffirmed in
United Nations General Assembly Resolution of 14 December 1974 Definition of Aggression article 5.1 "No consideration of whatever nature, whether political, economic, military or otherwise, may serve as a justification for aggression." As in 1938 Nazi Germany justified the invasion of Czecho-slovakian territory by protecting the interests of German population there.

The historical experience has showed that the intervention of our country in foreign business is unavoidable. Contrary to statements for "help" — leads to incalculable troubles. In 1979 Soviet government sent the troops to Sovereign Afganistan under a pretext of «rendering of the brotherly help » Hundred thousand residents of the country became victims of the Soviet Army. Today a "chekist-official" group which governs Russia – predecessor of Soviet government has commited the aggression against independent Georgia.

Incursion into Afghanistan has led to that in this country many years do not stop large-scale violence and infringement of the rights of citizens, wars continually flash. Historical development of Afghanistan has turned From the secular state it has turned in theocratic. Actions of the Soviet management have led to sharp growth of popularity of Islamic fundamentalism not only in Afghanistan, but also in Pakistan and the Arabian countries. (let us recall an alliance of "Taliban" and Alqaida.)

If the international community will not stop the Russian aggression and if Georgia, carrying out the legitimate right for self-defense, cannot reflect it, Russia can grasp not only former ¯S. Ossetian autonomous region, but also other parts of Georgia. And in fact many irresponsible Russian politicians declare claims on kremlin.

We demand the immediate termination of aggression against Georgia.

We consider, that a management of Russia, having put one more bloody spot on reputation of the country, has made finally unacceptable from the moral point of view its stay in « big 8"

We call General Assembly of the United Nations, the Organization on safety and cooperation in the Europe, Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe and other international institutes to consider the problem on actions of the Russian management against Georgia.

Sergey Kovalev, chairman of the Russian society "Memorial", chairman of Fund of a name A.D.Saharova

Dmitry Belomestnov, the journalist, Moscow

Stanislav Dmitrievsky (Nizhni Novgorod), chairman of the Society of the Russian-Chechen friendship

Tatyana Monahova, human rights defender, Moscow

Elena Maglevannaja, the proof-reader, Volgograd

Michael Kriger, chairman of Committee of anti-war actions, Moscow

Ivan Simochkin, youth movement "Defense", Moscow

Alexey Manannikov, the president Siberian inter-regional правозащитного fund " Vena-89 ", Novosibirsk

Edward Glezin, the coordinator of the Russian youth movement «abarona" Moscow

Anton Chezhidov, active worker НДСМ

Dmitry Shusharin, the historian and the journalist

Igor Drandin, РНДС

Vladimir Shaklein, the Inter-regional center of human rights — Ural branch OOD « For human rights »

Vladimir Sirotin, the left socialist

Larissa Volodimerova, the legal expert (and also the writer and the publicist), Holland, and its human rights defender the organization "Fund " Марекса ""

Lev Ponomarev, executive director of the All-Russian social movement « For human rights »

Vladimir Panteleev, the political prisoner in 1970–76, the invalid of 2 groups after political represion, chairman of board of the Nizhniy Novgorod society of victims of communistic terror, Nizhni Novgorod

Sergey Sorokin, chairman of Movement against violence, Moscow

Anna Mikhailina

Felix Balonov, the candidate of historical sciences, St.-Petersburg

Dmitry Vorobevsky, the editor of the newspaper "Sedition", member of the Democratic Union, Voronezh

Valentine Schulman, the doctor, Moscow

Raisa Grishechkina, Rostov-ON-Don

Alexey Skripkin, the programmer, Kostroma

Alexey yarema, the head of Group the ЭРА, St.-Petersburg

Olga Mamay, the teacher, Moscow

Ekaterina Vorobeva, the historian-archivist, Moscow

Leonid Litinsky, the mathematician, Troitsk.

Elena Ryabinin, the employee of Committee « Civil assistance », Moscow

Suren Edigavov, Moscow

Andrey Zhelonkin, the journalist, Saransk

Natalia Gorbanevskaja, human rights defender, the participant taken place on August, 25th, 1968 on the Red area in Moscow manifestations of protest against intrusion of the Soviet armies into Czechoslovakia

Victor Fajnberg, the legal expert, the participant taken place on August, 25th, 1968 on the Red area in Moscow manifestations of protest against intrusion of the Soviet armies into Czechoslovakia

Galia Koinash, Kharkov human rights group

Oksana Chelysheva, Nizhni Novgorod

Elena Mikhaylovskaya, the housewife, Kharkov, Ukraine

Evgenie Rile, Moscow

Rpzalia Iskandarova, the journalist, "г. Свет"

Russian Article (translation)

Tuesday, 12 August 2008
War in Georgia

So it's a reality now. Military conflict has been unleashed. It's been bombing, heavy artillery shelling, fierce fighting for the capital of South Ossetia. It is not a clinch between Georgia and South or North Ossetia or Abkhazia. It is war with Russia. It is a combat operations with the Rissia's 58th Army, dislocated near Tskhinvali but incapable to prevent a Georgian breakthrough to the city.

Would it be resolved by all means of diplomacy or would it spark with renewed vigor? Time will show... Of course, there is every possibility to prevent escalation of the military actions. But this is unlikely what the Kremlin needs. Russophobe Empire of Russia with its recently appointed president needs one more “short victorious war”. Indeed, we all remember such a “short victorious war” of gigantic Soviet Union against Afghanistan. We are all living witnesses of the Chechens which were “cornered in the toilet and wiped out”. Now it is a turn for small, but proud Georgian people..

From the Olympics in Beijing, Putin has given a “carte blanche" to Russian volunteers who wanted to fight for the interests of Ossetian people. Well, if somebody wanted to sacrifice his life for a bright international future of mankind, then let the dummy go for it. But something else is interesting.

