Ethnic cleansing?

Thanks to Fistful of Euros for directing people to my blog.

It's a hot summer evening here. People are going about their business as usual in Tbilisi. I did my weekend shopping, and no run on the shops.

There was nothing new at 7pm on the news. It's not clear whether there is any news blackout. Saakashvili is appealing to the international community to solve the dispute. It's hard to see the Russian "peace keepers" being replaced by internationals, although that's probably what Saakashvili has wanted for a long time.

The charge of ethnic cleansing is a bit steep. Everyone left in South Ossetia was either South Ossetian with a new Russian passport or really South Ossetian presumably with a Georgian passport or no passport at all. Or Russian "peace keepers". Surely they might expect a bit of trouble and be able to defend themselves.

The only ethnic bit is the Georgians going back into their own territory. And then they let the civilians out in the cease fire, into Georgian territory. What have the Russians been doing for their citizens? I haven't seen any coming out. The South Ossetian provisional government was sending people to Georgia during the moratorium, not to Russia. Hard to see that as ethnic cleansing. It seems that the S Ossetian fighters didn't use the cease fire to give up their arms and didn't observe the cease fire either.

Wonder what the refugees are doing in Gori? Tsinkhvali seems to have been flattened, so no going home.

Technorati Tags: South ossetia, Georgia, Russia