Russia makes yet another aggressive move

Chris M

Where are all the Stop the War Coalition protesters? Surely they'll all want to tell Moscow 'Not In My Name' by holding enormous demonstrations and blockading the Russian embassy? What has Mr Galloway to say? What have 'Respect' to say? Let alone CND....

David Lindsay

There is nowhere else on earth comparable to the four "frozen conflicts" left over from the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh have never been governed in practice by post-Soviet Georgia, Moldovo or Azerbaijan, and were never part of pre-Soviet Georgia, Moldavia or Azerbaijan. Their two active and two soon to be active claims to independence should be evaluated in terms of their motives.

Do they, as Kosovo did and Chechnya does, want into the nexus of, on the one hand, globalisation, European federalism and American military-industrial hegemony, and, on the other hand, the militant Islam to which those forces pretend to be opposed but are in fact closely allied? Or do they want out of states moving in that very direction?

Manifestly, it is the latter.

They therefore deserve full recognition and every possible support.

Bill Paisley

Why is it okay for Kosovo to declare UDI but not South Ossetia or Abkhazia?

Max Kaye

After the blunder of Kosovo, what did the West expect?

I'm amused by the news of Miliband saying that Russia's recognition of South Ossetian and Abkhazian independence is "unacceptable". What, exactly, is he going to do? Threaten not to resupply our troops via Russian air-space? Convince our EU partners (ugh!) not to buy Russian gas and oil? Stamp his tiny feet and hold his breath until he's blue in the face?

I'm quite sure that the Russians are not quivering in fear at the Wrath of Miliband. Putin is more likely to give him a good clip around the ear and tell him leave the grown ups alone, go to his room and do his homework.

David Lindsay

What about North Ossetia? Eh? Eh?

They are at it all over the blogosphere today. They really do believe that this a killer question.

Not only has North Ossetia no desire for independence, but if the South Ossetians were now (or, indeed, ever) told that the only way to reunion was incorporation into the Russian Federation, then they would leap at it.

As they will.

Very, very soon.

Ray

Having queered the pitch by its support for Kosovan independence, the West has little moral leverage left in this matter.

However, I suppose NATO could enquire waggishly whether Russia's newfound belief in self-determination for minority peoples also extends to its Chechen subjects.

David Lindsay

Ray, no, of course not.

As I said before, it depends why people want it. Like the Kosovars, the Chechens want it for the bad reasons.

And anyway, Chechnya has been part of Russia for as long as there has been recognisably any Russia.

Whereas Abkhazia and South Ossetia were only annexed to Georgia during the Soviet period, and have never actually been run from Tbilisi since the USSR collapsed.

Arthur

And once again let's remind ourselves that it was the West's recognition of Kosovo's illegal declaration of independence that set the precedent. Russia, illogically, I admint, is merely playing the game we started.

Please, please, please can we first accept our culpability in this situation. Because if we continue to push Russia, we can expect things to get quite ugly.

David C

Arthur, Ray, Max, Bill:

Kosovo is a red herring. Russia is merely doing what Russia wants to do.
Kosovo is thrown in our face to confuse the 'decision makers' (or non-decision makers in the case of the UK Government)and let the Russians hide behind a cloak of legitimacy.
We do not occupy Kosovo; neither is it incorporated into the hegemon of any NATO state (Not even the USA). Likewise we have no strategic interest in thwarting Serbia or forwarding the interests of Albania.
It is readily apparent to all that the West had no business arranging the secession of the Kosovo region of Serbia simply because it was wrong for us to redraw maps, but what Russia is doing now is rearranging the maps to suit its own interest.
The important question is what happens the next time?

JimBob

Just deserts for Kosovo

Max Kaye

David C, Although we don't 'occupy' Kosovo, do you think it would exist without NATO/K-FOR troops there to protect it?

Russia is acting very rationally in "rearranging the maps to suit its own interest" (if, indeed, this is what it is doing).

The West, on the other hand, obviously acted irrationally by "rearranging the maps" in a way that doesn't serve our long term interests.

We initiate a series of 'nation-building exercises' and then we complain because the Russians are better players than we are....

Hysteria

why do we care that Russia is re-drawing this part of the map? What essential srategic and/or national interest is threatened by this? Is it worth us losing one British soldier to stop Russia? I see no existential threat but only a divergence from more pressing threats such as the rise of militant Islam