Rene — 2 Articles on Georgia + S. O
Comments Off on Rene — 2 Articles on Georgia + S. OTwo Articles:
a. Georgia makes Russia Face Difficult Choices in S. Ossetia
b. Rumsfeld intervention rescues pipeline
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GEORGIA MAKES RUSSIA FACE DIFFICULT CHOICES IN SOUTH OSSETIA
Politkom.ru web site, Moscow
13 Aug 04
Russia’s involvement in the South Ossetian conflict has driven Russia
into a corner, a Russian web site has said. Forced to choose between
surrendering South Ossetia or repulsing Georgia Russia faces either a
deterioration in its relations with the West or the disenchantment of
its already few partners. In the meantime the Georgian leadership is
attempting to give the impression that South Ossetia and Russia may be
sat down at the negotiating table only with the assistance of the
United States and West Europe and that OSCE observers should replace
Russian peacekeepers in the zone of conflict. The following is the
text of report by Russian Politkom.ru web site on 13 August/
Subheadings added editorially.
Several hours after the entirely successful completion of the
negotiations between Georgian Defence Minister Giorgi Baramidze and
Giorgi Khandrava, state minister of Georgia for conflict settlement,
and Sergey Ivanov, head of Russia’s Ministry of Defence, the Georgians
began intensive shelling of Tskhinvali and the commitment of heavy
equipment to the Georgian-Ossetian conflict area. Tskhinvali was
shelled by mortars, which were later joined by artillery. According
to residents of the city, the latest night-time shelling compelled
recollections of what happened in South Ossetia at the start of the
1990s. In response, the South Ossetian military, executing an order
issued a week ago by the president of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoiti,
opened return fire on the Georgian positions and heavy equipment.
Georgia seeks international involvement in South Ossetia
As a result, the first dead and dozens of wounded appeared on both
sides, apartment houses were destroyed not only on the outskirts but
also in the centre of Tskhinvali, and a kindergarten and the republic
hospital, the children’s wing of which had to be transferred to
basement premises, were casualties. According to the Georgian news
media, several buildings, including a village school, were destroyed
in the course of the shelling of the Georgian villages of Kurta,
Tamarasheni, and Eredvi.
Judging by how strenuously Georgia’s Rustavi-2 television worked the
PR aspect of this episode, the Georgians achieved the required effect:
it was not for nothing that illegal Georgian elements and their
attached equipment were deployed in the yards of schools situated in
Georgian villages. All in all, we have to say that Georgian television
took full advantage of the night-time firing to crank up the
proposition concerning the need for a build-up of the Georgian
presence in the conflict area. It was this, in any event, that was
being demanded by the population of the Georgian villages in the
reporting, which Georgian television stations were running all day.
Against this background Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili put the
blame for the escalation of the conflict on some “bandit elements,”
which, “under the cover of darkness, attempted to seize a bypass
leading to the Georgian villages and to occupy these villages with the
aim of driving the peaceful Georgian population out of them”. This
wording may easily be read as “genocide of the Georgian population”.
Saakashvili himself, as a matter of fact, spoke all the most important
key words concerning the possibility of ethnic cleansing and
humanitarian catastrophe and also concerning some “plan written up by
outside forces aimed at involving Georgia in a large-scale armed
conflict on its own territory”.
Immediately following him front stage came Zurab Zhvania, prime
minister of Georgia, who announced that “the president of Georgia will
in the coming hours be in touch with his American counterpart and
leaders of European states,” who “are to make the maximum effort and
to employ all levers to compel the South Ossetians and the parties
involved in the proceedings to direct negotiations”.
It is becoming clear from what has been said that Georgia is
attempting to portray matters such that South Ossetia and Russia may
be sat down at the negotiating table only with the assistance of the
United States and West Europe, and this despite the fact that the
Russians and the South Ossetians are constantly demanding compliance
with all the agreements reached earlier and with the decision to hold
standing consultations within the Joint Control Commission framework.
Zurab Zhvania went on to air to state the main demands that Georgia is
making of the leadership of South Ossetia: the start of direct
negotiations, the full demilitarization of Tskhinvali region, and an
appreciable expansion of the composition of the OSCE peacekeeping
group working in the conflict area. We would note that the first two
demands repeat in full what the Russian peacekeepers and
representatives of South Ossetia have already been talking about for
several months now. At the same time, Nino Burjanadze, chairperson of
the Georgian parliament, expressed doubt as to the expediency of the
presence of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict area since they are
not protecting the peaceful Georgian population that resides in the
conflict area.
It is thus easy to see that the main message sent by the three leaders
of Georgia to the country’s citizenry and the world community is that
Russia should leave the area of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, having
handed over control over the situation to observers from the OSCE, and
the Georgian authorities intend to seek these changes with the aid of
the United States and West Europe.
An absolutely transparent picture results: under the cover of the
negotiations that were conducted in Moscow by Georgia’s defence
minister and state minister, preparations for a new “march on
Tskhinvali” were made, and on the basis of the results of the
night-time shelling the Georgian leadership has with all the more
grounds begun to talk about the need for the internationalization of
the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, justifying its position with the aid
of such key words as “ethnic cleansing” and “humanitarian
catastrophe”.
South Ossetian population suffers most
By the evening of 12 August the news media were reporting that four
battalions of the Georgian Defence Ministry, which had undergone
training within the framework of Georgian-American cooperation, had
been confined to barracks, and the Georgian Health Ministry put out a
statement from which it follows that the country’s medical
institutions are prepared for the intake of wounded from the
Georgian-Ossetian conflict area.
