As an American who has been completely ignorant to foreign relations in ex-Soviet states, I have no idea what to make of the current situation in Georgia. It seems as if both sides share at least some blame, and aren’t presenting the whole picture of what is going on. Listening to American commentary doesn’t help either, as our government has its own foreign policy agenda to look out for and cannot afford impartiality.
I did run into two interesting editorials on the issue, however: one from Georgia’s president and one from Russia’s minister of foreign affairs. Both have some valid arguments and both seem to skip over a few of the important historical issues. It wasn’t enough to sway me either way, but I feel like I have a better idea of what’s going on.
The only thing I know for sure is this: nobody is putting the concerns of the people of South Ossetia first. Russia claims that their current actions were made to prevent genocide, but they are accused of covertly running the separatist movement for a long time prior. Georgia seems like they are most concerned with national sovereignty and not the human rights of the separatists. In all, it’s a mess and everybody in power is worried most about politics and power, and not the people of the war-devastated region. How disappointing.