Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, is extremely pleased that the New York Times has finally come around to reporting Moscow’s account (per the OSCE report) of how the war with Georgia started. The letter he sent in to the editors was probably the most fun his office had had since declining to contribute funds to John McCain’s campaign. The letter can be read here, and Reuters is also running a piece about it. In all fairness, Churkin should probably also congratulate the BBC.
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3 Comments
This is a new low in neo-Soviet idiocy.Is the ambassador now admitting that when the NYT condemned the Putin regime for “kicking the corpse of democracy” it was RIGHT?In any case, nobody who’s actually read the reports can condclude that they support Russia’s position in any way. Their main point, that Georgia may have used its artillary carelessly and killed civilians as a result, has already been proved to be the case in regard to Georgia. The other point, the the THREE OSCE observers in Georgia on August 7th didn’t personally see “heavy” Ossetian bombardment of Georgian territory is meaningless. The OSCE itself admits that it didn’t have enough people on the ground to make any serious finding, and part of the reason it didn’t is Russian obstruction of foreign observers in the region.Meanwhile, NOBODY disagrees that WHATEVER Georgia did does not excuse Russia’s invasion of Georgia proper, which has been condemened by the entire world, and does not justify Russian annexation of Ossetia.I find it genuinely pathetic that Russia’s high-ranking diplomat could be so desperate as to cling to such a slender reed as this. It’s clearly a sign that Russia as we know it is on its last legs.
If Russia had admitted that Georgia had the right to move into Ossetia and dislodge the rebels, and only objected to the manner in which it did so, Russia would now have the high moral ground and be admired by the world.But that is NOT what Russia did. It disavowed any right on Georgia’s part to use any military force in Ossetia, and in fact ousted Georgia’s forces long ago without a UN mandate. It then invaded Ossetia not to save lives but to annex the territory, and went further, invading Georgia proper, killing civilians with cluster bombs in Gori and elsewhere.As in the Soviet days, the “ambassador” thinks he can simply pull the wool over the whole world’s eyes because Russians are so much cleverer than everybody else.He can go and mutter that insane incantation over the grave of the USSR.
The OSCE’s actual position:http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/372327.htm