It's not a direct challenge to the Kremlin, more regional discontent and a further expression of 'Tsar good, Boyars bad" but it's a headache that Putin doesn't need.
I like your profesional aproach to those control ersial topics. Even tho you didn't mention muhajirstvo, which Is in my opinion one of the most important events in Abkhazian history. As it is the reason, why most Abkhazians now live in midle east. Looking forward to next videos
Thank you much. Unfortunately, in almost all my videos I have to be selective in what I cover. I have to keep them short. This necessarily means omitting certain issues. But I never deliberately do this to push one side of the story over another.
Dude we're getting so many classes from the professor lately. I hope you're not stressed out having to put these out more but I'm loving it. Funny enough, i have a weird obsession with Georgian separatist politics as well, so this is a good day.
I assume it's because the US election circus is over and there is going to be repercussions of that mess in Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe is still behind due to some of the stuff that happened during the Soviet era and 1990's that was not a great time for Eastern Europe.
Abkhazian and South Ossetian politics. They're not Georgian and don't see themselves as Georgian. It's Russian imperialism and Stalin that made them Georgian to begin with.
These protests does not mean rebellion against Russia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia's very existence depends upon Moscow which provides Economic and Security Assistance.Every penny that comes in Abkhazia comes from Russia that pays literally everything from Salaries to Pensions. Protests were actually about the rise of living costs because the law that Abkhazians protested against gave Russians the flexibility to buy properties which in turn would have raise the price of properties. These protests are happening all across the world because cost of living are rising and people cannot sustain it anymore. It was a simply a protest like the rest of the world against rising costs of properties. Rebellion against Russia is impossible because without Russia it would take two days for Georgian Army to take control back and Abkhazians know this very well.
@Alex-gd9li Be realistic they want to be completely independent from both Russia and Georgia. You just took a couple of protests against rising costs of living as a rebellion against Russia. These same protests everywhere in the world. What makes you think they want Georgia the same country that scrapped their autonomy and forcefully took direct control that led to the rebellion by Abkhazians against the Georgian gov. in the first place. If Abkhazians don't want Russia then they definitely don't want Georgia back. The country that took Thier autonomy away
@@Alex-gd9li sure, the protests in Kosovo want to rejoin Serbia and the protests in Tel Aviv are about reuniting with Palestine. Sure. See how ridiculous that sounds?
@@syedmustafa2822 the end result for Abkhazia is the same as the Ukrainian breakaway republics, annexation by Russia. If the Abkhazians recognize this, they will see reproachment with Georgia to be preferable.
I think the role of the pacific states as borderline international relations for hire is an oft misunderstood situation. Might make an interesting discussion for a future video.
Abkhazia has always had a multi-ethnic population, whether in the past or now. The big reason why Georgians still view Abkhazia as a territory of Georgia, is because Abkhazia has always been ruled by Kartvelian monarchs, plus it has always had a majority Kartvelian/Georgian population before the genocide in the 90's. When Greek was replaced with Georgian as the official language, back in the 5th century I believe, it remained highly under Kartvelian influence until the Russians.
Ethnic cleansing is certainly a reasonable charge. Genocide? Nope. And a Georgian majority? Nope. Plurality is not the same as a majority. The Georgians f-ed around everyone else so much that all the other groups (which together formed a majority) got together and kicked them out.
Someone might call this "gentrification" where locals are loosing control to outside money and outsiders moving in but cannot help but take the economic circumstances.
They turn against the governement. Its same when Brits bought whole regions in Spain or Portugal. In Barcelona people cannot afford to buy or rent. They want some rules on buying properties. But there a lot of rich Russians and they buy properties for investement etc.
"Almost all break-away states rely on a patron or protector state to survive." I wondered how this assertion might have applied to Ireland (my country) a century ago when we broke away from the UK? Of course, analogies are not simple and do not necessarily stand the test of time ...
Hello Professor: I just "discovered" your channel and as a follower of international geopolitics I find your videos very interesting, non biased and factual. Rest assured that you just add a new follower to your channel. I am looking forward to your opinion about what affects our daily living even when most of the people don't realize. Best regards.
Thank you for your detailed insides. Seems utopic, but I still hope and pray for Abchazia’s (and Ossetia’s) awakening and final return in liberty to Georgia, and all Georgian expelled refugees being able to peacefully return from Tbilissi back home… Best regards from 🇩🇪
@@Meem_Begorski we don't care if they forgive us , we have tanks and international law is on our side , without Russia they have nothing They decided in the 90ies to sleep with Satan and now they face the consequences
Obviously this is much easier to say as a viewer rather than a creator, but it would be interesting to see the occasional deep dive into some the topics you cover. Your videos serve as a great starting point for research into a topic but the task of sorting through the complex details, many of which can be seemingly irrelevant to someone not involved or steeped in the history, can quickly become overwhelming. Regardless, thank you for the upload! Keep up the great work.
