So. On another thread, someone mentioned the Russia-Georgia war a few years ago. I never did get a clear picture of it so I decided to read the (Wikipedia) article. This bolded part here is what I didn't know, and I'm sure 99.999% of Americans don't know either. Basically, state-sanctioned (by Russia) robbery in the 21st century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_So...o_the_conflictAccording to Human Rights Watch, during the August war, South Ossetian militias burned and looted most ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia, effectively preventing 20,000 residents displaced by the conflict from returning.[253] Furthermore, the civilians willing to live in South Ossetia are obliged to accept a Russian passport in order to be authorised to.[254][255] According to Memorial the villages of Kekhvi, Kurta, Achabeti, Tamarasheni, Eredvi, Vanati and Avnevi have been "virtually fully burnt down".[256] The South Ossetian president Eduard Kokoity stated in an interview that Georgian villages were successfully demolished and none of the Georgian refugees will be allowed to return back.[257]
So. So. So. Russia backs this "president". There is no justification for it; none whatsoever. Yet, Putin claims Russia stepped (attacked Georgian troops) in to protect (evacuated South Ossetian) civilians. Yeah, "its" civilians, not Georgian civilians.
I would NOT expect Americans to know about this statement by that "president", but I would expect Russians to know it if they had any sort of free press. I seriously doubt very many do: first, because of the general Russian public's mild hatred of Georgians, and second, the lack of a real press in Russia. But, they should, and it should trouble them:
This sort of unlawful land taking and village burning happened quite often in Russian's history.. both from its modern history (state sanctioned redistribution, even from non-oligarchs but regular people) and from its medieval history. (pogroms, the killing of Jews and destruction of their villages)
So.
How much longer will freely elected democratic countries (like Obama's USA) accept "small" injustices in order to reach a greater goal? (ie: sanctions on North Korea) I thought Obama was all about justice, equality, and making sure the US never harms a dandelion every again? But yet, Russia and the puppet-state thugs it sponsors are allowed to do this? And remember, all this shit happened during George Bush's 2nd term, when he actually had (possibly mulled) the option to bomb the main access point to South Ossetia and potentially kill Russian soldiers.
And now Obama? Yeah.