Mango Madness
08-06-2009, 12:05 PM
Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2FU7cCSAAiIP4el8intANfxP8ZQD99TFE8G0
On war's anniversary, Georgia, Russia vie in media
By JIM HEINTZ (AP) – 15 minutes ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5gtl6TVtumcMUvTBF6EWpcZdI7nGg?size=s2
A worker constructs a mock 'Berlin wall' to mark the Aug. 7 anniversary of the outbreak of fighting between Russia and Georgia, in the Georgian city of Gori, near de-facto border with Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, some 32 km (20 miles) south of the separatists capital Tskhinvali, on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009, with the statue of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin seen in the background,. There is a sense here that the war is not so much over as frozen in place with the potential for new hostilities to break out at any time. (AP Photo/George Abdaladze)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5j8vANFuTB0r6V3W0fJ5qwagP_qxg?size=s2
Girls pass by a wall covering the statue of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, partly seeen in the background, in the Georgian city of Gori, near de-facto border with Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, some 32 km (20 miles) south of the separatists capital Tskhinvali, on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. There is a sense here that the war is not so much over as frozen in place with the potential for new hostilities to break out at any time. (AP Photo/George Abdaladze)
TBILISI, Georgia — A year after their war, Russia and Georgia are locked in a battle of words and images over how the world will remember the conflict. Each seeks to be exonerated, each wants its adversary condemned — and both say the other side is spoiling for a new fight.
The fog of post-war is nearly as thick as when the fighting was raging. There's even disagreement on what day marks the beginning of the five-day conflict. For both Russia and Georgia, the stakes are higher than just boosting patriotism among their people. The war shook the world's trust in each country, and both Moscow and Tbilisi are eager to stitch those wounds. Georgia's official commemorations begin at midnight Thursday with the lighting of a memorial bonfire at the medieval citadel in Gori, an action whose location and timing underscore Georgia's contention that it was victimized by its giant neighbor.
Gori suffered Russian air strikes and then occupation by Russian troops as the war spread outside the flashpoint in the separatist republic of South Ossetia. The advance into Georgia proper fed fears that Moscow aimed to take the entire country that had once been part of the Russian Empire.
The midnight lighting also reflects Georgia's claim that the war began early Aug. 7, 2008, with the alleged entry of a Russian military convoy into South Ossetia. Russia marks Aug. 8 as the war's start — when South Ossetia's capital came under a massive Georgian artillery barrage, which Georgia says it launched to repel the advancing Russians. South Ossetia splits the difference, with a commemorative concert to begin at 11:35 p.m. Friday — the approximate time the Georgian barrage began.
Russia's main national television network, Channel One, is airing a new documentary Saturday that it says will expose U.S. involvement in the war and reveal how Western TV channels were used to turn public opinion against Russia. The blurbs advertising another television program to be shown on the anniversary focus on the women and children who came under fire in the South Ossetian capital, calling the killings "genocide."
Moscow also has fired a series of new allegations against Georgia in recent days, including the state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta's claim that Georgia planned to poison the water in South Ossetia's capital and the deputy general staff chief's claim that Georgian warplanes using Russian markings bombed civilians. The latter contention was greeted with bewilderment by Georgian national security chief Eka Tkeshelashvili and a comment of "that's just bizarre." Georgia is pushing its version of the war with insistence but somewhat more quietly than Russia. On Thursday, officials present a report — summarizing evidence presented to an EU commission — that firmly contends Russia started the war by sending in military convoys after weeks of minor clashes between separatist and Georgian forces.
It also says that South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity had left the capital ahead of the fighting and that civilians had been evacuated from many villages, "categorically indicat(ing) that intensive preparations were under way — preparations aimed at launching a full-scale war against Georgia." The most important conclusion of the report is seeing the attempts of the Russian Federation to undermine the Georgian state by using separists and separatism as a tool," said Cabinet minister Temur Yakobashvili, who presented the report. "It was all planned, pre-planned, and conducted by Russian politicians."
In the run-up to the anniversary — whichever day it is observed — both countries claim the other is ready to go to war again. Russia has denounced Western aid to Georgia's war-battered military and threatened sanctions against countries rearming "the aggressor." In turn, Georgian officials allege Russia continues to aim to subjugate its neighbor, drive President Mikhail Saakashvili out of power and exert control over the whole Caucasus.
"Their goal has not been accomplished ... they have a bad itching because of this," said Tkeshelashvili. And each side is nagged by the sense that it lost the war for the world's hearts and minds a year ago. "The inertia of thinking and the automatism with which the major Western media jumped totally on the side of Saakashvili was very bad news for those who like an objective picture," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said. "The signals that were sent from the media and the world public opinion were really encouraging for Mr. Saakashvili, which made him only too proud of what he did in August." But Thornike Gordadze, an academic who contributed to a book bolstering the Georgian government's version of events, told reporters in Tbilisi that the book aims to "break (Russia's) multi-million-dollar enterprise of showing only one side."
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Associated Press Writer Karina Ioffee in Moscow contributed to this report.It seems that Georgia is launching another massive global PR offensive coinciding with the first anniversary of the war.
