William Sadd, independent researcher and affiliate of the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus

For many, historical nuance is relatively unimportant; memory and symbolism are matters of far greater consequence. Thus, when the nationalist chant “Georgia for (ethnic) Georgians!” [sakartvelo kartvelebistvis!] is shouted, as was done twenty years ago, it matters little as to what was actually said or intended by the leader the slogan is given credit to. Indeed, once warfare commences, pretenses and merit are quickly ushered to the annals of history, and causal claims are at once overshadowed by new, more destructive realities. So, too, was this the case for the August War of 2008. Now, we should ask ourselves quite seriously: what can (or should) be done to maintain peace and constancy for the Georgia we know today, in all its fractured statehood?