Wounded Georgia
Op-Ed
Generations are fading away, daydreaming of a better country, better government, better life, better future, better everything, but it happened so that Georgia’s national, and even individual, happiness came to depend on something that has proved to be almost unachievable: the country’s territorial integrity.
Expectations persevere and hope is not yet dead that the land pieces that have been sliced off the motherland’s body in the aftermath of the stupidest ever wars, will someday be brought back by a miraculous change or divine providence fermenting somewhere in the mysteriously unbeknown space and circumstance. Those pieces of earth, painfully separated from the mainland, are currently in the hands of Russia, nominally called de facto independent states, drilling through the mind of every living Georgian, but escaping the national memory little by little.
The wounded Georgia needs security and help, which it has always sought elsewhere, beyond its boundaries, the old haven having been Russia, the country now branded with the new appellation of ‘occupant’.
Georgia is truly in need of security, and it has decided to embrace NATO, the most powerful military alliance in the world, to serve that cherished purpose. The attempt to legalize its predisposition for becoming a member of the western family of nations via NATO and the EU, has been crippled a couple of times in the past. And now comes the informal invitation from one of our European well-wishers to join the Alliance regardless of the hugely detrimental loss of territories, by excluding from Articles Five of the alliance’s agreement Georgia’s lost lands.
Wow! Finally, there is twinkling of some light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel itself hides the dangers of Georgia’s doing so, considering the current state of its geopolitical affairs. Give me one political scientist in the country, even the most intelligent, experienced and educated, which is capable of predicting, with reasonable precision, what might happen if Georgia is forcefully and hurriedly stuck into the safe NATO fortresses. I am more than sure that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a nice place for Georgia to be stay safe and sound…for a while. But what about the consequential developments in the longer run? Is NATO an absolute guarantee for Georgia’s stable and lasting security against Russia in the coming years of happy existence, if a happy existence is possible at all in the situation Georgia has generally found itself in? If consulting the entire population of the country makes any sense when it comes to the issue of NATO or no NATO, then we have to go plebiscite and make it clear who says yay and who says nay to the hot question. Rumor has it that half the country is pro-NATO and half of it pro-Russian. No idea how true this statement could be! A number of politicians and analysts predict that Georgia’s genuine security lies in the western realm where we might feel freer and richer, whereas the refreshed Russian-Georgian marriage under the dilapidated wings of the Empire could end up in hunger and poverty. Other experts insist that the mindboggling problem of Georgia’s territorial integrity will never be solved. This is a sorrowful description of the crossroad at which we are now standing, looking in different directions with fearful eyes to find the way out from the dire geopolitical quagmire we have been stuck in for the last thirty years. Nothing seems to be a realistic helper. It is just talk, nothing else! And the worst thing is that there can’t be anything else but talk. Georgia is at the mercy of talk, and if we are lucky enough to turn the ocean of words into some viable deeds, then the morale might soar. And a high morale has the amazing quality of raising the productivity of the nation. This is why I am asking both the West and the North: don’t you guys want to see a productive Georgia, contributing to the world much, much more than now? If yes, then do something substantial!
By Nugzar B. Ruhadze
Image source: Georgia's State Construction Company