This decision will provoke a strong reaction, but the majority of Russians will support it, all the more so since Medvedev's popularity rating has surged during this short war.
By and large, the attitudes of the public had taken shape long before the Georgian aggression. In simple terms, the Russians were already fed up with NATO and Mikheil Saakashvili, and the suffering of Tskhinvali merely brought the situation to its logical end. The West did not leave Russia a choice. When your words are ignored, when the truth does not matter, when someone pursues one's own interests and a one-sided policy, there is only one possible resort - "enforcement to understanding."
There is nothing good about it, and there is nothing good about the war, but sometimes one has no other alternative. History shows that it is immoral and pointless to appease the aggressor. The Munich policy only multiplies human losses. Finally, recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is a normal democratic process, which has been largely forgotten by the modern world. The will of the people overrides any constitution, and these people had the right to choose whether to live in Georgia or leave the country that had consistently elected such leaders as Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Eduard Shevardnadze, or Mikheil Saakashvili.
It was also obvious that Russia's relations with the West would become worse for some time. But it is also clear that there is no unity in the West on this issue, and a whole number of anti-Russian decisions are being taken under U.S. pressure. This is not surprising because neither NATO nor the European Union (EU) is an independent agency. We merely have to wait. Sober statements are already being expressed today, and with time there will be more of them. Here's the recent news from Italy.
On Tuesday, former Italian President and Life Senator Francesco Cossiga declared himself in favor of recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the right of their people to self-determination.
"I support Georgia's territorial integrity, but exclusively within its natural historic and cultural borders, and, hence I favor the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, or at least the recognition of their right to self-determination," he said.
Cossiga criticized the position of "the European countries that oppose South Ossetia and Abkhazia's independence. They seized Kosovo by force of arms, recognized its independence, and guarantee it by military occupation."
Sergio Romano (almost my namesake) writes in the magazine Panorama: "President George W. Bush declared that that Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected. This means that Abkhazia and South Ossetia cannot secede. But when the Serbian government demanded respect for its territorial integrity and qualified Kosovo's independence as a violation of international law, it was told that a nation has the right to determine its own destiny..."
The United States and NATO lashed out at Russia for "disproportionate" use of force. But in the spring of 1999, NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days, while in the summer of 2006, after a Hezbollah raid, Israel shelled Lebanon for 35 days. I could add that this "disproportionate" shelling was also made possible because the United States did not allow the UN Security Council to reach agreement on a resolution that would have demanded an end to Israel's military operations...
Judging by statements made by President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and by the rush with which Washington signed an agreement on a missile defense base with Poland, the United States has not learned any lessons from the Georgian crisis. Hence, we should prepare for new mistakes and more crises.
It is high time to engage in "enforcement to understanding." We have weighty arguments to this end.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
