While Russia and America see the conflict in abstract terms about spheres of influence and protecting allies, for Ossetians, who still recall the centuries of massacres Georgians committed against them, it is highly personal. They will still recall the Georgian massacres in the early 1920s, when Georgia was briefly independent, which exterminated up to 8 percent of the Ossetian population. Full Story »
Posted by Kaizar Campwala
This excellent story brings out background facts that most Americans following the events in Georgia ought to know. The historical background is often something many readers of US newspapers have to do without. I recommend Anatol Lieven's article in the Financial Times for Aug. 14th, "The west shares the blame for Georgia". John McCain wanted Georgia as a member of NATO even though he ought to have been aware of serious ethnic problems that repeatedly threaten civil war and foreign intervention. McCain's gross lack of judgment (and the lack of judgment of his main foreign policy adviser, Rany Scheunemann) is one of the themes of this excellent piece.
