The eruption of military actions between Georgia and South Ossetia threatens
to develop into a large-scale war between Georgia supported by NATO on the
one hand, and the Russian state on the other. Thousands of people are
already killed and wounded - principally, peaceful inhabitants ; whole cities
and settlements have been wiped out. The society has beed flooded with muddy
streams of a nationalist and chauvinistic hysteria.

As always and everywhere in conflicts between the states, there is not and
cannot be the righteous in new Caucasian war - there are only the guilty.
The coals which have been fanned for years now have caused a military fire.
The Saakashvili regime in Georgia keeps two thirds of population in poverty,
and the greater internal discontent in the country this causes, the more it
desires to find a way out from the deadlock in the form of a "small
victorious war" in the hope, that it can write everything off. The
government of Russia is full of determination to keep the hegemony in the
Caucasus. Today they pretend to be the defender of weak, but their hypocrisy
is abundantly clear : in fact, Saakashvili only repeats what the Putinist
soldiery did in Chechnya 9 years ago. Ruling circles of both Ossetias and
Abkhazia aspire to strengthen their role as exclusive allies of Russia in
the region, and at the same time to rally the impoverished population around
the tested torch of the "national idea" and "rescue the people". Leaders of
the USA, the European states and NATO, on the contrary, wish to weaken the
influence of their Russian rivals in the Caucasus as much as possible to
provide to themselves with control over fuel resources and their transport.
Thus, we became witnesses and victims of the next coil of world opposition
in struggle for power, oil and gas.

This fight does not bring to working people - Georgians, Ossets, Abkhasians
or Russians - anything, except for blood and tears, incalculable disasters
and deprivation. We express our deep sympathy to the friends and relatives
of the victims, to the people which have been left without a roof over their
head and means of subsistence as a result of this war.

We shouldn’t fall under the influence of nationalist demagogy which demands
unity with "our" government, flying the flag of "protecting the homeland".
The main enemy of the simple people is not the poor brothers and sisters on
the other side of the border or of other nationality. Their enemie are the
rulers and bosses of all kinds, presidents and ministers, businessmen and
generals, those who generate wars for the sake of multiplying power and
riches. We call on the working people in Russia, Ossetias, Abkhazia and
Georgia to reject the bait of nationalism and patriotism and to turn the
anger on rulers and the rich on both sides of the border.

Russian, Georgian, Ossetic and Abkhazian soldiers ! Do not obey the orders of
your commanders ! Turn your weapon against those who sent you to war ! Do not
shoot the soldiers of your "opponent" - fraternize with them : a bayonet in
the ground !

Working people in the rear ! Sabotage military efforts, leave to go to
meetings and demonstrations against the war, organize yourselves and strike
against it !

No to the war and to its organizers - rulers and richmen ! Yes to solidarity
of working people across borders and the front lines !

Federation of Edication, Science and Technical Workers, CRAS-IWA