Last year the impulsive authoritarian Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili presented the meme that his was a heroic government
victimized by the evil Russians. American politicians like
Sen. John McCain rushed to the Georgian standard, declaring that
"We're all Georgians now."
Make that "We're all Georgian (aggressors) now."
Yesterday the European Union provided additional evidence that
Georgia actually started the war. Reports the
BBC:
As a European Union report into last year's conflict
between Georgia and Russia puts a large part of the blame on
Georgia, the BBC's Tom Esslemont in Tbilisi asks where this
leaves the small Caucasian nation.
Even before the EU-sponsored report was published, Georgia was
pushing the line that it does not matter who fired the first
shot. The main issue, it said, is Russia's ongoing "occupation"
of its sovereign territory and years of stoking tensions
between Georgia and its rebel regions.
Now the independent inquiry into the conflict has concluded.
But it is not entirely the conclusion Georgia wanted to hear.
It said Georgia's use of force on the night of 7 August 2008
was not justifiable in the context of international law.
It also said that it could not substantiate "Georgian claims of
a large-scale presence of Russian armed forces in South Ossetia
prior to the Georgian offensive on 7/8 August".
The Georgian government's response - as expected - has been to
dismiss those comments.
There's much to blame on Russia, particularly its brutal,
disproportionate response to Georgia's attack. But for the
West, which attacked Serbia in 1989 in order to detach Kosovo
from Belgrade's control, to complain about Moscow's support for
South Ossetian and Abkhazian independence is rather rich in
hypocrisy. Washington cares about the territorial integrity
of nations only when it's convenient. The
U.S. can hardly complain about Russia not behaving
in a more principled fashion.
But the most important lesson of the Russia-Georgia war is how
foolish it would be to extend NATO membership to a country which
is not only irrelevant to American security but prone to start
wars with nuclear-armed powers. It was one thing for
America to risk all to protect Europe from the Evil
Empire. But to contemplate a nuclear confrontation on
behalf of a country prepared to foolishly initiate
hostilities against Moscow? Such a step would make America
less, not more, secure.
