According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations 34’000 South Ossetian refugees have been registered in Russia. Over 2’000 fatalities have been reported. 22’000 refugees are still currently in Russia.
Saker Message:
How big is the population of South Ossetia?
about 70’000+
so about half the population has fled into Russia
“Western Democracy” in progress, I suppose…
So that means more than 1/2 were ethnically cleansed or killed in just a few days.
I don’t know. Putin speaks of “genocide” but frankly I don’t see anything particularly surprising that people try to leave a zone of conflict where heavy artillery barrages on a city are common.
Crime of aggression? Yes.
War crimes? Yes
Violation of the Geneva Conventions? Yes
Ethnic cleansing? I am not sure
Genocide? I don’t think so
Its just hard to tell what exactly motivates the Georgians. Not love for the Ossetians, for sure, but did they deliberately try to empty the republic from its inhabitants or did they deliberately try to exterminate them? I have seen no info which would support this claim (which is not to say that this did not occur; only that I do not know that).
Also – some 10-12’000 did cross back into South Ossetia, at least temporarily.
But the bottom line is correct: in less than 24 hours the Georgians unleashed such a massive artillery barrage on the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali that about half of the people of South Ossetia ran for their lives.
All that NATO hardware was put to good use by Uncle Shmuel’s “staunchest ally” in the region…
when georgian troops kill 1yo children, when use tanks against grannies i think this sh-t is genocide
Suck ashvili is modern Hitler
Is there any way to help the people in Ossetia from the US? Is there anything we can do?