2008 World News

21st Century Revolution

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Sunday, 10 August 2008

News of the hours is somewhat unsettling although not altogether unexpected. Russia has declared war on Georgia and accused the Georgian government of genocide. (and vice versa) There are reports of around 2000 deaths. I would suggest that parts of Georgia are now divided in a similar fashion to the recently declared �Kosovo� and the neighbouring state of Serbia. 
Further unrest is likely and the unrest can be quite easily traced back to the intervention of the US. The US has long supported the independence cries from these relatively new countries.  In fact the US has gone one step further. With the US support, these relatively new countries have engaged in lucrative defence arrangements.

Prime Minister Putin is insisting that this latest Russian incursion into parts of Georgia, (complete with armed troops and war planes) is totally necessary in defence of its own citizens.

At the same time, the West�s/UN�s lack of intervention in precious conflicts around the world is starting to set a precedent. Unilateral action is now deemed as acceptable, mainly because it is now happening so regularly. What happens within ones own country and its borders, is now to be seen as strictly; the business of that country alone. Human rights violations are regrettable, but seemingly acceptable under some circumstances.

Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Cynicism aside, the version of events offered by Russia and eyewitness accounts from the victims of these breakaway Georgian regions is most disturbing. 
If true, then the current Georgian president is guilty of war crimes. These are the exact charges that he is personally accusing the Russians of committing: �The Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, told CNN late Monday that Russian forces were cleansing Abkhazia of ethnic Georgians�.

From personal eyewitness accounts, it would appear that hours before the attack; Mr Mikhail Saakashvili all but guaranteed the safely of all �Georgian� citizens in the break away regions such as South Ossetia. Then in the dead of night a deadly attack was instigated. The attack has been labelled as an atrocity that even the nazi�s at their worst would not have committed. Thousands of innocent victims, many old aged and young were killed outright or injured by blatant and indiscriminate rocket attacks or gunfire by armed Georgian troops. Many civilians still lie buried in the rubble, as family and friends watch on helplessly in desperation. Some trying to escape the attack were deliberately run down and killed later by Georgian tanks.

What is most worrying; this version of events is all but overlooked by the western media. Perhaps, just perhaps, Russia is not the villain here. After all, Russia is only acting to protect the interests of its own citizens. If eye witness accounts are true, then without doubt, President Mikhail Saakashvili needs to be impeached and tried before an international court on accounts of genocide and war crimes. Perhaps it is more true that in this instance; it is not Russia that has not moved on from the cold war, but indeed the USA that is still stuck in the past�

A key role in the development of the Contra alliance was played by the United States following Ronald Reagan's assumption of the presidency in January 1981. Reagan accused the Sandinistas of importing Cuban-style socialism and aiding leftist guerrillas in El Salvador. Following an ultimatum to Sandinista leaders in August 1981 to cease aid to the Salvadoran guerrillas, plans to support the rebels moved forward. On November 23 of that year, Reagan signed the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the CIA the authority to recruit and support the Contras (FDN) with $19 million in military aid. The effort to support the Contras would become one component of the Reagan Doctrine, which called for providing military support to movements opposing Soviet-supported, communist governments.
The rebels professed to have democratic goals, but the predominance in the FDN military leadership of former members of the National Guard of the overthrown Somoza regime aroused skepticism. In the first years of its activity, the FDN was accused of widespread murder, torture and brutality. Most rebel soldiers were peasants angered by the Sandinistas' collectivisation of their land and other grievances, and over the course of the war, ex-Sandinista and campesino commanders rose through the ranks to displace the ex-Guardsmen.[1]
From an early stage, the rebels received financial and military support from the US through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), initially supplemented by Argentina. At other times the US Congress wished to distance itself and withdrew all support.

The current US administration is now hell bent on installing elaborate missile defence systems in Russia�s own back yard.

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