Position Paper: Bad News

In case you didn’t know, the United States of America is currently in a very scary situation. I’m talking bomb-shelter in the backyard, learn to hide under your desk, constantly hold your breathe situation. Something with the potential to make Iraq look almost trivial. If you have no idea of what I’m talking about, I’m not surprised. There hasn’t been very much American media coverage of it. Which is surprising, considering the government’s apparent obsession with “homeland security”.

The situation begins in Georgia, a small country to the southwest of Russia. Georgia was once a part of Russia, but seceded from it in 1991. In Georgia, there is an autonomous region called South Ossetia. The people of South Ossetia claim citizenship of Georgia, Ossetia and Russia. There has been violent struggle between South Ossetia and Georgia for many years, stemming from the fact that the citizens of South Ossetia (which are a minority group in Georgia, Ossetians and Georgians are different ethnicities) claim that the Georgians marginalize them. There have been various violent and non-violent revolts throughout the years in South Ossetia, with the Ossetians aiming to either become independent or join with North Ossetia (which is a part of Russia) and Georgia not willing to give up territory.

This last summer of 2008, Georgia took advantage of the fact that the world was occupied with the Olympics and occupied South Ossetia with military troops. Hundreds of civilians died and thousands were forced to flee their homes. Russia responded to this threat to their citizens and invaded Georgia with its own troops. Now, compared to Russia, Georgia is a tiny speck on the map. Its army is absolutely no comparison to Russian forces. So then why would they make such a dangerous move? Why would they cause any trouble between themselves and their more powerful neighbor? Maybe because since the Bush administration, they have received ample US backing. Under the Bush administration they have received billions in funding – $151 million were given to them just in between 2004 – 2006. In fact, Georgia is currently the fourth- biggest recipient of US funds. On top of that, Georgian troops have received special training from US troops since 2002. Perhaps the reason that Georgia made such a bold move was because they had this western mega-power backing them up.

But why the US interest in Georgia? The US claims that they are supporting a “beacon of democracy”. More likely they are interested in having a foothold around Russian borders. Not to mention the issue that seems to shadow every move that the American government makes; oil. The Caspian Sea is an invaluable resource of oil and natural gas. To avoid dependence on Russian sources of these resources, the Clinton administration backed the building of a pipeline that did not run through Russia. This pipeline is called the BTC pipeline, and it just so happens to run through a certain “beacon of democracy” (you guessed it) – Georgia.
And so we come to the present conflict. Russia has missiles pointed to the United States, and has made agreements with Venezuela. The United States has missiles stationed in Poland pointed towards Russia.

The American media has said very little about the issue. In fact, all of the information gathered from this essay came from outside (mostly European) sources. You’d think that in between the presidential squabbles and Britney’s latest fight with Paris they’d manage to at least find 5 minutes to mention the fact that we are in a very tense state of affairs. This is happening right now. Right now, all it would take to cause a national tragedy (either in Russia or the US or anywhere else) is the push of a button (to be cliché). Why the lack of coverage? Why is it that almost nobody seems aware that anything is going on at all? If there is an attack on US soil, the public will be left in a state of confusion, followed by rage at what would seem to be an unprovoked attack. Just like what happened in Pearl Harbor and 9/11. In fact, the general public might cry out for a war…The truth is that the lack of coverage has nothing to do with the degree of significance. It has to do with the simple fact that the US government just doesn’t want the general public to be informed.