This conflict between Georgia and Russia is much more involved that on the surface. It would take a Russia/Soviet Union expert to give a real sense of things, but here are a few key points.

1. Part of the conflict between Russia and Georgia centers on a small region called South Ossetia. South Ossetia is a break-away region of Georgia, which separated from Georgia in a 1991-92 war.
2. The South Ossetia region has a population of around 70,000 (yes 7-0 thousand), 2/3 of which are ethnic Ossetians and 1/3 who are ethnic Georgians. The major religion there is Christianity.
3. Ossetians have maintained good relations with Russians, both during the first Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. North Ossetia is already part of Russia.
4. Russia’s anger at Georgia intensified in 2003 after Georgia’s so-called Rose Revolution, when protests against a rigged election toppled the government and set the current Georgian government on a westward course (New York Times). Russia has opposed the warming of relations between former Soviet Republics and Western Countries.

Prime Minister Putin’s goal has always been to assert Russia on equal footing with the United States. Economic challenges after the collapse of the Soviet Union left Russia vulnerable, and the U.S. was immediately seen as the lone remaining “superpower.”As China continues to emerge, Russia does not want to lose its world standing or influence, especially in its own backyard.
Yesterday President Bush made threats at the man who he has nicknamed “Puty,” encouraging them to halt their military action in Georgia. One has to wonder what may have happened if Georgia had not been turned down by NATO. An attack on one NATO member is an attack on all. Maybe this military effort is why Russia was against Georgia’s hopes of formalizing their alliance with the West.

This morning, Russian President Dimitri Medvedev ordered a cease fire, even as Russian forces push further into Georgia. How the U.S. and its allies respond is still up in the air. Any UN resolution can be blocked by Russia as one of five permanent member of the body’s Security Council (China, U.S., U.K., France).

President Bush hopes of bringing Russia into the West can now be abandoned. Putin has never shown a propensity to seek U.S. approval and has always been quick to oppose American plans to expand their missile presence in Europe. While America has become deeply mired in the affairs of the Middle East, a true superpower and nuclear threat his reasserted itself on the world’s military stage.

Information from the BBC, New York Times, and Wikipedia as used in this post.

Color of Change has developed a campaign around Pfc. Johnson’s death. In a letter to their members, Color of Change writes:

• LaVena Johnson was a 19 year old private in the Army, serving in Iraq, when she was raped, murdered, and her body was burned–by someone from her own military base. Despite overwhelming physical evidence, the Army called her death a suicide and has closed the case.

• After two years of being denied answers and hearing explanations that made no sense, the Johnsons received a CD-ROM from someone on the inside. It contained pictures of the crime scene where LaVena died and an autopsy showing that she had suffered bruises, abrasions, a dislocated shoulder, broken teeth, and some type of sexual assault.

• LaVena’s death is part of a disturbing pattern of cases where female soldiers have been raped and killed, and where the military has hidden the truth and labeled the deaths suicides. In virtually all cases, Congress has been slow to investigate or hold the military accountable in any way. Unfortunately, most families simply don’t have the resources, time, and psychological strength to push back.

Just last week, the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs held an oversight hearing on sexual assault.  The senior civilian in charge of Sexual Assault Prevention was not allowed to testify per the DoD.  Col. Ann Wright of TruthDig accounts this disturbing turn of events like this:

• Rep. John Tierney, chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, angrily dismissed Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Michael Dominguez from the hearing when Dominguez said that he, the DoD chief of legislative affairs and the chief of public affairs, had ordered Dr. Kaye Whitley, chief of SAPRO, to refuse to honor the subpoena issued by the subcommittee for her appearance.

• Full committee Chairman Henry Waxman called the DoD’s decision to prevent Whitley from testifying “ridiculous and indicating DoD is covering something up.” It could also place Whitley in contempt of Congress. Rep. Christopher Shays said the DoD’s decision was “foolish.”

• One of the questions that would have been put to Whitley was why DoD had taken three years to name a 15-person civilian task force to look into allegations of sexual assault of military personnel. The panel was finally named early in 2008 but has yet to meet.

• Congressman Chris Shays (R-CT), the ranking member of the oversight subcommittee, called for the formation of the task force in 2004 and noted that at the time the DoD kept telling him they were “days away from being fully operational.” Still, no comprehensive database for tracking sexual assault has been created and there continue to be large inconsistencies for how SARPO policies are implemented.

• Rep. Elijah Cummings joined Rep. Waxman in speaking of cover-ups. Cummings raised the cases of military women who had been sexually assaulted before dying in “non-combat incidents.” He spoke specifically about Army Pfc. LaVena Johnson, who was found beaten and dead of a gunshot wound at Balad Air Base, Iraq, in a burning tent owned by the contractor KBR.

A few short weeks ago a Google search of LaVena Johnson netted relatively few results.  Now her story is being told all over the internet.  Take a moment to sign the petition hosted by Danielle Vyas of Modern Musing and or contact your  U.S. Congressperson or Senators (as I did) and let them know how you feel about how the Department of Defense is handling sexual assault.

Hat tip to Eddie Griffin of Eddie Griffin BASG for keeping me up on the developments.

• (Johnson) enlisted in the Army right out of high school in 2003 and was sent to Iraq, where she died. When the Army returned her mutilated body to her grieving parents as a suicide, her dad, Dr. John Johnson, said to himself and the Army coroner, “Somebody murdered my daughter and you picked the wrong person to fuck with.”

• When LaVena’s father finally brought himself to look at his daughter’s corpse in 2005, sent home from Iraq with a report that she’d committed suicide by shooting herself in the left side of her head with an M-16 — which, by the way, is not a handgun but a relatively long rifle, he thought there was something wrong.

• Private LaVena Johnson’s nose was broken, teeth were loose, one eye was concave and there were abrasions over her body. The supposed M-16 hole to the head was far too small for the revolver-sized exit wound, and was on the wrong side of her skull for a right-handed woman to have pulled the trigger. Her genital area showed evidence of acid, perhaps used to destroy DNA evidence. She had white military gloves glued to her burned hands.

• Since then, the Army has continued to insist that the LaVena committed suicide by pointing her rifle with her non-dominant hand at the side of her head and set herself on fire, all after she beat herself up and poured acid on her genitals (since their was no apparent investigation into whatever happened there). Oh, and there was a trail of blood leading away from the tent where her body was found.

For more visit www.lavenajohnson.com
Gina has laid out the first steps that we can take while we wait for the word about this tragic tale to get out. We must first contact our congressional representatives and ask them to petition the Department of Defense. Fill out a Privacy Act Release Form which gives these representatives the authority to act your behalf. They can then ask that the Army reopen this case.

If you live in House District No. 30 like myself and Eddie Bernice Johnson is your Congressperson then you can click here for the Privacy Act Release Form to send to her office.

For all Texans, click here to get the form for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchision, and here for Sen. John Cornyn.

I have already faxed my inquiry to Congresswoman Johnson and plan to contact the Senators tomorrow. I suggest all of you do the same for your representatives. For those who cry foul on the media for the lack of coverage of African-American women who have gone missing or are victims of abuse, here is a chance to make a difference.

I will follow up when I have have something but by all means comment on this post if you hear back before I do.