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<DIV dir=ltr><A
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/30/ukraine-and-georgia-different-approaches/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/30/ukraine-and-georgia-different-approaches/</A><BR><BR><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt" size=4>Disputed Territories</FONT><BR><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt" size=5><B>Ukraine and Georgia: Different
Approaches</B></FONT><BR>by RENEE PARSONS<BR><BR>In October, 2009, less than one
year after becoming President, the affable Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy
and cooperation between people" and for citing a "new climate in international
politics."<BR><BR>At the time, it was problematic exactly what the new President
had achieved to deserve the esteemed Prize and most commentators overlooked the
premature nature of the award suggesting, that the President offered hope for
the future as the Nobel declaration stated "Dialogue and negotiations are
preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international
conflicts."<BR><BR>Since it is now embarrassingly obvious that the Nobel
Committee misjudged the new President, the Committee, in the future, might
consider basing the Peace Prize on actual accomplishments regarding the pursuit
of peace rather than specious possibilities.<BR><BR>Two months later, the
President offered a hint of what was to come when he accepted the award in Oslo
delivering one of his customary rhetorical speeches entitled "A Just and Lasting
Peace." In retrospect, that speech is even more alarming today than
it was five years ago as we now know what the President meant when he referred
to ‘future interventions’ and went on to defend the notion of a ‘just war’
characterized when "certain conditions were met": if it is "waged as a last
resort or in self-defense"; if the "force used is proportional"; and if,
whenever possible, "civilians are spared from violence."<BR><BR>One inescapable
irony is that Peace Prize winner Obama has instigated, continued and encouraged
more war and militarism around the planet (including a Tuesday morning ‘kill
list’ review, combat troops in Africa, a "pivot to Asia,’ "absolute’
support for Japan in its conflict with China over an insignificant, uninhabited
pile of rocks, Marines in northern Australia, combat troops in Poland, Estonia
and Lithuania, drone attacks on civilians, extra-judicial assassinations, proxy
wars in Libya and Syria, increased constitutional violations and surveillance
while continuing Bush’s war on terrorism in the Middle East and in
Guantanamo) than the notoriously pro-war George W. Bush accomplished even in his
most hawkish moments.<BR><BR>During his recent trip to Asia, the President
warned North Korea, China and Russia, all in one 48 hour period to follow US
dictates or else - not bad for a day’s work, if you want to be to known as
the world’s greatest purveyor-of-war and violence.<BR><BR>Despite striking
similarities, the 2008 five day war between Russia, South Ossetia and Georgia
offers an insight into how the belligerent Bush Administration pursued a
different approach in Georgia as compared to Obama’s US-generated conflict in
Ukraine causing the ultimate secession of Crimea. One obvious
parallel is that Bush, already weakened by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, was an
unpopular lame duck at home during the Georgia conflict while Obama, with a
steady disapproval rating, is no longer viewed as a skilled leader to be trusted
with keeping the peace.<BR><BR>One distinct dissimilarity is that Russia did not
attempt a coup to oust Georgia’s democratically elected Mikheil Saakashvili in
2008 as the US did in Ukraine – nor did the Bush Administration overreact with a
military response or economic sanctions against Moscow.<BR><BR>While Crimea,
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, all considered ‘autonomous’ regions with historic
and cultural connections to Russia, yet located within the borders of Ukraine
and Georgia, respectively; the Bush and Obama Administrations, both dominated by
a neo-con foreign policy, chose substantially different responses for the urge
to secede. Despite their rationale, one might almost be tempted to applaud
the Bushies, no heroes in my book, for having better recognized the political
realities of another grand war.<BR><BR>From the time of the 1917 Russian
revolution, the Ossetians were on the side of the Bolsheviks and later South
Ossetia, a thumb-print of a country surrounded mostly by Georgia with North
Ossetia on its western border, became an autonomous region within the Soviet
Republic of Georgia. By the early 1990’s, as the USSR was unraveling,
South Ossetia’s demand to formally secede as an autonomous, independent state
was declared illegal by Georgia. By 1992, tensions with Abkhazia,
Georgia’s neighbor along the Black Sea and already an autonomous region with
