South Ossetia, Russia, and Georgia

I recently read an article published on a Russian news website written by the former president of the South Ossetian Autonomous Region that’s recently become the focus of armed conflict between Russia and Georgia, which had been stuck with the territory when Russian expansion more than two hundred years ago incorporated Georgia along with this region. Later, the Stalin-era policy of splitting up nationalities among the republics reinforced this lumping in of South Ossetia with Georgia.

The Ossetians speak a distinctive language that is in the Iranian group of Indo-European languages. The languages in the area that it most closely resembles are Farsi (Persian) and Pashto, but it is written in the same (albeit modified) Cyrillic script as Russian. Over the years, both Northern and Southern Ossetia have attracted a large ethnically Russian population as well. And since Georgia only gained its true independence in 1991, the idea that South Ossetians immediately thereafter wanted no part in its future is not exactly the same thing as it was in 1860 when South Carolina seceded from the U.S. after being one of the original thirteen states.

I believe the United States is misguided in its condemnation of Russia for militarily intervening in this area after Georgia’s unstable president had South Ossetia’s capital shelled, causing more than a thousand deaths there. Criticism yes, condemnation, no, for any armed incursion in another area, even for the expressed purpose of restraining an agressor, is bound to raise suspicions on the part of others (just ask those opposed to the U.S. military presence in numerous countries scattered across the planet). And military action by its very nature involves destruction (we don't seem to be as worried about that when talking about our own military actions). But does anyone reasonably think that America would have held its own military back if a similar event had happened just across its own borders?

For Russia, Ossetia is a very sensitive area and has a direct bearing on its national security and its own “war on terror”. For it was in Russian North Ossetia where terrorists took over a school in Beslan in September, 2004 and massacred hundreds of innocent people, mostly children, when the authorities stormed the area.

Vladimir Putin is obviously a nationalist who knows that he can enhance his political capital among his countrymen by presenting an image of his country being strong and active on the world scene. But isn’t that what our politicians in America are doing as well? Remember that the Russian state is no longer ideologically-driven as it was with Communism under the old Soviet paradigm. Let’s recognize the Russians for who they really are and not get carried away with paranoia. They have just as much a right to defend their own interests as we do!

So Russia now recognizes South Ossetia as independent, and that region’s former president whole-heartedly approves. From where I am looking at this, Georgia should realize what its best, most stable path for the future is and try to engage its neighbors in as constructive a manner as possible while maintaining friendly ties with the West. South Ossetia looks as if it will opt to become a part of Russia. But that would still be a far, far cry from the accusations I’ve lately been hearing that this great nation has embarked on a campaign of naked imperialist expansion.

I'm not naive about Russia or any other nation. I'm neither a Russophile nor a Russophobe. For those Americans who see all kinds of threats and danger in the latest Russian behavior, I say that I'm a little concerned myself. But also keep in mind that what you're seeing in them is what an awful lot of people across the world see in us as well.