Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
Quote:
Michael J. Totten
Report from Tbilisi
Fleeing Russian brutality, Georgians look to the West for support.
20 August 2008
Russia"s invasion of Georgia has unleashed a refugee crisis all over the
country and especially in its capital. Every school here in Tbilisi is
jammed with civilians who fled aerial bombardment and shootings by the
Russian military"or massacres, looting, and arson by irregular Cossack
paramilitary units swarming across the border. Russia has seized and
effectively annexed two breakaway Georgian provinces, South Ossetia and
Abkhazia. It has also invaded the region of Gori, which unlike them had
been under Georgia"s control. Gori is in the center of the country, just
an hour"s drive from Tbilisi; 90 percent of its citizens have fled, and
the tiny remainder live amid a violent mayhem overseen by Russian
occupation forces that, despite Moscow"s claims to the contrary, are not
yet withdrawing.
On Monday, I visited one of the schools transformed into refugee housing
in the center of Tbilisi and spoke to four women"Lia, Nana, Diana, and
Maya"who had fled with their children from a cluster of small villages
just outside the city of Gori. "We left the cattle," Lia said. "We left
the house. We left everything and came on foot because to stay there was
impossible." Diana"s account: "They are burning the houses. From most of
the houses they are taking everything. They are stealing everything,
even such things as toothbrushes and toilets. They are taking the
toilets. Imagine. They are taking broken refrigerators." And Nana: "We
are so heartbroken. I don"t know what to say or even think. Our whole
lives we were working to save something, and one day we lost everything.
Now I have to start everything from the very beginning."
Seven families were living cheek by jowl inside a single classroom,
sleeping on makeshift beds made of desks pushed together. Small children
played with donated toys; at times, their infant siblings cried.
Everyone looked haggard and beaten down, but food was available and the
smell wasn"t bad. They could wash, and the air conditioning worked.
"There was a bomb in the garden and all the apples on the trees fell
down," Lia remembered. "The wall fell down. All the windows were
destroyed. And now there is nothing left because of the fire."
"Did you actually see any Russians," I said, "or did you leave before
they got there?"
"They came and asked us for wine, but first we had to drink it ourselves
to show that it was not poisoned. Then they drank the wine themselves.
And then they said to leave this place as soon as possible; otherwise
they would kill us. The Russians were looking for anyone who had
soldiers in their home. If anyone had a Georgian soldier at home they
burned the houses immediately."
Her husband had remained behind and arrived in Tbilisi shortly before I
did. "He was trying to keep the house and the fields," she explained.
"Afterward, he wanted to leave, but he was circled by soldiers. It was
impossible. He was in the orchards hiding from the Russians in case they
lit the house. He was walking and met the Russian soldiers and he made
up his mind that he couldn"t stay any more. The Russian soldiers called
him and asked where he was going, if he was going to the American side."
"The Russians said this to him?" I said.
"My husband said he was going to see his family," she said. "And the
Russians said again, "Are you going to the American side?""
"So the Russians view you as the American side, even though there are no
Americans here."
"Yes," she said. "Because our way is for democracy."
Senator John McCain may have overstated things a bit when, shortly after
the war started, he said, "We are all Georgians now." But apparently
even rank-and-file Russian soldiers view the Georgians and Americans as
allies. Likewise, these simple Georgian country women seem to understand
who their friends and enemies are. "I am very thankful to the West,"
Maya said as her eyes welled up with tears. "They support us so much. We
thought we were alone. I am so thankful for the support we have from the
United States and from the West. The support is very important for us."
She tried hard to maintain her dignity and not cry in front of me, a
foreign reporter in fresh clothes and carrying an expensive camera. "The
West saved the capital. They were moving to Tbilisi. There was one night
that was very dangerous. The Russian tanks were very close to the
capital. I don"t know what happened, but they moved the tanks back." And
my translator, whose husband works for Georgia"s ministry of foreign
affairs, made a similar guess that the West helped save the capital.
"The night they came close to Tbilisi," she said, "Bush and McCain made
their strongest speeches yet. The Russians seemed to back down. Bush and
McCain have been very good for us."
Likewise, the women seemed to understand what Russian imperialism has
always been about"and not just during the Soviet era. "Why do you think
the Russians are doing this in your village?" I said.
"They want our territories," Nana said. "Some of them are Ossetians,
too, not only Russians, and not only soldiers. Some are there just to
steal things, from Ossetia and Chechnya."
