South Ossetia: History Russian Style

LJ user gklimov [Russian] interviewes Russian historian Gennady Klimov about the history of the Ossetians and Georgians, receiving some interesting answers.

7 comments

  • Alex

    Saakashvili is a criminal beyond belief. His forces staged a full-fledged genocide of South Ossetian people. They were killing women and children by running them over with their tanks! A number of women were killed by holding their heads and shooting at their necks before the head separated. These sadists also killed a number of journalists covering the situation. They didn’t stage warfare (warfare has rules) – they staged atrocities and ethnic cleansing. Only cowards can do this, they are not men. I am not sure if targeting civilians was part of US-based training of Georgian forces just a few weeks ago but all the evidence suggests that US has intimate interests in destabilizing situation around the strong countries of the world that were its historical opponents. This way all the world’s resources can be appropriated or shipped in the “right” direction. US also wishes to engulf post-Soviet Republics into NATO. That way it could have its forces surrounding Russia. The building of anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe is not against Iran as they claim – it’s clearly against Russia. Even after all the evidence of ethnic cleansing is clearly presented to the US, they still call it Russian “occupation”. They think people are stupid and can be easily brain-washed. In fact the news is twisted every possible way to conceal the atrocities. For example, they mention “the number of people killed” but not even once have they mentioned that the Georgians killed 2000 people. Every psychological trick is used to give a twisted view of reality. In my 10 years in North America I have yet to read one positive piece of news about Russia!

    For the US, Georgia is a bit similar to Iraq when it comes to its search for oil supplies. The only difference it is also trying to be its “friend” so that NATO forces can be placed there at the Russian border. It is trying to kill these two birds with one rock, which comes at Russia’s expense.

    Also, make no mistake about Saakashvili. He is friends with Borish Berezovsky who once needless to say, illegally, controlled 10% of Russians money in early 90’s (Read Paul Khlebnikov’s book “The Godfather of Kremlin”; it’s no surprise the author is no longer with us). Berezovsky is also interested in destabilizing Russia as he is convicted to life in prison there for his criminal activities. In fact he himself stated that, one cannot get that rich in Russia without having to commit something illegal. Some of the personal financial transactions involved in Berezovsky’s and Saakashvili’s business endeavors were done with Chechen separatists. So both of them have places to hide, where nobody in this world would dare to find them. Berezovsky has proved to be a powerful mastermind when it comes to impacting countries’ leaders and gaining control in difficult situations. He might have a small hand to play in this situation considering how close the two are.

    It should come as no surprise that the situation in South Ossetia was so much needed by parties external to Russia. Russia was left with no option but to protect its citizens.

  • Olga Valieva

    Hi. Thank you for writing this. I am an Ossetian, and it is good to see someone writing about the true colors of Saakashvili and his killers.

  • Why don’t the S. Ossetian president make a speech in English, and spread it over the Web so as all over the world know the truth about real situation in S. Ossetia.

  • Lina Marshall

    Mr. Lieven,
    Thank you for your timely survey which so far appears
    to be the only available link in English resources which attempts some decent analysis.
    If you allow me some amendments to your data I will appreciate your objectivity even more.
    “In 1918-20, between 5,000 and 15,000 people died, depending on whose figures you believe”
    17 000 of “these ossetes” (as some one commented) were killed and
    minding that statistics in those times was not particularly precise one can
    imagine that casualties were likely to be more than less.

    “Russian forces have remained as the de facto defenders of the South Ossetian separatist region”
    There could be a great help if there was an unbiased and keen
    expertise upon the issue of that yet unrevealed difference (if
    there is any) between Kosovo “autonomy” defended by “peacemakers”
    And South Ossetia “separatist region” defended by just “defenders”.
    Do defenders need to get just more colorful? 

    “Russia’s policy is driven by a mixture of emotion and calculation”.
    Isn’t it what it should be in this war mongering world?

    “loathe the Georgians for their antiRussian nationalism and alliance with the US”.
    Seems like these go well together but loathe is a bit too strong a word –
    just contempt if ever they bother to think it has any positive grounds mining the fact
    that 1 000 000 georgians live in Russia and they don’t seem to be in the mood to quit.

    “determination not to be defeated by Georgia and not to suffer the humiliation of having to abandon Russia’s South Ossete client state, with everything that this would mean for Russian prestige in other areas.”
    Once upon a time there was a brave dog that defeated an elephant…
    I daresay, fantasy plots are more germane in fiction than politics, at least less harmless.
    As for the prestige issues – it’s basically a western issue and if russians
    bothered that much with it in WW2 they would hardly get Hitler back to his bunker.
    Right now most are concerned about “those ossetes” kids who lost lives,
    homes and parents due not to an earthquake but to some mind blowing
    bias which menaces the world that claims to be modeling for democracy.

    “I was in Georgia at the time, reporting for The Times, and could hardly have imagined that this obscure conflict would one day create a major international crisis”.
    I wonder what language did you speak there – hard to imagine many georgians not
    to say ossetes could be speaking comprehensible english then – but they do speak russian still.
    If you ever read the evidences of georgian atrocities in russian language resources you
    could possibly be impressed how “evident” the conflict was at the time of your staying there.
    20 May 1992 – georgian soldiers shooting buses with ossetes refuges at Zarsky highway
    (the only road from Tshinvali) – 36 people killed, 30 badly injured, a 4 year old boy survived
    as his mother covered him with her body getting 7 bullets. 12 ossetes teenagers buried alive.
    And there were many more. I doubt that you didn’t hear it deliberately – it’s just that
    you were not told of these. It’s possible just a matter of trust .

    If you ever happen to read Lev Gumilev and majorly his account of
    national incompatibility and historical surveys of this belligerent region it
    might probably help you to arrive at the conclusion that since russians have been compiling and managing a multi-national state for that long there must have been grounds for that and they might really know how to do it.

    Sincerely,
    Lina Marshall St.Petersburg, Russia

  • Georgadze

    The History is repeating itself. This, what is going on in Georgia in the XXI century, looks like an appeasement of Adolf Hitler in the XX century, letting him to swallow Czechoslovak state with an pretext that in the Sudeten region the majority of the population was ethnically of German roots and the government was predominately Czech. This is a sale-out of Georgia by the West for Russian oil and gas (without even having an option to transport it which way they want to chose to go), letting the Russian KGB junta-mafia to have all tools to blackmail the West and Israel with oil embargo in case they will chose to do so.

    British Prime Minister Brown, acts like Neville Chamberlain. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, acts like pre-WWII French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier.
    George W. Bush talks tough, but acts like a hooker by French-kissing Russian Führer (behind-the-scene) Vladimir Putin during red-brown Chinese Olimpics cloned from the IV Berlin Olimpics of 1936 with the surrounding pounding of Russian bombs over our Georgian Capitol of Tbilisi. Those days will remain in infamy forever.

  • Lana

    Hello,

    I would like to voice for freedom of SOuth Ossetia from all Georgian claims after this hollocaust

  • J.

    Does anyone have any information on international law buildt arguments for a sout ossetian indipendence? Has the region been indipendent in the past? Prior to Soviet rule?

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