The cases of these two former autonomous entities of the former Soviet Georgia
are very similar to the case of Kosovo. Whereas the independence of Kosovo was
recognized by Canada a mere month after its unilateral declaration, Abkhazia
and South Ossetia have been ignored for over 15 years since their declarations
of independence! Why such a different treatment?

These are some indisputable facts (for details see REFERENCES listed below):

1. The citizens of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have repeatedly and convincingly
shown since the early 1990's that they do not want to be part of Georgia. This
resolve was the consequence of (i) the abolition of all autonomies by Georgia
in 1989 when still a part of the Soviet Union (cf. the start of the Kosovo
problem as a reaction to the abolition of the autonomous status of Kosovo by
Serbia in the same year); (ii) the extreme chauvinism of the first Georgian
post-Soviet government that declared all ethnic minorities mere "guests" of
Georgia; and (ii) attempts in 1991-1994 to reintegrate these two republics by
military force (in South Ossetia every family had at least one member killed in
this initial war) after they declared their independence in response to
previous events.

2. Earlier history: Abkhazia became part of the Russian empire separately from
Georgia as the last independent Caucasian principality to be annexed. In
1921-22 it then entered the Soviet Union again separately from Georgia as a
sovereign Abkhazian Republic. Only in 1931 it was administratively incorporated
into Georgia by Stalin (who was a Georgian) as an autonomous republic. Then
(1936-1953) followed mass forced immigration of mostly ethnic Georgians into
Abkhazia, and the suppression of the Abkhaz language and culture. Abkhazians
never reconciled with this. Already in 1978 they unsuccessfully petitioned for
Abkhazia to become part of the multinational Russian Federation. Therefore, to
insists on maintaining Georgian territorial integrity based on its 1936 borders
smacks of continuing a crime of Stalin.
Similarly, South Ossetians tried to get out of Georgia as early as in 1918-21
in a series of unsuccessful rebellions.

3. Abkhazia and South Ossetia have been de-facto independent for over 15 years
now, and have run their internal matters well giving their circumstances (they
were subject to an economic blockade by all CIS countries, including Russia,
for a number of years in 1990s).

4. The most recent conflict was started on August 8 by a rather indiscriminate
Georgian attack on the South Ossetian capital Tskhinkval that caused reportedly
up to 1500 dead, including about 15 Russian peacekeepers, but most casualties
seemed to be civilians. Ethnic cleaning and property damage were done or
attempted by irregulars from both sides (who swarmed in when their side was
advancing).
Russian military overreacted which is inexcusable. But in relative terms,
compared to the damage caused by NATO bombing in Serbia in 1999, this current
Russian reaction may be actually less disproportionate than NATO's own
overreaction over Kosovo (that included e.g. the destruction of a Belgrade TV
station with its employees and civilian power stations).

5. The recent war with all destruction it caused could have been avoided if
Georgia were obliged by its suppliers of new military hardware (mainly NATO
countries) not to use it to settle by force the problem of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia. Georgia should have been firmly told by all its supporters to not
even think about using force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia ever again. One
should even question the wisdom of supplying Georgia with too many new arms
given its prolonged internal instability in the post-Soviet era.

6. Canadian government, as a member of NATO, must accept at least a small part
of responsibility for the eruption of this unnecessary conflict if it in fact
did nothing along the lines of the previous paragraph.
Even better would have been to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia long time
ago, or at least simultaneously with the recognition of Kosovo. This would cost
us next to nothing in financial terms, but would have a huge positive effect on
preserving peace in Caucasus in line with the Canadian peace-keeping
reputation, and would break the unhealthy dependence of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia on their only supporter, Russia.

In conclusion, we need to create enough trust between all countries so that
nobody would be tempted to use force to solve conflicts. To achieve this goal,
all countries and groups must be subject to the same rules and treatment. They
have to face the same consequences for the same actions. It is unacceptable to
punish Serbia disproportionally for what it did to Kosovo, and then condone
Georgia doing the same to its breakaway regions, and even praise it to be a
brave and democratic country (Maclean's, August 25).

The mainstream media have done a rather poor job in reporting on the recent
Georgian war - they hardly tried to get at the root causes of the conflict. The
web pages listed in REFERENCES below do a much better job at that. Please, try
to read them all.

Peacefully yours,

Miroslav Kolar
Nanaimo, BC


----
REFERENCES:

South Ossetia:
- http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-caucasus/south_ossetia_4100.jsp
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetia#History

Abkhazia:
- http://www.unpo.org/content/view/7854/76/
- http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/akhazia-wedded-to-independence
  (an interview with Abkhaz president)

Recent Georgia history:
- http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-georgia-russia-conflict-lost-territory-found-nation
  (western illusions about Georgia addressed)
- http://www.georgianbiography.com/history10.html


Current conflict, suggested solutions:

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=346117&apc_state=henpcrs

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/south-ossetia-the-avoidable-tragedy

http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/liberal-russia-reflects-on-the-war

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/abkhazia-and-south-ossetia-heart-of-conflict-key-to-solution

http://www.cafebabel.com/eng/article/26009/interview-giulietto-chiesa-georgia-war-europe.html

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/after-the-war-recognising-reality-in-abkhazia-and-georgia
(The best thing that the West can now do is to stop talking about "Georgian
territorial integrity")

Abkhaz government statement: http://www.unpo.org/content/view/8502/236/

http://exiledonline.com/the-cnn-effect-georgia-schools-russia-in-information-warfare/

http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/what-peace-looks-like (One area
where the neutrality of Russian armed forces was demonstrated was in putting a
halt to the looting of Georgian villages in South Ossetia from which Georgian
forces had withdrawn, as well as Ossetian villages. ... We need to reach a
formula which will bind both sides, NATO and Russia, not to engage in
activities that cause anxiety to the other party. ... The call for Russia to be
isolated is a call for Russia to isolate itself - and vice versa. Here our
isolationists are close allies of western supporters of containment.)