The male population of the Georgian villages, meanwhile, is asking to
be given arms, and the women and children are fleeing to
Georgia. Closer to evening, Giorgi Khandrava, state minister of
Georgia for conflict settlement, announced that the Georgian
authorities had begun the organized transportation of Georgian
children out of the conflict area. This would appear to be a perfectly
prudent measure since the return fire of the South Ossetians really
does pose a threat to the peaceful inhabitants of the Georgian
villages, in which the Georgian formations that illegally infiltrated
into the conflict area are ensconced. But at the same time the
organized evacuation of the children is a very bad sign for South
Ossetia since it signifies the Georgians’ resolve to continue the
attack on Tskhinvali.
And in this context Georgia’s attempts to place the responsibility for
the exacerbation of the conflict on the Ossetians appear unconvincing,
to say the least. For the start of hostilities will hit first and
foremost the Ossetian population of the republic, which, as distinct
from the inhabitants of the Georgian villages, have nowhere to
run. The road to North Ossetia runs through the Georgian villages in
which the Georgian militants are billeted, and in what encounters with
them would result for the Ossetians is well known following the
shooting up on 20 May 1992 of the convoy of Ossetian refugees
travelling from Tskhinvali to North Ossetia.
All in all, it turns out that the South Ossetians, whichever way you
look it, have absolutely no need of any destabilization of the
situation, a military conflict even less. The same may be said about
Russia also, particularly in the light of the desire of the leadership
of Georgia to “expel” the Russian peacekeepers from the region. Russia
has as of late, incidentally, both literally and metaphorically, found
itself between a rock and a hard place.
Russia faces tough choices
On the one hand the Russian peacekeepers are already coming under
bombardment, on the other, Russia has practically no chance of
maintaining peace and reconciling the belligerents. For South Ossetia
has no intention of returning to Georgia, and Georgia is fully
determined to restore its territorial integrity. So, strictly
speaking, there is nothing for them to talk about. Consequently,
there’s no good solution to the situation.
Russia, meanwhile, forced to choose the lesser of two evils of
surrendering South Ossetia or repulsing Georgia cannot make up its
mind to either since a direct conflict with Georgia could cause a
deterioration in its relations with the West, and a repetition of the
Batumi scenario in respect to Tskhinvali would result in Russia’s
removal from the list of serious geopolitical players and the
disenchantment with it of its already few partners.
The direct consequences of this latter scenario would be Russia’s loss
of influence in Central Asia, the victory of the pro-West forces in
Ukraine, and the collapse of the CIS. And it would appear that it is
this development of events that is being sought by Mikheil
Saakashvili, who is forcing an exacerbation of the South Ossetian
conflict to his utmost and who even today may be congratulated on his
having in just several months managed to drive Russia into a corner.
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b. Rumsfeld intervention rescues pipeline
The New Zealand Herald
Aug 9 2004
Rumsfeld intervention rescues pipeline
By SAEED SHAH
Construction of BP’s controversial £1.6 billion ($4.5 billion) oil
pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey resumed only after the
intervention of Donald Rumsfeld, the US Secretary of Defence, and
other senior members of the Bush administration, it has emerged.
Work on the strategically important scheme, led by BP, was halted in
a region of Georgia in July while the government there sought
assurances on “security” concerns. The underground “BTC” pipeline
will take oil from Baku, in Azerbaijan, through the Georgian capital
Tbilisi, to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey, from where it can be
shipped to Western markets.
The US government has backed the 1760km project as a way of accessing
oil from important reserves under the Caspian Sea without it having
to pass through Iran or Russia. The US has long sought to lessen the
world’s dependence on oil from the politically unstable Middle East.
Construction along a 17.6km section of the pipeline that passes
through the Borjomi region of Georgia was abruptly halted by the
country’s environment ministry on 19 July. Work started again on
Friday.
BP, the single largest investor in the pipeline, is racing to
complete the project during the first half of next year.
Construction was only resumed after talks between Georgian leaders
and high-ranking US officials, including the US Assistant Secretary
of State, Elizabeth Jones, who visited Georgia unexpectedly late last
month.
The issue of the pipeline was a major topic in talks in Washington
last week between Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and Mr
Rumsfeld. Following his meeting with Mr Rumsfeld, the Georgian
president said BP had “taken the first steps to satisfy the demands
of the Georgian side”.
As well as fears that the pipeline would become a target for
terrorists, the Georgian authorities are anxious about the effects
that any leakages would have on the Borjomi region. The area is the
source for mineral water.
Georgian officials said BP had agreed to lay the pipe deeper under
ground. The British company also agreed to additional measures above
ground, with more security facilities and extra environmental safety
technologies.
In her mission to Georgia last month, Ms Jones visited various
sections of the pipeline. In a press briefing at the time, she said:
“I am convinced of the environmental integrity and sanctity of the
pipeline. The security issues involved with the pipeline are being
taken care of.”
Some analysts believe that construction work on the BTC pipeline got
caught up in Georgia’s wider strategic aims. According to one
regional political commentator, Mubariz Ahmadoglu, the director of
the Centre for Political Technology and Innovations, Georgia’s
president was trying to use the threat to the BTC project to get the
American government to intervene on Georgia’s behalf over the
break-away province of South Ossetia.
Mr Saakashvili wants the US to put pressure on Russia to stop
interfering in South Ossetia, and another separatist Georgian region,
Abkhazia, which are ruled almost as if they were Russian territory.
Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s “governments” have said they want to
be annexed by Russia.
Mr Saakashvili discussed South Ossetia in his meeting with Mr
Rumsfeld, Georgian officials said. Mr Saakashvili also held talks
with Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State.