JATRAS: Kosovo prelude to Georgia?

Linking South Ossetia to Kosovo makes me crazy. Saakashvili is not Slobodan Milosovic. (How can "proportional deaths" be taken as a serious statistic?) Following the end of Serb oppression in Kosovo (an international effort in which Russia and the US jointly participated) Kosovo had nine years of international rule, vigorous UN debate, and an internationally mediated process which led to stalemate because the Serbs had assurances from Russia of a veto. Basically on Kosovo, the international process broke down (due to Russia). So after nine years, the rest of the world took action (recognition, not violence). How is this at all like South Ossetia? What international venues and mediation did the Georgians, South Ossetians, and Russians use? The Russians were even giving the South Ossetians Russian passports… which makes the whole thing look like a land grab not a geniune Kosovar style desire for independence. Kosovo may be comparable to Georgia. Kosovo voluntarily became part of Serbia in the 1940's and can withdraw that decision like an free people. But on South Ossetia, Kosovo is a red herring.

Dear cubfan, in newer history - Kosovo became part of Serbia in 1912 as the result of Balkan wars and retreat of Otoman Turkey from that area. According to even latest constitution of SFRJ from 1974, Kosovo was not equal in status to republic of Serbia as it was an autonomous Province within administrative borders of Serbia. According to same constitution - only Republics had the right to secede. So it can be seen that Kosovo can not be compared to Georgia. As for casualties in Kosovo - according to Hague Tribunal findings - (including all citizens of province, regardless of ethnicity) number of casualties was around 2900 during Milosevic's rule. You can compare that number to numbers that resulted from conflicts that occurred in other regions in recent history, e.g. Iraq.

Cubfan, you are wrong: Russia did not participate in the Kosovo War. After the war they tried to contribute to reaching peace, but their contribution was never much appreciated. The international proces on Kosovo did not break down. It never started. First negotiations over Kosovo were refused because UNMIK thought that order should be restored first. Then we got the "negotiator" Ahtisaari who went to Belgrade with the message that the only thing the Serbs could negotiate about was minority fights for Kosovo's Serbs. And even there he had many restrictions. That is not negotiating - it is dictating. South Ossetia and Russia tried to negotiate. But Georgia even refused to sign an agreement in which all sides renounced violence.

On the 4th of March 1921, the Georgian authorities in Abkhazia were overthrown by Abkhaz rebels; ‘Kiaraz’ movement. An independent Soviet Socialist Republic of Abkhazia was proclaimed on the 31st of March 1921. On the 21st of May 1921, the Revolutionary Committee of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic recognised the independence of Abkhazia. In December 1921 the Abkhaz SSR, under pressure from Stalin was forced into a Union Treaty with the Georgian SSR, which created the basis for state-legal relations between Abkhazia and Georgia. According to this treaty, the SSR of Georgia and the SSR of Abkhazia entered into a military, political and economic alliance. State-legal relations between Georgia and Abkhazia were based on the treaty, which provided equal rights. Following this the Abkhaz SSR took part in the establishment of the USSR. Is author know this fact? Independence in Abkhazia was proclaimed on 31st March 1921. After that the Bolshevik Party in the Transcaucasus subordinated the members of the communist party of Abkhazia to the communist party of Georgia. This arbitrary move on behalf of the communists was based on its interpretation of the vague doctrine of “internationalism” and against the will of the people, who had devoted their lives to the freedom and independence of their homeland. Despite the fact that from 1921 to 1931 Abkhazia was a sovereign republic with a relationship to Georgia that was based on a union treaty, communist party organizational units of Abkhazia were subordinated to Georgia. This was the reason in 1931 (under pressure from Stalin) for Abkhazia to be incorporated forcibly as an autonomous republic within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.[54] Vladislav Ardzinba, first president of Abkhazia, stated: “In 1931 Abkhazia was transformed into an autonomous republic within the Georgian SSR. Seemingly it was the only republic whose political status changed under pressure from Stalin not upwards but downwards”.[55] (See Pravda, newspaper, 14 July 1989). I w'd like to suggest some sources: Some Thoughts on 'Abkhazia is not Kosovo' by David L. Phillips (Transitions Online, 7 Feb.08) by George Hewitt http://www.circassianworld.com/News/Abkhazia_Kosovo.html Origins and Evolution of the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict, by Stephen D. Shenfield http://www.circassianworld.com/Geo_Abk_conflict.html Abkhazia's Liberation and International Law by E. K. Adzhindzhal, Sukhum, 2007 http://www.circassianworld.com/Abkhazia_Liberation.html

For some 60 years Abkhazia was forced to accept the unwelcome status of being a mere autonomous republic with Soviet Georgia (thanks to the ruling of the Georgian dictator Stalin-'Iosef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili'). For daring to defend our interests in the face of Georgian nationalist aggression, we were subjected to 14 months of savagery. In alliance with our allies from the Abkhazian diaspora or our cousins in the North Caucasus, we succeeded in ejecting the invader and winning the war. All that Georgia under its various leaders/governments has been willing to offer us by way of a settlement is a return the ‘status quo ante’. How many examples are there in history where a people after being invaded, losing 4% of their population, and yet finally winning the war have meekly resigned themselves to accepting the selfsame subordinate status they had before the tragedy of a war inflicted upon them? This is something that the Georgian side and their international backers (who have no interest in the fate of minorities but think solely of the ‘big picture’ of preserving territorial integrity, of finding allies in an unstable part of the world, and of securing the flow of oil) would do well to remember. Abkhazia is NOT Georgia. Abkhazia is Abkhazia! They should be told by their EU, NATO and US ‘friends’ to accept this fact, find a ‘modus vivendi’ with their neighbours (big and small alike), and then contribute to the creation of stability and prosperity for the Caucasus region as whole. We can all then get on with our lives in the peace that we all deserve.

To Cubfan, Kosovo is part of Serbia. Every Yugoslav constitution and Yugoslavs themselves acknoledged Kosovo and Vojvodina as two autonomous regions of Serbia. When I was in elementary school (In then Yugoslavia) my book and lessons taught me that we had six republlics and that Serbia had two autonomous provinces. The diference between the two was that republics had the right to secede from Yugoslavia because they were sovereign republics with established borders and nations (Croatian, Serbian, etc). Kosovo and Vojvodina existed as a nod to the two larger nationalities that lived there. Nationalities were in our lexicon not sovereign people whose country existed within a larger federation, but rather a national minority, Albanian in the Kosovo case. Albanians have a homeland, it is called Albania. Every atempt to undermine this understanding is false and needs to be taken out with people like you who have no clue what you are talking about.