Better Than Any Newswire ...

     ... is Wikipedia's Coverage of the Coup Attempt in Guinea.  Naturally, I am concerned that interested parties will attempt to manipulate this news, but, at least, it will be a bit clearer when it happens.  As far as I was concerned, especially during the first couple days, their coverage of the South Ossetian crisis was also best.

Back The Attack (<-WWII era slogan) Georgian Admits Warmongeriness

     Georgian Official Says Georgia Started War.  He had been replaced as Ambassador to Moscow before these remarks.

Language And Conflict: New Categorization of Problem Types

     Noam Chomsky, to try to point out the error of my ways, pointed to the 1994 Rwandan genocide as an example of a deadly conflict within one language community.  Of course I'd known about this event, and consider it only one among many major events in the last couple decades, but more recent e-mail conversations about Rwanda with Chomsky have led me to an insight I hadn't previously had.

     Some of the problems, and certainly the class Chomsky was thinking about, concern when groups speaking different languages share one country, or government, and fight over power, land or access to resources.  I like to point to the examples of Switzerland and India as possible ways to handle this.

     A different set of problems emerge when you take one (large-enough) language community and divide it up with internationally recognized (sacrosanct) lines.  Examples include, but are not limited to

• Kinyarwanda-Rundi, although small, the part in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been particularly influential.  I made that graphic specifically to show Chomsky what I was talking about, and it was key to helping me get to the understanding I am trying to relay in this post.
• The Taleban, or, more exactly, the Pashtana tribesmen of the Hindu Kush and Koh-e-Sulaiman mountains (Pashtan is singular, Pashtun is the Indian corruption of the word).
• The Sudan (Deby, President of Chad, comes from a tribe which is half in Sudanese Darfur.
• The Kurds
• The Somalis (still without a government, 17 years running).
• Even Ossetia. Divided between Russia and Chechnya

Again, as if you needed any reminding, all of these borders were drawn up by Europeans, who, generally speaking, organized things for their own interests (if you look at the Pashtana map, it looks as if "divide and rule" was their interest).

     Somali, Rwandan, Kurdish, Pashtana and Zaghawa speakers have all, definitely hosted rebel groups on one side of the border to attack and destabilize the government on the other.  In fact, all of them are doing it today.

     Peace out.

Finally

     Eli at Lefti alerts me to this article from the NY Times, which finally addresses the Georgian aggression in South Ossetia by our dear ally, Saakashvili. Obama, McCain, and the entire U.S. press corps ate up Saakashitti's repeated claims that big bear Russia was bearing down on poor, defenseless, Georgia. I blogged a ton about it at the time.  My conclusion seems a bit optimistic.

Obama Preferred by International Audiences

PIPA did a poll of 23 countries concerning the 2008 US Presidential election and their results showed that in 22 of the 23 countries it wasn't even close, Obama was preferred.

The one country where it was close?  America.  I kid you a little.  They didn't actually poll Americans on that question, but at the time, July-August 2008, the race was very close in America.

It must be noted, however, that in Russia, Egypt and Turkey, most people didn't think either would be better.  I strongly suspect this is because of Obama's idiotic rhetoric concerning aggression in Georgia and South Ossetia, and his volte face of policy concerning Israel and Palestine. 

Language & Conflict In the News: South Ossetia Peace Deal in French

Bad French Prolongs Russia-Georgia Conflict, from the Telegraph, UK. 

Bernard Kouchner told a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the weekend that the ceasefire agreement was written in French before being translated into English and then Russian. Asked what problems surrounded the buffer zones, Mr Kouchner replied: "The translation, as always."

Language And Conflict In the News: Georgian and South Ossetian

This is a NY Times story by Ellen Barry discussing the linguistic issues in Georgia and South Ossetia mostly from the perspective of individuals.  It includes language bias preventing people from learning the language of the "other."

