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Was Russia justified to fly jets over South Ossetia on July 9 to, as it said, “prevent bloodshed”?

Friday, July 11
“Russia can only cause bloodshed, not prevent it.”
Mariami, sales manager, 20

“It’s just foolishness. ‘Russia preventing bloodshed’—it’s so funny.”
Nino, student, 19

“I don’t know anything about it, but there’s only one explanation: Russia was and always will be simply a liar.”
Duta, actor, 29

“Russia never prevents bloodshed. It provokes bloodshed.”
Nugzari, distributor, 32

“Of course not. Russia’s actions are never justified. I can’t say the Georgian side is absolutely without fault, but Russia is the worst in its political and moral activities.”
Temuri, architect, 50

“Military flights over another country’s territory are never justified and I hope that Georgia or the US will make them pay for that.”
Koka, clerk, 44

“I think Russia wants to provoke Georgia and we should do our best not to get involved in bloodshed.”
Nugzar, painter, 63

“It’s the Russian way of doing things. They do something very bad and then say it was justified for this or that reason. I think that’s just demagogy.”
Irakli, student, 22

“I don’t know anything about military flights, but we were flying our jets too in Abkhazia, so I think this action is on the same level.”
Tatia, cook, 34