Thank you professor, I really appreciate you making these very interesting videos about subjects I don't care about. I don't watch them all, but many are filling in my woeful gaps of world knowledge.
Muslim Abkhaz became muhajirs and emigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1866 and 1878. In 1881, the number of Abkhaz in the Russian Empire was estimated at only 20,000. From the North Caucasus, many emigrated to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. Chechens, Circassians, Lezgins, Avars, etc. founded villages in what is now Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Palestine. Most of them now live in Turkey, especially in the coastal areas of the Black Sea.
Short answer - no. Whatever the internal problems, only a moron* would think that Abkhazia or South Ossetia would turn against Russia. *Edit and clarification - this is not meant to imply that the professor is, in my view, a moron. Quite the opposite.
I know historical analogies have limited value, but one of the first signs of Soviet collapse was when the Polish communists lost power in the 1989 parliamentary elections. That was a clear example of a patron losing control over a satellite state. Is this a sign that the Russian Federation might be headed down a similar path? Great video, by the way!
nope ,what happened in Abkhazia is simple,they don't want house prices to increase by allowing russians to buy properties,they want Russians to keep being tourists,they earn more that way ,they don't hate Russia,the prof is exaggerating just like in non western areas he has been doing
@@duncancreativecorner What happened in Poland in 1989 was simple too. One small pro-agriarian party, which had previously been controlled by the communists, decided to switch its loyalty to Solidarity, creating a non-communist majority. On its surface, this party's decision had nothing to do with Soviet domination of Poland at the time. And yet, by the end of the year, Moscow had lost control of all of its puppet regimes in Eastern Europe. So, I think you're being a bit disingenious to suggest the property protest (which is real) has no potential wider meaning.
@@FredoRockwell When it comes to Poland, one thing to consider is that Gorbachev's "Sinatra Doctrine" had allowed the other Eastern Bloc countries with more leeway than before to do their own thing.
@@FredoRockwell You are right. It potentially has a wider significance. But I'm not sure exactly how important Abkhazia really is to Russia. It is primarily being used by Moscow as a prop against Georgia further aligning with the EU and NATO. in geostrategic terms, Poland was critical to the USSR. However, I can hop on to your optimism train for a little joy ride. Perhaps Abkhazia will prove to be more consequential than it initially appears.
@@Robespierre-lI I don't think Abkhazia has to be strategically crucial to Russia for this to be a sigjnificant moment. Autocracies tend to be brittle - they look rigid but once the cracks start showing they can collapse quickly. To me, this is (perhaps) a sign that Moscow lacks the control, or the will to exercise it, it had a few years ago. Maybe. We'll see.
Its difficult to call current goverment in Georgia pro-russian. No plans to recover dimplomatic relations, remaining (delcared) goal to become a part of EU. Limitation of pro-western NGO and recovering trade with Russia don't make this goverment pro-russian. I think, its simply way to survive: not to be part of bloodbath and keep own economy alive. I admit georgian govt will slowly and cautiously seek ways to revive legal cross-border trade and other communication with Abkhazia. May be some day railroad transit through Abkhazia will be recovered. But its very dufficult. Both sides keep in memory horrors of war in 90s. And, as I see, Abkazia will never accept to be a part of Georgia. The same for S.Osetia. These types of society keeps historical memory much more carefully than western one.
Great video as always, Professor, but just a quick question: Do you think Georgia could now try to negotiate a peace deal with Abkhazia that guaranteed full autonomy with a pathway to independence now, considering Georgia (especially under the Georgian Dream party) is moving less in a pro-European direction and more in a pro-Russian direction? In short, a Gaugzia style of deal?
Perhaps what’s already happening in Georgia/Sakartvelo might be like Ukraine from the Euromaidan era (late 2013-early 2014). Hope Georgia doesn’t become another Belarus. There will be a time that the dreaded pro-Russian GD regime gets thrown out of power. The traitor Bidzina Ivanishvili will be sent fleeing north to Russia hated and humiliated by angry citizens. Same would apply to most if not all his minions. Prepare for a Georgian Euromaidan coming soon.
Awesome video! I did not really know much about Abkhazia, I actually thought it gained "independence" in 2008 during Russian invasion of Georgia. BUt with all information that you gave, Abkhazia had more right to seceede then Kosovo.
Georgia turning to russia while an independent breakaway state that was backed by russia now turning against them? Thats the biggest plot twist in geopolitics. What's next? EU starts recognising them?
