Does an ethnic group or a region have the right to succeed from the country of which it is a part and pursue a path of self determination? In the case of South Ossetia, a small region of the former Soviet Republic Georgia, the West's answer would appear to be "no". The population there has just "overwhelmingly approved" a referendum on independence. However the west sent no observers to the vote and Western opposition appears implacable.
The secretary-general of NATO said "such actions serve no purpose other than to exacerbate tensions in the South Caucasus region", the Council of Europe referred to the referendum as "unnecessary, unhelpful and unfair" and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe deemed the vote "counterproductive".
I confess to knowing little (or possibly even less) about the political background here but my suspicions are that the Western positions are grounded more in the world of realpolitik than they are in the interests of the Ossetian people.
The secretary-general of NATO said "such actions serve no purpose other than to exacerbate tensions in the South Caucasus region", the Council of Europe referred to the referendum as "unnecessary, unhelpful and unfair" and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe deemed the vote "counterproductive".
I confess to knowing little (or possibly even less) about the political background here but my suspicions are that the Western positions are grounded more in the world of realpolitik than they are in the interests of the Ossetian people.
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