Putin Invades Georgia
Filed under: Russia
Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation reports that "from April 29 through May 3, Russia sent additional troops to Georgia's Abkhazia region on the pretense of 'peacekeeping' and ostensibly on behalf of the Commonwealth of Independent States." In fact, however, the claim of international action is a sham. Socor reports:
This operation has been a purely Russian one from 1994 to the present. Since 2002 CIS meetings have abandoned even the pretense of discussing this operation, let alone prolonging its "mandate." Nor did Moscow seek CIS member countries' approval of the CIS-labeled Russian troop deployment since April 29. Similarly, Moscow had not bothered to consult with CIS member countries last month when it officially removed the 1996 CIS economic restrictions on Abkhazia. Russia had hardly ever observed those CIS restrictions in practice. The CIS in any case is not authorized to mandate peacekeeping operations. Moscow has not consulted with any CIS country before its latest deployment of Russian troops under the CIS label. No CIS country would willingly approve Russia's move.
So it's a unilateral Russian action, and it's massive and shockingly offensive to international norms. Socor writes: "Georgian and international media showed footage of tanks and other armored vehicles, artillery and troop columns crossing--and, thus, violating--the internationally recognized Russia-Georgia border, staging a show of force in downtown Sukhumi and stationing themselves apparently near the Abkhaz-Georgian demarcation line."
It's not "peacekeeping" in any way, shape or form. Socor points out that "peacekeeping" operations "require consent by the sovereign state on the territory of which they are deployed" and Georgia hasn't consented. Moreover, Russia has refused to provide for the safe return of refugees after ethnic Georgians were cleansed from the region with Russian support in 1994, another basic violation of the peacekeeping mandate. And Russia has "mass-distributed Russian passports to residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia" and then claimed a right of intrusive protection of its own citizens, thus becoming an active party to the conflict rather than a neutral peacekeeper.
Socor concludes:
Georgia has considered several times in recent years the possibility of exercising its sovereign right to declare this "peacekeeping" operation illegal and demand its termination. Anxious Western governments advised Tbilisi each time to refrain from doing so. But they have failed to offer any alternative options. Georgia followed the advice of its Western partners each time, though never ceasing to call for the transformation of Russian "peacekeeping" into genuine international peacekeeping. It seems that Georgia has been very poorly rewarded for its forbearance.
Do you dare to imagine Russia's reaction if NATO tanks and troops crossed the Russian border and took up a similar "peacekeeping" role in Chechnya? It's simply inexplicable how Russians can demand that the world stay out of Chechnya and yet feel itself free to inject Russian forces into Georgia whenever it sees fit. A powder keg is brewing in Georgia and the Western governments are about to light the fuse. If they don't immediately send a message loud and clear to Russia that it must respect Georgian borders, there will be an explosion.
Putin has two goals in Georgia: First, to destabilize it internally so that it does not qualify for NATO membership. Second, to nibble away at Georgia's frontiers until Georgia is forced to respond militarily, then to invade and re-annex Georgia as a part of Russia, just as it was in Soviet times. After that, Ukraine will be the next target as Putin, a proud KGB spy, systematically seeks to recreate the USSR.
The world has seen all this before. As the saying goes: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!"
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
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