Abkhazia actually never was independent so called, Abkhazia was only populated by Ethnic Georgians living in the Region of Abkhazia ( So Abkhazians ) until like late 15th century, when Georgian kingdom teared apart into multiple sub region, after that it was under siege by Ottoman backed Circassians for a long time and lot of Circassian occupied lands there ( and called themselves Apsuas as they still call it to themselves instead of Abkhazians ). After Georgia became the part of Russian Empire, most of Circassians ( Apsuans ) were kicked out from the Georgian land. During the Soviet Era, Ethnic Georgians were the majority in Abkhazia, until early 90s when Russian backed forces kicked Georgians out
Also funny how people being up how it should be illegitimate because the independence was followed for ethnic cleansing, as that wasn't the case for most of the recognised states, especially Israel.
Thanks for another informative video. Please can we have a video diving deeper into what internal self-determination means. Does it always mean a right to federalise the sovereign state?
Well, your analyses are very good, academically. However, talking to people on the ground adds a much more clarity to issues like Abkhazia. I know it sort of falls within the boundaries of journalism yet at least featuring references from academics working on the ground will do loads more justice. Apparently such tensions, every now and then, are just part of the natural flow of relationships of territories and countries in the Caucasus. Specifically, re Abkhazia, when I asked my own contacts (friends, or those close to some Abkhaz officials etc) highlight that despite these occasional ups and downs the Abkhaz-Russian relationships feature mutual indispensibility hence Russia will not lse Abkhazia.
I have a friend who lives in Abhazia. Seems to be a beautiful place. He has been dreaming of traveling to Europe where he once was, at young age. He has been trying to obtain Russian passport for years but as he said " you need to know who to bribe." For that knowledge you also need to pay. Despite attempts, he never succeeded and, like most residents, has only abhkazian passport. It's useless as only 2 countries would respect it. This is how Russia can control who leaves the country and profits on passport fees and bribes - while also making sure that only the available job market for abhkazian labors is ruzzia. It's also a good vacation destination for ruzzians as they have it quite exclusively. That helps to develop and maintain influence because there is no competition from other possible investors. Is it profitable for Abhkazians? Judge it yourself.
Doesn't seem likely due to the high level of European and Western ego. Thinking they're the only ones who can decide what countries are legitimate and what aren't, and only their opinion is legitimately correct.
How interesting. I didn't realise there was such substance to Abkhazians' claim to nationhood - more than there is to Kosovars', surely! What about the South Ossetians? Is their claim stronger, weaker, or comparable?
From my experience it depends on your baseline for something to be legitimate. Ossetians want most of all unification. Ossetia was divided between north and south in soviet era.
Only difference with Ossetia is they migrated south hundreds of years ago. Georgians claimed that as a reason they shouldn't have autonomy, and abolished it, which caused ethnic strife to become even worse before full independence But they're different from Abkhazia in terms of goals, they want to unify with North Ossetia.
@@filipsykora9506 actually not really, yeah technically there are south and north osetia and they both are ossetians but they are different ossetians and it is unlikely that they have much in common now
@filipsykora9506 Initially, the Ossetians were called "alans", But after the Mongol Empire captured the plains, some Alans moved to the mountains and that's how they became Ossetians, and the way they live is different because of the different conditions of the area. also the North Ossetians, that is, the Alans, peacefully joined Russia, and South Ossetia was captured in battle.
After Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-93, Georgia and Russia both together with CIS countries imposed heavy embargo against Abkhazia. These blockade lifted fully only after Putin came to power.
Thanks Prof. fascinating. Trading one dependence for another, DeFacto states are anything but independent. That line alone will stay with me. Has any Defacto states voluntarily re-unified with its former state? I'm sure there is an obvious one that I am not thinking about, more coffee.
There are a few, even in Georgia there was one, Adjara around Batumi which was controlled by a Oligarch, in the end Georgia gave it a good deal and so it rejoined. There is also the GDR which didn't collapse completely and rejoined Germany. Another one was east Turkistan which rejoined China after the Communist Chinese forces reached its borders. Usually peaceful reintegration happens because of one of two reason: 1. Internal unrest (like in the GDR case) 2. Loss of Patron (like in east Turkistan) Reintegration are way more common with warlord lead states, because they often don't have as strong of a national identity and they rarely declare full independence (compare Puntland and Somaliland for example).
10:20 that point about the coronavirus hitting Russian territory harder is an important one. The metabolic issues that follow are frightening, labour and economic output reduces, cognitive issues like memory loss and aggression can result. Kremlin weaponised it against the west with misinformation about vaccines, saying it's just a flu etc.
I've always been interested in Abkhazia, and the thing that strikes me the most is that at the time of the declaration of independence from Georgia, ethnic abkhazians composed little more than 15% of the inhabitants of the region. As you said, i also think that Abkhazia will not turn against Russia, since it depends on Moscow for its own survival
A comment on the early USSR history part: Abkhazia was NOT one of the constituent republics of the USSR, never. When the USSR was formed, Georgia and Abkhazia (together with Armenia and Azerbaijan & dependencies) were part of the Transkaukasian SSR, one of the 4 founding SSRs. The TKSSR was dissolved with the new ('Stalinist') constitution of the USSR, it was replaced by Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Abkhazia was one of the 4 Autonomous SSRs of the TKSSR and was part of Georgia by then.
