Friday, August 15, 2008

Time for a Look at the Caucasus: PEPE ESCOBAR ON WHO'S TO BLAME FOR RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN CONFLICT?

Well much of the corporate media is trying to frame what is happening in the Caucasus, particularly Georgia, in terms of the worn-out old stereotypes of the Cold War: Russia, the ex-Red Menace, is at it again, gobbling up its democratic neighbors, and of course, we MUST stop them.

That, however, is a fiction. The exact opposite has been happening. Russia, after all but collapsing in the 1990s, has been watching its borders being slowly encircled, borders which are now even on the verge of having American "anti-missile" missile systems installed along them, a truly existential threat to Russia's well-being, despite the Whtie House canard that the missiles are to protect Europe from Iran. (What an hysterical laugh that is! Iran is about as interested in attacking Europe as Cuba is in invading America).

How many of you have even learned that Georgian troops, fresh from training with over a thousand American troops, suddenly invaded South Ossetia, on the Southern Russian border, in the middle of the night on the first day of the Olympics, only a few hours after agreeing to a cease-fire with South Ossetia, which has had ongoing low-level clashes with Georgia for years? How many of you know that Georgian troops shot 10 or more mandated Russian Peacekeepers and simultaneously attacked the civilian population of the capital of South Ossetia, commencing a wholesale slaughter? Many of the 1500 or more subsequent dead were Russian citizens or had Russian passports. Russia was as incensed as we would be if the Mexican Army suddenly attacked a scores of Americans south of the border. Within hours, Russian forces were headed south to drive out the Georgian invaders. The rest is still playing out now.

But don't take my word for it. Here is the analysis of Pepe Escobar, one of the leading journalists in the world:

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