Aug 12 2008
The Guns of August
Another August, another war. This time its Russia v Georgia. How Stalin must be revolving in his grave. It is reported that he leads the field in an all-Russia poll as to their greatest citizen of all time. I am sure that Stalin would have flattened Tiblisi (didn’t it used to be Tiflis?) by now. By his standards, the Putin/Medvedev offensive has been mild. By 21st century standards, it has been excessive and unnecessary. To defend Russian citizens in South Ossetia is one thing, but to advance on Gori and to ferment further uprisings in Abkhazia is quite another.
Russia is telling the world to mind its own business when it comes to its own back yard. Like it or not, however, the rights of an independent sovereign democracy are our business when they are trampled upon by a very large neighbour that happens to be the former colonial power. So far, we have learnt yet again that the United Nations is about as effective as a chocolate saucepan in situations such as this. Russia may have lost a lot of friends over the last few days, but there is no doubt whatsoever that after the years of drift under Yeltsin, Putin has brought it up to world power status.
As an admirer of Russia and its people, I very much hope that we do not revert to the hostile stand-offs of the middle decades of the last century. With every step Russia takes into Georgia, however, that possibility becomes more and more real.
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