Russia still threatens to destroy Georgia’s statehood
By Messenger Staff
Monday, February 9
Anti-Georgian hysteria is no novelty for the Russian media. But recently there has appeared a series of “analytical” articles speculating about the complete destruction of Georgia’s statehood.
Why is this happening? At first glance official Moscow has nothing to do with the “free media”, but taking into consideration that all the media is subordinated to the Kremlin, it is not difficult to conclude that its hand has written all these articles.
Russia accepted Georgia’s independence with difficulty in the nineties of the twentieth century. In reality it did not accept it at all, fighting against it from the very beginning with different tools, most notably by supporting separatism. The Georgian leadership, unfortunately, committed lots of stupidities itself and thus fell into the Russian-masterminded trap of regional, ethnic conflicts. Moreover, the Shevardnadze administration granted Moscow the status of peacekeeper, thus legalizing its presence in the breakaway regions. This unbound the Kremlin’s hands. It never attempted to resolve the conflicts, rather on the contrary. Russia carried out a disguised annexation of Georgia’s territories. There were some small attempts to draw international attention to the realities of what was going on in Georgia but they remained unnoticed or just ignored.
All this resulted in Russia not caring about any international condemnation or consequences when it attacked its Southern neighbour in August 2008. The Russians’ only excuse for their actions was protecting “their citizens,” Russian peacekeepers and Ossetians to whom they had illegally distributed Russian passports beforehand. Consequently, pretty soon after the aggression started Moscow declared that it was actually fighting against Saakashvili himself and his administration, which had been demonstratively supported by the USA as a Beacon of Democracy in the post-Soviet space. The “citizens” were merely the means to an end, the destruction of Georgia, something “Russian citizens” have never elected any of their Governments to do.
The aggression was stopped through the interference of the international community. However Georgia’s demolition as a state is still on the Kremlin’s agenda. It has established separatist puppet regimes on the occupied territories, recognized them as “independent states” and is building several military bases there. Indeed the August aggression itself had long-nurtured plans behind it. It main aim was to divide Georgia into smaller regional entities, thus killing the idea of a united country. Right after the war Russian officials started repeating in different words Medvedev’s phrase of September 3, 2008 that the virtual project of sovereign Georgia had failed.
Some time ago Russian analyst Borisov stated that Georgia’s existence is a luxury which Russia cannot afford. He recommends three possible scenarios of Russia’s involvement in Georgia’s affairs. A) The Iraq variant – the occupation of the whole of Georgia and the establishment of an occupational regime; B) The Yugoslavia variant - Georgia’s division into enclaves controlled by Russian ‘peacekeepers;’ C) The Somalia variant – provoking a process of regulated chaos and anarchy on Georgian territory. Borisov himself inclines to the C option combined with the B – the ultimate division of Georgia into enclaves. He suggests that his model should be applied to any entity in the post Soviet area, where he says “only those regimes friendly to Russia are legitimate. The rest should be changed.”
Who is Borisov? Is this a deliberate leak of information to test Western reaction? Is this a madman’s delirium? Is this a leak of top secret information? No answer has been given so far. But the West should be on the alert. There had been information about a possible Russian military assault on Georgia well in advance of the August war. It was ignored both here in Georgia and, perhaps more dangerously, in the numerous Western analytical centres. Why? Don’t ask me! Borisov may sound an isolated voice, but what actually happened in the real world in August 2008?
Maybe the warnings were ignored because everyone expected that the Russians would act logically, and according to logic they should not have invaded Georgia. But why don’t you understand once and for all: Russia is UNPREDICTABLE?!
Why is this happening? At first glance official Moscow has nothing to do with the “free media”, but taking into consideration that all the media is subordinated to the Kremlin, it is not difficult to conclude that its hand has written all these articles.
Russia accepted Georgia’s independence with difficulty in the nineties of the twentieth century. In reality it did not accept it at all, fighting against it from the very beginning with different tools, most notably by supporting separatism. The Georgian leadership, unfortunately, committed lots of stupidities itself and thus fell into the Russian-masterminded trap of regional, ethnic conflicts. Moreover, the Shevardnadze administration granted Moscow the status of peacekeeper, thus legalizing its presence in the breakaway regions. This unbound the Kremlin’s hands. It never attempted to resolve the conflicts, rather on the contrary. Russia carried out a disguised annexation of Georgia’s territories. There were some small attempts to draw international attention to the realities of what was going on in Georgia but they remained unnoticed or just ignored.
All this resulted in Russia not caring about any international condemnation or consequences when it attacked its Southern neighbour in August 2008. The Russians’ only excuse for their actions was protecting “their citizens,” Russian peacekeepers and Ossetians to whom they had illegally distributed Russian passports beforehand. Consequently, pretty soon after the aggression started Moscow declared that it was actually fighting against Saakashvili himself and his administration, which had been demonstratively supported by the USA as a Beacon of Democracy in the post-Soviet space. The “citizens” were merely the means to an end, the destruction of Georgia, something “Russian citizens” have never elected any of their Governments to do.
The aggression was stopped through the interference of the international community. However Georgia’s demolition as a state is still on the Kremlin’s agenda. It has established separatist puppet regimes on the occupied territories, recognized them as “independent states” and is building several military bases there. Indeed the August aggression itself had long-nurtured plans behind it. It main aim was to divide Georgia into smaller regional entities, thus killing the idea of a united country. Right after the war Russian officials started repeating in different words Medvedev’s phrase of September 3, 2008 that the virtual project of sovereign Georgia had failed.
Some time ago Russian analyst Borisov stated that Georgia’s existence is a luxury which Russia cannot afford. He recommends three possible scenarios of Russia’s involvement in Georgia’s affairs. A) The Iraq variant – the occupation of the whole of Georgia and the establishment of an occupational regime; B) The Yugoslavia variant - Georgia’s division into enclaves controlled by Russian ‘peacekeepers;’ C) The Somalia variant – provoking a process of regulated chaos and anarchy on Georgian territory. Borisov himself inclines to the C option combined with the B – the ultimate division of Georgia into enclaves. He suggests that his model should be applied to any entity in the post Soviet area, where he says “only those regimes friendly to Russia are legitimate. The rest should be changed.”
Who is Borisov? Is this a deliberate leak of information to test Western reaction? Is this a madman’s delirium? Is this a leak of top secret information? No answer has been given so far. But the West should be on the alert. There had been information about a possible Russian military assault on Georgia well in advance of the August war. It was ignored both here in Georgia and, perhaps more dangerously, in the numerous Western analytical centres. Why? Don’t ask me! Borisov may sound an isolated voice, but what actually happened in the real world in August 2008?
Maybe the warnings were ignored because everyone expected that the Russians would act logically, and according to logic they should not have invaded Georgia. But why don’t you understand once and for all: Russia is UNPREDICTABLE?!