How do you think that this war will be remembered in the western media. Who will be portrayed as the aggressor and/or initiator of the conflict?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2FU7cCSAAiIP4el8intANfxP8ZQD99TFE8G0
On war's anniversary, Georgia, Russia vie in media
By JIM HEINTZ (AP) – 15 minutes ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5gtl6TVtumcMUvTBF6EWpcZdI7nGg?size=s2
A worker constructs a mock 'Berlin wall' to mark the Aug. 7 anniversary of the outbreak of fighting between Russia and Georgia, in the Georgian city of Gori, near de-facto border with Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, some 32 km (20 miles) south of the separatists capital Tskhinvali, on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009, with the statue of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin seen in the background,. There is a sense here that the war is not so much over as frozen in place with the potential for new hostilities to break out at any time. (AP Photo/George Abdaladze)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5j8vANFuTB0r6V3W0fJ5qwagP_qxg?size=s2
Girls pass by a wall covering the statue of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, partly seeen in the background, in the Georgian city of Gori, near de-facto border with Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, some 32 km (20 miles) south of the separatists capital Tskhinvali, on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. There is a sense here that the war is not so much over as frozen in place with the potential for new hostilities to break out at any time. (AP Photo/George Abdaladze)
TBILISI, Georgia — A year after their war, Russia and Georgia are locked in a battle of words and images over how the world will remember the conflict. Each seeks to be exonerated, each wants its adversary condemned — and both say the other side is spoiling for a new fight.
The fog of post-war is nearly as thick as when the fighting was raging. There's even disagreement on what day marks the beginning of the five-day conflict. For both Russia and Georgia, the stakes are higher than just boosting patriotism among their people. The war shook the world's trust in each country, and both Moscow and Tbilisi are eager to stitch those wounds. Georgia's official commemorations begin at midnight Thursday with the lighting of a memorial bonfire at the medieval citadel in Gori, an action whose location and timing underscore Georgia's contention that it was victimized by its giant neighbor.
Gori suffered Russian air strikes and then occupation by Russian troops as the war spread outside the flashpoint in the separatist republic of South Ossetia. The advance into Georgia proper fed fears that Moscow aimed to take the entire country that had once been part of the Russian Empire.
The midnight lighting also reflects Georgia's claim that the war began early Aug. 7, 2008, with the alleged entry of a Russian military convoy into South Ossetia. Russia marks Aug. 8 as the war's start — when South Ossetia's capital came under a massive Georgian artillery barrage, which Georgia says it launched to repel the advancing Russians. South Ossetia splits the difference, with a commemorative concert to begin at 11:35 p.m. Friday — the approximate time the Georgian barrage began.
Russia's main national television network, Channel One, is airing a new documentary Saturday that it says will expose U.S. involvement in the war and reveal how Western TV channels were used to turn public opinion against Russia. The blurbs advertising another television program to be shown on the anniversary focus on the women and children who came under fire in the South Ossetian capital, calling the killings "genocide."
Moscow also has fired a series of new allegations against Georgia in recent days, including the state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta's claim that Georgia planned to poison the water in South Ossetia's capital and the deputy general staff chief's claim that Georgian warplanes using Russian markings bombed civilians. The latter contention was greeted with bewilderment by Georgian national security chief Eka Tkeshelashvili and a comment of "that's just bizarre." Georgia is pushing its version of the war with insistence but somewhat more quietly than Russia. On Thursday, officials present a report — summarizing evidence presented to an EU commission — that firmly contends Russia started the war by sending in military convoys after weeks of minor clashes between separatist and Georgian forces.
It also says that South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity had left the capital ahead of the fighting and that civilians had been evacuated from many villages, "categorically indicat(ing) that intensive preparations were under way — preparations aimed at launching a full-scale war against Georgia." The most important conclusion of the report is seeing the attempts of the Russian Federation to undermine the Georgian state by using separists and separatism as a tool," said Cabinet minister Temur Yakobashvili, who presented the report. "It was all planned, pre-planned, and conducted by Russian politicians."
In the run-up to the anniversary — whichever day it is observed — both countries claim the other is ready to go to war again. Russia has denounced Western aid to Georgia's war-battered military and threatened sanctions against countries rearming "the aggressor." In turn, Georgian officials allege Russia continues to aim to subjugate its neighbor, drive President Mikhail Saakashvili out of power and exert control over the whole Caucasus.
"Their goal has not been accomplished ... they have a bad itching because of this," said Tkeshelashvili. And each side is nagged by the sense that it lost the war for the world's hearts and minds a year ago. "The inertia of thinking and the automatism with which the major Western media jumped totally on the side of Saakashvili was very bad news for those who like an objective picture," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said. "The signals that were sent from the media and the world public opinion were really encouraging for Mr. Saakashvili, which made him only too proud of what he did in August." But Thornike Gordadze, an academic who contributed to a book bolstering the Georgian government's version of events, told reporters in Tbilisi that the book aims to "break (Russia's) multi-million-dollar enterprise of showing only one side."
---
Associated Press Writer Karina Ioffee in Moscow contributed to this report.It seems that Georgia is launching another massive global PR offensive coinciding with the first anniversary of the war.
How do you think that this war will be remembered in the western media. Who will be portrayed as the aggressor and/or initiator of the conflict?