OSCE observers refute Georgia’s claims of Russian aggression

The New York Times has uncovered new evidence refuting the accepted version of events of the Georgian conflict from sources inside confidential briefings held by international observers who had been observing the five-day August conflict.

The version presented by Georgia, which has been embraced by the U.S. government, has been the catalyst for plummeting relations between the White House and the Kremlin, but now is appearing to unravel.

Among other things the findings by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that “Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.”

A Russian military spokesman said that by the morning of August 8, two Russian peacekeepers had been killed and five wounded. “Two senior Western military officers stationed in Georgia, speaking on condition of anonymity because they work with Georgia’s military, said that whatever Russia’s behavior in or intentions for the enclave, once Georgia’s artillery or rockets struck Russian positions, conflict with Russia was all but inevitable.”

And the rest is history.

What is most spectacular about this new information, unfortunately, is not that it is new. Several international sources and this blog itself, have long held that the conflict was not a Russian invasion of a neighboring country, but in reality a counter-attack to a Georgian attempt to break an U.N.-moderated cease-fire, and reconquer the break-away province of South Ossetia, which Russian U.N.-approved peacekeepers had vowed to protect from forceful subjugation.

The only spectacular and new aspect about this New York Times story is that it is the first time a major American publication has published and confirmed this chain of events. As the conflict unfolded American broadcast media repeatedly framed the conflict in simplistic terms, with CNN centering its coverage nearly exclusively on long interviews with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who claimed his small country was being invaded by a Russian force bent on conquest.

This article does go further, however, in presenting information that questions Georgia’s claim that it moved on South Ossetia only in response to shelling on Georgian villages from rebel positions.

A second briefing was led by Commander [Stephen] Young in October for military attachés visiting Georgia. At the meeting, according to a person in attendance, Commander Young stood by the monitors’ assessment that Georgian villages had not been extensively shelled on the evening or night of Aug. 7. “If there had been heavy shelling in areas that Georgia claimed were shelled, then our people would have heard it, and they didn’t,” Commander Young said, according to the person who attended. “They heard only occasional small-arms fire.”

Full article here.

For more direct evidence of Three Kings’ prescience, see these past articles:

Aug. 22: “Russian forces responded soundly to an attack on their peacekeepers” – U.S. ambassador to Russia

Aug. 14: Three Kings on the Progressive Student Voice

Aug. 13: American mixed messages contributed to conflict

Aug. 12: CNN continuing extremely one-sided coverage of Georgian conflict

Aug. 8: CNN offering totally pro-Georgian coverage of conflict

Aug. 8: Multiple sources acknowledge Georgian initiated attack