‘Mad’ Misha Saakashvili welcomes report stating that Georgia started the South Ossetian war
Breaking news: an EU fact finding mission composed of 30 European ‘military, legal and history experts’ has just confirmed what anybody with eyes and a brain that has not been befogged by years of Cold War propaganda could figure out for themselves — that Georgia started last year’s war in South Ossetia. Other astonishing evidence the crack team of investigators has uncovered is that Russia then took advantage of the situation to wreak merry havoc inside Georgia, and that many individuals were displaced from their homes in South Ossetia, although apparently they’re not sure exactly who did that. Next week the EU will reveal that cheese does not necessarily have holes in it and that Michael Jackson is dead.
It is interesting to compare coverage of this story in two of the major organs of the US media. The AP leads with the issue that has been hotly debated since Saakashvili started his obfuscations and which is indeed, the only issue truly under dispute- who started it:
‘Georgian attack started war with Russia’
Before going on to state:
‘The report on the five-day war in August 2008 lay blame on both sides, but cited Georgia as starting the conflict with its night shelling in South Ossetia – an act it said was not justifiable under international law.’
The AP article also cites the criticisms of Russia before supplying the reader with further evidence of Misha’s madness, quoting his representative as welcoming the report as a ‘vindication’.
CNN on the other hand strives hard to downplay the fact that Saakashvili started the war. The headline states simply:
EU: Georgia, Russia share responsibility for 2008 conflict.
In the text meanwhile they cite this passage from the EU report:
“While it is possible to identify the authorship of some important events and decisions marking its course, there is no way to assign overall responsibility for the conflict to one side alone. They have all failed, and it should be their responsibility to make good for it.”
And only then deal with the issue at the heart of the controversy, stating in paragraph 4 that Georgia launched ‘a campaign’, but curiously making no reference to its illegality. Much further down in the article they then devote a great deal of detail to citing passages that explain away Saakashvili’s night raid on a civilian target as the result of several centuries of tension, possibly starting with the moment a fish first walked on land, or at least that bit in 2001 when a monkey brains another monkey with a big bone.
Of course, CNN was beclowned by Saakashvili last summer into providing him with free propaganda. They are thus seeking to minimize their cognitive dissonance and downplay their multifarious journalistic failures. They are not alone of course- the BBC and many other elite media outlets colluded with them in this, as did John McCain, John Kerry, Joe Biden and almost any other major Western politician you care to name. Of course it is only natural to sympathise with the underdog in an unbalanced war, especially if he is your ally.
Alas, the sad fact is that sometimes the underdog can also be a bastard.
Latest posts by Daniel Kalder (Posts)
- Book Review: Retroworld (plus, why I hate Star Trek) - April 3, 2014
- A very expensive fungus - October 16, 2013
- The secret rituals of history’s most creative minds - October 9, 2013
- Apparently we are all getting very old - October 3, 2013
- Vasily Grossman: from Stalingrad to toilet trouble - August 28, 2013
Print This Post
Tavkle!
Slava Mishe!