Thanks. But it was an SSR, albeit with an odd status until it was brought under the Georgian SSR as an ASSR, the second under unit within the Soviet Union.
@@JamesKerLindsay True. It was an SSR within the TKSSR, not part of Georgia until the early 30s. Still it was not considered equal to the 3 constituent SSRs of the TKSSR. An odd unique status, a remnant of the very early Soviet history before the firm hyerarchy of national autonomies formed.
@@sababugs1125 That did not apply under Soviet constitutional law. They joined the USSR as part of the TKSFSR and not as a part of the GSSR. Am I wrong?
James, I had to laugh when you talked about the "long history of" Abkhazia. You could say that about every state in Germany, for example. How about the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish in the UK. Oh, sorry, I left out Cornwall. I was once vacationing there while living in the England. This was before Brexit. There were Cornish and EU flags but no Union Jacks or English flags. Cornwall is formally a part of England. I heard one guy say on the BBC, "I am Cornish, I am British and I am European, but I AM NOT ENGLISH (his emphasis)". I know a guy here in the US who is from Devon, and he is definitely NOT Cornish although he grew up near the border. Another example would be the Basques and Catalonians in Spain. We can't, of course, forget about the Walloons and Flemish in Belgium. I won't even get into the whole Austro-Hungarian or the Ottoman empires. That might take all day.
I do this for one good reason. In the past, I would start with more modern history and I would get loads of comments complaining that history started before then and I had missed out this and that. Adding this one sentence has been the easiest and most effective way to stop that.
@@JamesKerLindsay James. this is not at meant to be a dig at you. I fully understand why you mention it and appreciate that. It was more of a commentary on the state of most of the world. Being an American it just seems odd to me. Of course, the whole history of Russia, including the Soviet Union period, is one of control of populations and attempts to use that to control their empire. Just a little story about how that continues to manifest itself. My grandparents came from Arcadia in the Peloponnese. One time my mother went to pick up one of my cars from a shop that was owned by some Greeks. I was traveling a lot at the time. She had dyed her hair blonde, and they did not think she was Greek. So, when she started talking to them in Greek, they were all excited. Then they asked her where she was from. When she told them one of the older guys started cursing at her. You see, they were from Sparta and there has been animosity between the two regions for over 3,000 years. By the way, when I lived in the UK, earlier in the current millennium, I used to see graffiti on the motorway overpasses that read "England for the English". I always had to laugh at that. It was not about migrants, by the way. Do you recall seeing that?
Russian has more income, so they can easily buy a lot of real estate on Abkhazia. Like brits and us in portugal. But i doubt that russian in Abkhazia want to learn local language. In 100 years it may be assimilation case
Their naivety is endearing , the reality is Abkhazia is not an independent state. It never was and it never will be, the reality is Abkhazia is a minor obscure peripheral poor region of the Russian federation.
Requests for the Q&A: expand on the actual situation in the last 15 years, does it, or should it affect the claim to sovereignty? by having close friends that used to work in the Russian tourist industry before, esp, around Sochi, they've all expanded indeed their tourism services into Abkhazia during the early 10s... but, eventually - Abkhazia - turned into a wild nomans-land - used for R&R for the Wagner groups , defacto drug industry, crypto-mining farms since electricity isn't being paid for, and more and more Russians buying cheap sea-side summerhouses. This became eventually not only unbearable for Abkhazians - but even to the Russians who are not part of these kinds of things ... Please discuss these, I think it's an important angle, that is - Russia to just use it as an anarchy territory across the border... became sickening
It seems to me that the parallels between Kosovo and Abkhazia are deep and persistent, and show clearly that there are no unique situations in world affairs.
Funny how Nauru accepted the independence of Abkhazia and even has, technically, an Abkhaz embassy in its tiny territory. That Pacific island-nation has been desperately looking for financial support in the last two decades, it voted for the independence of Abkhazia (which they certainly could not have spotted in a world map at that time) just to receive Russian money. Russia even sponsored a trip of a Nauruan delegation to the Caucasian mountains, which was as funny as it was pointless
Abkhazia appears to be Russian Monaco and turning anti-Russia would mean economic downturn for them, especially since relation of Georgia and Russia are improving. But Georgia certainly did not gave up on reunification. If anything, this might be start of ethnic strife, possibly fanned by foreign interests.
Essentially, the situation is very similar in many aspects to Kosovo. Constitutional changes, questions of autonomy, war over control, intervention of a global power, with a slight difference being that in Abkhazia they waved Russian flags while in Kosovo they waved American. Well, foreign relations 1.0.1.
