Troubles in Georgia

The present conflict in Eastern Europe—-between Georgia and one of it’s provinces, South Ossetia—-does remind me of a song which of course many of you would immediately be familiar with as that classic Ray Charles song, “Georgia On My Mind”.

At this juncture, one might asked the question as to whether or not the song “Georgia on My Mind” was written with the former USSR territory Georgia in mind or the U.S. state of Georgia instead. The answer should undoubtedly be Georgia, USA and in fact, it is now the official song of the state, as declared in 1979. Despite of that, “Georgia on My Mind” was originally made by its composer in honor of a sister named Georgia. It so happened that the lyrics of the 1960’s song are broad and general enough that it could now refer also to a state, as in to the state of Georgia, USA.

But there’s another Georgia that needs another song, one that could pacify and calm the rising troubles there. What started as merely erratic clashes between Georgian soldiers and separatists South Ossetians has now become a full-blown war and the European Union is so up on its feet in order to thwart any further escalation of conflicts there. EU does not need another Kosovo situation in its midst.

And what’s more alarming in the increasing conflicts is that it is now slowly becoming another proxy war between America and Russia where America is explicitly supporting Georgia, now being headed by its American-educated president Mikheil Saakashvili while Russia had become an ally of South Ossetia and had been shelling and bombarding Georgian positions in order to protect South Ossetia.

We had Vietnam and Afghanistan before, and now South Ossetia is becoming another dangerous proxy war between two military powers. This kind of conflict is always a grave concern for global peace most especially as the risk of widespread escalation is always a patent probability. Vietnam before could have spurred a world war in a time of nuclear arm proliferation in the 1960’s, towards the 1970’s, as USSR and America were trying to put up one against another over there, for pride and glory. One could say that it was a relief that conflict escalation had not occurred during the Vietnam War when we all know now, that it could have had happened for several causes or reasons, like the fear of the Communist Domino Effect in Southeast Asia.

Similarly, it was a relief that Afghanistan, where Russian and US forces have actively participated in, had not similarly led to a full blown war, like in a global scale.

But just about the time that we thought that proxy wars among and between superpowers have become a thing of the past, that global politics have grown over it and above it with the dissolution of the USSR and the capitalism in China, South Ossetia becomes now another specter of Cold War conflicts and era of proxy wars, like a specter that has come now back and refuses to disappear.