Beginning of cold war!

Dear Pouring Rain.

I expected a reply from your end, but may be it was not possible for you. Well, it would be nice if you drop a line, whenever you get time.

Well, in my last mail, I told you Author Arundhati Roy's controversial statement regarding Kashmir, that people of Kashmir want freedom atany cost. In this mail I would like to tell you about Russia-Georgia conflict, which has almost ruined the Caucasus area. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has announced, Russian troops would begin pulling out of Georgia, after his military issued a flurry of conflicting reports about whether or not a withdrawal had begun.

Dear friend, I'm coming to the point now. When observing the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, one almost had the impression that the world had united into one huge celebration of athletics and humanity -perhaps signalling the dawning of a new era for the many nations of the world, but the fact was different. Russian leadership was busy in Olympics at the same Georgia was planning to attack Ossetia, knowing the fact, Putin was not in Kremlin office, and it was the right time to take action.

Georgian tanks, artillery and fighter planes, self-assured of American support, attacked the city of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, the majority ofwhose residents are Russian and several years ago- in 1992- hadunilaterally announced their autonomy. This attack resulted inapproximately 1500 deaths. However, after some hours of Georgian army's attack, Russia entered the battlefield in support of Ossetia. The intensity of Russian strength which was carried out from ground,air and few hours later from the sea, was so severe and the casualties so high that the Georgian army had no choice, but to retreat and at the same time the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili officially requested for America's interference and help. But Bush administration could do nothing. It's not possible for US to help Georgia due to many reasons. Strategically, badly injured in Afghanistan and Iraq, US is not in a position to take any step in this reason.

Now I would like to give you some more background information. Relations between the Kremlin and Georgia deteriorated sharply after the election of President Mikheil Saakashvili in the "Rose revolution" of 2003. The enmity between Georgia's pro-Western leader, who was born and brought up in US, whose ambition is to take his country into the European Union and NATO, and Russian leadership became personal. The US-trained Saakashvili upset Kremlin with his election pledge to bring the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia back under Georgian rule. The truth is, almost 90 percent population of the area use Russian passport and they have voting rights in the territory.

Dear Pouring Rain, It's being said that oil resources are the route cause of the conflict. For the Russian government, petroleum is a tool that can be used to launch the country as a renewed great power, allowing it to acquire considerable authority in the regions. While the US power play in the region was stepped up by the administration of President Bush in the aftermath of the terror attacks on New York and Washington. Ostensibly to aid in its invasion of Afghanistan, Washington sent US forces to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. But when the Taliban government in Afghanistan was driven from power — much to the annoyance of Kremlin — the US decided to keep forces in these countries indefinitely. In addition, the United States provided military instructors to Georgia. These moves helped tighten the American grip on the oil-rich Caspian Sea region and worsened the diplomatic situation.

The fighting in recent days between Russian and Georgian forces, for control of the Georgian province of South Ossetia takes place against the backdrop of the geo-strategic struggle for control of the petroleum resources of Central Asia only. Americans are deeply involved in it. The Caspian Sea region is home to major petroleum reserves. Kazakhstan has proven reserves of 30 billion barrels of oil and Azerbaijan has reserves of 7 billion barrels. Georgia is crucially placed for the shipment of oil to world markets.

At the same time, The EU had been trying to wean itself off energy dependence on Moscow by developing a network of energy routes through Georgia. It's no wonder that the Russians turned their attention in that direction.

Dear friend, it's a beginning of the cold war era, in a new way. I'm sure; it'll affect the world politics in coming days. Let's look to the future.

Hope to get your reply soon.

Thanks
The Desert.