.West should 'wake up' over Georgia
SEEN from a swathe of former Soviet bloc nations, the conflict between Georgia and Moscow looks chillingly like the eve of World War II, and their leaders are warning that the West needs to wake up.
In the war of words by ex-Soviet Georgia's allies against Moscow, they have returned to a favoured theme: the past.
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said the West must not abandon Georgia in its conflict with Russia, warning it would be like replaying the 1930s.
"Returning from Munich 70 years ago in 1938 (British Prime Minister) Neville Chamberlain said about Czechoslovakia, which had just been dismembered: 'It's a small, far-away place about which we know nothing'," Mr Ilves said during a visit to Poland.
"We all know where that led," he said.
"Those countries who value freedom and democracy must stand up for it whenever it is threatened," he added.
Mr Chamberlain was at the forefront of efforts to appease Adolf Hitler before World War II, in a desperate attempt to ward off conflict. The British premier was among the signatories of a deal at the 1938 Munich conference allowing Nazi Germany to occupy the Sudetenland, a strategic region of the then Czechoslovakia, on the grounds that it was mainly populated by ethnic Germans.
That failed to slake Hitler's thirst. He invaded Poland in 1939, sparking World War II.
'Smacks of 1938'
For Estonia and like-minded countries, letting Moscow off the hook for its military backing of two breakaway, pro-Russian regions of Georgia smacks of 1938.
"We can't allow a second Munich, when the international community climbed down to Hitler," Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said Tuesday.
Estonia, Lithuania and fellow Baltic state Latvia were seized by Moscow during World War II, after the Soviets and Nazis cut a deal to carve up eastern Europe. They were occupied by the Nazis from 1941-1944 after Germany turned on its erstwhile ally, and then grabbed again by Moscow as the Red Army drove out German forces.
Like Georgia, all three won independence in 1991 when the communist bloc collapsed, but still spar with Moscow over the past. They regularly equate Nazi and Soviet oppression, but Moscow hits back that the Red Army liberated them, often accusing anyone who says otherwise of deliberately whitewashing or even hankering for the Nazi era.
The Baltic states are now firmly anchored in the West - they joined NATO and the European Union in 2004, and have pressed fellow members to get tough with Russia over Georgia.
Fighting over South Ossetia
Fighting between Georgia and Russia broke out last week after Tbilisi launched an offensive to bring South Ossetia, which broke away in the early 1990s, back under government control.
Russian troops have since driven Georgia forces out of South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
Georgia has long accused Russian peacekeepers - ostensibly stationed in both regions to keep rebel and Georgian forces apart - of bias.
Moscow strengthened ties with both regions earlier this year. It had already granted residents Russian citizenship - enabling it to argue that its assault was needed to protect its nationals.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who as current president of the 27-nation EU is steering a peace drive, said Tuesday said that Georgia's territorial integrity had to be respected but that it was "normal" for Moscow to defend Russian-speakers beyond its borders.
That argument, however, does not hold water for the Baltic states.
Mr Sarkozy's stance rattled Estonia and Latvia, in particular, because Russian-speakers make up around a third of their populations - a legacy of a Soviet-era settlement drive to tip their ethnic balance.
"If military aggression is being justified by the need to protect Russian citizens, then this should cause concern for all countries with Russian nationals living within their borders," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said Saturday.
Their concerns have been spotlighted beyond the former communist bloc.
"No state has the right to intervene militarily in the territory of another state simply because there are individuals there with a passport issued by that state or who are nationals of the state," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Saturday.
"Attempts to apply such a doctrine have plunged Europe into war in the past... And we have reason to remember how Hitler used this very doctrine little more than half a century ago to undermine and attack substantial parts of central Europe," Mr Bildt said.
HeraldSun
In the war of words by ex-Soviet Georgia's allies against Moscow, they have returned to a favoured theme: the past.
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said the West must not abandon Georgia in its conflict with Russia, warning it would be like replaying the 1930s.
"Returning from Munich 70 years ago in 1938 (British Prime Minister) Neville Chamberlain said about Czechoslovakia, which had just been dismembered: 'It's a small, far-away place about which we know nothing'," Mr Ilves said during a visit to Poland.
"We all know where that led," he said.
"Those countries who value freedom and democracy must stand up for it whenever it is threatened," he added.
Mr Chamberlain was at the forefront of efforts to appease Adolf Hitler before World War II, in a desperate attempt to ward off conflict. The British premier was among the signatories of a deal at the 1938 Munich conference allowing Nazi Germany to occupy the Sudetenland, a strategic region of the then Czechoslovakia, on the grounds that it was mainly populated by ethnic Germans.
That failed to slake Hitler's thirst. He invaded Poland in 1939, sparking World War II.
'Smacks of 1938'
For Estonia and like-minded countries, letting Moscow off the hook for its military backing of two breakaway, pro-Russian regions of Georgia smacks of 1938.
"We can't allow a second Munich, when the international community climbed down to Hitler," Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said Tuesday.
Estonia, Lithuania and fellow Baltic state Latvia were seized by Moscow during World War II, after the Soviets and Nazis cut a deal to carve up eastern Europe. They were occupied by the Nazis from 1941-1944 after Germany turned on its erstwhile ally, and then grabbed again by Moscow as the Red Army drove out German forces.
Like Georgia, all three won independence in 1991 when the communist bloc collapsed, but still spar with Moscow over the past. They regularly equate Nazi and Soviet oppression, but Moscow hits back that the Red Army liberated them, often accusing anyone who says otherwise of deliberately whitewashing or even hankering for the Nazi era.
The Baltic states are now firmly anchored in the West - they joined NATO and the European Union in 2004, and have pressed fellow members to get tough with Russia over Georgia.
Fighting over South Ossetia
Fighting between Georgia and Russia broke out last week after Tbilisi launched an offensive to bring South Ossetia, which broke away in the early 1990s, back under government control.
Russian troops have since driven Georgia forces out of South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
Georgia has long accused Russian peacekeepers - ostensibly stationed in both regions to keep rebel and Georgian forces apart - of bias.
Moscow strengthened ties with both regions earlier this year. It had already granted residents Russian citizenship - enabling it to argue that its assault was needed to protect its nationals.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who as current president of the 27-nation EU is steering a peace drive, said Tuesday said that Georgia's territorial integrity had to be respected but that it was "normal" for Moscow to defend Russian-speakers beyond its borders.
That argument, however, does not hold water for the Baltic states.
Mr Sarkozy's stance rattled Estonia and Latvia, in particular, because Russian-speakers make up around a third of their populations - a legacy of a Soviet-era settlement drive to tip their ethnic balance.
"If military aggression is being justified by the need to protect Russian citizens, then this should cause concern for all countries with Russian nationals living within their borders," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said Saturday.
Their concerns have been spotlighted beyond the former communist bloc.
"No state has the right to intervene militarily in the territory of another state simply because there are individuals there with a passport issued by that state or who are nationals of the state," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Saturday.
"Attempts to apply such a doctrine have plunged Europe into war in the past... And we have reason to remember how Hitler used this very doctrine little more than half a century ago to undermine and attack substantial parts of central Europe," Mr Bildt said.
HeraldSun
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