The War in Georgia

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

I take strong exception to Paul Saunders's Aug. 15 op-ed, "Georgia's Recklessness." By focusing on the movement of Georgian troops into South Ossetia, Mr. Saunders sought to convey the notion that Georgia somehow provoked Russia into launching its invasion. This could not be further from the truth and represents a view lifted from Moscow's propaganda machine.

Russia's invasion of Georgia was a highly organized assault that now appears to have been planned for months. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin threw the whole weight of Russia's brutal military machine at Georgia for two reasons: to destroy a country whose people, because of our democratic values, sought peace, security and integration with the West and Euro-Atlantic institutions such as NATO; and to gain de facto control over a strategic route for Caspian basin energy supplies. Without Georgia, all Caspian basin oil and natural gas must move through Russian pipelines to world markets.

Mr. Putin's Russia is a country without laws and without respect for individual rights -- a place where his might is always right. After invading our country, Russian forces have since threatened hostilities against Ukraine and Poland.

We Georgians have been subjected to Russian intimidation and brutality, and we refuse to be cowed. We will continue to build our democracy and align ourselves with the free world. Its values are our values, and nothing, not even Russian troops rampaging through our country, will change the course we have chosen.

VASIL SIKHARULIDZE

Ambassador

Embassy of Georgia

Washington

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Olga Ivanova's Aug. 15 op-ed, bemoaning coverage of the Russia-Georgia conflict and what she viewed as the absence of a free press in the United States, confused several issues and amounted to a rush to judgment.

Ms. Ivanova seemed to assume that a free press will always obtain accurate information immediately. In fact, a free press can and does make mistakes. The essence of a free press is not that its reporting is always and immediately accurate but that the government does not dictate the "facts" to be reported.

American media weren't immediately accurate in their reporting on the Russian-Georgian conflict, but they were free to continue that reporting, which has since produced more objective and accurate coverage.

I lived in Russia during the Boris Yeltsin era and recall very vividly the brief if not always shining moment of a free press in Russia in the 20th century. That coverage was distinctly different from, say, coverage of Russia's election last year or the hagiographic reporting of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's most recent birthday.

LENA ZEZULIN

Takoma Park

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Having visited Tskhinvali several times in the past decade as a scholar and practitioner of conflict resolution, I sorrowfully view the outbreak of war between Georgia and Russia as the classic and all-too-familiar escalation of conflict. While my Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian friends suffer the terrors of war, I hope that we who are far removed from the fighting and its humanitarian consequences can recognize this catastrophe as a wake-up call. Nobody wins when we follow the traditional trajectory of conflict escalation, trying to impose a political settlement by force. The old way of seeking power over others simply does not work in today's interdependent world.

We need to realize that security in Georgia, South Ossetia, Russia and even the United States relies on people building power with, not over, one another. Many have called for a "zone of peace" in the Caucasus. Many have suggested other creative sovereignty arrangements, citing the European Union, Greenland, Scandinavia's Aland Islands and the South Tyrol. It's time we turn to building long-term stability through security for all rather than following the current trajectory of a long series of battles with no ultimate winner.

SUSAN ALLEN NAN

Silver Spring

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I was amused to read John McCain's remark regarding the South Ossetia war in the Aug. 15 news story "After Warnings to Moscow, U.S. Has Few Options": "In the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations."

Perhaps he has forgotten an invasion he supported just a few years ago. In that case, the name of the invading nation was the United States. The name of the invaded nation was Iraq.

NABIL HASSEIN

Alexandria