Until a Google search earlier this evening I was unaware that Pravda, the official media organ of Russia’s Soviet regime, was still in existence. Led by two former Soviet-era editors, however, the "newspaper" continues to be published online.
In an effort to explain the ‘official’ Russian perspective on the hostilities in Georgia, Pravda has today published an interesting collection of articles and quotations from a range of “experts” in an attempt to justify both their country's South Ossetian military incursion and cast aspersions on Georgia's diplomatic motives. On the website, one will find articles accusing President Saakashvili of “commiting war crimes against humanity”, criticising the "two-faced foreign policy of Georgia" and celebrating what the website's contributors describe as a "Russian defeat of the United States" in South Ossetia.
The most curious perspective on the conflict comes from Emmanuel Karagiannis, a lecturer at the University of Macedonia:
"Georgia’s military campaign in South Ossetia aims primarily at solidifying domestic support for the Saakashvili government, while drawing international attention to the country’s ethnic conflicts. Tbilisi knows very well that the violent reoccupation of the breakaway region is not a realistic option, bearing in mind that the majority of the population holds Russian passports.
"Therefore, the Georgian government is seeking a limited war that could possibly lead to new negotiations between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali. Moreover, Tbilisi was well aware that Moscow would face a difficult dilemma: if it did not respond to Georgian attacks, the Kremlin would risk its credibility; on the other hand, if the Russian army launched a counterattack (as it finally did), it would be subject to accusations of invading a small pro-Western country.
"In any case, Georgian belligerent actions will seriously undermine prospects for peace in the Transcaucasus. Moscow should keep in mind that this is a limited war; any extension of the war into Georgia proper would only invoke sympathy for Georgia’s puerile government from the die-hard Cold Warriors in the West"
