Enter Saddamkashvili

A brief blog-roll and reading throughout the web prompt me to some off-the-cuff comments.

- Georgia conduct was dishonest in granting a ceasefire and suddenly strike in South Ossetia. I find the calculation of blur the attack with the Olympiads opening particularly disturbing, as the Olympiads were meant since their beginnings as a ceasefire and temprary peace between the polis of the greek world, from Sicily to the Colchis (present day Georgia-Abkhazia). It was considered an act of Impiety to wage a war in those times.

- The media talk incessantly of asymmetric war between Georgia (4.5 Mio People) and Russia (142 Mio). I shall rectify: Georgia (4 Mio people) and South Ossetia (70.000).


- Georgia´s president, Mr. Saakashvili, reportedly made a priority of his mandate to re-consolidate Georgian borders and sovereignty, ahead of any other plan to better off the country. My opinion: this re-consolidation is aimed at assuring a safe passage through Georgia of the BTC (Baku, Tbilisi, Ceyhan pipeline). It is a clearing of hurdles rather than a pacification, with absolutely no carrot attitude towards South-Ossetia, perhaps because there is simply any...

- Quoting Winthrop360 post: "The famous Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan was blown up in Turkey earlier this week and its operator, BP, shut it down for repairs. Coincidentally, the Georgian section of the pipeline is filled with oil - oil which basically has nowhere to go (how convenient). I think, with a good deal of certainty, that Georgia will tap BTC oil in Georgian territory, citing an "emergency."" I quite agree, Georgia is basically segmenting itself from all the region, defying irresponsably Azerbaijan, Russia and allies (SCO, CSTO, CIS) with its pro-US stance.

- Which leads me to the conclusion: given the strong Georgian opposition rallies (and the subsequent crackdown) the whole responsability is of Mr. Saakashvili behaviour. A quick screening of the European press show the dissociation of EU states from such a war-mongering interlocutor. Saakashvili in this turn seems to me very much the early Saddam, drummed up to a war to Iran no matter what, under his US patron´s distrustful and half-hearted glance.

I would try to explore better the US tactic of proxy wars in contests of scarce operativity and rescue capability. The extent of US proclivity to such war mongering instead of diplomacy and negotiation needs some intelligence.