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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
The five-day Russo-Georgian War in the Caucasus brought into sharp focus many conflicts rooted in the region's history and in aggressive US-NATO policies since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Notable among these were the military encirclement of Russia and attempts to control energy resources in areas long dominated by the Soviet Union. The net effect was to hasten a dangerous new era of rivalry between the world's two most powerful nuclear weapons states, one which will be shaped hereafter by the current global recession and the changes it is bringing about in the economic practices of all states.
[1] Political scientist Kato Tetsuro kindly alerted me to the insights of Japanese writers who perceived the Russo-Georgian official state of war as a proxy conflict pitting Russian nationalism against American imperialism. Because Georgia is too far away to have any effect on Japan's bilateral relations with either Russia or China, and Japanese attention focused on the Beijing Olympics and the Tibet issue, the Japanese mass media and popular journals all but ignored the Russo-Georgian war. That was not the case in India, where sharp commentators quickly noted the proxy nature of the war. See Rama Sampath Kumar, “From Kosovo to Georgia: The US, NATO and Russia,” Economic and Political Weekly, Sept. 6, 2008.
[2] See Richard Falk, “Assessing the Georgian Crisis, Sept. 14, 2008, posted at Falk's ZSpace Page, Znet
[3] Falk, “Assessing the Georgian Crisis.”
[3a] Peter Wilby, “Georgia Has Won the PR War,” The Guardian (Aug. 18, 2008); Pio d'Emilia, “Embed-time in Ossetia, Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, No. 1 Shimbun (Oct. 2008). Gavan McCormack kindly brought d'Emilia's first-hand account to my attention.
[4] Bill Powell and Mina Kimes, “Just How Scary Is Russia?” Fortune (Sept. 9, 2008), pp. 80-83.
[5] Forbes, Oct. 13, 2008, p. 25.
[6] Michael Stott, “Analysis- ‘Dangerous gulf’ opens between Russia and the West,” Reuters North American News Service, Sept. 25, 2008.
[7] Reuters, “Saakahvili ‘planned S. Ossetia invasion‘—ex-minister,” Sept. 14, 2008.
[8] CBS News, “Georgia Pushes for Truce With Russia,” posted Aug. 10, 2008.
[9] “US Military Trained Georgian Commandos,” Financial Times, Sept. 5, 2008.
[10] SPIEGEL Staff, “Did Saakashvili Lie? The West Begins to Doubt Georgian Leader,” Sept, 15, 2008 at Spiegel On Line.
[11] Posted at moonofalabama.org, Aug. 10. 2008.
[12] Mark Ames, “Getting Georgia's War On,” The Nation, Aug. 8, 2008.
[13] BBCNEWS, “Russia stands by Georgia actions,” Sept. 14, 2008.
[13a]. See Moon of Alabama, “The Mysterious ‘Sarkozy Letter,” posted Aug. 23, 2008.
[14] BBCNews, “Nato restates backing for Georgia,” posted Sept. 15, 2008.
[15] PressTV, “Sarkozy: S. Ossetia siege a mistake,” Oct. 8, 2008 and Olesya Vartanyan and Ellen Barry, “Russians Vacate Buffer Zones in Georgia,” New York Times (Oct. 9, 2008). Russia has formally repudiated America's hierarchical, unipolar, imperial conception of the world order. The first two principles for a new European security structure, suggested by Medvedev, amounted to a reaffirmation of the UN peace charter, grounded in Westphalian principles of nation-state sovereignty, equality, and territorial integrity. His third principle is “No promotion of one's security at the expense of others; no actions within the framework of alliances or coalitions that weaken the common security zone; and no development of military alliances at the cost of other signatories' security.” Fourth is the principle that “no individual state (including Russia) or international organization is to wield the exclusive right to maintain peace and security in Europe.” Fifth is “to set basic parameters of arms control and reasonable sufficiency of military development, as well as parameters of a new quality of interaction, new procedures, and new mechanisms of cooperation against trafficking, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism.” “Security Treaty Principles,” Komersant, Oct. 9, 2008.
