The first news reports showed Georgian rocket launchers outside the South Ossetia town of Tskhinvali, aiming into the ostensible capital of the region. The Gazelle Editor has to depend, like the rest of the world, on what the media publish or broadcast; but this was the BBC, which has maintained the most balanced reporting of the major Western network suppliers of news. The reports appeared alongside those of the opening of the Olympics, where the world watched George W (‘W’hat will you do when the phone rings at 3 am) Bush have a little chat with Vladimir S (‘S’o much for Georgia) Putin that obviously resolved matters. At least, ‘W’ must have thought so, because he stayed on to pat the back sides of some American swimmers (so it seems)

It was only the next day that scenes of Russian advances into South Ossetia were seen, followed by scenes of their advances into Georgia, smoke rising over the town of Gori.

Smoke rising over civilian populations is never a reassuring sight.



It was only at this point of the reporting that the Georgian president introduced the explanation that he was responding to a Russian advance. Something seemed a little fishy about this to the Editor. The Gazelle would have ignored this story had it not been for the input of Russians of close acquaintance. One, with whom the Editor has traded ironic barbs over the American interest in Iraq, as well as American missionary efforts in Russia (in which we have too often been of like mind), not to mention the new-found nationalism of Russian Orthodoxy and Putin, helped put things in a certain perspective. He mentioned something that was little reported at the time that the West supported the independence of Kosovo from Serbia. Putin had drawn a clear parallel then to the claims of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, thus warning the US and Europe of the potential consequences of the decision. A second Russian spoke of her anguish on seeing the negative coverage of Russia on TV. She has studied in the US, and is unquestionably positive towards the West, but was personally shocked to discover how quickly Russia was vilified. It was felt personally.

Both of these people are representative of how deeply integrated Russians have become into the rest of the world since 1992. As such, they are reminders that old Cold War concepts have to be discarded in order to understand what is going on here, and on how to respond.

With the addition of this perspective, Bush’s hard-talk in the following days rang even more hollow than usual. How can the invader-of-smaller-countries-on-contrived-issues speak with moral authority in such a situation? How, indeed, can the president over-stretched in two hot wars be taken seriously when he warns Russia of ‘serious consequences’?
Thus it was with some surprise that the Editor, following an extensive review of American on-line coverage of the story, discovered a universal American condemnation of Russia. Even editorial cartoonists showed no difference between left and right of the political spectrum. All portrayed Russia as a ravenous bear consuming the poor little country. Enlightenment on this phenomenon came, in part, from a little article in the Guardian—with a report of the PR campaign by Georgian president Saakashvili (at a cost of 500,000 euros) to bring America on to his side.

My Russian source informed me, to my further surprise, that John McCain has been very close to the Georgian president from the days of the ‘Revolution of Roses’, and his chief foreign policy advisor has been a key player in American policy in Georgia. Further investigation shows this advisor to be a paid consultant to the government of Georgia. No surprise, then, to hear McCain pronounce so movingly, ‘Today, we are all Georgians’.

Well, it would appear McCain is.

It should alarm Americans to learn that the air-time given by the major suppliers of news has been gained through the efforts of a public relations company, rather than through journalistic investigation! Why are the journalists not asking hard questions? Whose interests are they assisting?

Today we learn that McCain’s hard stance on the crisis has been a benefit at the polls. Given his invested interest in Georgia, and his Neo-Con advisors on the ground there, the questions have to be asked, ‘Who benefits from this crisis?’, and ‘Who wants McCain to be president?’

My Russian correspondent thinks Putin would be quite happy.