Thursday, August 28, 2008

ARTICLES: The Dream Of Independence? (opendemocracy.net)

Abkhazia Pawns its Independence, Zygmunt Dzieciolowski
openDemocracy's Russia editor reflects that Abkhazia has realised its dream of independence, but at the price of becoming Russia's pawn ... more »

The miscalculation of small nations , Fred Halliday
The brief and vicious war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia has killed an untold number of people and displaced and traumatised many thousands more; promised a lengthy and abrasive aftermath; postponed even further the prospects of a settlement over this and the region's other territory lost to Georgia's control in the early 1990s, Abkhazia; created new enmities as well as poisoning existing ones; and planted seeds of yet further conflict.
Among... more »

Sovereignty, status and the humanitarian perspective, Mary Kaldor
I first visited South Ossetia in the summer of 1995, just as the end-game in Bosnia-Herzegovina was being played out. I was ushered in to meet the so-called foreign minister of the enclave and, to my surprise, a large portrait of Radovan Karadzic was prominently displayed on the wall. When I asked him about it, he said that the portrait had been presented to him by the Bosnian Serb delegation at a meeting of Eastern Christians and that he greatly admired the Bosnian Serb independent stance.... more »

Georgia after war: the political landscape , Robert Parsons
As the dust from Russia's tank-tracks settles again over Georgia, the accounting inside the country has begun. For the moment, the accent is on damage- assessment and reconstruction but the focus is already slowly shifting to the role in starting the conflict of Mikheil Saakashvili. Georgia's young president will soon find himself in the spotlight again and it will not be a comfortable place.
Robert Parsons is international editor of France 24. He earned a doctorate at Glasgow... more »

openDemocracy.net/Russia reports, debates and blogs the Georgia war

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