Georgia, Burning
Filed under: Georgia
In March, we reported on how Russia was seeking to destabilize Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia. In fact, Georgia accused Russia of going even further, seeking to directly foment a coup d'etat against its elected government. After Georgia arrested and expelled the alleged conspirators, Russia launched a massive set of economic sanctions and racist pogroms against Georgians living in Russia. When Georgia shrugged off the sanctions, Russians became desperate.
In August, we told you how Russia had been caught red handed escalating the conflict by making incursions into the territory of Georgia proper. These military incursions clearly have the purpose of disqualifying Georgia for NATO membership (as an unstable state). Again, Georgia exposed Russia's actions and prevailed in the court of public opinion. The Kremlin became more desperate still.
Last month, a discredited defense minister came forward with wild-eyed charges about Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ordering mob-like hits, accusations the minister soon retracted. It almost seemed like the Kremlin was laying the groundwork for a Ukrainesqe attempt to fill the streets with "protests" led by this "minister."
According to Reuters: "Last year the World Bank named Georgia as the top economic reformer in the world. Gross domestic product grew by 9.6 percent in 2006 and officials forecast 2007 growth of 14.5 percent. The government has boosted tax revenues and private investment is up. Per capita income has risen from $700 a year in 2003 to $1,500 now." Its scores on quality government and respect for human rights from international ratings organizations routinely exceed those of Russia despite having been victimized by decades of Russian oppression and constant, ongoing Russian efforts to destabilize its government and prevent it from ascending to the ranks of NATO. The political opposition in Georgia has its own TV station, Imedi, while in Russia the opposition is barely even allowed to exist.
By now, the Russian Kremlin is almost pathologically committed to bringing the country back into its orbit as a slave state, and has no hesitation in attempting to use Georgia's democratic impulses against it in the most calculating manner imaginable. Again and again it has failed to achieve its objectives, and each time it grows more frenzied and more desperate to preserve its shabby dreams of empire.
And now, Georgia is in flames. A hoard of protesters, obviously supported by Russia and weirdly similar to the freakish group that attempted to unseat the pro-West government in Ukraine, was driven into the streets to call -- nobody knows exactly why -- for Saakashvili's ouster. MSNBC reported: "Andrei Kokoshin, the head of the Russian parliament's committee for Commonwealth of Independent States affairs, said the west should take note of 'mass violations of human rights and democratic rules in Georgia.'" Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation reports that during the demonstrations:
speeches by opposition politicians described President Mikheil Saakashvili and the government as "terrorist," "criminal," and "bandits" -- language they have used throughout this campaign -- and demanded their resignation. Demonstrators erected a gallows outside the parliament building, with Saakashvili's effigy suspended on it, along with the image of a rose, the symbol of the 2003 Rose Revolution that brought Saakashvili to power.
How long would such activities be tolerated in Russia? What is the reason for them? What outrageous action has Saakashvili suddenly taken against the people of Georgia? Nothing leaps to mind. But Russia, of course, is another matter.
So get this: When the U.S. tries to impose economic sanctions on Iran, it's an unworkable outrage according to Russia -- but when Russia feels like it, it's perfectly free to impose sanctions on Georgia. When the U.S. criticizes Russia for assaulting peaceful marches by opposition political groups, Russia says that is its own internal affair and the U.S. should mind its own business -- but when Georgia takes action against those who are seeking not to prevail in elections but to unseat the government by force, Russia feels free to condemn that action. Chechnya is none of the world's business, it's an internal Russian matter, but Russia has every right to intervene in Abkhazia. And so on, and so on, and so on. It's the Soviet Union, all over again.
But the world cannot allow Russia to swallow Georgia the way the USSR swallowed Hungary and Czechoslovakia. If we do, history will issue us its most horrific sanction -- reliving it. Saakashvili has declared a state of emergency in order to try to bring the situation under control, and the only reason this has been necessary is because he trusted us to guarantee Georgia's sovereignty as he opened it to our democratic models. So far, we've palpably failed to deliver on that promise, leaving him largely alone to struggle against his giant neighbor.
Our indecision and timidity must stop now.