Georgia
I don't always take as much notice of world events as I should. However the conflict between Georgia and Russia caught my attention because I have a friend who is from Georgia and who lives in Australia, and I knew this would be something that would really be affecting her. For me world events have so much more meaning when it personally involves someone I know. So I emailed her to see how she was going, and with her permission, I thought I'd share her response, just perhaps to make it more personal for everyone else too.
"It is a disaster what is happening in my misfortunate country. It is really hard to fight for an independence and democracy while having Russia as a neighbour.We are extremely concerned for our family members' and our friends' safety as Russian armed forces are advancing in the country way beyond the territory where they are "protecting their citizens" [one example of the "famous Russian protection" is the Beslan tragedy that happened in same Ossetia .Remember how Russians "protected" poor innocent children form the terrorists? They simply detonated the school building sacrificing innocent kids, or how they "protected" Chechen people from "criminals " by extinguishing nearly half of the nation?! But that's the Russian "truth" , their "side of story" and whoever argues with them receives the bullet for an answer [ask people of Finland , Baltic republics, Poland, Chekoslovakia, Hungary and all former Soviet statesand you will know how that feels...] Bombing of Georgian cities continues as I write this email...Yesterday our family members and friends were alive.We will call them again today...
Sorry about an emotional email but it is SO painful to see this PLANNED occupation and destabilization of my country. This unnecessary war started only because of an attempt to fail Georgia's opportunity to get into NATO in December 2008 , only because Georgia wants to break away from Russia.This heavy punishment is the price of freedom from our "big brother"."
And when I emailed to ask permission to publish here, she added:
"My family and friends are doing well ,they all are scared of the uncertain future and the huge economic devastation this war is bringing .I still do hope that this madness will soon end.We have many mixed families , many Russian and ossetian friends who are as concerned as we are.I just want to emphasize that this is not the war between Russian , Ossetian and Georgian people, this is well planned war for Power , Oil and World domination initiated by Russian Empire !"
"It is a disaster what is happening in my misfortunate country. It is really hard to fight for an independence and democracy while having Russia as a neighbour.We are extremely concerned for our family members' and our friends' safety as Russian armed forces are advancing in the country way beyond the territory where they are "protecting their citizens" [one example of the "famous Russian protection" is the Beslan tragedy that happened in same Ossetia .Remember how Russians "protected" poor innocent children form the terrorists? They simply detonated the school building sacrificing innocent kids, or how they "protected" Chechen people from "criminals " by extinguishing nearly half of the nation?! But that's the Russian "truth" , their "side of story" and whoever argues with them receives the bullet for an answer [ask people of Finland , Baltic republics, Poland, Chekoslovakia, Hungary and all former Soviet statesand you will know how that feels...] Bombing of Georgian cities continues as I write this email...Yesterday our family members and friends were alive.We will call them again today...
Sorry about an emotional email but it is SO painful to see this PLANNED occupation and destabilization of my country. This unnecessary war started only because of an attempt to fail Georgia's opportunity to get into NATO in December 2008 , only because Georgia wants to break away from Russia.This heavy punishment is the price of freedom from our "big brother"."
And when I emailed to ask permission to publish here, she added:
"My family and friends are doing well ,they all are scared of the uncertain future and the huge economic devastation this war is bringing .I still do hope that this madness will soon end.We have many mixed families , many Russian and ossetian friends who are as concerned as we are.I just want to emphasize that this is not the war between Russian , Ossetian and Georgian people, this is well planned war for Power , Oil and World domination initiated by Russian Empire !"
posted by earthkissed | 8:02 pm
2 Comments:
made me cry to read this...so close to my own story in Bosnia...sorry this is happening, lots of people care even if it doesn't look/feel like we do. *huge hug* from across the water.
Actually the 'nicest' thing about this conflict is the relative absence (from what I've seen) of vitriolic hatred in the populace on either the Russian or the Georgian side for the other. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a lot of Russians live in Georgia and vice-versa, but I can't help comparing it with the sort of hatred for the 'other' that we saw arise in the US with the advent of the Iraq war, where the lives of ordinary Iraqis were so diminished in the eyes of many Americans that they became less than human.
The subjectivity of your friend's email is striking, but I can't help but wonder if I would think exactly the same way if I'd grown up in her situation and had my family put at risk by a war. Thanks for posting :)
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