I have been following the situation in Georgia with great sadness. A completely unnecessary war in every aspect. It is hard for a complete observer far from the center of the problem, try find a reason for it to start in the first place. The big picture is quite clear, Its the details that complicate things. That many innocent lives needed to be killed just to come to a stop a few days later is for me a mystery. Call me naive and living in a dream world, but there must be other ways to resolve this than military power?

A problem created by the west?

I would however like to put some of the blame on someone outside the whole conflict. The war started in a conflict that saw its daylight in 1992-93 in the midst of the old USSR falling apart. The international political scene has in many ways not dealt seriously enough with the fact that this big proud nation was falling apart. The warning signals have been there all the time. South Osstesia was one of these problem areas in the old Sovjet state. What the west certainly could have done was show the new Russia respect and leave them with some dignity and pride. In stead the west systematically has tried to oppose any Russian effort to regain peace in difficult areas by not offering much international help.

Who is to blame then?

At the same time Russia is to blame for wanting to use power and military force to solve these problems. And in this case to punish Georgia for going into what they claim is there own land. It is clearly not a solution. Tsjetsjnia should prove my point in many ways. Hopefully South Ossetia and Abkhazia will not turn out to be a new Tsjetsjnia. See footage from the conflict here.

A bad peace is always better than a good war.