What about Ossetians themselves, that another "small but proud" tribe? Did they all stand as one to protect their native land? Are they dying in the unequal battle saving the comrades? Someone died defending loved ones. But most of them (including evacuated from the region), after receiving the Russian citizenship, stay quietly on Russian land and in the capital of Russia, though it seems to be their Ossetian independence war!

The population of South Ossetia consists of Ossetians, Georgians and some other ethnic groups, with the Ossetian and Georgian villages mixed with each other. Many Ossetian families fled the region as a result of armed conflict at the beginning of 1990s, finding the refuge shelter on Russian territory, mainly in North Ossetia-Alania.
Now the majority of population of the region is Ossetians, but there are still villages populated with the ethnic Georgians.
According to the Soviet Union census of 1989, the population of South Ossetia was 98527, including 65 thousand ethnic Ossetians and two thousand ethnic Russians.

According to estimates by international observers from the OSCE and the UN, it is about 30 thousand ethnic Ossetians left in South Ossetia. The other 35 thousand, namely labor and combat ready, are part of the Caucasus people migrated to the Russian cities.

But now it’s namely the ethnic Russians who must protect the integrity and independence of South Ossetia. How come? What about a full shape war mobilization of Ossetians? How about a death penalty for desertion committed in wartime?

However, this is not the main point. Actually, who is right in this conflict?

Here is what academician Nikolai Dubrovin (1837-1894) wrote about people of the region: "Lack of land was a reason that part of the Ossetians moved to the southern slope of the Main [Caucasian] Ridge and voluntarily gave themselves in peonage to the Georgian landlords. Those Ossetians occupied gorges of Greater and Lesser Liakhvi, Rehula, Ksani and became serfs of princes Eristavovs and Machabelovs. These immigrants represented the population of so-called southern Ossetians and, in turn, they were also subdivided into many societies, called by name of gorges, which they inhabited. Thus, they consist of ksani, liahvi, gudushauri, magrandvaleti, dzhamuri and other Ossetians. Many Ossetians settled in Mtiulet and Hev gorges "(N. Dubrovin; history of war and domination of Russians in the Caucasus, Vol 1, pp. 187, St. Petersburg., 1871).

In other words, the population of South Ossetia is mostly represented by descendants of immigrants invited to work on the Georgian soil, since they were dying from starvation in Ossetia-Alania. So they worked, gave birth to others, generation by generation, and… like the Albanians in Kosovo finally claimed an independence for seemingly their Ossetian land now.

So called patriots of Russia oppose the Kosovo separation from Serbia, but they stand for separation of the Georgian land from Georgia. This position is illogical and hinted only by the aspiration to read the Kremlin’s lips and repeat after it. And the Kremlin, as usual, is breaking into somebody else’s business and interfering in the internal affairs of other states.

Now let’s see how this Georgian conflict affects the interests of ethnic Russian people. The situation with the Russian people in Russia is deplorable. The people gets catastrophically poorer and poorer, dying out by two million a year and being replaced by migrants from the North Caucasus and immigrants from all over the world. The retired have no money to buy food, the Pension Fund is going to the sky, the disabled can’t buy enough of prescribed drugs and trivially dying from the shortages, the healthcare is visibly collapsed, the army is not being equipped with modern weapons, the infrastructure of Russian cities is deteriorated by 60-80%, the inflation exceeds all reasonable limits, reaching 25% on basic food for the poor.

And in such circumstances, instead of supporting Russians in Russia, Kremlin once again is up to crazy sponsorship to the North Caucasus inter-clan tensions.

Patriotism of "Russian" idiots is the last hope of Kremlin to stay in power to carry on the robbery and genocide of Russian people, accompanied by a perfectly planned relocation of the North Caucasus residents to the heartland of Russia. And the population of migrants from Caucasus is rapidly growing, as it’s generously sponsored by the earnings taken from Russians.

The ground for Russia’s participation in the conflict is the desire to control a smuggling process through the Roksky tunnel, where the Russia’s peacekeepers are simply babysitting a free-trade flow of Chechen oil in exchange to non-certified alcohol produced by our Ossetian friends in millions of deciliters. The Kremlin’s authorities do not care what poisoned Ossetian vodka killed or made the disabled already hundreds of thousands of Russian men and women.

It is time once and for all for everybody, calling themselves Russians, to remember: what is good for Kremlin that is bad for Russians.

Who stands for Kremlin that stands for wogs. Who stands for Kremlin that is against Russians.

We can only conclude that by escalating the conflict in South Ossetia, the imperialistic Russophobe monster continues to carry on its anti-Russian policy. And we could only wait, when it will break its back over Georgia as the anti-Russian Soviet Union once broke its back over Afghanistan.


Northern Brotherhood
August 8, 2008

(found on http://vdesyatku.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=25
translated from Russian source http://www.nordrus.info/news/detail.php?ID=2345)

SOS! Save innocent people!

According to the latest news, Russian militaries are maasively taking the Georgian population to Tskhinvali by force. There substantiated fears that they are going to be killed there.

As you may know, Russian propaganda machine has circulated the information about 1600 South Ossetians killed in the region. However, even though Russian military forces have been controlling the region for several days already, they have not produced any visual proofs of there being killed Ossetian civillians – notwithstanding the fact that Russian TV reporters were present at the site of conflict from the very first day.

There is a very substantial suspicion that Russians plan to take the Georgian population to Tskhinvaly by force in order to kill them there and consequently to present them as South Ossetians.

Russians have done such a thing many times before. The photo of the wounded woman was taken in Gory, but it is posted on Russian websites as a photo of an Ossetian woman.

Please, circulate this information urgently and take actions to rescue these people.