Moscow cites Kosovo to justify war, yet refuses Kosovo self-determination?

I may be wrong, but I've never heard official Moscow advocate self-determination for Abkhazia and S. Ossetia. If they did, then maybe it was only just recently, after the West granted Kosovo its independence from Serbia. My point is, you could argue that Russia's stance has been consistent: to quell separatist movements, as in Chechnya; and to make sure that "frozen" separatist movements stay frozen, as in Kosovo, Abkhazia, S. Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia occupies both separatist regions of Georgia in the guise of "peace keepers." This state of affairs has seemed to please Russia so far, without their calling for Abkhazia and S. Ossetia's secession from Georgia. (This would undermine their credibility as impartial peace keepers, to say the least.)

Anyway, why do Abkhazians and S. Ossetians have an "undoubted right to self-determination," as this Professor says? What makes them so special? Russia itself has about 100 ethnic groups! Does each of them undoubtedly deserve self-determination? That's a recipe for chaos and Balkanization. In this regard I sympathize with Georgia. The main challenge of any state is to maintain its territorial integrity; and anybody who challenges that threatens the very life of the country. (Hence Abe Lincoln could not tolerate S. Carolina's secession, and war ensued). Unfortunately for Georgia, however, the threat from Russian invasion is bigger than S. Ossetia's secession.

Russian cynicism revealed in Caucasus strategy
Published: August 14 2008 03:00
From Prof William G. Clarence-Smith.

Sir, South Ossetians and Abkhazian Circassians have an undoubted right to self-determination, which the Georgian government has violently and wrongly denied them, but Russian cynicism in this conflict knows no bounds. If Moscow was really concerned with Ossetian and Circassian rights, it would allow its own populations in the Caucasus, including Ossetians and Circassians, the right to secede. Instead, Russia has recently fought one of the nastiest wars in modern history to prevent the Chechens of the north-western Caucasus from achieving independence. This follows centuries of colonial conquest and rule in the Caucasus, in the course of which the Russians deployed a shocking degree of brutality. Moscow also cites the example of Kosovo to justify its war against Georgia, and yet refuses Kosovo the right to self-determination.

William G. Clarence-Smith,

School of Oriental and African Studies,

London WC1H 0XG, UK