[16] Stott, “Analysis- ‘Dangerous gulf’ opens between Russia and the West,” Reuters North American News Service, Sept. 25, 2008. Krzysztof Bobinski, “The Caucasus Effect: Europe Unblocked,” Open Democracy, Sept. 15, 2008.
[17] For an overview see Stephen F. Cohen, “The New Cold War and US-Russian Relations,” The Nation (July 10, 2008), also posted at Japan Focus.
[18] Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives (Basic Books, 1997), pp. 92-3.
[19] John Laughland, A History of Political Trials From Charles 1 to Saddam Hussein (Peter Lang Oxford, 2008), p. 222.
[20] Tim Judah, Kosovo: War and Revenge (Yale Univ. Press, 2000), pp. 272-273.
[21] Strobe Talbott, The Russia Hand: A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy (Random House, 2002), p. 301.
[22] Nebojsa Malic, “The Edge of Madness: Delusions and Hysteria Rule the Frustrated Balkans,” citing Simon Tisdall, “Bad News for Kosovo Raises Balkan Tension,” The Guardian (UK) Oct. 13, 2006, and posted online.
[23] Robert Marquand, “Why Kosovo's Independence Bid Is Unique,” Christian Science Monitor (Feb.15, 2008); Jon Boye, “Separatist Fears Stoke Opposition to Kosovo Move,” Reuters, Feb. 18, 2008.
[24] “Kosovo Declares Independence, ISN Security Watch, Feb. 18, 2008.
[25] NATO Press Release, Bucharest Summit Declaration, April 3, 2008.
[26] Isabel Gorst, “Azerbaijan oil export moves likely to worry West,” Financial Times, Sept. 25, 2008. I am indebted to Noam Chomsky for bringing this article to my attention.
[27] Noam Chomsky, “Ossetia-Russia-Georgia.”
[28] Janet McBride, “Putin warns West against starting arms race,” Reuters North American News Service, Sept. 11, 2008.
[29] AP wire dispatch, “Russia's Lavrov: S. Ossetia not Joining Russia,” Sept. 11, 2008.
[30] Reuters, “Russia in Pact with Georgia Regions,” New York Times, Sept. 17, 2008; BBC News, “Russia in Georgia Separatist Pact,” Sept 17, 2008.
[31] BBC News, Sept. 26, 2008.
[32] Bridget Kendall, “Putin defends Georgia offensive,” BBC News, Sept. 11, 2008. Putin “accused the Western press of an ‘immoral and dishonest account of what happened” and is quoted by the BBC correspondent as asking: “What did you want us to do? Wave our penknives in the air and wipe bloody snot off our noses?. … When an aggressor comes into your territory, you need to punch him in the face—an aggressor needs to be punished.”
[33] For discussion see “Georgia: Sovereign possibilities,” Sept. 15 at ISN.
[34] Reuters, “Recognize Georgian regions says Ukraine's Crimea,” Sept. 17, 2008.
[35] See the EU “Guidelines on Recognition of New States in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union” in Malcolm N. Shaw, International Law, Fifth Edition (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003), p. 185. The criteria are permanent populations, territorial bases, governments, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.
[36] Falk, “Assessing the Georgian Crisis.”
[37] Robert Marquand, “Russia's case on Georgia territories: Like Kosovo or not?” Christian Science Monitor (Aug. 23, 2008).
[38] M.K. Bhadrakumar, “U.S. sets bear trap in the Caucasus,” The Hindu, Aug. 11, 2008.
[39] Bhadrakumar, “U.S. sets bear trap in the Caucasus,” The Hindu, Aug. 11, 2008.
[40] Iran Islamic Republic new Agency, “Iran, Russia Emphasize Need for Regional Cooperation,” Sept. 23, 2008.
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