I have to get information from the internet because of the lies and misinformation of my media. Russia should not back down. Russia needs to get the truth to my people. They are being told lies about this incident by Bush and our media. My sons will never fight in an unjust war.

Please Russia, stand your ground.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/apr/01/georgia.oil

That’s right, the beloved champion of democracy, the recent darling of the us media, and and an avid freedom fighter against the ‘evil empire’ adores Stalin. And EU and US want this guy to join NATO? I smell WWIII. Do you?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121869590082940169.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

Pavel, you swallow the Russian/Soviet party line too quickly. Is this how you are teaching your students to do an in-depth analysis of what you teach them? Remember Pavel, the last person in Russia who tried to do an objective analysis of events in the region wound up with a bullet in her forehead for her troubles. Despite all your gagging about the concept of democracy, the only censorship of DV I have found is that which comes from its editors.

Who did what to whom? How many Georgians were ethnically cleansed from these regions? The same UNHCR, now minus its SUVs, can enlighten you with the statistics. I don’t suppose “Russia Today” will tell you any of that stuff.

So, your concept of democracy is that you are better qualified than the people of Georgia to decide whom they choose as their president?
Do you not understand the implications of the Putin/Medvedyev doctrine: wherever there are Russian citizens in danger (and we define what that means), it is our right and duty to defend them. That’s why people in those target countries are embracing NATO like it was going out of style.

Did your Russian media tell you that in the last week there has been a sea change in such places as Bohemia over the issue of missile placements? Or that the same thing has happened in Finland with regard to the question of that country’s membership in NATO?

Who is kdo and who is kovo?
our Czech reporter on the scene:

Already August 4, four days before the opening of the Olympics, heavy military technology passed through the Rokoski tunnel and three full days before the Georgian attack, the Ossetian forces right in front of the closed eyes of the Russian “peacekeepers” fired into Georgian villages. The military forces of the Russian federal army work in close contact with the secret service of the Russian Security Service, which is the offshoot of the KGB. Overthrowing Saakashvili is a medium-term goal, and the long-term goal is the takeover of the pipeline across Georgia and the reestablishment of control over the Caspian fields. Russia is today generating the greatest pressure on the Baltic states. But don’t forget either that today’s regime in Tadjikistan was installed by the allied forces of Russian tanks of the 201st division, who to this very day sit in Dushanbe. The imperial interest in the Czechs is traditional, and it doesn’t end in Uzhhorod but in Ash.

Uz ctvrteho srpna, ctyri dny pred zahajenim olympiady stala tezka vojenska technika u severniho usti Rokskeho tunelu a cele tri dny pred gruzinskym utokem osetinske sily pri zavrenych ocich ruskych “mirotvorcu” strilely do gruzinskych vesnic. Vojenske sily ruske federalni armady pracuji v uzkem kontaktu s tajnou sluzbou Federalni sluzba bezpecnosti, coz je pokracovatelka KGB. Svrhnout Saakasviliho je cil strednedoby, dlouhodoby pak ovladnuti energovodu pres gruzii a nasledne znovuovladnuti kaspickych lozisek. Nejvetsi tlak dnes Rusko vyviji na baltske republiky. Ale nezapomente ani na fakt, ze dnesni tadzikistansky rezim byl dosazen spojenymi silami ruskych tanku 201.divize, ktera dodnes sedi v Dusanbe. Imperialni zajem o Cesko je tradicni a nekonci u Uzhorodu ale u Ase.

The OSCE in general evaluated the January presidential election positively, although it mentioned there were a few issues that need to be addressed:
http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2008/01/29182_en.pdf

Of course, the OSCE couldn’t even monitor the Russian elections because it was blocked from doing so.

Finally, how do you decide who really “hates” whom. Russia has moved a lot of its nationals and officials into South Ossetia in the last decade, so it’s something like saying that the good people of Gibraltar don’t want to be reunited with Spain. Where are these good people from anyway? Look at other cases of local conflict such as Cyprus. There was really ethnic cleansing on both sides but now they are in negotiations under UN auspices to reconstruct their country on a federal basis.

Is Kokoity your idea of a democrat? (”he may be a scoundrel, but he’s our scoundrel”)

but why don’t we just reason with facts? here they are: south ossetians and abhasians hate the georgians for what they did to them in 1991-92 and would never want to live under georgian leadership again. on august 7, 2008 georgians launched an all out offensive on south ossetia (using tanks, artillery, multiple rocket launch systems, and jet bombers) taking south ossetian capital of tsinhvali. that is a very brutal offensive!

russians claim that 1,4000 south ossetian civilians were killed by the georgians on the first day of their attack! moreover, the georgians have deliberately targeted the schools, hospitals, and other public buildings. these claims need to be independently checked, of course. but what does the us media do? instead of giving both sides of the conflict equal coverage, the american news media is a propaganda outlet for saakashvilli. what if russian claims about georgian atrocities turn out to be true, heike? how would feel about supporting genocidal maniac, mr. saakashvilli? and please, don’t give that crap about democracy. the bush administration has done so much damage to the concept of democracy that whenever i hear that argument, i want to gag.

russian speakers in ossetia are russian? do you mean russian citizens, russian ethnically? from what i’ve read, many of the south ossetians after becoming russian citizens moved to moscow or other big cities in russia due to poverty and fear of georgian attacks in their breakaway region.

[...] just like honey drips every new death
on a broad, ossetinian chest.

Russian speakers in Ossetia are Russians, not Ossetians. During 60 years of soviet rule, Russians spread to all republics of USSR. What is the percentage of native inhabitants in Ossetia? Anybody knows?

http://www.lidovky.cz/odpovedi.asp?t=STETINA4

“Informacni valka se stava standardni casti modernich konfliktu a Ruska federace v soupereni s Gruzii vitez”
(The information war is becoming a standard part of modern conflicts and the Russian Federation is winning in competition with Georgia)

The question of jokes is an interesting one. Americans traditionally have an isolationist culture, so the question of interactions with other cultures doesn’t go that deep. East Europeans, on the other hand, are a real powerhouse of that kind of humor. The American ethos is connected with a “we can do it” attitude, along with the “we’re Number 1.” An interesting question is how the electorate will react to these events. McCain has taken a harder line rhetorically, but the question is whether in the last analysis it will make any difference. Americans traditionally are on the side of the underdog, although you will probably reply that their definition of the underdog is subjective. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that perceptions differ between us and people of other nationalities. The question is how you bridge these differences and promote dialogue and the principle of peaceful resolution of disputes. If we can do that, we all will be winners.

but i did find your ekho moskvi numbers interesting. i wonder if they have something to do with the russian favorite (arguably) pass time – making self deprecating jokes/anecdotes. heike, i assume that you know russian and american cultures pretty well. would you agree with me that americans rarely (if ever) have self-deprecating international jokes, while russians do it very often? what i am getting is that everyday americans tend to be less critical about their foreign policy compared to the russians and this might be reflected in the american media, in my humble opinion.

If the media wanted to tell the truth, they would be talking about Saakashvilli’s war crimes in attacking and murdering 2000 Ossetian civilians.

And while we’re at it, let us not forget the dirty hands of the Israeli government in arming and training the Georgian army, the same Zionists that had close relations with the former regimes of apartheid in South Africa and Latin American dictatorships.