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The true size of Russia's lies has now become clear. While Russia was claiming 2000 civilians were killed in the first day the reality is that in the entire conflict just 45 civilians died. Clearly Russia deliberately VASTLY exaggerated civilian deaths in order to come up with an excuse to attack Georgia.
The Genocide in South Ossetia
Posted by: Steve LeVine on August 15
The death toll is in for South Ossetia, where Russia accused Georgia of genocide, citing the murder of more than 1,500 civilians for a humanitarian invasion of Georgia.
The figure appears to be about four dozen. Quoting a hospital where virtually all the dead appear to have been taken, since the morgue was without electricity, The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Osborn puts the figure at 45; and Human Rights Watch says it was about 44. There may have been an additional few victims whose bodies did not reach the hospital.
O and G readers from the State Department and elsewhere have written me privately that they regard Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as reckless, irrational, and megalomaniacal. They and others I trust regard Saakashvili with opprobrium for bringing on Russia’s wrath.
That Russia would defend South Ossetia was certain. But increasing evidence makes the attack look well pre-planned, not spontaneous. And the authentic death toll makes the justification appear to be a pretext for that attack.
I had a Skype call from Tbilisi tonight from Lawrence Sheets, with whom I reported from the Caucasus from 1992 through 2003. He was then with Reuters; now he’s the regional representative for the International Crisis Group.
Sheets says that he’s pored over the events leading up to the fighting, and says that Saakashvili was left with a choice on August 7th — allow a devastating South Ossetian attack on Georgian villages adjacent to the regional capital of Tskhinvali, or stop it. And Saakashvili decided to stop it. Sheets doesn’t regard that as reckless.
The course of events make it appear that the West may countenance both effective Russian annexation of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, under the guise of a form of independence, and occupation of swaths of Georgia proper. The best scenario seems to be only temporary occupation before a permanent imposition of the former — the annexation part.
We got a picture of what that occupation could look like, at least for now, in the Georgian city of Gori today. Under the watchful eyes of Russian soldiers sitting on tanks, a paramilitary soldier stole two new SUVs belonging to United Nations officials, then dispersed them and journalists by firing into the air. As described by Yaroslav Trofimov, my former Wall Street Journal colleague, three of the U.N. officials escaped by jumping into his car, which then sped away.
So what we have is Russia deliberately arming their surrogates and having their surrogates launch devastating artillery attacks on Georgia hoping to provoke a response which Russia could use to attack. Immediately as soon as Georgia took the bait Russia's military launched their planned attack and simultaneously spun lies with their propaganda machine. Making claims of 2000 dead civilians and blocking independent journalists from reporting on the ground because the Russians didn't want people to know how big their lies really were.
The west needs to understand that Putin's new Russia is a militant expansionist state which is more then willing to create conflicts in order to force it's hegemony on other former Soviet states. Or at the very least block them from pursuing independent policies & alliances. I would be very worried if I was the Ukraine.
The Genocide in South Ossetia
Posted by: Steve LeVine on August 15
The death toll is in for South Ossetia, where Russia accused Georgia of genocide, citing the murder of more than 1,500 civilians for a humanitarian invasion of Georgia.
The figure appears to be about four dozen. Quoting a hospital where virtually all the dead appear to have been taken, since the morgue was without electricity, The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Osborn puts the figure at 45; and Human Rights Watch says it was about 44. There may have been an additional few victims whose bodies did not reach the hospital.
O and G readers from the State Department and elsewhere have written me privately that they regard Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as reckless, irrational, and megalomaniacal. They and others I trust regard Saakashvili with opprobrium for bringing on Russia’s wrath.
That Russia would defend South Ossetia was certain. But increasing evidence makes the attack look well pre-planned, not spontaneous. And the authentic death toll makes the justification appear to be a pretext for that attack.
I had a Skype call from Tbilisi tonight from Lawrence Sheets, with whom I reported from the Caucasus from 1992 through 2003. He was then with Reuters; now he’s the regional representative for the International Crisis Group.
Sheets says that he’s pored over the events leading up to the fighting, and says that Saakashvili was left with a choice on August 7th — allow a devastating South Ossetian attack on Georgian villages adjacent to the regional capital of Tskhinvali, or stop it. And Saakashvili decided to stop it. Sheets doesn’t regard that as reckless.
The course of events make it appear that the West may countenance both effective Russian annexation of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, under the guise of a form of independence, and occupation of swaths of Georgia proper. The best scenario seems to be only temporary occupation before a permanent imposition of the former — the annexation part.
We got a picture of what that occupation could look like, at least for now, in the Georgian city of Gori today. Under the watchful eyes of Russian soldiers sitting on tanks, a paramilitary soldier stole two new SUVs belonging to United Nations officials, then dispersed them and journalists by firing into the air. As described by Yaroslav Trofimov, my former Wall Street Journal colleague, three of the U.N. officials escaped by jumping into his car, which then sped away.
So what we have is Russia deliberately arming their surrogates and having their surrogates launch devastating artillery attacks on Georgia hoping to provoke a response which Russia could use to attack. Immediately as soon as Georgia took the bait Russia's military launched their planned attack and simultaneously spun lies with their propaganda machine. Making claims of 2000 dead civilians and blocking independent journalists from reporting on the ground because the Russians didn't want people to know how big their lies really were.
The west needs to understand that Putin's new Russia is a militant expansionist state which is more then willing to create conflicts in order to force it's hegemony on other former Soviet states. Or at the very least block them from pursuing independent policies & alliances. I would be very worried if I was the Ukraine.
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