@@lmr8277But, being part of some theoretical future EU-Ascended Georgia would afford them minority protection by Brussels and free access to the European market. Of course, this only applies _if_ Georgia ever makes it into the EU…
@rathersane Minority protection by Brussels means almost nothing. Ask Corsica or the Bretons. This would require some serious and new unique guarantees since Abkhaz have been very willing to sacrifice a decent amount of economic prosperity for freedom from the very start. If that were to happen, I could see it, but other EU states might not want to do that since their own minorities might start asking for the same
@@rathersaneminority protection from Brussels? The same minority protection Russian speakers are getting in the ukrane where the fascist government literally banned the Russian language from schools, banned Russian books, Russian literature, Russian movies? Are we still pretending "freedom and democracy " BS is real?
A step by step process and lesson into how to cheaply and easily absorb another neighbouring state. Abkhazia needs to pay attention to who it gets into bed with. Political disease is rampant.
The problem started originally when Georgia flirted with NATO? After that, Abkhazia and South Ossetia very quickly became "part" of Russia. The same thing happened with Ukraine, but why did you skip that part, respected professor?
What in Heaven's name are you talking about? Abkhazia might have pro-Russian leadership but is by no means under Russian control enough to be said "Abkhazia is rebelling against Russia". I mean, Russia has absolutelly no interest in control over Abkhazia and is only losing money in an effort to protect it from Georgia. If Abkhazia turns away from Russia and refuses Russian assistance, Russia loses nothing, but Abkhazia loses independence. This might be šrotesta against poor economy but it can hardly be called "rebelling" and certainly not "rebelling against Russia".
Tibet was a breakaway de facto state of China supported by its British raj patron, the whole world recognized Tibet as Chinese territory which only changed when the Communist took power and reincorporated Tibet, if it was the nationalists that did it we wouldn't be hearing about Tibet in the West today.
@@Austine1452 It was also because of the deep persecution and demographic change PRC has tried to do. Also China starting a war with India in 62 and the seven dash line dispute didnt help
@@navinthehouse4710deep persecution 🙄 you mean like the Westoids are deeply conserned about deep persecution of Uygurs, meanwhile the Uygurs have no clue they are being persecuted.... But magically the US/UK completely ignore oppression/expulsion,extermination of Palestinians by ziofascist regime..
@@navinthehouse4710which demographic change are you talking about when Tibet is more than 90 percent tibetan and if you are looking for oppression ask kashmiris under the boot of Indians.
@edwardsnowden8821 90% is the avg for the Tibetan region, in cities and outer regions it is much lower. Kashmiris literally just voted for an Anti BJP party, you cant vote in a non ccp govt in China
@@navinthehouse4710 in which cities and in which outer regions. are you talking about. also the most internet restriction and most army deployment to intimidate the local people happens in kashmir.
Who would want to be a vassal to Russia? What exactly does one gain from such an arrangement? Being a vassal to Russia leads to a ruined economy. Just look at Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. Being a vassal to Russia also provides no protection. Just look at Armenia and Syria. Now compare this to becoming an ally of the West. Countries that ally themselves to the West experience economic miracles. Just look at Japan and Poland. And being allied to the West offers very serious protection. Look at Taiwan, South Korea and the entire NATO block. Not once have they ever suffered serious attack.
Thanks. Very well put. I fully admit the West’s shortcomings. But between the two, I know where I would want to be. Sadly, there are far too many online who venerate Russia. It is not a model that anyone in their right mind should want to emulate.
@@JamesKerLindsay The shortcomings of the West are innumerable. But that is of course one of the upsides to the West, we can openly talk about the shortcomings and even make changes to the system through our politics. The Western world is just the best system out there until someone somewhere comes up with something better.
Georgians and Georgia´s supporters make a huge mistake here, You ´d support Circassians´ fight against Moscow imperialism as much as possible today . Once Moscow empire is out of Abkhazia, you with our (EU/USA) support can make a deal with Circassians.
If you are against colonial imperialism maybe you should concentrate on Native Americans who are under illegal occupation with their land stolen, and the US ignoring most of the treaties it signed with them. But let me guess, you don't care about imperialism, you actually want Russian imperialism or so you Georgia can turn abkhazia into its colony.
I think the history of these countries is fascinating..... Its so complex.and often is not well known i.... I think learning helps understanding and resolving current difficulties and I think it's important as a principle to recognise and respect individual and people
nowadays Abkhazians are not original Abkhaz, they are Apsua, Afshil and Abazg of origin, Abkhazians were always Georgians until Russian empire conquered it with other parts of Georgia. look at the kings and rulers family names, Anchabadze, Shervashidze, Machabeli etc. Russia always laid ticking time bombs in order to be able to squash any kind of rebellions and weaken national identity to control conquered states easily. more diverse is conquered country least possibility of unification. i am not saying that people who call themselves Abkhaz now are not our distant relative, they are, because of time we spent and lived together creates intermarriages and we are all Caucasians.
