Hitler Quote Used by Georgian Television to Encourage Army Service

Circassian World has pointed out that a television channel in Georgia has been airing a clip with a quote from Adolf Hitler.  The point of the video is to encourage service in the Georgian Army. 

“We once and for all must understand that we will never be able to regain the lost territory with prayers, which have become a formality, nor with hopes in the League of Nations, but with the strength of our weapons.  Adolf Hitler. 1932.” 

Clearly the quote is used to refer to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

This is an ominous development, but Georgian military leaders have threatened genocide against Abkhazia. Circassian World has included a link to a video from 1992 that shows the Commander of Georgian troops in Abkhazia, General Georgiy Karkarashvili, stating that he would sacrifice 100,000 Georgian lives to kill all 97,000 Abkhazians and keep Georgia's borders intact.  The general later stated that the Georgian side would take no prisoners and that the Abkhaz "would be left without descendants". 

The video can be seen at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzvtaZIMy98

In 1993, a Georgian wartime leader, Giorgi Khandrava told Le Monde Diplomatique that "there are only 80,000 Abkhazians, which means that we can easily and completely destroy the genetic stock of the nation by killing 15,000 of their youth.  And we are perfectly capable of doing this."

Before the conflict in 1992-93, Georgian nationalists spoke of limiting the number of "non-Georgians" to 5% of the population of the country.   Georgia's civilian and military leaders have telegraphed their intentions very clearly.  How can American diplomats speak about Georgia's territorial integrity in these circumstances?  Didn't the U.S. bomb Serbia into submission to prevent genocide?

Circassian World also included a link to Abkhaz World's site.  There is a short film on the site about the deliberate burning in 1993 of the Abkhazian Research Institute of History, Language and Literature.  The archive included many documents of Abkhazia's cultural patrimony and documentary evidence of the Abkhazians residence in their homeland (which Georgians have disputed).  This reminds me of book burning and destruction of " degenerate art" by the Nazis, the bombing and burning of the Sarajevo Library and the Taliban destroying the Buddhas of Bamyan.  These events have been widely and justifiably condemned in the press. However, why has there been so little attention paid to what Georgian troops did in Sukhum in 1992? Is it because of Georgia's relationship with the U.S.? Is it because it runs counter to the image of Georgia as a victim?  Is it because of Georgia's contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan?

The article and the video can be found at:

http://www.abkhazworld.com/headlines/151-a-history-erased.html

American and European diplomatic efforts have supported Georgia's claims of territorial integrity. With a long history of starting conflicts with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, destruction of cultural artifacts and genocidal rhetoric, Georgia's leadership cannot be trusted.

Comments

[Just a visitor]

Very good blog! Stay with the topic. Someone have to tell.