August 15, 2008

Caucasian Stalemate


This commentary aired on Vermont Public Radio, on August 13.

Last Thursday, after several days of skirmishes and confrontation in the breakaway region of Ossetia, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili announced a unilateral cessation of hostilities.

Hours later, however, Saakashvili ordered his armed forces to undertake a full-scale assault on Ossetia, a territory which, since 1992, has been patrolled by Russian peacekeepers under international mandate - to which Georgia was a signator.

Georgian troops launched an air, tank and artillery attack on Russian peacekeepers and civilians. In response, Russian troops, long perched on the Russo-Georgian border on hair-trigger alert, entered South Ossetia in force. They routed the Georgian troops and chased them back beyond the borders of Ossetia, into Georgia proper.

On August 12th, the Russian forces stood down.

These are more or less the basic facts of the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia. There are of course plenty of unverified assertions. For instance, Russia claims that Georgian forces killed more than 2000, leveled the Ossetian capital city of Tskhivali and demolished several Ossetian villages. And both sides are accusing the other of engaging in ethnic cleansing.

Coverage of this week's events by major US media has focused mainly on interpretations of Russia's motives, the general consensus being that we are seeing a new Russia, a bully emboldened by oil riches and acting out after 20 years of humiliation.

The explanation sounds good, but it is oversimplified and jingoistic. Russia's own explanation, that it is simply defending the local civilian population and beating back Georgian aggression, is also not the whole truth, but it does seem a bit closer to reality.

Our media have also given little treatment to the US role in this conflict, which is in stark contrast to how the Russian media are covering events. Russians, for their part, are quick to underscore the alliance between the US and Georgia.

Said former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev: "I am convinced it would not have happened without the consent of the United States. It has approved it."

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Lavrov [sic, that's Ivanov] told CNN that Saakashvili - quote - "is an American satellite, that is a known fact."

Saakashvili, for his part, soon after the Russian counter-attack, was quoted as saying, "It's not about Georgia anymore. It's about America, its values."

Again, oversimplified and jingoistic.

Actually, what the conflict is about was aptly captured by the great Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov. He fought in the Caucasus (in the 1830s, against Chechens), and wrote a long poem, entitled Valerik, in which he sees a general sitting by a bloody stream after a battle.

And he writes:

And with a secret, heartfelt grief
I thought: Poor man,
What is he after?
The sky is so clear
There is room for all under the heavens,
Yet incessantly and vainly
He still fights - why?

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955