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Blog Kindergarten: A Bossy Tutorial. The Russia-Georgia Conflict.

russia-georgia-graphic

Russia, better known as Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, is the largest country in the world—spanning eleven time zones across tundra, grassland, mountains, coastline, and semi-desert.

Russia dates back to prehistoric times when nomadic tribes roamed the territory—and then Vikings, and then Slavs, and then Russians.

russianfashion

Georgia, better known as Sakartvelo, formed in the 11th century—which was precisely one century before the burgeoning territory was swallowed by the Russian Empire. Georgia tried independence again following the Russian Revolution of 1917—but the Red Army invaded a few years later, absorbing Georgia into the Soviet Union. This dance continued until the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, when Georgia struck out on its own again.

hitchhiker

At first Russia liked having an independent Georgia, sitting there all pretty at Russia’s feet, acting as a buffer between Russia and those countries Russia feared—such as Turkey.

carving-turkey

But there was one big problem, where one big problem equals two small territories: South Ossetia and Abkhazia:

georgia-russia-map

South Ossetia and Abkhazia are two regions in Georgia with a small population of an ethnic group originally from Russia. These ethnic Georgians within South Ossentia and Abkhazia want to be independent from Georgia—just like their people who live over the Russian border in autonomous North Ossetia:

north-of-border

But the newly independent Georgia didn’t want the ethnic group within their borders and so tried to cleanse them away. And the ethnic group didn’t want Georgians within their territory and so tried to cleanse them away.

This went on for two years, and several uprisings killed thousands of people—so in 1994 Russia deployed a peacekeeping troop to Georgia to help, even though they kind of sided with the Ethnic Georgians.

ethnic-georgian-score

And then in 2002, Georgia applied to join Nato, angering Russia who worried that it would encourage the spread of a pro-Western ring.

bossy-ring

And in 2004, pro-Western Mikheil Saakashvili became President of Georgia, and the first thing on his agenda was regaining control of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, further angering Russia.

Fast forward to now.

fast-forward

Last month Russia illegally flew over Georgian airspace, and then on August 7, Georgia launched forces against South Ossetia on the ground and in the air, and then Russia poured more troops into the area and launched bombs over other targets in Georgia, and then and then and then.

The President of Georgia argues the only reason Russia invaded his country is to gain control over the oil pipeline in the region, while leaders in Moscow state they continue to deploy forces in order to establish a demilitarized zone, while George Bush has pledged support and aid for Georgia, while Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin insists Russia is fully committed to the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and as Bossy types, Russian troops are advancing deeper into Georgian territory.

Bossy doesn’t know how this escalation will end, but she sure wishes the outcome was in the hands of Dr. Seuss:

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wow, Bossy has a much better grasp of world politics that I ever imagined. I am going to quit reading boring BBC stuff, and read Bossy exclusively! The graphics are MUCH more interesting. Thanks Bossy!

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  6. That was awesome. My husband & I were trying to figure all this out last night, and although I think we did well, this has excellent illustrations – so I sent him the link.

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  10. All of these tiny men with their tiny men complexes keep trying to be big men by killing people. I though natural selection should have eliminated this kind of stupidity by now.

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  11. I have to say that was a brilliant post! I mean it. I really don’t know where you come up with this brilliance. Thanks for the guidance. I think we should nominate you for world leader. 😀

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  13. you made that as clear as mud. interesting timing of the invasion of Russia to coincide with the olympics sense logistically it would be difficult to actually send an army to Georgia so quickly. seems this may have been a plan of russia all along.

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  15. Ah, the Zax! I love them. I am also fond of the Poor Pale Green Pants with Nobody Inside Them.
    Dr. Seuss for World Leader! Except that he is dead… but then so is our country’s leader. (Whoops! Did I say that out loud?)

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  24. Wow! I was just commenting to someone that I don’t have any idea what started the whole conflict in Georgia, and then you come along and explain the whole thing to me! Thank you – I think I get it now!

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  28. Oh, bossy. If only all the world’s problems would end in the words of Dr. Seuss. That would be great, because the whole world would have Diffendoofer days, and nobody would need a thneed, and I can lick 20 tigers today.

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  32. You forgot to mention that this is George Bush’s fault. He can’t go empire building under the guise of nato expansion if he has no clout at all to back it up because all his armies are tied up fighting pointless wars that he started.

    He’s been shown up as a fool once again and he has made the USA look like even more of a Paper Tiger.

    Who would have though France would come to the rescue!

    USA you suck big time.

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  33. If Bossy was my history professor in college, I would not spend so much time over my morning coffee saying, “HONEY? What’s an Abkhazia??”

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  36. Thank you Bossy – now I understand. And anyone who can tie world politics in with Dr. Seuss is totally awesome in my book! (pseudo pun intended)

    BTW, if you have never seen “In Search of Dr. Seuss” starring Kathy Najimy and a whole host of others, you really should. It is entertaining but gives you a lot of insight into everyone’s favorite Dr.

    http://tinyurl.com/648bbe

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  38. *Sigh* As a Sakartvelophile (Georgia lover, Georgia in Georgian is Sakartvelo), it pains me to see Russia trying to crush such a beautiful country with such a rich musical and cultural history. I’m completely, head over heels, in love with Georgia and its amazing music (look up the Rustavi Ensemble, Trio Kavkasia, Anchiskhati Choir, etc.).

    I’m not saying that Georgia has been acting like a saint (and certainly nobody could say that about Sakashvili after his staged January “election”), but I do think that Russia is out of line for:
    a. invading Georgia
    b. failing to get the hell out when they’ve supposedly called a ceasefire.
    Honestly, Russia, don’t you own enough land already? SHEESH.

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  47. Did you hear about Saakashvili’s nickname for Putin? Apparently Saakashvili is a tall man, while, despite his large attitude, Putin is on the short side. So Saakashvili calls him “Lilli Putin”, as in the Lilliputian from Gulliver’s Travels. Bet that pissed him off!

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  52. That was brilliant. More teachers need to start including the excellent pictures. I had been meaning to do some research on why they were fighting. Now I at least know where to start.

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  53. Ahem, thank you Bossy. I’ve not wanted to look like an idiot by asking about what exactly was going on over there! Shew, now I know. Plus I got to watch some Dr. Seuss…….Peace out.

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  55. Thank you for that tutorial! Krista wonders how Bossy got to be so smart and is glad that she was able to explain the history behind this most recent craziness.

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