A war between the two groups in the early 1990s divided them almost surgically. Young Georgians stopped learning Russian, the lingua franca for the entire region in Soviet days; young Ossetians did not learn Georgian. Older people, who spoke both, pretended not to.

Magdalena Frichova, who monitored the conflict in South Ossetia for 10 years for the crisis group, recalled watching local officials wait, poker-faced, for a translator even when it was obvious that they understood. Over time, people began to struggle with languages they once spoke fluently.

Ellen Barry seems ignorant of early Soviet history, which encouraged society in the local language, and even redivided the Tsar's Russia into 15 Soviet Republics, each with their own language (although Belarus and Ukrainian are almost completely mutually intelligible with Russian).

Russia's Slow Pullout from Georgia

Russia was just showing that it BOTH doesn't have to conquer Georgia, and doesn't have to leave except on its own schedule.

Too Many Links

• U.S. Administration trying to make it easier for local and Federal cops to spy on people, I think.  I could use a more in depth story.
• Another WaPo link.  A four page article that, although tending to blur things in Georgia's favor, covers a lot of background for South Ossetia
• Human Rights Watch report on South Ossetia
• Most corporations in America pay no income taxes.  Foreign companies have it slightly better.

Background: The South Ossetian Conflict

Georgia to Expand Military to Counter Russian Threat in Regions, July 14th 2008, Bloomberg

2008 South Ossetian War Over. Who Won?

The biggest victor, naturally, was myself.  I really learned a ton about propaganda, catapulting it, and how whole countries of people can come to hate each other enough to want to kill each other. I watched the television news from both Russia and America and only very rarely did their respective realities overlap.  As a side note, I learned how problematic engaging in war can be unless you have your own, slick, media operation.  Certainly no one wants thousands of people to die so they can learn about war, but if I am quite lucky, I learned enough about war to prevent this many people dying in the future.

As for the combatants, Russia can claim a marginal victory.  First, her people love her more.  Polls show only a tiny fraction of Russians disapproved of Russians moving into South Ossetia.  Their mission was portrayed as a humanitarian one to fight off US-backed Georgian aggression.  I doubt many people in Russia think America wasn't being aggressive in Iraq, so, America's standing in Russia has declined, again.

Georgia gained nothing, lost a foothold in Abkhazia, and lost the right to have further peacekeepers in South Ossetia (pretty much guaranteed).  Saakashvili's plan, instead of gaining S. Ossetia for Georgia, seems to have lost it to her forever.

Because the interests of two veto-powers were involved, the UN Security Council was never going to be that useful.  Still, I'm proud of Panama.

I'm pretty sure that the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, gained overall. 

Sorry, I'd write more, but I don't make a living off the truth.

CNN: Georgian Propaganda Station?

The last confirmed appearance of Russian troops in Georgia proper was yesterday morning (US/Eastern time).  CNN, this morning, regularly runs a chiron that suggests maybe Russia is breaking the ceasefire.  Of course, technically, that is accurate.  Maybe Uzbekistan is flying to the South Pole.

What CNN did was show yesterday's footage of Russian troops movement, clearly labelling it "Wednesday."  That was great.  I'd wanted to see it, honestly.  But then they got dishonest.  They removed the date logo, and if someone tuned in late, they'd have no choice but to believe these were contemporary pictures.

Maybe I'm over-reacting.  I've certainly seen plenty of similarly shady stuff before on FOX.

Saakashvili REALLY stretching things now

I start out unsympathetic to Saakashvili.  I consider him, perhaps incorrectly, the aggressor in the current conflict.  Saakashvili is on CNN saying that no one should appease Russia, that America never appeased anyone.  He's saying that the closest parallel is Czechoslovakia before WWII, where "10 of millions people died." 

For the last 8 hours, although Saakashvili has said the Russians were still in Georgia, there are no verified reports of the same.  You all remember, just a few days ago, when the Georgian Foreign Minister was saying the Russians were in Gori, but a Reuter's reporter, in Gori, looking around, said the city was deserted, and no one was there?

