I've been watching lately the most recent war between Georgia and Russia. Almost surreal and so many times reminding me of the Romanian Revolution from almost 20 yrs. ago. "The terrorists are poisoning the water pipes" then, "the Georgians are bombing the city sewage"; "our troops are attacked by foreign terrorists" then, "there are black mercenaries among Georgian troops" now. And so on and so forth. One would expect the propaganda to undergo more changes... but there are, most probably, some "oldies but goldies" that will always work like a Swiss watch. Like the Russian costume of "rescuers", for example. Since World War II, Russia has been saving the working class heroes from everywhere, particularly from those countries who didn't like communism too much: East Germany 1953, Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968. Nowadays, Russia is saving a different category (Russian nationals) from a different threat (ethnic cleansing), but the essence is the same. I guess we can call it post-colonialism, but I wouldn't want to start a discourse a la Spivak. Moreover, I cannot be suspected of an unbiased perspective. I was born and lived under communism for 15 yrs, in the SE Europe communist block, where USSR/Russia doesn't have so many fans.
Of course, there are many opinios about this. Some try to argue that South Ossetia does not want to belong to Georgia and, since most of South Ossetians were given Russian citizenship ... you can guess the continuation. However, if this is the case, then I wonder why PKK is labeled as terrorist organization for trying to create a state independent of Turkey, or why ETA's ideals of an independent Basque country make them terrorists as well. Who says that in South Ossetia there were no conflicts and that the independence is claimed through Gandhi-type methods? Furthermore ... regardless how the conflict looks like from inside, I still cannot understand Russia's place into this. Politics... justification is now in the eye of the actor, while the beholder just stares ;)
Of course, there are many opinios about this. Some try to argue that South Ossetia does not want to belong to Georgia and, since most of South Ossetians were given Russian citizenship ... you can guess the continuation. However, if this is the case, then I wonder why PKK is labeled as terrorist organization for trying to create a state independent of Turkey, or why ETA's ideals of an independent Basque country make them terrorists as well. Who says that in South Ossetia there were no conflicts and that the independence is claimed through Gandhi-type methods? Furthermore ... regardless how the conflict looks like from inside, I still cannot understand Russia's place into this. Politics... justification is now in the eye of the actor, while the beholder just stares ;)
