This is a piece by Eric Alterman, on Georgia and Russia. I think you might get a more balanced picture than you do in the US media. I only put the first couple of paragraphs here, remainder at link.
"OK, let’s recap, shall we? On August 7, Georgia began an artillery campaign against the city of Tskhinvali, which is the capital of the independent, but unrecognized, republic of South Ossetia, which happens to be located inside Georgia’s borders. Georgia insists it was responding to shelling from South Ossetian territory. In response, Russia immediately sent its troops not only into South Ossetia, but also deep into Georgian territory. Russia’s military cut main highways in Georgia, bombed military targets, and assumed control of a port area. President George W. Bush termed the invention, “dramatic and brutal.”
These facts are neatly and fairly summed up in a few, unfortunately rare, mainstream accounts—we’d recommend Michael Dobbs’s op-ed in the The Washington Post, or James Traub in The New York Times. What these accounts make clear is that there are no good guys—Georgia overreacted and brutalized South Ossetia; Russia then did the same to Georgia.
The accounts presented in the American mainstream media, unfortunately, have simplified this complex regional conflict into black-and-white clash: evil Russia punishing the democratic and benevolent Georgia. This is not only ridiculously simplistic; it just also happens to be exactly in line with the Bush administration’s chosen spin.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/08/cold_war_punditocracy.html
"OK, let’s recap, shall we? On August 7, Georgia began an artillery campaign against the city of Tskhinvali, which is the capital of the independent, but unrecognized, republic of South Ossetia, which happens to be located inside Georgia’s borders. Georgia insists it was responding to shelling from South Ossetian territory. In response, Russia immediately sent its troops not only into South Ossetia, but also deep into Georgian territory. Russia’s military cut main highways in Georgia, bombed military targets, and assumed control of a port area. President George W. Bush termed the invention, “dramatic and brutal.”
These facts are neatly and fairly summed up in a few, unfortunately rare, mainstream accounts—we’d recommend Michael Dobbs’s op-ed in the The Washington Post, or James Traub in The New York Times. What these accounts make clear is that there are no good guys—Georgia overreacted and brutalized South Ossetia; Russia then did the same to Georgia.
The accounts presented in the American mainstream media, unfortunately, have simplified this complex regional conflict into black-and-white clash: evil Russia punishing the democratic and benevolent Georgia. This is not only ridiculously simplistic; it just also happens to be exactly in line with the Bush administration’s chosen spin.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/08/cold_war_punditocracy.html
