Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric
Wonder how the sales of bestselling author and editor of Japanese literature Grigori Chkhartishvili are being affected by recent events?
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Dear Eric:
As far as I understand, Mr. Akunin wasn't affected by the recent events in the least.
BTW, if it is legal to speak of politics here (I have to confess I hadn't read the regulations all that well), I would use the chance. (And if I am wrong, I am sure Stuart will get things right again).
So. I do not want to say that Putin & Medvedev are angels. And I do not want to say that our armed forces are angels as well. But what happened in Georgia this Summer originated in Tbilisi much more, than it had in Moscow.
Of course, from abroad it looked very much like Chechnya before that: Russia invaded a small and proud contry. And it WAS like Chechnya, but this time in Russian's place was Georgia, and South Ossetia was instead of Chechen Republic. Historically Ossetia joined Russia before Georgia (they had done so to find an ally against Ottomans, if I remember right). The South Ossetia came under the same general-gouvernor as Georgia under the Tsar, but only because there were not enough high level administrators available. Then Mr. Stalin, being a Georgian, joined South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Georgia, to much dislike in both regions. Mr. Stalin started moving Georgian families from main Georgia to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Ossetins and Abkhazians liked that even less. (I have spent a lot of time in Abkhazia, having had a property there, so I can tell you how HOT it always had been there: if you said a toast for Georgia at an Abkhazian table, you would have become a pariah immediately).
So, Ossetins and Abkhazians detested Georgians more than anything. And Tbilisi decided to amend that by military force. Of course, Russia could have tried to prevent that by polilical ways, but Putin wanted Saakashwili to make that slip too much to try to prevent that, one or two thousand people killed - never mind...
So, it was Georgia who started killing innocent people in South Ossetia. And to discuss who is right and who is wrong we have to start here: Saakashwili started that, nevermind how bad and undemocratic Russia is.