Russia doesn"t want to annex Gori permanently, in all likelihood. But it
does want, as it always has, a buffer zone between itself and its
enemies. It was George F. Kennan, America"s ambassador to the Soviet
Union, who said, "Russia can have at its borders only enemies or
vassals." Now, Georgia has been all but dismembered. The opening phase
of this crisis may soon come to a close, but it is shaping up to be
merely the first chapter in a potentially long and dangerous era. "We
will never forget this," Lia said. "Never. Ever."
/Michael J. Totten is an independent journalist based in Portland,
Oregon. His work has appeared in the /New York Times/, the /Wall Street
Journal/, and numerous other publications. The Week named him Blogger of
the Year in 2007 for his dispatches from the Middle East. Visit his
website at /www.michaeltotten.com <http://www.michaeltotten.com>.
Is there any doubt what the bigger picture is here, where the Russians are concerned?
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Politics, it seems to me, all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
RE: Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
Georgia has attacked Ossetia at night. Have destroyed by bombing a sleeping city. Have killed 2 thousand people. Named the whole nationality separatists. Much, that your journalists biassedly speak. Where their reportings from killed city Chenvaly? Russia these problems are not necessary. We have disengaged recently all armies from Georgia not that them to enter there again. The poor country. The Georgian problems are not necessary to us. You badly understand, that occurs actually. Also remember STALIN there was a Georgian. Turkey, Italy, England blocked very strict statements of NATO on which the USA insisted. Do not guess why? Russia has been compelled to destroy armies of Georgia for minimisation of losses human. Tbilisi is not necessary to us. This full lies. Some centuries of an europas were at war. Poland in these wars behaved as the prostitute. In the past it was our ally. Tomorrow can turn the weapon in your party. Wars are not necessary to us. We have a oil, we have money. Problems are not necessary to us. I think in it the countries which are interested plan will intrude in Iran. Soon learn who it.
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Your gun is loaded, and pointing may way
There's only one bullet, so don't delay
Got to time it right, fire me through the night...(J.Deacon)
RE: Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
Blah, blah, blah.
I don't give 2 ****s about your pitiful excuse of a country, its interests, or your former KGB thug of a leader. But when you start attacking our allies, it becomes our business. Don't give me your lines about Georgia's aggression. Your soldiers are burning the homes of innocent Georgian civilians and you want to talk about Georgian aggression? LOL!
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Politics, it seems to me, all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
RE: Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
Well. I do not think, that all Americans and them it is possible to make a fool of the silly people.
Assume, what not all the truth about what to you speak. All becomes on the places.
Probably, you sometime learn the truth. Many years spoke to you about Russia and Afghanistan.
Now you there are at war. There is here a logic?! Good luck.
__________________
Your gun is loaded, and pointing may way
There's only one bullet, so don't delay
Got to time it right, fire me through the night...(J.Deacon)
RE: Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
Quote:
ORIGINAL: Sasha_from_RF
Well. I do not think, that all Americans and them it is possible to make a fool of the silly people.
Assume, what not all the truth about what to you speak. All becomes on the places.
Probably, you sometime learn the truth. Many years spoke to you about Russia and Afghanistan.
Now you there are at war. There is here a logic?! Good luck.
Ah yes but the difference is we have be able to prove we are up to job!
__________________
John Adams The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
RE: Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
Afghanistan still will give a heat.
There each rock shoots. The child at first studies to shoot, and then studies to speak.
I am the reserve officer. You have sent me .....to sand..... last time.
Even enemies salute each other. Any more do not write me.
You not the soldier.... talker
__________________
Your gun is loaded, and pointing may way
There's only one bullet, so don't delay
Got to time it right, fire me through the night...(J.Deacon)
RE: Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
Yeah so what's your response to a defense system? Threatining to shoot nukes. IDIOTS.
__________________
John Adams The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
RE: Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
Well, to you is more visible. There is an experience of Hiroshima...
We did not apply, only IDIOTS applied...
forget me....
__________________
Your gun is loaded, and pointing may way
There's only one bullet, so don't delay
Got to time it right, fire me through the night...(J.Deacon)
RE: Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
I have officially seen it all now on HNI. A s*** talking red. Never have liked those Russians the are a shifty bunch. Red Dawn was always one of my favorite movies. Wolverines and all. Let's wrap up Iraq in time to fight Russia now?
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"I shot em down, one by one and left em on the rails. I use my guns whenever kindness fails." REK
Russian soldiers: 'Are you going to the side of the Americans?'
