Inside Georgia: Two HDNet Correspondents On The Job, And Suddenly, At War

When Jason Maloney and Kira Kay, two freelance journalists who work frequently with HDNet, first pitched me a story about some obscure places called Abkhazia and South Ossetia a few months ago, I was skeptical to say the least. A story about breakaway territories in the Caucasus didn't exactly scream 'ratings magic.' What they described, however, was chilling. Abkhazia, and South Ossetia, two breakaway territories in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, might be the center of a new war that pitted the U.S.-backed Georgians against the Russians, who support the independence claim of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

They convinced me to approve the story, and Jason and Kira were reporting in Georgia when war broke out. The story they've come back with is not so much about the military battle, but rather an exploration of what led to this crisis. Anyone who was caught by surprise by the violence wasn't paying enough attention. Jason and Kira found a region with ethnic tensions boiling over, national aspirations thwarted, and a dangerous brinksmanship on all sides.

Just hours before the war began, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili told Kira that "with all the courage I can observe in our troops, nobody would be crazy enough to attack the Russian army, right?" But attack, he did, in South Ossetia, and the Russian Bear was unleashed.

"HDNet World Report: Under Siege" airs on Tuesday, August 19 at 9:00 p.m. ET with a re-air at midnight ET to accommodate West Coast Prime Time.

Comments

[Teyshar]

This news story leaves out the fact that population wise half the province was Georgian and they killed 40000 of them and kicked 250000 of them out!

[peterclarke]

Skantea, you are not even in the ball park. As I write this Russia is looting and stealing American military equipment, yes stealing, kidnaping Georgian troops, while the Pres. of Russia keeps saying they are leaving, while his unrulely troops keep advancing. The European community sits on its butt, because they have to buy their oil and gas etc. from Russia. This arm twisting by Putin's Russia, flush with oil revenues, unfortunantely is just the first step of hearding their former lands back into the Russian cave. Keep smiling...­...

[skantea]

This is so important, because it shines a light on the fact that America knew all about Saakashvili's intentions and obviously encouraged him.
But for what?
The only thing this has done is bump John McCain up in the polls, and if that's the only reason they did it (the Republican Administration), then they destroyed a whole lot of lives for a publicity stunt.
Kinda gives creedence to all those 9/11 conspiracy theories, doesn't it?