Krista Giles
August 29, 08; 11:10 AM
Wars and Violence
August 29, 08; 11:10 AM
Wars and Violence
When I first heard that Russia attacked Georgia, I overheard that it was the start to a cold war. After a while I heard again that it wasn’t a war just an attack, but reading this article now, I realize that the situation is much worse than people think.
Is Russia just picking on Georgia because it is a small, poor country? I suppose with Georgia being in poor shape Russia thought it would be easy to conquer, but with some of the Georgians strong will-power Russia will have some more fighting to do to win.
Georgia was poor before Russia attacked, but now they are in worse shape. For Georgians farming and marketing is how they make a living, but with Russian checkpoints and no buses to travel, there is no money being made.
As violence has decreased since the early weeks of the attack smaller attacks have been made instead of abductions and shootings, now robberies and larceny are the violent acts that may be just as devastating to this small country. Houses are being burnt to the ground because the fire station is unable to help due to the Russian checkpoints.
Some Georgians, such as Tahia Davitidze realize that it will take enormous effort to regain control of their land, but still believe that it can happen over time. Although many Georgians are positive, there is knowledge that their way of life will be different forever. For Tahia, she needs to take the bus to the market for 75 cents, but with the bus no longer traveling she needs to take a taxi for 12 dollars, which she is unable to afford.
Thus, Russian forces are more certain and confident than the Georgians that they will gain all power through their planned zoning and checkpoints, even though what they’re doing isn’t necessarily the right or fair thing.
After reading your post, I feel that Russia is taking advantage of Georgia's poor economy and trying to destroy its people by way denying them the bare essentials that they could already barely afford. The conflict seems to have appeared from nowhere and I hope that by other countries intervening that Georgia will be rid of Russia's grip and restored to its normal state.
ReplyDeleteHaving read your post I think that Russia's aggressive stance in this Georgian conflict is unwarranted, and dangerous. this could be the beginning of a much larger problem. I worry that Russia will not stop at just Georgia. I feel that this situation is very similar to what America is doing in Iraq. I feel that America's invasion of Iraq was and is a mistake, and now another world superpower is following suit. We cannot say we are any better than the Russians though. The Russians are masking greedy territorial expansion with good intentions while we are masking greedy economic expansion with good intentions. This is a very bad situation, and I worry that it will worsen.
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