Thursday, August 21, 2008

COMMENT: For Homeland, for Stalin. By Elena Kaluzhskaya

In the presence of information blockade the head is swollen with information - there are a lot of them. The consciousness is exhausted with the accumulation of drains and leaks, with their squeezing and understanding something about the reality by examining dry leftovers. Making a guess about the form and quality of different types of lies, about who and how has fired, what and by whom has been destroyed, how many casualties were there and which side has suffered the most and if the madness that started in Georgia last week has really finished.

Although with difficulties, but the picture of Georgia being "forced to peace" is emerging and looks disgusting, though customary. There is nothing new in it. Saakashvili does not look very original in his decision to "re-establish constitutional order" by installing bombarding system "GRAD" in the beak-away region of the country. As far as all remember, Russia "was putting order" in Chechnya far too long and in a more sophisticated manner and did not consider it indecent. In return, Russia condemned US for "forcing to peace" the Serbian government by means of bombing. At that time Russia considered such an action to be immoral while now he does not think so. Dual standards, which are not new as well, are imperial. It is not alien even to Georgia: when Georgia got separated from the USSR, it liked everything, but now it does not like an idea to part with a piece of its territory. It is not a puzzle as well.

Only two questions are left: who and why wanted this war? Everything is clear at first sight: the forces wanted it for a living. When a state is at war it is more or less clear for its citizens why does the army want our money and our children. If there is no war it is hard to answer the question - why do we need such a big army with such serious appetite. In Russia forces are lucky, they are in power and they themselves define the budget and report back to their own selves. So the matter depends on little: from time to time it is necessary to participate in armed conflicts on foreign territory as much as it is possible. Georgia is the best option, a country "lavishly fertilized" with Russian passports and headed with totally infuriated president.

While the circle of people who wished this war is not limited with forces only. Prime-minister Putin is evidently interested in this war but not as much in war in general, but in war against Georgia. This interest seems very irrational, but it is absolutely obvious. How did it start? It remains unclear whether it started because of disrespectful attitude of president Saakashvili towards the then president Putin, or because of the organic incompatibility of dull northern character with vivid Caucasian temperament. But it is absolutely clear that Putin has undertaken the leadership of "operation for the enforcement to peace" not because there was no-one who could have undertaken it, but because of his inner propensity for Georgian Government.

But this is not everything. After the operation started it became clear that our population was in great need of war. And this phenomenon is more interesting than individual propensity of the prime minister because it is possible to replace the prime minister in every week, while our nation is irreplaceable. The phenomenon is that only few are ashamed for Russian barbaric actions on the Georgian territory. The overwhelming majority was identified with our military forces and experienced different types of satisfactions that is evident in Russian blogs as well as in the information of the almighty interactive means of mass media.

The "simplest" persons have heavily hailed a triumphal victory of homeland over "Khachi". This part of population is not accustomed to going into details, thus the peacekeeping pathos of our mission has escaped their attention. They did not take good notice of Ossetians for whose sake our troops have intruded into the territory of an adjacent state. The voice of valiant bombarding of Georgian cities by us was pleasant to them as well as the fact that nothing can stop us. Under such circumstances Russian, i.e. their own roughness does not need to be reconfirmed.

The more intricate audience, on the contrary, has focused its attention on the object of protection – the Ossetian people – being mainly Russian citizens, who have suffered the aggression of Georgian military machine. Such types of people were also forced to neglect the involvement of Russia in the war for right of Ossetian people. For instance, no matter how great interest they showed in finding out why so many Russian citizens were living on the Georgian territory. Secondly, they could not have noticed that the "saviors" did not interfere in the conflict in the first two days, they were as if giving the Georgian army opportunity to do maximum damage to Ossetians. Thirdly, they did not pay attention to what Russian peacekeepers were doing in Georgian villages and to information about looting which militia and Kazaks, who have arrived to Georgia together with Russian troops, have actively occupied themselves with.

The more "advanced" patriots would admit that Russia is just using Ossetians and is pursing its aims, but they consider such an international activity to be the only right activity. "Politics is a dirty business, patriots would say – if we don't do it, then they will". These people sincerely consider that when and if Georgia becomes member of NATO, this treacherous block will immediately claim for our subsoil and pipelines in it. And they will claim them in the clear meaning of this word: he will arrive, will bomb and will take away. Thus there is the only right way for us – to be the first to bomb Georgia, to do it beforehand, to change the government there and to agree with a new "pro-Russian" leadership in order to discourage Georgia from its NATO aspirations.

The next fraction are those who sincerely consider that after shelling Tskhinvali by Grads Saakashvili put himself out of law which means that Russian "peacekeepers" on their part were automatically freed from observing the law.

But this is not everything. Literally, a new group of patriots have evolved in our country. Journalist Andrei Perla has formulated its ideology. He has explained to those who have not yet understood it that "oppositional ideology" is permissible to some extent during peaceful time, while during wartime it is considered to be treason. Such an approach makes life easier for those who are prone to worrying about the lawfulness of actions of a homeland during conflict. He counted on a person, who understands that our "peacekeepers" are not real because they don't have and have never had any UN mandate. And if they had had it, a relative decision must have been taken by the Security Council regarding a triumphal marching into Georgia with tanks. Without this the whole story starting from the entrance of tanks to Tskhinvali and the blocking of Poti port finished with bombing the Tbilisi airport and letting armed looters in Gori – is a whole sequence of military crimes. No agreement with Georgia about the presence of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia legitimizes the marching of Russian army into Georgia. Thus, a person who understands all these should remember that if there is a war he must change his opinion and should know that Russia is always right. Otherwise this is treason. And we all know how the traitors are treated by laws during wartime, even those who think low of Josef and his order. This is in blood.

Stalin, the father of soviet fear, has been hammering out the collective unconsciousness of Russians till these days. Fifty five years have passed since he died and instead of making ourselves free from his legacy we have fallen in love with this antiquity with a new force. Georgia, his homeland, is much freer from his legacy than Russia. There is something symbolic in the fact that exactly Gori, where Ioseb Jughashvili was born, has been heavily bombed by Russian aviation. That is the very unconscious thing that makes us commit the acts which we are not able to explain afterwards.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In order to avoid future disappointment, ex Warsaw Pact countries should know that USA needs them as a canon fodder fighting Russia. The idea certainly wasn’t spilling American blood defending them from Russia.