Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Georgia, NATO And The Spread Of War

Just received:

Friends Meeting House (Small Hall)173 Euston Road London NW1 2BJ6.30 pm, Thursday 14 August, 2008 with

MARK ALMOND, lecturer in History, Oxford University and expert on the Caucasus

KATE HUDSON, Chair of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

BORIS KAGARLITSKI, former director Institute of Globalisation Studies, Moscow and author of, "Empire of the Periphery: Russia and the World System"

JOHN REES, Officer of Stop the War Coalition and author of "Imperialism and Resistance"

The outbreak of war in Georgia is already a disaster for the people of the region. It risks being turned into a still broader problem by Dick Cheney's threats. The conflict is in large measure the product of George Bush's policyof US global hegemony, in the Caucasus as in the Middle East. Attempts to extend NATO eastwards, specifically incorporating Georgia, directly challenge Russian interests. Please come to the meeting to discuss this latest flashpoint in an increasingly dangerous world and forward this message to your contacts.

David Wilson
Press/Events
Stop the War Coalition
27 Britannia Street
London
WC1X 9JPT
+44(0)20 7278 6694
+44(0)7951 579 064
www.stopwar.org.uk

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm! Now that a quite unapologetic fascist has started trampling his way across Europe, one would assume that it's time for the Stop the War Coalition to cut its links with the Kremlin! Are we going to see some sort of new Ribbentrop-Molotov pact? Or is this the end for the anti-war Left?

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  2. "a quite unapologetic fascist"

    Dick Cheney?

    "the anti-war Left"

    The only Left.

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  3. The moment Saakashvili opened fire on Tskhinvali and turned it into a pile of rubble, there was no chance whatsoever of the local population ever accepting Georgian authority or the status quo ever being restored. Even a president as inept as Saakashvili must have realised this.

    The Georgian bombing could only lead to one of three outcomes:-

    1. The de-facto ethnic cleansing of South Ossetia, as the local population flees into Russia from where they would have no realistic prospect of return.

    2. A guerilla war waged by the remaining South Ossetians (and others) against Georgia, backed by Russia.

    3. A Russian military response to free South Ossetia, which inevitably would involve the degredation of Georgia’s military machine and their humiliation as a nation.

    Like Iraq, this was a war of choice and act of monumental stupidity. Saakashvili’s only defence is that the Washington neocon dinosaurs gave him the green light, which given the presence of 200 US military advisors embedded in the Georgian army, they surely did.

    Of course, none of this is taking place in a geopolitical vacuum. Russia is resurgent. China is rising. And the US is in long term relative economic decline. Welcome to multi-polarity. Say goodbye to Saakashvili.

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