I don't believe that Abkhazia has any real future with Putin's Russia. When Putin departs the scene, then all bets will be off. In the meantime, I would suggest a very low-key friendly to everyone, keep your options open approach.
it would have been nice to get a comparison with Ajaria (seen on one map but not discussed), since both it and Abkhazia were in a similar situation in the mid 2000s. But Georgia managed to get Ajaria back into the fold.
Moscow empire´s war record :- 1856 defeated by Britain and France 1905 defeated by Japan 1917 defeated by Germany 1920 defeated by Poland, Finland, Estonia and all Baltic states 1939 defeated by Finland 1969 defeated by China 1989 defeated by Afghanistan 1989 defeated in the Cold War. 1996 defeated by Chechnya 2022 defeated by Ukraine WW2 won USA/Britain , meanwhile Stalin's officers were shot or sent to the Gulags. Millions went to the Gulags, including Solzhenitsyn Moscow's only victories come from invading smaller countries :- a) Hungary 1956 b) Czechoslovakia 1968 c) Moldova 1992 d) Georgia 2008
@@sphyxiation ivan, not for you, but you can still read it, " Georgians and Georgia´s supporters make a huge mistake here, You ´d support Circassians´ fight against Moscow imperialism as much as possible today . Once Moscow empire is out of Abkhazia, you with our (EU/USA) support can make a deal with Circassians."
1856 is more like a separate peace, despite some consider it as defeat of Russia. In 1920 baltics states basically survived because of white army and german legions but whatever. Soviet union won 1939 war 1969 is a bit complicated. basically China was crushed but Soviet union did not want an escalation of the conflict with China and made a concession. 2022 war is still on going. WW2 was carried by anti-axis pack, you are just capping. Can Russia win only against small countries? After World War II, the Soviet Union did not intervene directly in many places, unlike USA or UK, and they both either haven't won against strong country after ww2.
Circassians rebelled against the ratification of an "investment" agreement with Moscow empire. The USSR´s empire is gone, the Romanov´s empire is gone. NEVER 2 WITHOUT 3, the Saddam Putsein ´s empire will follow!
The underlying motivation for making this video clearly stems from a dislike for Russia. As a result, many untruths and false perceptions are presented as universal rules. For instance, Russians currently cannot buy land in Abkhazia. The country is effectively controlled by local clan-based oligarchs and factions within the Ossetian ethnicity. This internal power struggle also explains the support base for the so-called "palace revolution." The conflict revolves around the distribution of resources among Abkhazians themselves. Abkhazia remains in disarray. Nothing significant has been restored since the war for independence. Tourism, primarily from Russia but also from other countries, along with the export of fruits and vegetables to Russia and Belarus, are the main sources of income. To improve tourism services, Russia proposed a new investment law aimed at enhancing service quality. Currently, tourism services in Abkhazia are considered extremely poor or even nonexistent. One of the points in the comprehensive investment proposal was to expand all railway sections to connect with Russian railways, which have already restored services between Sochi and Sukhumi. However, opposition groups argue that opening the railway line for cargo transport to the Georgian border could lead to Russia handing over Abkhazia to Georgia in exchange for improved relations with Georgia. The author of the video appears to have deliberately altered numerous details to vilify Russia. For example, Stalin repopulated Abkhazia with ethnic Georgians, although other Soviet ethnic groups were present as well, Georgians were the majority. The author emphasizes "Russians" intentionally to downplay the role of Georgians. Nearly half of Abkhazia's population-primarily ethnic Georgians-was expelled by the rebels, while other Soviet peoples left due to the economic breakdown of the Soviet Union. Abkhazia still struggles to replace its lost population. Cities remain depopulated, with abandoned infrastructure. The proposed investment law also aimed to allow Russians to purchase apartments, incentivizing housing renovation. Many young Abkhazians do not harbor resentment toward Russia. Contrary to the author's claims, there are almost no Russian businesses in the country. If there were, it could create local opportunities. Instead, many young people migrate to prosperous Russian cities with better jobs and education. Russia even subsidizes a portion of public workers' salaries to retain them in Abkhazia. Without these subsidies, most educated individuals would likely migrate. To summarize, while Abkhazia might seem like a paradise from a distance, up close, it is little more than an aging ruin.
Thanks! That's kind of the problem with social media - anyone can talk out of their ass with a lot of confidence and pretend to be giving facts... I would love for this goof to talk about British occupation and oppression, not he never will.
"Skirmishes erupted around Abkhazia, leading to a full scale Russian invasion". Such convenient passive voice phrasing! Saakashvili attacked Russian peacekeepers and tried to retake the territories by force leading to the Russian invasion. Skirmishes didn't just "erupt".
