Ignorance is a demonic force
K. Marx
If only George ( runaway slave – MS) was a young Hungarian…
Harriet Beecher Stowe ‘ Uncle Tom’s Cabin’
Our President is upset. Every time this moron gets upset he better should not pose on TV. He looks like a monkey that somehow lost its banana on the other side of the fence. But I can understand his frustration this time: the country named for him was suddenly overrun by the people designated by him to die. What a disappointment! There he was, on the VIP seats at the Olympic Stadium waiting for the good news that Georgia became larger and instead he gets a snafu from his soul mate Vlad who sits right there, two rows behind. Poor Bushvili, he already was anticipating his statue to be erected in Gori, on the place of the former Stalin’s museum and now he has to learn quickly what is the difference between Georgians and Ossetians for his perspective speeches. Really, those Russkis are party poopers.
Hey, Georgie, I can help you. Georgia is actually a lose translation from the Russian word Grusia and Georgians – a translation from the Russian word Gruziny. The real natives of that country call it Sakartvelo or use a an ancient name- Iveria, which emphasizes the fact that they are Iverians, the relatives of Basques in Spain, located on the Iberian Peninsula. Iveria is the place of the Golden Fleece. Medea was a Georgian Princess. When W’s ancestors were still dressed in animal skins and were killed en masse by Romans Iveria was a powerful ancient state. Then it became a Christian Orthodox state (yes, same as Russian Church) under the Kings from the Bagrationi dynasty, the most famous of which was David, the Builder who fought successfully the Moslems and reunited the whole country. Another famous ruler was Czarina Tamar, a lady who not only ruled successfully but had built beautiful castles, among them the cave complex in Wardsia which withstood multiple attacks and fell only to the Timurleng. The alphabet of their language is similar to ancient Arabic and the language itself, as I mentioned is similar to the Basque dialect. As every ancient Eastern Country (let Zalman Khalizad take a geography course again) Georgia has colorful culture based on the primary occupation of its people- winemaking and craftsmanship. The names of the great Georgian poets are revered. Shota Rustaveli, the author of the epic Knight in the Tiger’s Skin is known by everyone. The paintings of Niko Pirosmanishvili are considered of the same level as French Impressionists. The art of the ‘compartmental enamel’ is a Georgian know- how and is as much a mystery as, say, Alaskan bone- carving. Georgian wines are magnificent and in no way worse than Italian or French.
Georgian Theater, Georgian philosophies, Georgian military traditions, - all of that puts that nation on the map as the most valuable in the mosaic of humanity. Having been squeezed between the two powerful Moslem states (Turkey and Iran) Georgians had endured most horrible invasions, terrible loss of life until in the end of 1700s during the Katherine, the Great rule in Russia they were invaded once more this time by an Iranian fanatic with the purpose to kill them all. Aga-Mohammed, the Iranian Shah burned down Tbilisi, raped all the women there, killed men and plucked one eye of whoever they could meet in that territory . They made a heap of eyes at the gate of the city as a reminder. Georgian King Heracles was saved by the feat of 300 Aragvi warriors who repeated the feat of the 300 Spartans; they stopped the Iranian forces for a day to let the King escape. He then pledged with Russia for help to save his country and Katherine obliged- she took Georgia under her wing as limited autonomy province. In two subsequent wars ( with big casualties) Russians pushed Iranians and Turks away and secured their domination. General Ermolov, the hero of the war with Napoleon was appointed in 1814 the first Caucasians Administrator. The Empire while assuming all the administration and military functions retained the Georgian culture, religion, customs, occupations and even the clan system- the rule of the big families ( sometimes called princedom). Georgian nobility and bourgeoisie got all the privileges, the same as the ones in Russia and Georgian Churches retained their property and influence. Of course, the Empire quelled any uprisings and taxed the rural people but even then Russian law did not transfer, for instance to the Georgian territory the serfdom of Russia proper (Georgian peasants were not bought and sold like the Russian ones) and in sorts abolished the traditions of the Georgian serfdom, practices there for centuries.
Russian culture absorbed the Georgian eagerly. As a former Russian student I state unequivocally that the writings of Rustaveli, Tzereteli, Tabidze, Dumbadze and many others could be found in any local Russian library fully translated. Ossip Mandelshtam, the Russian poet wrote, “Russian poetry includes Georgian traditional tune..” Georgian epic novel The Great Mouravi was published in Russia many times. The epic Soviet movie, the classic Father of the Soldier tells a story about a Georgian father and Sergo Zakariadze plays him. NEVER EVER, NOT IN ANY CULTURAL RUSSIAN WRITING CAN YOU FIND ANYTHING HATEFUL TOWARDS GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS. None whatsoever. Russian poet Lermontov wrote a poem Mziri about a Georgian boy and thus forever immortalized the spirit of freedom. That poem was a REQUIRED reading in ALL schools of Soviet period. Prince Bagration, the Georgian General, killed in the battle with Napoleon is a Russian National Hero and was buried with the highest honors near Moscow. In Tbilisi, on the sacred Mtazminda Cemetery there is a tomb of Alexander Griboedov, the Russian literary genius who, being in Iran in 1828 was torn to pieces by the crowd of fanatics for his work for the Christian cause ( he insisted that the women abducted to harems could chose to return). On the tomb his wife, Nina from the Georgian noble family of Chavchavadze carved the words, ’Your wisdom and your deeds are forever in the memory of Russia but why did by love outlive you.’ Guess what, now the Saakashvili henchmen want to level that tomb because Griboedov was a Russian!
BTW, slimy lovers here- how many of the books I have mentioned above have you read, say in English? How many names, great names of the Georgians do you know? Oh, I bet you know only one, the infamous name of Joseph Stalin (Jugashvili) who actually was born in Gori, that very town which is currently overrun by Russians. There is museum of his there and the only photo of him as a kid. Nice Georgian boy. ALL children in Georgia are terrific- southern kids, like little stars. Some star he was indeed.
There is a malicious tendency in the western media to portray the atrocities by the Stalin’s regime and even further after him as a ‘Russian’ or sometimes even ‘ Jewish’ activity. I vouch with all confidence that ALL the atrocities of those times whether committed on any native territories or in Russia proper were performed by the very native people of those territories against their own. Even the deportations (in 1944, for instance Stalin deported from Abhazia the Greeks and naturalized Turks) were prepared and thoroughly monitored by the ‘national cadres’ so to speak. In Georgia those were Georgians who killed their own and tortured people. And it was Roy Medvedev, the Russian historian who wrote about the way Zariah Lakoba, the wife of the prominent Georgian communist was tortured EVERY NIGHT for many nights and how her 13years’ old son was tortured in front of her and how he was killed afterwards and she was killed, the new saint of the Georgian nation. But she was never mentioned by Saakashvili and surely not by Condi.
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