After the EU War Report

Contrary to what is commonly presumed, the Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia did not definitively answer the question of why the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia began. Rather than promote a common understanding of the facts, the Report aspired to produce a collective mea culpa: in effect, recognition by all parties that waging armed conflict and violating human rights are bad, and that all are to blame for taking part. Those seeking to promote rapprochement between Russia and Georgia, and to normalize the situation around South Ossetia and Abkhazia, would be better off taking the Mission's words to heart, and to continue to strive for a common understanding of the war's origins based not on the aggressive intentions of Russia or Georgia, but on a precarious security environment that teetered over the brink. If such a common understanding can be achieved, it could facilitate progress toward resolution of this complex and multilayered conflict. In the postwar environment, such progress must inevitably be linked to a status neutral approach to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which would include in its initial stages a multilateral agreement on the on-use of force, a liberalization of de facto border regimes, and protection of the rights of Georgia's citizens in, and new internally displaced persons (IDPs) from, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.