"Propaganda and disinformation" - Has US Secretary of State Blinken provoked Abkhazians?
Secretary of State Blinken and the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict
Abkhazia has called statements by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on the fourteenth anniversary of the 2008 August war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia “propaganda that could lead to an escalation.”
“Fourteen years ago today, Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Georgia. As we have done since 2008, we remember those killed and injured by Russian forces. For decades Georgians in Abkhazia and South Ossetia have lived under Russian occupation and tens of thousands have been displaced, persecuted, and impoverished. Lives and livelihoods have been taken from them,” Blinken said on August 8.
“This year, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine underscores the need for the people of Georgia and Ukraine to stand together in solidarity. The people of Georgia know all too well how Russia’s aggressive actions, including disinformation, so-called “borderization,” and mass displacement cause untold hardships and destruction.”
“This is disinformation,” Abkhazian experts say
“Unfortunately, the very statement of Secretary of State Blinken and commentators in solidarity with him are essentially a source of disinformation,” Abkhazian political scientist Liana Kvarchelia said.
“Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts have a long history.
“They began long before 2008 when Georgia, under the leadership of President Saakashvili, tried to take revenge and change the status quo. And it took shape after several wars unleashed by Georgia itself.
“In the case of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, one should go back to at least 1992. It was then that, as Mr. Blinken deigned to put it, the unprovoked invasion of Georgian troops into Abkhazia took place.
“Unfortunately the events in Ukraine are being used by Western and Ukrainian politicians to stir up frozen conflicts in the post-Soviet realm.
“We have repeatedly heard calls from Ukrainian and European politicians to open a second front. In fact Blinken does the same thing, but in different words.
“The US Secretary of State is actually calling for a change in the status quo in Georgian-Abkhaz relations.
“The division of peoples and states into those whose lives are important and whose lives are not important also seems very regrettable. After all, Secretary Blinken cannot fail to understand that an attempt to change the political status quo will lead to a resumption of hostilities.
“Unfortunately, the world today is led by the false assertion that Georgia does not have a conflict with Abkhazia, and that it should only be a conflict between Russia and Georgia. This false approach seems to have received a second life in connection with events in Ukraine.”
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Abkhazian political scientist Astamur Tania called Anthony Blinken’s statements “the usual propaganda”.
“The statement of the US Secretary of State, as well as the statements of representatives of the Georgian authorities, do not contain anything fundamentally new. And accordingly, they do not contribute to the resolution of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict.
“This kind of propaganda shows that the leadership of Abkhazia, politicians, experts and society as a whole need more actively to bring into the global information space a real historical picture of the emergence and development of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.
“This conflict is not fifteen years old, as they are now trying to claim. And it is connected with the long-term struggle of the Abkhaz people for their self-preservation and rights. The conflict is also linked to Georgia’s attempts to thwart these aspirations, including through military force and sanctions.
“The substitution of history with propaganda does not lead to the establishment of normal good relations between peoples. I hope politicians realize this as soon as possible.”
Secretary of State Blinken and the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict
