Wars never end! Nothing is helping – previous experience, current deterrents, future catastrophes – nothing! In the modern era of nanotechnologies, quantum mechanics, universal cellular communication and internet unification man remains the same bloodthirsty warmonger it has always been. Instruments change – attitudes don’t! We go to wars even if we think that this might be stupid, even if we know in advance that the result could be deplorably futile, even if we are sure that the sacrifice will not be worth it. Georgia has its troops in international anti-terrorist missions, which means that Georgia is at war somewhere with somebody.
COMMENT: If we call ‘terrorist’ a person who we perceive as terrorist, he will defy the appellation because he is convinced that he is not terrorizing anybody but faithfully and bravely serving the cause of his own people and motherland. So the war against terrorism could be deemed as a double-edged sword which cuts both ways. Nobody knows exactly where the fairness starts and where it ends. As a matter of fact, I do not know of any global-scale public opinion poll which would have stated the number of supporters and opponents of the fight being described as terrorism. Making a comparison with the current Russian-Georgian conflict, we the Georgians think that Russians have occupied our lands whereas the Russians are strongly assured that they are defending the oppressed ethnic minorities from the Georgian violence. Georgia, sending troops to international anti-terrorist missions is helping the West to overwhelm the elusive adversary – the terrorists, and is simultaneously creating enemies out of the nations, standing on the other side. You see? How arduous a task it is to make it clear in the eyes of global community! Therefore, the question ‘Sacrifice – worth or not?’ will remain ever so nettling but rather commonsensical too until the world becomes absolutely clear about the values it is pursuing while using double-standard for the precise determination of those values. The painful inconvenience for Georgia is that it is torn apart between various systems of political values – between Russia and America, between East and West, between Europe and Asia, between terrorists and anti-terrorists, etc. And we do not have enough resource or political acumen to determine which is most reasonable and optimal for this nation to embark on for the long-run peaceful and fruitful development. Meanwhile, those kids are dying! When being recruited, some of them think it is cool to be out there in war, others want to make some money or proudly see the future via those thorny roads towards better life, often overwhelmed with strong sense of patriotism. But the problem is we do not exactly know whether they are right or wrong in making choices like that. One more thing we should not forget: there is a certain conventionality working in today’s world which Georgia cannot afford eschewing. If we do, we might feel bereft by part of international community which we think could be helpful when Georgia is in trouble and needs international help and support. Well, we are already deep in trouble – the multifaceted insurmountable trouble. One of those pestering troubles is the status of our relationship with our headstrong influential northern neighbor who is actually doing with us whatever she desires to do, including moving our state borders back and forth at her own discretion. And the friendly wise West cannot even make a sound of protest in our defense. Even if they did, Russia would simply take it all in her stride. Why then the spilled Georgian blood on international arena makes sense? When are we going to reap the results of our international military efforts? How can we justify our readiness to be at war against international terrorism? When will all this yield into reinstatement of our territorial integrity? Isn’t our territorial integrity what we are making those sacrifices for? What else?