If you want Abkhazia 💚✋🇺🇸 to turn against Russia, maybe having any other country recognise them or at least having unofficial relations could work? If they don't have any other ally at all, do they have the choice?
Interesting video and coincidence! An excellent historic video on the minority nationalities in Georgia SSR over on the excellent 'Cold War' channel was uploaded yesterday: ua-cam.com/video/7ntl34-t-WM/v-deo.html
@@JamesKerLindsay lil jimmy, you ever going to do a story on your hero - genocidal criminal called Churchill and his crimes against the Bengalis/Indians? Or you only going to b cover figure your don't like?!
Welcome to the west you will be free to pick and choose what you want or don’t want it will be hard at first people with freedom and a great variety of music and information can be confused at first
It is just too small to be a truly independent state. It probably would get a better deal by going back to Georgia as their relative size difference is not as huge as with Russia and hence can be taken more seriously.
@@iany2448 Abkhazians and Georgians killed each other just so today’s status quo could be achieved. They are not likely to cooperate on anything. Your lack of basic knowledge of the subject is laughable.
If they could get further recognition, their best bet would be to play Russia, and Turkey off of each other for influence and to maintain their independence. Not submit to Georgia
@@lmr8277 except Turkey would much rather work with Georgia since many important pipelines between Azerbaijan and Turkey go through Georgia. Turkey actually provided a lot of military equipment to Georgia
Russia is happy with Abkhazia’s international isolation. While Moscow occasionally makes calls for recognition, Russia doesn’t truly want Abkhazia to gain broader recognition or even establish economic ties with others without recognition. As long as Georgia-led sanctions persist, Abkhazia will remain firmly under Russian dominance. If anyone accuses Abkhazia of being dependent on Russia, what they need to do is engage with Abkhazia and offer alternatives beyond Russia. If they can’t do that, they should stop complaining.
It's not a direct challenge to the Kremlin, more regional discontent and a further expression of 'Tsar good, Boyars bad" but it's a headache that Putin doesn't need.
Tsar good, Boyars bad explains so much
This was professionally and well presented. I benefited from your presentation. Thank you.
Thank you very much!
I like your profesional aproach to those control ersial topics. Even tho you didn't mention muhajirstvo, which Is in my opinion one of the most important events in Abkhazian history. As it is the reason, why most Abkhazians now live in midle east. Looking forward to next videos
Thank you much. Unfortunately, in almost all my videos I have to be selective in what I cover. I have to keep them short. This necessarily means omitting certain issues. But I never deliberately do this to push one side of the story over another.
Dude we're getting so many classes from the professor lately. I hope you're not stressed out having to put these out more but I'm loving it.
Funny enough, i have a weird obsession with Georgian separatist politics as well, so this is a good day.
I assume it's because the US election circus is over and there is going to be repercussions of that mess in Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe is still behind due to some of the stuff that happened during the Soviet era and 1990's that was not a great time for Eastern Europe.
He's certainly good.
@@youknow6968 I'm really grateful that I found his channel.
@@DrVictorVasconcelos Yeah what is your point and what is funny about that?
Abkhazian and South Ossetian politics. They're not Georgian and don't see themselves as Georgian. It's Russian imperialism and Stalin that made them Georgian to begin with.
I truly enjoy your videos. Best unbiased analysis, stating the facts, concise and informative. Thank you!
Excellent topic to cover!
Thanks so much, Andrew.
sending greetings from Abkhazia
These protests does not mean rebellion against Russia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia's very existence depends upon Moscow which provides Economic and Security Assistance.Every penny that comes in Abkhazia comes from Russia that pays literally everything from Salaries to Pensions. Protests were actually about the rise of living costs because the law that Abkhazians protested against gave Russians the flexibility to buy properties which in turn would have raise the price of properties. These protests are happening all across the world because cost of living are rising and people cannot sustain it anymore. It was a simply a protest like the rest of the world against rising costs of properties. Rebellion against Russia is impossible because without Russia it would take two days for Georgian Army to take control back and Abkhazians know this very well.
Maybe the Abkhazians want to rejoin Georgia.
@Alex-gd9li Be realistic they want to be completely independent from both Russia and Georgia. You just took a couple of protests against rising costs of living as a rebellion against Russia. These same protests everywhere in the world. What makes you think they want Georgia the same country that scrapped their autonomy and forcefully took direct control that led to the rebellion by Abkhazians against the Georgian gov. in the first place. If Abkhazians don't want Russia then they definitely don't want Georgia back. The country that took Thier autonomy away
@@Alex-gd9li sure, the protests in Kosovo want to rejoin Serbia and the protests in Tel Aviv are about reuniting with Palestine. Sure. See how ridiculous that sounds?
@@syedmustafa2822 the end result for Abkhazia is the same as the Ukrainian breakaway republics, annexation by Russia. If the Abkhazians recognize this, they will see reproachment with Georgia to be preferable.
