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The war in south Ossetia, August 2008: four perspectives

  • F.J. Companjen

Research output: Chapter in Book / Report / Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

Abstract

The long awaited EU-fact finding mission report lead by the Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini on the August war appeared on September 30th, 2009. The goal of the mission was to ‘investigate the origins and the course of the conflict in Georgia’. 2 It is concluded that although Georgia started the attack on Tskhinvali, South Ossetia, both parties Georgia and Russia are to blame for the buildup of tension. Russia is blamed for using military force to reshape borders, something which had become almost unthinkable in post-WWII Europe, and for using disproportional force at that. The report came to focus on the human tragedy involved. About 850 lost their lives; many more were wounded and about 100,000 people had to flee their homes. The majority of these has been able to return in the meantime, but between 10,000 and 35,000 thousand people remain displaced.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationExploring the Caucasus in the 21st century
Subtitle of host publicationEssays on Culture, History and Politics in a Dynamic Context
EditorsF. Companjen, L. Marácz, L. Versteegh
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter8
Pages181-194
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9781003695219
ISBN (Print)9789089641830
Publication statusPublished - 2010

Publication series

NameAmsterdam Contributions

Bibliographical note

Reprint published in 2025

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