Today at work, there was a woman who came into the library crying.
She said she wanted to print something, so I went to help her. She went
to login to her email--it was from a Russian site. That was when I
realized why she was crying. I got a copy of the email that she
printed. It talked about how the conflict in Georgia was quite
different than what was being reported. Here are some excerpts.
"Let me be perfectly honest when stating that this conflict is a
deliberate act of aggression towards the Georgian people. Russian
airstrikes have hit several civilian targets many of which lie far away
from any zones of conflict. Refugees are filling the streets of Tbilisi
quickly creating a crisis of food and shelter in the capitol city."
"Dear friends, I never thought I'd come to ask for this, but this is a
desperate plea for help. As I write this Russian planes headed toward
my beautiful hometown of Tbilisi, in Georgia. My parents, the nicest
and kindest people on earth, are sitting next door, holding each
other's hands and I don't know how else to protect them. There are
100,000's of other people here who are defenseless against one of the
world's largest military powers. Three days now I watched scores of
innocent civilians killed by Russia's brutal expansionism. Please
spread the word, ask your governments to act, spread this message, and
perhaps you can save a human life today."
And I looked at the Big Picture section from the Boston Globe. It is
always well done. This one is rather disturbing in parts.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/war_in_south_ossetia.html
It made me remember an interview with an ex KGB agent that I listened
to on NPR once. He talked about how after the fall of the Soviet Union,
he felt that he could no longer work for the FSB because it went
against his ethics. Essentially because the organization no longer had
accountability and was a bad place to work.
He also said that the cold war never really ended from the Russian
perspective. However, they were forced to take a break because of the
economic conditions at the time. Russia's economy is much stronger
now...
I suppose, I don't really have an definite point to what I'm writing.
Just some things I'm thinking about. I'm entirely skeptical that timing
the invasion to coincide with the Olympics was accidental. Both sides
accuse the other of ethnic cleansing and breaking the ceasefire. The
Georgians accuse the Russians of looting, bombing civilians and setting
up concentration camps. On the other hand, I don't believe that Russia
recognizes Georgia as a country.
We live in a world that is often sad and seemingly always incomprehensible.
And now, a very good quote. It's good enough, at least for me that it
makes me feel optimistic about life. And this is only part of it:
"The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very
nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out
for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is
reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men,
women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture
and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not
despair".
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the
bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men
will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people,
will return to the people and so long as men die liberty will never
perish."
