Rethinking Georgia

From the NYT
Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression. Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.


Now, there were signs that this was the case from the very beginning (or, at the very least, information that belied the characterization of the situation as unambiguous Russian agression). Unfortunately, a lot of people, particularly American politicians, were more interested in shoe-horning this situation into a Cold War narrative.

Meanwhile, opposition forces are rallying in Tblisi.