Time to Decide: Russia or the West
Op-Ed
What are the current Russian-Georgian relations all about? I am posing this not so rhetorical question because it is high time for this nation to know exactly where it is and what it does to this extent. We need this knowledge for our future inter and intra national orientation, and for eschewing further geopolitical conflicts and errors. Georgia must already know, with absolute political precision, the presumable consequences of this disastrously undone friendly and cooperative connection between the two nations.
It is almost 100% certain that Russia is seriously angry with Georgia because of its current western orientation, and unless Georgia is ready to reverse its present position, Russia will always be as angry as she is right now. So, what to do? Give up on Europe? Betray America? Drain down the tubes the quarter-of-a-century effort of building rapprochement with the West? Kick the North American and the Schengen Area embassies out of the country and start crawling on bended knee towards Russia with a package of ardent entreaties, begging the cruel stepmother to give us back our shelter and the crumbs of bread for survival? Give up the idea of membership in the most powerful alliances of the world, NATO and the EU? Go back to the Sickle-and-Hammer model of lifestyle?
Some would say yes to all those questions, but nobody would take pains to explain at what expense. Russia wants to have Georgia tied to her apron strings as it was before the clamorous soviet breakup. Russia will never put up with Georgia’s actual independence and its attachment to the western block of nations because Russia feels insecure with Georgia being in somebody else’s hand as a fancy toy.
Discussion of Georgia’s occupied lands, grabbed by Russia, and any talk of getting them back is ridiculously irrelevant. The geopolitical cul-de-sac that was created as a direct consequence of unfortunate historical circumstances against the will of the Georgian people seems to be an insurmountable obstacle in Russian-Georgian embittered relations. I suspect that this generation of politicians and, presumably, several others in the future, will find themselves unable to rectify the situation to the benefit of all the parties to the conflict. The Russian-monitored movement of borders, flagrantly truncating the Georgian territory, or kidnappings of Georgian citizens on the so called border with lethal endings, and Russia’s attempts to bully its former baby brother will not end any time soon. Yet, pro-Russian sentiments are not mitigating in Georgia. As a matter of fact, there are still people who want to have the Russian paw back in the Georgian pie. Who knows? This direction of thought might be a win-win prospect for Georgia, but none of those two orientations – Western or Russian – has a 100% chance to justify itself without failure.
The bottom-line is that Georgia can no longer afford to vacillate between the anvil and the hammer, which means that there is no way to nurse both ideas at the same time. Being in futile expectation forever is not simply an arduous and exasperating stance, it is also a precursor of future painful political frustrations. This is why some of us are starting to get the feeling that a choice has to be made, and it has to be made now. Procrastination might be equal to fiasco. Georgia will never see a wolf and a sheep eating from the same bowl. We have no power to reconcile with the controlling ferocious beasts who are gobbling each other up. We will someday be torn apart between the two, and there will be nobody to give us a helping hand. And I think the only way out is to stop trying to have a foot in both doors and give preference to one of them.
Once upon a time, I thought more romantically about the Russian-Georgian-American happily coexisting triangle, but real-life hints to the unlikelihood of this dream. We will probably sigh with relief if we finally find ourselves strong enough to make a firm decision on what is better for Georgia – the new Western shoulder, the old Russian bosom, or the prospect of the third untapped way of development.
By Nugzar B. Ruhadze