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@ 21.08.2008 – 21:38:59
"Russia has cited the recent unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, the former Serbian province, as setting the legal precedent for a similar move by Georgia's breakaway regions."
"Meanwhile, Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, has backed Russia's military action against Georgia, following talks with Medvedev on Thursday that were expected to cover sales of Russian arms to Damascus."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/2008821134335474653.html
technomist
Ha ha! Well done, J! Brill!
Nice try on this but most of the Georgians support their current Government. A loose interpretation of the Declaration is not really applicable.
The Declaration of Independence is a founding document to declare a colony seperate from a Monarchy, it is not a seperatist manifesto for an ethnic region. Example the state of Texas could not seperate from the USA citing the DOI as grounds.
The DOI allows for the will of majority of the whole ( in this case a colony, seperate and distinct ), not the majority of the part. It also is used to reference the Monarchy as an invalid form of Governance not expressing the true will of the people. The point of the DOI was to create what Georgia has become; a free and democratic country with a government representive of the will of the people.
To use this as precedent is the same as citing the US Constitution as the basis of a legal defense in China. Just does not apply.
Living in Canada I am well aware of the problems of a Federation struggling with the issue of regional independence.
Each is a special case, to draw a precedent from the DOI for all situations as being equal is not only ridiculous it is very dangerous.
It doesn't surprise in the least that Russians should rely on the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia (a country that used to be under Soviet "protectorate")as backed by the West into a mosaic of mutually hostile entities combining people who had never established statehood or a common nationality. Let's be honest there never was in history a state of Kossovo, or Bosnia, or respective nations with separate languages and politcal organisations.So if a bunch of politically motivated activists decided to create thsoe states out of nothing, and the West supported it with the ulterior motive of wedging Russian influence out of the region, then Russia was bound sooner or later to return the favour. Such is the nature of politics. No one is right. It all depends on your status and strength as a state.
Wonder why Yugoslavia disintegrated (while Soviet Union fell on hard time and had its own worries), and the Basks never got so much as the mention in international media?
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They don't need to be so obscure in seeking a precedent.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness..."