After having a look at the list of contributors to this book, I strongly suggest you avoid this tome. There is nothing new in it: just the same old prejudices and ideologically-driven affection for the “Mugabe of the Caucasus.” However, I do suggest you read Cornell’s ‘please buy book’ article “Russia shuts out the international community” printed by the Daily Telegraph. It is a wonderful example of how the neocon agenda never dies and never fades away.

I think Cornell should have been a poet or a fiction writer. In the first paragraph he exhorts us to be aware of evil in the world, and the greatest evil is of course Russia. This week Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution extending the 16-year-old UN mission monitoring Abkhazia. Russia’s veto was correct in every way. The resolution simply did not reflect new realities – Abkhazia and South Ossetia are finally free of the ethnic cleansing maniacs located in Tbilisi. These two new countries will never again be menaced by the descendents of Zviad Gamsakhurdia.

Cornell then goes on to repeat falsehoods at the start of the second paragraph – “Last August, Russia invaded Georgia and effectively annexed two of its provinces, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.” This sentence alone is the best reason to avoid Cornell’s book. This sentence is the premise on which the entire article is based, and thus invalidates the entire article (and book I would assume).

Allow me to rewrite Cornell’s sentence: “Last August, Saakashvili launched a pre-emptive attack on South Ossetia which targeted civilians – primarily women and children – and recognized peacekeepers. Later, and because of Tbilisi’s aggression, Russia with great reluctance recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.” I have to assume that Cornell either lives under a rock or is willfully ignorant. Saakashvili has already publicly admitted he started the war. On top of this, leaks from an upcoming EU-related report support Saakashvili’s admission. What other evidence is needed for Cornell and his cabal of “blame Russia first” supporters to accept that the American-supported, -funded, and -trained Saakashvili regime is in the wrong?

I would comment on the rest of the Daily Telegraph article, but it is the same bluster and closed-mindedness we have heard and read in western mainstream media and from ideological diehards when it comes to Georgia’s so-called “western orientation.” Cornell and his ilk simply cannot admit that Washington’s Georgia project failed – thankfully it did and will continue to.

But I am not finished. There is something I think we all need to remember when reflecting on a conflict that should never have happened. People like Cornell like to think big and feel big, but what about the issue that really matters? He appears to have no interest in the fate and trials of the South Ossetians and Abkhazians. However, this is what the August conflict was all about – the status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia was willing to live with the status quo before the aggression. Later, that stance changed. To avoid more ethnic cleansing of people who wanted to be free of Tbilisi, Russia agreed to their recognition as independent states for humanitarian reasons.

Please give the following a thought: South Ossetia and Abkhazia have since the early 90s wanted to be free of Tbilisi’s influence - neither wanted to be part of Georgia (let alone NATO). South Ossetia and Abkhazia have, since the end of the Soviet Union, looked to Russia for assistance and security from intensely hostile Georgian nationalism. But then again, that tragic story doesn’t fit into Cornell’s ideologically-driven narrative. That narrative avoids considering the hopes of oppressed people.

The neocon project is only about geopolitical ambitions - everything and everyone must conform to this thesis in advance. Any evidence that denies this thesis is discarded and so should Cornell’s book.