And at 1100 pages of footnoted, analysis, you have to know it will be a very thorough attempt to confuse you about who started the war. I certainly didn't expect much from the Europeans.
I know it is an attempt to hide the truth by boring you with pointless detail because I summarized the issue of responsibility for the war in a few paragraphs:
The ramshackle Russian military, rusting away for two decades now, miraculously put together an invasion of Georgia, flying in paratroopers even from distant bases, within hours of being attacked by Georgia? You seriously believe that version of events?
Russia got their South Ossetian goon allies to shoot at the Georgians and the Gerogians obliged by shooting back--which triggered the overt Russian invasion of Georgia. That is the reality of the situation.
Georgia fell for the provocation and gave Russia the excuse to invade. Although to be fair to Georgia, the Russians may have invaded anyway even if Georgia had held fire initially. Russia just would have needed to lie just a little more in that case to make up the Georgian provocation.
Yes, I know, I suffer from a disturbing lack of footnotes. But doesn't my summary make sense given what happened before and during the war, and what we know of the Russians?
Much of the hefty European Union report is history of the conflict. The actual portion on blame is a fascinating read. An article on the report summarizes the report nicely:
EU: Georgia started '08 war but Russia shares blame
When you read the report, the logic for this conclusion is astounding. The report calls the Georgian military's attacks into South Ossetia as the beginning of the war. So, logically, Georgia started the war.
Yet the report also talks about days of fighting along the de facto border between South Ossetia and Georgia proper prior to Georgia's clear attack, including an early bombing of Georgian personnel. But--and this is the astounding nuance the Europeans bring to bear on any security subject that might involve them in conflict--since the Georgians couldn't prove that the Russians or South Ossetians started all that "pre-war" fighting, the Georgians can't prove that their attack into their own territory of South Ossetia (albeit under Russia's control) was a response to aggression!
Russia gets some blame of course--but only for over-reacting to the Georgian attack--the attack which can be clearly documented as the "first" military action clearly made by an identifiable entity (the Georgians).
I find that a disturbing and fascinating obsession with international law at the expense of common sense.
The account of the war itself was far more useful, and it would be a good idea to check that out. As I noted at the time, this was no assault based on overwhelming Russian numbers to steamroller the Georgians by weight of numbers. The Russians were better equipped but did not outnumber the Georgians in the main South Ossetia theater (extending into Georgia proper).
But the report does its job--it gives the Europeans the excuse to avoid confronting Putin's more aggressive Russia, lest he cut off their natural gas.
Europeans can go to sleep this winter secure in their belief that they've secured heat for our time. And as a bonus, the report is just too darned heavy and bulky to wave on the tarmac as they celebrate their hard work at "investigating" the war.
And hey, at least the Europeans were smart enough not to announce this appeasement on the anniversary of the agreement on the terms of the Munich accords--they waited until the day after that anniversary.
Although sadly for the EU's reputation, the agreement was actually signed and the whole Munich tarmac speech thing was delivered 71 years ago today.
UPDATE: It is amusing in a disturbing sort of way that after promising nuanced and sophisticated European-style diplomacy, we got the administration decision to abandon our original missile defense plans in Poland on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.
And yesterday, we got the European Union's appeasing analysis of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War that essentially blamed Georgia for starting the war (thus cementing Russian control of south Ossetia and Abhkazia), which was the 71st anniversary of Chamberlain's famous tarmac speech regarding the Munich Agreement (which gave Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to Hitler's Germany) that he'd achieved "peace for our time" in the face of an aggressive Germany. I guess the Europeans have caught up with our tone-deaf form of diplomacy.