WAR OVER?

Reports are that Russia has invaded Georgia proper and taken the town of Gori, a town near the South Ossetian border and near Tskhinvali.  Russia denies everything in green below.  The half-circle represents former Rusisan presence.  I'm leaving 7 in blue below, because even though Russia is denying it, it is a firsthand report.

REPORT 1: Bloomberg: Russian Troops Launch Ground Offensive in Georgia (Update3)
REPORT 2: VOA: Russia Confirms They Were in Senaki
REPORT 3: FOX News: broadcast reports Russians in Poti
REPORT 4: Bloomberg: Russian Troops in Senaki Came From Abkhazia
REPORT 5: IHT: Abkhazia Takes Kodori Gorge (only part of Abkhazia in Georgian control)
REPORT 6: Guardian UK: Medvedev Ends Russian Participation, Allegation of Continued Fighting in Gori
REPORT 7: CNN: Broadcast reports Russian troops heading from Gori towards Tblisi. Have pulled off road. 8:20 AM Wednesday. Russia has officially denied it.
REPORT 8: Russia Today: Broadcast Abkhazians have completely ejected Georgia from Abkhazia.
REPORT 9: CNN Broadcast: Russians have left Gori-Tblisi road and moved to southeastern S. Ossetia


This is an annoying, flashing map of all sites in Georgia targeted by Russia.

Language and Conflict: South Ossetia

When Georgia was actually in charge of South Ossetia, they tried?forced? South Ossetians to switch away from the Ossetian language.

Georgia has no policy for linguistic/ethnic minority representation in the unicameral Georgian parliament. There are six Azeri MPs, and, "[a]s not all these MPs understand Georgian, it is unclear how they participate in the parliamentary work."

Russia Today Interviews

According to one person interviewed, Saakasvhili is a "mad" "fascist" "terrorist," while many seem to agree he's engaged in "genocide" against Ossetians, a process, a number have said, has gone on for "100s of years."

Russia Today Hosts Military Advisor

His comments, en toto, tell me I'm jumping the gun on assuming a Russian invasion of Tblisi.  He played down the current firing as "sporadic" and bound to stop within a few hours.  The Russians, however, are going to have a hard time with any future presence in Georgia, if they believe their own media, while Bush is asking for the status quo ante, which includes Georgian peacekeepers in S. Ossetia.

Medvedev Will Bring Crisis to "Logical Conclusion"

Finnish-French ceasefire agreement, signed by Saakashvili recently, does not, according to Peter Lavelle, satisfy Russian demands.  Combined with the comment from Medvedev, I am not optimistic Tblisi wiill stay Russian-tank-free.

I've twice noted that Panama did a great job at UN Security Council meetings.  David X Machina in a comment at Lawyers, Guns and Money explains it thusly:

Small country with a.) dodgy sovereignty over bits of its own territory and b.) a pain-in-the-ass president, versus a superpower to the north who a.) might still think they own you, and b.) uses invasions-incursions as a form of international semaphore.

Fighting Continues in South Ossetia

Claims include: Georgia has re-started shelling of S. Ossetia and Georgia is trying to flood Tskhinvali.

I'm afraid it is becoming increasingly easy for me to imagine Russian tanks rolling through Tblisi, and VV Putin making sure Saakashvili, nor any other anti-Russian Georgian, is in charge when the tanks roll out.

Russian Foreign Ministry just made a statement.  Read a quote from Putin alleging that Georgia is rounding up Russians in Georgia.  They report that over 350 Russians have called Russia to complain of their detention while trying to leave Georgia.  This is the kind of report which, if unrebutted, will lead Putin to Tblisi.  Another statement will be given tonight by someone more important.

Iran and America, Sitting in a Tree

Tehran Times adopts U.S. position on South Ossetia.  Not that anything would convince a committed Iran hater.