BBC news 2008-08-18 加文本

BBC 2008-08-18


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Oh, well, I just completely disagree with what Jonathan Neil just said. In fact, I mean I spent many many years working in South Ossetia. There's probably few people who know South Ossetia so well. I've mediated the only real Georgian-Ossetian direct talks without Russia's involvement. And I have to say that unfortunately Georgia has not demonstrated for many many years, a serious intention to settle those conflicts. I think we have to keep the kind of crisis in perspective. It was Georgia which started violence against South Ossetia, inflicting hundreds of deaths and destruction on this region. And United States unfortunately has taken a very one-sided approach in this conflict. And luckily the European Union is the one which has been much more balanced. And therefore the European Union, not the United States, are able to bring the ceasefire, are able to mediate, and I think in the foreseeable future, I hope very much, are going to deploy the forces in South Ossetia and will be able to promote the genuine conflict resolution. But I can’t say United States is, er, which has taken completely one-sided pro-Georgia position and ignores completely the humanitarian catastrophe which is now unfolding South Ossetia with 30,000 refugees on the Russian territory.(Www.hxen.net)

''Jonathan Neil, despite the rightness of Georgia's calls and the view of the leadership in Tbilisi, do you not think at least that this was an ill-judged move by President Saakhishvilli last week in South Ossetia?

Yes, it was. And that is not in question. The question is different. The question is the Georgians are no doubt responsible for the first opening of fire last Friday. The question is, however, whether the response is a massive Russian military and indeed what is Russia’s business. These people in South Ossetia and Abkhazia started their life when Georgia became independent as Georgian citizens. They seceded from their state. They were bestowed upon en masse Russian nationality only in 2004. So this is not so much a question of how the Georgians have behaved, although that is an important issue. But it is ultimately how we ended up with tanks rolling across international frontiers of a sovereign state just because one country has decided to bestow its citizenship en masse on an ethnic minority in another country. The two issues are quite separate and it does not absolve Georgia of responsibility.

Oksana Antonenko however justified or otherwise Russian fears are about NATO encroachment on its near borders. Isn’t the uncomfortable fact that it can’t tolerate the existence of a functioning democracy on its border such as Georgia’s?

Well, I don’t believe that Georgia is a completely functioning democracy. I think democracy is, do not act against its own citizens, you know, if South Ossetia to be considered part of Georgia in a way that President Saakhishvili did act ,used an overwhelming force against the civilian population. This is not what democracies do. At the same time, of course, Russia is fearful of NATO enlargement, because the situation is that Russia has not, after the end of the Cold War, has developed relationship with NATO which would develop or promote confidence that NATO and Russia in fact are partners forever. Russia still views NATO as a threat. And therefore, of course, any enlargement of organization which they see as a threat is going to, to frighten them. At the same time, I think one has to put it into perspective, if NATO membership action plan would have been given to Georgia in Bucharest, as President Bush was pushing for, we would have seen a much greater scale of the crisis today in South Ossetia, and clearly, most of the NATO members are not prepared for that. They do not want to have among them, countries like Georgia who are not reliable partners who use force and provoke against its population to draw NATO into this conflict. (Www.hXen.com)

Ok, Oksana Antonenko of the International Institute for Strategic Studies ending that discussion.

get/keep something in perspective: judge the importance of something correctly

例：As demands crowd in on you, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep things in perspective.