The American comments on Georgia...

bonkey

I briefly caught a bit of CNN last night where they were talking about the alleged Russian bombing raids on Georgia. Being CNN, it focussed more on the US reaction than the actual event itself.

I'm curious as to why the US took the stance it did.

The Russians are fighting Chechnian rebels, and AFAIK the US has never condemned them for this, nor come out strongly in support of Chechnya.

The Georgians are being accused of harbouring wanted men, and refusing to hand them over. So the Russkies apparently went to take the matter into their own hands.

In going after these men, they refused to allow them to hide behind a human shield of innocent villagers, and as a result they apparently caused the death of many innocents in getting the people they wanted.

The US has expressed "deep concern" that the Russians havent honoured another nation's sovereignty, and have attacked them in a "wanton" manner, causing the death of innocents.

What has me confused is that the US seem to be lining themselves up to have the exact same criticism thrown at them the next time they go into someone else's nation for reasons of their own security.

The US doesnt have as much support for (say) invaading Iraq as it did when it went into Afghanistan. Surely the last thing they should be doing is criticising other nations for what looks to me like taking a leaf out of the American play book. The only thing this will achieve is to further reduce their own support, which will make American ops even more difficult.

The other thing I thought of is that this happened at a time when Russia is announcing increased economic ties with middle eastern nations like Iran and Iraq). If the entire situation wasnt volatile enough, this is certainly adding any missing elements.

bugler

Originally posted by bonkey
The Russians are fighting Chechnian rebels, and AFAIK the US has never condemned them for this, nor come out strongly in support of Chechnya.

Not strictly true. On the election trail, Bush spoke about Chechnya fairly harshly. He said that if Moscow continued to attack civilians and kill women and children, then it could no longer expect help from the IMF et al. However, as with every speech from any Western leader, you know they'll do nothing concrete anyway, no matter how savage Russia got. And it could hardly have been anymore brutal and random anyway. Once September 11 2001 passed by (which must have caused Putin and his generals to do cartwheels in the Kremlin, were it not for their grief of course) however the tune was always going to be a bit different. Sure enough, the talk from Bush became of understanding Russia's difficulties, with a token note about human rights thrown in. Moreover it should be noted, there was always a hardcore of hawkish Republicans who, in there latent anti-commie/Ruskie fervour, always strongly supported the Chechens.

To be fair bonkey, the US making seemingly hypocritical statements about the actions of other nations is hardly new. The fact that the US has apparently been training the Georgian military with one eye on cleansing the Pankisi gorge of 'terrorists' probably pisses them off too. i.e 'We're dealing with this, let it go'. Of course this in turn pisses off the Russians, who are unhappy about the U.S farting about right in the heart of their "sphere of influence" anyway.

What has me confused is that the US seem to be lining themselves up to have the exact same criticism thrown at them the next time they go into someone else's nation for reasons of their own security.

Yes, but do they care?

Blade

Originally posted by bonkey
The Russians are fighting Chechnian rebels, and AFAIK the US has never condemned them for this, nor come out strongly in support of Chechnya.

Nah they did, before sept 11th America was giving out hell about the war on Chechnya while the Russians where saying to the world ' look these guys are terrorists '. BTW Chechnyan rebels are still denying responsibility for the bombings in Moscow, not that that really means anything but. When Bush started his own war on terrorism he backed off Putin.