Posted on 08/15/2008 7:26:30 AM PDT by chickadee
And those conflicts are especially pernicious when an attempt is made to either apply a group identity (in some instances) or extinguish a group identity (in other instances) by force of arms. There is literally nothing Georgia President Saakashvili could do or can do to make the Ossetians feel Georgian against their will and despite their pre-existing sense of identity. Nothing except bloodshed or centuries can accomplish that. One people cannot vote for another people to surrender their sense of self. Artificially invented imaginary lines on a geo-political map do not create identities--shared experience does--language, religion, geography, history. There's nothing especially moral or immoral about any of those aspects of the human condition. We all speak one language or another, we're all churched or un-churched to one degree or another, we all live someplace and we all situate ourselves in a history of one sort or another.I do not know why the Ossetians have the sense of identity they do, and I don't really care why. I just know that they do. Same for the Georgians, same for the Russians. Evidently, the Ossetians draw their sense of self in part in contradistinction to their neighboring Georgians (not, by the way, an especially unusual phenomena in human history). Thus, twice given the choice in plebiscites in the last 16 years, both times the South Ossetians voted overwhelming for separation from Georgia. They prefer Russia to Georgia. Again, don't ask me why, I don't know because I'm not Ossetian.
(Excerpt) Read more at jfxgillis.newsvine.com ...
I liked this article because it addressed some of the basics of human nature. It also advocates the banning of the Hitler analogy, which I am all for.
“I cannot know, I am not Ossetian.” It is so stupid the way libs refuse to have opinions on anything that does not impact them personally. Talk about giving up adulthood, individuality, personhood, reasoning, logic, thoughtfulness. And they couch it in such magnanimous terms. Folks like that are easily led.
Sounds like Hitler to me... afterall, this is how world wars are started. And yet, when America goes in to free a country from an evil dictator its wrong.
The Hitler analogy is apt. Putin has carried out this war crime in exactly the same way that Hitler did in the Sudetenland. Exactly.
There are roughly 500,000 Ossetians living in the historical region of Ossetia.
90% of them live in North Ossetia, which is in Russia.
We have not heard a peep of any movement for independence or self-determination from the vast majority of Ossetians living inside the borders of Russia.
Apparently only Ossetians living in Georgia feel the need for nationhood - Ossetians who live in Russia have magically lost all national sentiments.
And the Ossetians who live in Georgia all have Russian passports - apparently their national pride which makes them disdain having a Georgian passport doesn't extend to having a Russian passport.
Spout your propaganda for National Socialist Russia elsewhere.
Rarely has history repeated itself in such explicit detail.
It seemed to me that the author was strongly supporting a person’s right to retain his perceived identity. South Ossetians see themselves as more Russian than Georgian. I know Americans would have a really difficult time pretending they were Chinese.
I’ve heard it said that there are three great armies left in the world: U.S., Russia and China - and that they are willing to fight anyone except each other. One would have to presume that is definitely true in this case.
Don't be too hard on them, they are a product of the social engineering in our public schools that has indoctrinated a whole generation to deny any personal responsibility...regarding anything. Liberals are just ones that are taken in by Newspeak. I made sure my kids are (and will) read Orwell.
The chechens ans cossacks systematically killing Georgians in the caucacus mountain villages isnt genocide?
Not really sure I follow his logic. He seemed to actually make the point that Putin is Hitler, but that we shouldn't really concern ourselves anyhow.
I’m not clear as to why people want to declare Russia the villain in this piece. Georgia started the problem by invading. Condi Rice had warned Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili back in July to not use force.
We’d all be better off to step back and take a deep breath, rather than pushing for confrontation.
They now have control of a path through the Caucasus mountains. If it looks like an attack on Iran is immanent, they have the ability to drive convoys through Georgia and Armenia to Iran.
Would the US or Israel attack Iran with Russian troops on the ground in Iran standing on top of high-value targets?
The claim of Russia that 2,000 Ossentians killed has been debunked, so don't even bother pretending there is moral equivalence between Russia and Georgia. And I hate to bother you with this concept, but we better damn well be taking sides here. Unless you LIKE what Putin has done to free speech and basic rights in Russia.
Maybe because Russia fomented the unrest that Georgia sought to repress?
Georgia invaded . . . Georgia?
Stop smoking the crack you're selling.
We’d all be better off to step back and take a deep breath, rather than pushing for confrontation.
The confrontation has already begun, with Nazi Russia invading a sovereign nation's soil.
It is up to Russia to withdraw its stormtroopers from Georgia.
You missed that spot on the front of Putin's right jackboot.
Absolutely.
Russian conventional forces wouldn't stand a chance against American armor or US and Israeli airpower.
Nazi Russia is taking a huge gamble, hoping that an outgoing Bush administration will not stand up to it and that any new administration will be weak.
The only thing that can save Russia's strategy is for the USA to lose its nerve.
Nope, don’t see any similarities to Hitler here....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1865700/posts
Putin’s children (see whole thread)
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