a hero of mine is wrong this time
by doc5467
I've been an admirer of Zbigniew Brzezinski for many years, and though I've disagreed with him on occasion before, I've never seen him this mistaken and this disingenuous. As someone said above, he really does know better. His projections of what Russia "might" do, or "perhaps intends" are unworthy of a mind and a font of knowledge such as his. In this case, Mr. Putin was absolutely justified in sending aid into South Ossetia after the cowardly and devious attack on the civilians of Tsknvali the night of the Olympic opening ceremonies. Mr Saakashvili had, just hours before, agreed to a truce and to negotiations with Ossetia the very next day, but then loosed hundreds of rockets and shells into their little capital city, destroying most of it in hours. Thousands fled, thousands hid in cellars, hundreds died. And the Georgian peacekeepers turned on their Russian peacekeeper comrades in S. O. and killed nearly a hundred of them. Ossetian villages were attacked by ground troops as well, sending 30,000 Ossetians fleeing to the north. And yet, we in the West hear not a single word of this travesty, this evil adventurism; we hear only of the Russian response, as if that were the original aggression. Not a single American news channel or newspaper has sent a single report from anywhere in South Ossetia, not one. They report endlessly what Saakashvili SAYS is true, even when their own reporters admit some things are false--e.g., the claims about tanks and bombs in Gori, even as western reporters and their cameras are IN Gori and can find no Russians there. Saakashvili is a glib New York lawyer and fluent in American English; no one has asked to interview Mr. Kokoity or any other leader of the Ossetian victims of Georgian aggession. It's true that Russia may well have further interests in the area, but to so one-sidedly condemn them and give the originators of this war a complete pass, is just dishonest. I am one who believes the longing for self-determination and the right to govern themselves gives a subject people more moral credence than those who hold them unwillingly in a country run by people of a different language, a different culture and a different set of interests. No matter what Russians may or may not do in the unknown future, I think it's wrong to insist without discussion or negotiation, as Bush demands, that everyone accept completely the so-called "territorial integrity" of a country which has never had those boundaries as an independent and sovereign nation. At least Serbia could claim rightly that Kosovo had been part of Serbia for a thousand years; no Georgian can make a similar claim for Abkhazia or south Ossetia; they were forcibly bonded to Georgia by the Soviets Mr. B and so many others condemned in all other areas.
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by doc5467
I've been an admirer of Zbigniew Brzezinski for many years, and though I've disagreed with him on occasion before, I've never seen him this mistaken and this disingenuous. As someone said above, he really does know better. His projections of what Russia "might" do, or "perhaps intends" are unworthy of a mind and a font of knowledge such as his. In this case, Mr. Putin was absolutely justified in sending aid into South Ossetia after the cowardly and devious attack on the civilians of Tsknvali the night of the Olympic opening ceremonies. Mr Saakashvili had, just hours before, agreed to a truce and to negotiations with Ossetia the very next day, but then loosed hundreds of rockets and shells into their little capital city, destroying most of it in hours. Thousands fled, thousands hid in cellars, hundreds died. And the Georgian peacekeepers turned on their Russian peacekeeper comrades in S. O. and killed nearly a hundred of them. Ossetian villages were attacked by ground troops as well, sending 30,000 Ossetians fleeing to the north. And yet, we in the West hear not a single word of this travesty, this evil adventurism; we hear only of the Russian response, as if that were the original aggression. Not a single American news channel or newspaper has sent a single report from anywhere in South Ossetia, not one. They report endlessly what Saakashvili SAYS is true, even when their own reporters admit some things are false--e.g., the claims about tanks and bombs in Gori, even as western reporters and their cameras are IN Gori and can find no Russians there. Saakashvili is a glib New York lawyer and fluent in American English; no one has asked to interview Mr. Kokoity or any other leader of the Ossetian victims of Georgian aggession. It's true that Russia may well have further interests in the area, but to so one-sidedly condemn them and give the originators of this war a complete pass, is just dishonest. I am one who believes the longing for self-determination and the right to govern themselves gives a subject people more moral credence than those who hold them unwillingly in a country run by people of a different language, a different culture and a different set of interests. No matter what Russians may or may not do in the unknown future, I think it's wrong to insist without discussion or negotiation, as Bush demands, that everyone accept completely the so-called "territorial integrity" of a country which has never had those boundaries as an independent and sovereign nation. At least Serbia could claim rightly that Kosovo had been part of Serbia for a thousand years; no Georgian can make a similar claim for Abkhazia or south Ossetia; they were forcibly bonded to Georgia by the Soviets Mr. B and so many others condemned in all other areas.
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