Russian roots, escalated as both regions wen to war with Georgia. Both
regions, like Crimea, so small, so insignificant yet so strategically vital to
Russia as NATO buffers.<BR><BR>By 1992, a Russian-brokered ceasefire was in
effect in South Ossetia with a peacekeeping force in place as a Constitution was
adopted forming the Republic of South Ossetia. Abkhazia declared its
formal independence from Georgia and adopted its Constitution in 1994.<BR><BR>At
the April, 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest, NATO enlargement was a significant
agenda item including US-proposed admission of Georgia and Ukraine with Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister warning that membership would be a ‘huge strategic
mistake which would have most serious consequences for pan-European
security."<BR><BR>Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived to oppose the US
deployment of missile defense shields in Poland and Czechoslovakia and the entry
of Georgia and Ukraine and while Russia observed the process, the depth of its
long-term apprehensions and also its legitimate right to equal security fell on
deaf ears. While the US had sponsored Georgia and Ukraine for membership,
France and Germany, with continued energy supply issues from Gazprom, resisted
US pressure and opposed affiliation for the time being. Both Georgia and Ukraine
were short-listed to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan in preparation
for eventual membership.<BR><BR>The appeal of a better life under the IMF and
NATO did little to convince South Ossetia and Abkhazia which still objected to
Georgia’s push for reunification. By August 7, 2008, after a July
visit by US State Department Secretary Condoleeza Rice and a series of clashes
with south Ossetia forces, there is little dispute in the historical record that
Georgian President Saakashvili, well-known as a combustible personality and
hot-head, initiated an invasion into South Ossetia. Russian troops responded by
advancing into South Ossetia to defend its peacekeepers.<BR><BR>In "A Little War
that Shook the World," (not to be confused with "Ten Days that Shook the World"
by John Reed) former State Department NATO Enlargement official Ron Asmus
confirmed that on multiple occasions, Saaskashvili was warned by US officials to
not precipitate a crisis or initiate any confrontation with Russia.
Asmus relates that on a 2005 visit to Georgia, President Bush personally told
Saaskashvili ‘don’t do it."<BR><BR>Whether Saaskashvili misread the signals or
there was a green light from the US in support of military action, the fact is
that the Bush Administration did not respond militarily; presumably with an
awareness that the region was not significant enough to be worth a potential war
with Russia and that the NATO pledge of ‘all for one, and one for all’ did not
apply to non-NATO nations.<BR><BR>On September 4, Vice President Dick
Cheney visited Georgia announcing a one billion dollar aid package to assist in
"work to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory" as Russia signed a
pact with both countries to maintain a 3,800 military force in each
country. On August 26, 2008, Russian President Medvedev signed
a decree recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states after
which Georgia severed diplomatic relations with Russia.<BR><BR>The author of the
EU’s Tagliavini Report (Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini) on the origins of the
war determined that Georgia did not to have the right of self-defence in regard
to attacks by Ossetian secessionist forces and that Georgia’s ‘excessive use of
force" violated the UN Charter. And further, although Russian forces did
not penetrate into what it considers to be sovereign Georgian territory and
since South Ossetia and Abkhazia are considered regions within Georgia,
Tagliavini concluded that Russia did not have the right to invade Georgia to
protect its members of the international peacekeeping force.<BR><BR>Today,
Abkhazia remains a ‘disputed’ territory and neither Abkhazia or South Ossetia
are recognized as independent states but as sovereign territory belonging to
Georgia. Currently, NATO and Georgian officials have met to discuss
membership as early as September, 2014 – sure to trigger additional
international turmoil. Delegations of South Ossetia and Georgia are
meeting currently for another round of Russia-EU-OSCE mediated talks with the
South Ossetians due to raise ‘demonstrative and provocative border violations on
the part of Georgia."<BR><BR>Renee Parsons was a staffer in the U.S. House of
Representatives and a lobbyist on nuclear energy issues with Friends of the
Earth. in 2005, she was elected to the Durango City Council and served as
Councilor and Mayor. Currently, she is a member of the Treasure Coast ACLU
Board.<BR><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>