3 posts from August 2008

Why do people on Vox (and other boards) completely ignore the fact that the Russia-Georgia conflict began when Georgia attacked Southern Ossetia on Thursday, killing according to some reports over 1,500 civilians (mostly Russian citizens) and a dozen Russian soldiers? I mean seriously - Russian response is not proportionate and they are certainly using this situation to their advantage, but they did NOT start this.

Oh, I know why. Because we are getting our news from CNN, Fox, etc, and other American (or Western) news sources, that are not even trying to be objective and are clearly taking sides in the conflict.

The fight is really between US and Russia. Georgians are American puppets, and were used in an American gamble. The gamble didn't go as planned, and Russia, after decades of being pushed around, actually stood up for its interests. US does it on daily basis around the world and the Western media is always hard at work ignoring these actions or trying to create numerous justifications for these actions, but god forbid some other country does anything even remotely similar - and the headlines immediately slip back into Cold War mentality - Russian bear, Hitler, remember Budapest, and other crap.

The reality is that there is no right or wrong in this conflict - all sides are assholes. Attempts of Georgian president to spin this conflict as a Russian attack against freedom sound pathetic. (Unless we equate the words "freedom and democracy" with "pro-American government of any sort and American business interests.") Of course Georgians are sure that Russia is at fault. Of course Russians think that Georgia is at fault. But it is sad that it is virtually impossible to find a single news source that is not tainted with obviously one-sided propaganda.

So what would have been a good outcome? Georgia killing 1,500 civilians and retaking the regions that voted for their independence over 15 years ago, making sure that American interests in the region are protected while Russia protests in the UN with obvious lack of results? Is that what you would call a good outcome? Victory of freedom and democracy?

The thing is that there is no good outcome. Not for ordinary people anyways. Neither for Georgians, nor for Russians, nor for Ossetians, nor for Americans. Say, Russia looses, and American backed Georgian forces establish their military superiority over the region. So what? Ordinary Americans will not benefit from this. They will just pay the bill (as they already did - who do you think paid for those weapons that killed Ossetian civilians?) Innocent civilians would still die (in this scenario it would be Ossetians and Russians). And some oil company would still profit immensely. The only difference is which oil company profits - Russian backed Gasprom, or American backed Exxon?

So we can go ahead and get scared of Russians (or Americans), demand military retaliation against Russia (or American interests), and parrot the propaganda of our choosing. But if we wish to be honest with ourselves, let's remember that it's not about freedom, human rights, east vs. west, and other crap. It's all about fighting for resources under the banner of your favorite Energy Provider. It's not the case of good guy vs. bad guy. It's all about something that used to be called "Bushmen ethics" (my apologies to the Bushmen) - I steal a goat from my neighbor - it is good; my neighbor steals a goat from me - it is bad. Sadly, we (the ordinary Bushmen) won't even get to taste the stolen goat.