Kazakh perspectives on the Russian-Georgian War
Meanwhile sources in Gori informed us that local commuters are rubbed on Gori highway by Russian, Kazakhstan and Ossetian military.
Misinformation and online propaganda have been some of the key characteristics of the latest war in the Caucasus. The quote above illustrates that point quite well I find.
One the serious news front, Kazakhstan’s president Nazarbayev has been the first CIS leader to make a statement on the conflict during a meeting with Putin in Beijing while many other leaders have been strangely quiet. Nazarbayev said Georgia had been “unwise” to send troops into South Ossetia and urged all involved parties to seek diplomatic solutions.
Today, the government announced that it would offer humanitarian assistance to the victims of the conflict and called the warring parties to grant access to suffering civilians. In light of the instability in the whole country, Prime Minister Massimov has suggested suspending Kazakhstan’s (rather meager) oil exports via Georgia.
Meanwhile in Almaty, during the NATO summer school, US Ambassador Ordway reiterated the importance for NATO of having Kazakhstan as a key partner in the region. And:
As it was noted by the US Ambassador, the summer school is dedicated to the role which USA and NATO play in the solution of contemporary global problems.
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on August 22nd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
“Nazarbayev said Georgia had been “unwise” to send troops into South Ossetia and urged all involved parties to seek diplomatic solutions.”
That’s pretty much a non-statement, and one would hardly expect different from the always circumspect Nazarbayev, especially with Putin standing at his elbow. To call Georgia’s actions to date “unwise” can safely be classified as an understatement, and to say that Kazakhstan has hardly flung a harsh word in Russia’s direction in the past 15 years is also not saying much.
Good opportunity for KZ to appear well above and out of the fray by sending humanitarian aid, refusing to criticize Russia, and criticizing Georgia only nominally. Well played.
Of course, if one still wants to send oil somewhere through the BTC pipeline without giving Russia its due, one would need to hope Georgia to be wiser in the future… at least, wise enough to continue to maintain what border integrity is left to it.