Wednesday 3 September 2008

SOME POLITICS - JUST FOR A CHANGE




That's me, taking off for another subject. Rejoice.


These days the little war between Russia and Georgia and its aftermath are very much in the headlines. And as nearly always nowadays I hear all the time the same tune: the Russians are very bad, bloodthirsty and imperial and the Georgians: poor innocent lambs in danger of being slaughtered by Mister Big.

Well, I don't agree.

First, just as a reminder, Georgia's biggest contribution to mankind was Mr. STALIN, the Russian dictator. When he finally died they did not celebrate and still now he is to them what Napoleon is to the French.

There are many different peoples living in the Caucasus area and all of them have one thing in common: they hate each other's guts. Their grievances go back to centuries, unforgiving, ready to jump at each other's throat when there is a possibility to get away with it.

Georgia's independence was such an occasion. There were accounts to settle with the Abkhasians and the Ossetians who lived as a minority within Georgia but don't belong to this people. So Georgia embarked on a nasty little war against everybody else who had the misfortune not to be Georgian.

In a nutshell: if these Abkhasians and Ossetians don't want to be Georgians, let them go. To independence or to Russia, whatever. Just let them have a kind of referendum so that they can decide for themselves democratically where they want to be.

By the way, in the case of Kosovo, once a Serbian province, this independence was granted. So why not here?

I think we should stop meddling into other people's affairs in far away countries. What about minding our own business, improve our own way of doing things, stop talking about democracy and human rights when in reality we only try to lay our hands on oil and gas they have and we don't.

Coming back to Georgia: they make real good wine there, it seems and I would very much like to taste it but can't find it here in France. What a pity.

10 comments:

  1. Absolutely George, the wine is excellent, and their politics are there own, isn't the world full of problems in our own backyard that we have to borrow some one else's?
    looks like you had a lovely flight, is the view as spectacular as it looks ?

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  2. Good to see Georg talking politics!
    It seems parts of Europe still have to go a long way before they settle into the stability and peace that Western Europe is enjoying after ages of war, hatred and destruction.

    Perhaps it is man's nature to look for, even discover if necessary, an opponent against whom he can vent his primordial aggression and anger.

    Since things are going to continue this way for some time, perhaps you can go looking for good Georgian wine, Georg, and write a post about it when you do get your hands on a bottle!

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  3. bonjour! i couldn't agree more with your commentary. especially as an american. and... you wouldn't get me up in the air like that :)

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  4. Thank you all for commenting.

    Sorrow:
    Glad to hear that Georgian wine is really good. Yes, the world is in a sorry state of affairs and we can't do anything about it. As to my flight, it was superb as nearly always but at taking off, some seconds after the second picture I nealy broke my leg by falling into a rabbit hole (my post of 6th August)

    Vinod:
    You are right, as practically always.

    As to the aggrssiveness one sees here and there, I frequently wonder who is at its origin: a large swath of unsatisfied people or some thrifty politicians who nurture it to further their own personal aims.

    Betmo:
    You seem to have stopped writing to a large extent. I regret this because you have worthwhile and original ideas. But please, don't embark on the US election stuff, this train is more than full.

    Georg

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  5. U R right about the political situation......not only here in the usa, but around the world.....there is a time and place to lend a helping hand, to be sure, but, if you can't keep your own house running, how can you expect to help others?

    Ah well, and so it goes......

    Cheers to you and yours! ; )

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  6. i always like to read what bloggers have to say than the gibberish news.

    Wine from georgia is news to me.
    and Finally a picture of georg himself taking off --

    And please do write more political stuff about france and germany and all around and what you think - i am always interested.

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  7. Hallo Anrosh,

    To write more about politics. Well, I have frequently very outlandish views about what happens really and what to do about it.

    So, generally I abstain so as to hurt nobody and avoid unpleasantness.

    The name of my blog resumes in one phrase what most people are looking for, intensely: to get something for nothing and as far as I can see that is what politics is about, mostly, frequently.

    Georg

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  8. Hallo Georg,
    Ack... This news item is among the many interesting ones I had a rather confused time watching last year... mainly because I read the French and German newspaper aside from the American ones.

    From the start, the American media really homed in on Russia being the aggressor, and yet I kept reading on the foreign papers how the Georgians actually fired the first shots (and at their own civilians, for that matter).

    And I would just sit back after my news reading routine and wonder if our media would ever get better at not falling for just what the gov would feed them. :o( I still remember the one-sided coverage during the lead up to and the early phrases of the USA-Iraq war, after all.

    Whoever it was that invented the internet (I think it was a scientist working at CERN, wasn't it?), I'm saluting him with a cold bottle of orange root beer tonight! It's so nice to get to read from more than one news source nowadays.

    Thanks for more good read, mon ami. :o)

    Smorgy

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  9. Napolion,Hitler,Stalin,Churchill,Truman...
    mass murderers all of them.
    The worlds largest countries,Russia and Brazil will probably divide somewhat in the future and the significant efforts of global management of the USA will more than likely have to be shared with China and India in the near future.

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  10. Fenced school in Finland, 1908

    In Lohja and Espoo near Helsinki, the Swedes fenced off the school building with barbed wire, in order to ban Finnish children the access to a school established with the private funds of the Finns.

    http://syys.weebly.com/index.html

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