What Was The Georgian Invasion All About?

No Irene, not the state, I am still talking about the country. Surely most people have heard of the Russian invasion of the country of Georgia. If not, then drop your nuts and the game controller and get a flippin’ life. Yes, Irene there is more to this story than the media has told us about.

Please step into the Professor’s Way Back Machine and we will travel a few years into the past. It all began with the collapse of the old Soviet Union.

On a balmy day in 1992, Eduard Shevardnadze, becomes the leader of Georgia, after many months and years of civil turmoil and violence. Eventually Shevardnadze is elected president and the fun began. During his tenure there was widespread corruption and oppression. Georgia began negotiating a deal for a pipeline. The agreement he was expected to sign with the president of Azerbaijan would pave the way for a pipeline that would transport some 5 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey via Georgia. .

The consortium, led by BP Amoco, who commissioned the project, say the pipeline will be more effective than present routes running to ports in Russia and Georgia, because they cut out the congestion in the Black Sea.

This all started in 2001. In 2002, US Special Forces deployed in Georgia to help train and equipment the Georgian army in counterinsurgent techniques. In 2003, the Georgian president struck a deal with Gazprom, a Russian company for pipeline transport, and thus western companies were shut out of the deal completely. This same year, after the deal with Gazprom was inked, the so called “Rose Revolution” started. It was an uprising by the people and the army over Shevardnadze’s failure to deal with the widespread corruption of his administration.

Shevardnadze was toppled and later the present president of Georgia, Saakasvili, is elected president with a substantial pro-US position.

Now was it a coincidence that the participants of the “Rose Revolution” were receiving training by US Special Forces? Personally, I do not believe in coincidences in international politics. Now the last armed conflict—since Gaprom was now dealt out of the pipeline deal, was the action anything to do with that? Another coincidence, the new Russian president is a past chairman of Gazprom.

Now the stage is set. And you have read or heard the outcome. All the chest thumping by the US president and candidates over the invasion of Georgia. Was the action truly about separatists or the politics of oil?