U.S., Russia agree on peace for South Ossetia, disagree on everything else

I wonder if this actually means anything or is just for appearances. Sounds like the latter is far more likely.

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – The United States and Russia have agreed to work jointly to end fighting in Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia region, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried said in an interview on Thursday.

Fried told Reuters he had just spoken with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin by telephone, and “we both agreed to work together to get the fighting stopped in South Ossetia, and encourage political dialogue.”

That alone should be cause for applause, however Russia and the United States remain on opposite ends of the fence when it comes to who is the cause of the recent violence and how peace can be reached.

South Ossetian separatists appear to have started the latest flare-up of violence, Fried said.

“It appears that the South Ossetians have instigated this uptick in violence,” he said. “We have urged the Russians to urge their South Ossetian friends to pull back and show greater restraint. And we believe that the Russians … are trying to do just that,” he said.

Russia has called on South Ossetia to show restraint, but the head of the Joint Peacekeeping Force in South Ossetia, Vladimir Ivanov, has repeatedly said that Georgia has instigated tensions and firefights with South Ossetian rebels. Russia continues to view the removal of Georgian troops from the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia and a standing down of troops along the South Ossetian border as a prerequisite for a peace deal.

No one really knows, of course, who is responsible. The United Nations and the media have been unable to confirm or deny the who what when where’s, but both side has accused the other of stoking the fires.