NP: Georgia on my mind. I know little so I use wikipedia

Wed Feb 16 20:10:58 UTC 2022

Humanitarian impact and war crimes
Main articles: Humanitarian impact of the Russo-Georgian War
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_impact_of_the_Russo-Georgian_War>
 and Humanitarian response to the Russo-Georgian War
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_Russo-Georgian_War>
See also: Ethnic cleansing of Georgians in South Ossetia
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Georgians_in_South_Ossetia>
[image: Group of people, primarily women]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Refugees_from_south_ossetia-alagir.jpg>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Refugees_from_south_ossetia-alagir.jpg>
South Ossetian refugees in a camp
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee_camp>in Alagir
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alagir>, North Ossetia
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ossetia>
[image: One-story house on fire]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kekhvi_on_fire.jpg>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kekhvi_on_fire.jpg>
A burning house in the Georgian village of Kekhvi
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kekhvi>, on the road from Tskhinvali to Java.

Human Rights Watch <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch> (HRW)
states that all parties to the war seriously breached international laws
governing war <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_war> and caused many
fatalities among civilians.[295]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-298> HRW
reported that no proof of intentional attacks on non-combatants by Georgian
troops had been discovered.[296]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-299> The South
Ossetian parliament and several schools and nurseries were used as military
posts by South Ossetian troops and volunteer militias and targeted by
Georgian artillery fire. Georgia stated that its strikes only intended to
"neutralize firing positions from where Georgian positions were being
targeted". HRW documented witness accounts of the usage of civilian objects
by South Ossetian fighters. Such usage made civilian objects permissible
military aims, and HRW concluded that South Ossetian fighters put
non-combatant population at risk by setting up military positions near or
in civilian structures. Georgia was responsible for the indiscriminate use
of force by using inaccurate weapons to target military targets in civilian
areas.[297]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-hrw_shelling-300>

Russia deliberately attacked fleeing civilians in South Ossetia and the
Gori district of Georgia.[298]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-send-301> Russian
warplanes bombed civilian population centres in Georgia proper and villages
of ethnic Georgians in South Ossetia.[298]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-send-301> Armed
militias engaged in plundering <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looting>,
burning <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arson> and kidnappings
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping>. Attacks by militias compelled
Georgian civilians to run away.[298]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-send-301>

The use of M85S cluster bombs <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_bombs> by
the Georgians and RBK 250 cluster bombs by the Russians caused fatalities
among civilians. Georgia reportedly used cluster munitions twice to hit
non-combatants escaping via the important Dzara road and confessed
attacking Russian forces and the vicinity of the Roki Tunnel by cluster
bombs.[299]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-Council_of_Europe_HR_commissioner_report-302>
 Russia denied using cluster bombs.[300]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-303>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Georgia_Caucasus_civil_war_2008_refugees.jpg>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Georgia_Caucasus_civil_war_2008_refugees.jpg>
After the Russian-Georgian war of August 2008, the construction of houses
for refugees started very soon (near Gori, October 10, 2008)
[image: Large group of small, identical homes]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tserovani_IDPs_settlement,_Georgia_(02).jpg>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tserovani_IDPs_settlement,_Georgia_(02).jpg>
Tserovani, one of the villages built by the Georgian government for IDPs
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internally_displaced_person> from the
conflict zone

HRW reported that during the war, ethnic-Georgian villages in South Ossetia
were set on fire and pillaged by South Ossetian militias. This impeded the
comeback of 20,000 uprooted people after the conflict.[301]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-protect-304>
According
to the Memorial society <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_(society)>,
the villages of Kekhvi <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kekhvi>, Kurta
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurta>, Achabeti, Tamarasheni
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarasheni>, Eredvi, Vanati and Avnevi
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avnevi>were "virtually fully burnt down".
[302]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-memorial_casualties-305>
 South Ossetian president Eduard Kokoity said in an interview that Georgian
villages had been demolished and no Georgian refugees would be allowed to
return.[303]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-306> The
Georgian civilians, who resided in the Akhalgori district
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhalgori_district> and were willing to live
in South Ossetia, were coerced into obtaining a Russian passport.[304]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-307> The EU
commission said it was likely that during the hostilities and in the
aftermath of the war, an ethnic cleansing of Georgians
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Georgians_in_South_Ossetia>was
committed in South Ossetia.[305]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-FOOTNOTEVolume_I200927-308>

Russia accused Georgia of committing "genocide
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide>" in South Ossetia.[306]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-309> Russian
authorities initially claimed that up to 2,000 ethnic Ossetian civilians of
Tskhinvali were killed by Georgian forces; according to Russia, the reason
for the Russian involvement in the conflict in Georgia was this large
number of fatalities.[307]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-The_Issue_of_Civilian_Casualties_in_South_Ossetia-310>
 Public opinion among Ossetians was impacted by claims of high casualties;
according to HRW, some Ossetian civilians said in interviews that they
approved of burning and pillaging of Georgian villages because of the
"thousands of civilian casualties in South Ossetia" announced by Russian
television.[307]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-The_Issue_of_Civilian_Casualties_in_South_Ossetia-310>
 In December 2008, the figures were revised down to a total of 162 South
Ossetian casualties by the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's
Office of the Russian Federation.[307]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-The_Issue_of_Civilian_Casualties_in_South_Ossetia-310>

Georgia and South Ossetia have filed complaints about alleged war crimes
committed by the other side with international courts, including the
International
Criminal Court <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court>,
[308] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-311>
the International
Court of Justice
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice>,[309]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-312> and
the European
Court of Human Rights
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Human_Rights>.[310]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-313>

The war displaced a 192,000 people including both Ossetians and Georgians.
[28]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-amnesty-report-30>
 Many were able to go back to their homes after the war, but a year later
around 30,000 ethnic Georgians were still uprooted.[311]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-314> As of May
2014, 20,272 persons were still displaced, with their return being blocked
by *de facto* authorities.[312]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War#cite_note-idp-report_2014-315>
Reactions

On Wed, Feb 16, 2022 at 2:48 PM Thomas Eckhardt <
huebschraeuber at protonmail.com> wrote:

> Am 16.02.2022 um 20:30 schrieb Mark Kohut:
>
> >
> https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/1494027860671094786?s=20&t=XmBx8eHqgAh6YONoPA3nXw
> >
> > and all over the communication world, non-mainstream media I guess, it is
> > being pointed out that in 2014 Russia after
> > its troop buildup around Georgia said they were drawing troops back...and
> > attacked Georgia eight days later...
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>
> You are talking about 2008, I assume?
>
> -- An independent, international fact-finding mission headed by Swiss
> diplomat Heidi Tagliavini was established by the EU to determine the
> causes of the war. (...) The report blamed Georgia for starting the war,
> stating that open hostilities started "... with a large-scale Georgian
> military operation against the town of Tskhinvali and the surrounding
> areas, launched in the night of 7 to 8 August 2008" although it noted
> that "... any explanation of the origins of the conflict cannot focus
> solely on the artillery attack on Tskhinvali in the night of 7/8 August"
> since "... it was only the culminating point of a long period of
> increasing tensions, provocations and incidents", and there was "... no
> way to assign overall responsibility for the conflict to one side alone."
> --
>
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_for_the_Russo-Georgian_War#EU_Independent_Fact_Finding_Mission_Report
>
> It is not black and white, however much you want it to be.
>
>