The world is really a simple place.  There are the good guys and the bad guys.  And you call the good guys nice things and you say bad things about the bad guys.  And it doesn’t take long before you’re threatening to come in on the side of the good guys to make the bad guys understand that they are in fact bad guys and have to stop acting like that.  Of course, they’ll still be bad guys, but they’ll be bad guys that have been taught a lesson.

‘Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century.’ says President George Bush.

Now let’s put aside for the moment any carping about the hypocrisy of a country that, since World War II, has invaded or overthrown or helped to overthrow the governments of, among others, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Chile, Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Nicaragua, Panama, Somalia, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia.  Though of course, this is largely 20^th century behaviour so maybe standards were different then.

Let’s just take President Bush’s simple statement and see if this is simplicity, oversimplification, or just plain simple-mindedness.

Georgia was ‘absorbed’ into the Russian empire in the 19^th century, and briefly became an independent state after WW I until it was invaded by the Red Army and annexed into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Stalin, a Georgian from Gorni, became dictator.  Eventually, Georgia became a constituent republic of the USSR.  In 1991, with the break-up of the Soviet Union, Georgia again attained independence.

Within Georgia, South Ossetia had made repeated claims for independence and in Soviet times was an Autonomous Oblast.  Its population is predominantly Ossetian who regard themselves as distinct from Georgians (they speak a different language) and who mostly carry passports that Russia offered to them and look to Russia (where North Ossetia is) for protection against Georgia.

So who’s sovereign?

In the Soviet Union, the Georgians regarded themselves as a disadvantaged minority among majority Russians (where they had a reputation for sharp practice – Georgian public life has been riddled with corruption).  Within Georgia, the South Ossetians regarded themselves as a disadvantaged minority among majority Georgians.  And within South Ossetia, Georgians regarded themselves as a disadvantaged minority among majority South Ossetians.

While the Soviet Union existed, the US did not regard Georgia as sovereign.  Now it does, but does not regard South Ossetia as sovereign.

In a November 2006 referendum, the South Ossetians voted overwhelmingly for independence.  Georgia ignored this.  The US ignored it.  The European Union ignored it and said it was ‘not helpful’. 

And who’s democratic?

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, the US-educated, foreign-married telegenic whiz-kid who tells whoppers in fluent English, is the democratically elected leader of Georgia.  And Bush invites him to the White House and shakes hands, smiles all round. 

Eduard Kokoity has been elected twice as President of South Ossetia, though the process looked more like old-style communist elections.  He has not been invited to the White House.

And who invaded who?

While everyone was supposed to be gaping at the miming girl singer and the computer-simulated fireworks at the Olympics opening ceremony, Georgian forces attacked targets in South Ossetia.  Georgia forces had recently completed a joint training exercise with US troops, and they have had US military trainers ‘for some time’ according the US Secretary of Defence Gates.  They are also reliably reported to have Israeli trainers, but this is much more hush-hush. 

Now page 2 of the Thai Generals’ Guide to Coup-Making makes clear that if you want to take over somewhere, you go for seats of power, communications centres, airports and so on.  You don’t bomb into smithereens residential areas or universities, which is what appears to have happened.  You also don’t telegraph your moves to the opposition. 

The Russians were clearly well aware of what was coming and, responding to a constitutional requirement to protect Russian citizens (i.e. passport-holders) wherever they may be, they promptly struck back, going beyond the border of South Ossetia in order, they claimed, to eliminate threats from Georgian forces. 

At the level of districts, Georgia invaded South Ossetia.  At the level of countries, Russia invaded Georgia. 

And what is unacceptable in the 21^st century?

Well, tons of things, including acts that were unacceptable, but were committed, in the 20^th century, by the US and others.  But perhaps we should argue that in a complex world, it is also unacceptable to make simple, oversimplified, and simple-minded statements.  Especially when you’re the man whose finger is on the trigger of the biggest set of weapons in the world.

 

About author:  Bangkokians with long memories may remember his irreverent column in The Nation in the 1980's. During his period of enforced silence since then, he was variously reported as participating in a 999-day meditation retreat in a hill-top monastery in Mae Hong Son (he gave up after 998 days), as the Special Rapporteur for Satire of the UN High Commission for Human Rights, and as understudy for the male lead in the long-running ‘Pussies -not the Musical' at the Neasden International Palladium (formerly Park Lane Empire). And if you believe any of those stories, you might believe his columns