No doubt there were civilians killed in this...but my bet is that Russia has killed as many or more in its abject agression.
GEORGIA CONFLICT 2008
Posted on 08/17/2008 6:03:48 PM PDT by justa-hairyape
South Ossetian city Tskhinvali slowly emerges from shellshock, but the damage doesn't appear to be on the scale Russia claimed. Residents blame the bloodshed on Georgia and regard Russia as saviour.
TSKHINVALI, GEORGIA -- A visit to this war-strafed city Sunday turned up no proof of Russian claims that more than 2,000 people died here. Nor were there any ready sign of what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin referred to as "genocide."
Tskhinvali Regional Hospital had confirmed the deaths of 40 people as of Sunday, though the number was expected to grow, said Tina Zakharova, an Ossetian doctor who showed The Times a log of deaths. That figure included both civilians and combatants: people who died at the hospital, whose bodies were brought to the hospital or whose families reported burying their dead in villages.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
No doubt there were civilians killed in this...but my bet is that Russia has killed as many or more in its abject agression.
Outrageous lies usually are.
If the Russians think they are experiencing a diplomatic freeze now wait until this story firms up.
But it will be very transparent as to what the truth is.
How could it be hard to verify? I read it on all the comment threads on all the blogs last week. It was right there in black and white, straight from the fingertips of Russian blog commenters. What more verification does one need?
Chicago has offered to send a supply of Democratic voters as evidence, just as long as they are back to their Illinois cemeteries by election day.
LOL! ROTFL!
ROFLMAO!!!
I’ve been dating a girl who is from Russia (no, I did NOT order her through the mail - she’s a 10 year resident of the US and a citizen). Anyway, she talks sometimes about how things in Russia were never as bad as what we thought they were during the Cold War and how Putin is so loved by the people there. She’s never been a Communist and she votes Republican, so it’s never been a big deal until this week, but now her attitudes are really bothering me. When she heard about this conflict with Georgia, she immediately wanted to know what Georgia had done to cause it, and today she got a call from her mom, who still lives in Russia, and the word from her mom is that thousands of South Ossetians have been taken to hospitals in Moscow and other places in Russia as a result of the attempted genocide that the Georgians committed. She, of course, claims that Russia has no imperialist ambitions in that region (please try not to laugh). I suggested to her that if there is any truth to her claims that we Americans are sometimes fed propaganda by our government, there is much more of that fed to the Russian people by Mr. Putin.
I’m not sure this is going to work out. To her credit, she is beautiful and smart (about most everything other than Russian politics).
There were probably a lot of injuries, but why would you fly them all the way up to Moscow ?
Because it makes it more believable?
That was my first thought - why would these people be taken 1000 miles or more away?
So this is the evidence that proves Putin is lying, and in fact the S. Ossetian Georgians are the ones being ethnically cleansed.
And of course the media is eating the Russian lies up.
Some things are so engrained, they are tough to get away from. Communism is one of them. Especially the brainwashing the Russians are famous for.
And we are also guilty of knee jerk patriotism, all people are of their home. Not to mention, nostalgia makes things seem much better than they actually were.
Be aware of her, but also understanding. You know?
For example, I had a really (financially) poor childhood. Realistically, it sucked. Biscuits and grits weeks on end is not nice, but my mother would not accept food stamps and we survived. But the times my mom could afford a nice meal, things shine in that memory and I feel that overall I had a nice childhood.
Does that make sense?
Its kind of funny because my parents said it wasn’t so bad in Romania under communism. Then they tell stories about surviving on one egg a day and sending children out at night to buy milk on the black market. There were food riots and religious persecution. My dads cousin helped smuggle some bibles and they would rip out the pages and hand them out to Christians because there wasn’t even close to enough to go around. They would secretly swap pages with each other because it was illegal and considered pornography. One wrong word or even mentioning that you were hungry would get you thrown in prison. Two of my uncles tried to escape but were caught and spent a year in prison where thy had to live on rats because there wasn’t enough food. Many people were imprisoned, tortured and killed. It wasn’t illegal to have churches but they would often inject the pastors with a drug that made them go insane. But they still love Romania and have fond memories also.
She is right about how things were never "as bad" - at least, that is probably the case if she grew up in Moscow. People know what their life experience has been.
Also, if the comparison is to the late 90s when the ruble was devalued, it's very understandable to think things were never as bad as that.
Finally, she is right that Putin is well liked. Things are stable and prosperous - what's not to like? The fact that it's basically all due to the world market for energy that Russia sits on, those aren't dots that the average person is likely to connect. Same basic reason why so many people were willing to give Clinton credit for the internet boom which he had nothing to do with.
*I'm married to a Russian.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.