Russian reader Sanjuro raises "the hypothetical chance of South Ossetia going independent as in case with Kosovo," writing:One other line of thought... Although Russian media trumpeted that South Ossetians would love to be united with North Ossetians within the Russian Federation, [on the other hand] formation of a South Ossetian nationstate would ignite a new separatist trend - this time in the North Ossetia and cause a hell of a new headache to Moscow, this time much closer to home - meaning to oil.As Sanjuro noted previously, autonomy would appear a likely first step on the route to integration within the Russian Federation.
With a population of about 100,000, the territory of South Ossetia looks too small and too poor to constitute a viable nation. The relative poverty of the Ossetians was a major reason Ossetians sided with the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, in constrast to Menshevik-leaning Georgians. South Ossetia remains impoverished (the average citizen earns a dollar a day). In terms of trade, investment, and financing, South Ossettia is almost entirely dependent on Russia. In terms of population, 66% are Russian-leaning Ossetians, 29% Georgian, with 5% belonging to other minority groups.
Flag of South Ossetia (via Wikipedia).
FINALLY some truths started to get through the mass-propaganda about Georgians being victims !
ReplyDeleteEnvoy sees bitter legacy of war in Ossetian village
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=312537
Aug 24 (Reuters)
... asked if the two communities could live together after the latest conflict, she snorted:
"Are you mad? It's better to die than live with them."
"My grandparents told me that in the 1920s they were already killing us, so what we see now is already a third wave of their terror against the Ossetians."
Ossetians say they were a target of ethnic cleansing in the years of Georgia's short-lived independence after the collapse of the Russian empire in 1917. They backed Russia's Bolshevik rulers when they moved to retake Georgia in the early 1920s.
The region broke from central Georgian control in the early 1990s with the breakup of the Soviet Union, and book-keeper Bestayeva agreed reunification was now out of the question.
"There can't even be any talk of it. This is the third wave of genocide. Enough is enough."
In Khetagurovo, housewife Ofelia Dzhanyeva said she had lost her brother during the war in the early 1990s when South Ossetia threw off Georgian control, and after the latest conflict nothing would induce Ossetians to accept Tbilisi's rule.
"None of the Ossetians is even thinking of reconciliation with Georgia now," she said. "In 1991 our children turned into refugees. Now they have grown up to defend their homeland....