Five presidents speak out

Tonight on television I witnessed an extraordinary event: five Presidents together on one stage speaking out for freedom. What a historical occasion, and what a moment of solidarity for the whole eastern block.

The presidents of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine were all present and spoke publically at a rally in Tbilisi, decrying the aggressive actions of Russia and speaking historically and figuratively of the importance of resisting such action. Not only for the people of Georgia, but also for the people's of those nations whose presidents were representative, it was a moment to realize that "together we are stronger."

Later, on CNN, I saw Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the UN, call Saakashvili a psychopath, someone who needed to be 'exterminated.' He called Georgian actions 'terrorist' and characterised their actions in South Ossetia as 'genocide.' Obviously this man is well educated, speaking English fluently with many years of diplomatic experience, but in what context is this type of language permissable in international diplomatic circles even from someone far less educated? Take our own president, just as an example...

Just for the record, I think that there are about 150,000 South Ossetians (this from David Bakradze, chair of parliament), 120,000 of whom live in Georgia and 30,000 in South Ossetia. There is no border to South Ossetia, but it's form is more like a checkerboard of villages controlled and populated either by Georgians or South Ossetians (with Russian support). This region lies only 50 miles from the capital of Georgia. Recently Georgians were being shot from South Ossetian villages and killed (and likely there was retaliation), so the Georgian government finally got fed up with it and tried to get rid of the separatist militias who were killing its citizens literally on the doorstep of the capital. This lawless region has remained out of the control of the central government, with all of its law enforcement, welfare, education, and economic development programs, only due to the presence and threat of Russian "peace-keeping" troops. In fact, these troops do nothing, and the area has been basically lawless for 17 years.

When asked about the Russian accusation of genocide perpetrated against South Ossetians, Bakradze answered (paraphrase), "we have more than 3/4ths of the Ossetian population already in Georgia, we have a small militia group attacking our citizens within our own borders. We moved to resist these militia groups, and this is called genocide?! Please learn the facts about this matter before asking silly questions!" I have to agree, the Russian "case," used to justify their invasion of Georgia, is not only weak, they don't have a case. They have been supporting a separatist puppet regime in South Ossetia, granting citizenship, assigning soldiers, meanwhile making them promises of recognition that will never be granted given the domino effect that would happen from all of Russia's minority ethnic groups.

The moment of five presidents speaking together in support of Saakashvili, Georgian sovereignty, and especially the freedom for each nation to exist on its own terms, was a very powerful message here. A historical moment.