Gori Lies in Ruins After Russian Bombs and Looters
Human Rights Watch reports:
Human Rights Watch researchers in South Ossetia on August 12, 2008, saw ethnic Georgian villages still burning from fires set by South Ossetian militias, witnessed looting by the militias, and learned firsthand of the plight of ethnic Ossetian villagers who had fled Georgian soldiers during the Georgian-Russian conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
EDITORIAL
Russia Breaks its Word
The ink was not even dry on Russia’s France-brokered cease fire promise, so-called “president” Dmitri Medvedev having declared mission accomplished, and Russia was already violating it by sending yet another full-scale invasion into the defenseless city of Gori. It was reported that another column was headed for the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Even if Russia does not intend to try to conquer all of Georgia, it looks for all the world like it intends to annex Gori, a city far outside Ossetia and part of Georgia proper.
Nobody can be surprised by this action. The Russian government itself is an utter charade, nothing more than a gang of KGB spies and friendly oligarchs who are running the country in the same way the mafia is run.
The nations of NATO have given Russia a final opportunity to resolve this crisis by negotiation and avoid confrontation. Russia has spit in NATO’s eye and proceeded in a the reckless manner of the USSR. Russia has totally humiliated the President of France, who personally brokered the cease fire, and thus polarized all of Europe against it. Russia has made it crystal clear that its word means nothing, that our words mean nothing, that it intends to recreate the Soviet empire by any means possible, as quickly as possible, come Hell or high water.
Now it is time for NATO to abandon negotiation and take resolute action to protect the flame of democracy in Georgia and prevent this neo-Soviet scourge from spreading. It must admit Ukraine as a member immediately, and provide it with all the weapons necessary to defend itself from the neo-Soviet threat. It must expel Russia from the G-8 immediately, and send a clear message to the people of Russia that their government’s actions are intolerable and that they stand utterly alone in the world.
Russia has crossed the Rubicon. NATO must issue the call to arms.
George Bush has taken the first step. Humanitarian aid is being rushed to Georgia aboard powerful U.S. Navy warships. Bush has issued a statement strongly condemning Russia’s duplicity. Now the president must gather the NATO allies and formulate an immediate coordinated response that will at minimum guarantee the integrity of Ukraine’s borders and hopefully force the Russians to back off their imperial conquest of Georgia, suffering dire international consequences if they do not.
Three Cheers for Georgia!
David Essel
Russia has as usual shown its true face, a face that only appeasement-artists, moral relativists and other nitwits failed to see before. I can sympathise with how sensible people must have felt when infamous old Chamberlain came back from Munich promising peace for our time (presumably having looked into Adolf’s eyes and seen something nice there). I mean what does it take for some people? Was poisoning a Ukrainian presidential candidate not enough; was turning Grozny into a mini-Berlin-1945 not enough; was inventing a new form of hostage rescue – being poison-gassed to death is much better for the hostages than the complex Western way of doing things where things like sanctity of life get in the way – not enough? [… continue for 94 pages or read LR…]
Very few English-language Russia blogs in the world have a higher Google page rank than La Russophobe.
