Why are people so hasty to judge the Russia-Georgia conflict?

Question

the minute i heard about it on the news i knew people would say things like:

'russia is evil

'russia is aggressive'

'usa is perfect, georgia is an innocent victim'

who knows what really happens behind the scenes? how can we make informed decisions if we are constantly being fed FAUX news

what happened to the notion of there are 2 sides to every story, or does that disappear in politics?

Answer 1

first of all, georgia is one of our few allies in iraq. so to the u.s. government they are a hot commodity. i also feel that people are critical of russia because of their past politics and especially the recent maneuvers on putin's part to secure his power.

as americans we are more critical of any government that does not fit our definition of democracy, so of course even if russia was entering into georgia handing out lollipops they would be critical.

it is also seen as big bad russia attacking poor little georgia.

but even though i understand that i still feel that the situation needs to be handled immediately. it's a little too reminiscent to ww1 to me.

Answer 2

Um...what does the USA's moral standing have to do with Georgia?

This isn't really a USA versus Russia thing, though it might appear so since the USA tends to be on Georgia's side. This is a Russia versus Georgia thing, and I tend to think that the country that was the aggressor in invading another sovereign state tends to be the one in the wrong.

I know a lot of people are saying "if we did it to Iraq, why can't Russia do it to Georgia," but this overlooks two things. One is that it assumes the US going into Iraq was okay--which is not a foregone conclusion. The other is that it assumes there is no difference between Georgia and Iraq. Now I don't know much about the government of Georgia, but I'm pretty sure it had a democratically elected government without a history of perpetrating atrocities on its own people.

I know the situation between Russia and Georgia is complicated. Territorial disputes always are. But it's pretty clear that no country can be condoned when it bombs and invades a much smaller country with no apparent justification for doing so.

Answer 3

Press headlines can often be misleading to spark interest or promote an agenda, but unfortunately can lead to misinterpretation by a brief press release or people too lazy to read any more.  Sometimes complete details are hard to find.

From what I have been able to gather, it sounds like Georgia may have been the initial aggressor in a border dispute and Russia was responding to that, sort of like us protecting Kuwait, just a bit more aggressive.

Answer 4

Please people, turn off fox news and do some research. I am a Russian who was born and raised in the U.S to immigrant Russian parents. I have since relocated to Mother Russia where I will forever remain. South Ossettians speak a language quite different than Georgians, they have their own history, their own culture, their own philosophy of life. Under the Soviet Union, the South Ossetians had a degree of independence. Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Georgian government tried to snatch up the area that is soon to become the Republic of South Ossetia. After some brief hostilities, relative peace was reached. Since 1992 there have Russian Peace keepers in the region ensuring that hostilities do not boil over.  Out of virtually nowhere, Geogia launches a all out invasion, several Russian peace keepers were killed, as well as a undetermined number of South Ossetians civilians. Most of which were the elderly, and very young children as they werethe ones that were unable to get out of harms way when the massacre erupted. Russia responded, as any honorable ally would. The Russian military smashed, and disarmed a 30,000 man Georgian army (America and Israel have been training and arming Georgia for many months now) in just over 3 days. Predictably, cries came from the west in regards to the overwhelming force in which the Russians devastated Georgia. Well, well, well, unfortunately for the war criminal/U.Sraeli ally in Georgia, those who start a war do not always get to choose when it ends. Relative peace has been reestablished in the region do to the expelling of the Georgian army. In my opinion, South Ossetia will now be rightfully recognized as a independent state.  

Answer 5

From what i heard, Russia invaded Georgia because they're a democratic society. And since we're a democracy too, it kinda stirs things up. I also heard that we found a reference to the USA on tank shells and bombs, saying something like "this is for you". I'm not sure if any of its true or not though, just rumor.