@@syedmustafa2822 Georgia never scrapped Abkhaz Autonomy. The Abkhaz nationalists just simply couldn't be satisfied
I think the role of the pacific states as borderline international relations for hire is an oft misunderstood situation. Might make an interesting discussion for a future video.
Yes, they are also used to provide a veneer of recognition to Taipei.
@rais1953 they're also often used by Beijing on the other side of that exchange, and in Somalia, and Israel over Palestine 🇵🇸
Great point. I should take a look at this.
Abkhazia has always had a multi-ethnic population, whether in the past or now. The big reason why Georgians still view Abkhazia as a territory of Georgia, is because Abkhazia has always been ruled by Kartvelian monarchs, plus it has always had a majority Kartvelian/Georgian population before the genocide in the 90's. When Greek was replaced with Georgian as the official language, back in the 5th century I believe, it remained highly under Kartvelian influence until the Russians.
Who were the Kartvelian monarchs?
@@howtoappearincompletely9739 is that a question or you are stating that there were none ?
Gerogian propaganda
Ethnic cleansing is certainly a reasonable charge. Genocide? Nope. And a Georgian majority? Nope. Plurality is not the same as a majority. The Georgians f-ed around everyone else so much that all the other groups (which together formed a majority) got together and kicked them out.
@@FreshPrincce The people of Abkhazia are a North Caucasian people. And they have no desire to be part of Georgia.
Really interesting, thank you
Thank you so much.
Thank you for keeping us updated
Much love Professor Lindsey ❤ I always am happy to see an upload
Thank you! :-)
@@JamesKerLindsayJames it looks like Ric grenell will be the special envoy for talks between Russia and Ukraine tough job.
Someone might call this "gentrification" where locals are loosing control to outside money and outsiders moving in but cannot help but take the economic circumstances.
Losing
Thank you for your excellent report.
Thank you!
They turn against the governement. Its same when Brits bought whole regions in Spain or Portugal. In Barcelona people cannot afford to buy or rent. They want some rules on buying properties. But there a lot of rich Russians and they buy properties for investement etc.
Excellent summary
That was really good. Thank you Sir.
"Almost all break-away states rely on a patron or protector state to survive." I wondered how this assertion might have applied to Ireland (my country) a century ago when we broke away from the UK? Of course, analogies are not simple and do not necessarily stand the test of time ...
Great video
Hello Professor: I just "discovered" your channel and as a follower of international geopolitics I find your videos very interesting, non biased and factual. Rest assured that you just add a new follower to your channel. I am looking forward to your opinion about what affects our daily living even when most of the people don't realize. Best regards.
Hello! Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. A very warm welcome to the channel. :-)
I hope Georgia is united soon once again.
Thank you for your detailed insides. Seems utopic, but I still hope and pray for Abchazia’s (and Ossetia’s) awakening and final return in liberty to Georgia, and all Georgian expelled refugees being able to peacefully return from Tbilissi back home…
Best regards from 🇩🇪
Lmao Abkhaz despise Georgia even more than Russia and it's not even close
Never going to happen.
@@papehakla I don't think Ossetians and Abkhazians will forgive Georgians after 1992-93 and 2008
@@NorthCaucasianPatriot because ? what have we never held those lands before ? Abkhazia has spent more time under Georgian rule than anything else
@@Meem_Begorski we don't care if they forgive us , we have tanks and international law is on our side , without Russia they have nothing
They decided in the 90ies to sleep with Satan and now they face the consequences
Obviously this is much easier to say as a viewer rather than a creator, but it would be interesting to see the occasional deep dive into some the topics you cover.
Your videos serve as a great starting point for research into a topic but the task of sorting through the complex details, many of which can be seemingly irrelevant to someone not involved or steeped in the history, can quickly become overwhelming.
Regardless, thank you for the upload! Keep up the great work.
thanks professor ker-lindsay
Thank you.
Thank you professor, I really appreciate you making these very interesting videos about subjects I don't care about.
I don't watch them all, but many are filling in my woeful gaps of world knowledge.
Muslim Abkhaz became muhajirs and emigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1866 and 1878. In 1881, the number of Abkhaz in the Russian Empire was estimated at only 20,000. From the North Caucasus, many emigrated to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. Chechens, Circassians, Lezgins, Avars, etc. founded villages in what is now Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Palestine. Most of them now live in Turkey, especially in the coastal areas of the Black Sea.
@@Zoroff74 most underhanded compliment
Short answer - no. Whatever the internal problems, only a moron* would think that Abkhazia or South Ossetia would turn against Russia.
*Edit and clarification - this is not meant to imply that the professor is, in my view, a moron. Quite the opposite.
@@mrgabagoo580 long answer: N o o o
@@mrgabagoo580 exactly. But I know who will break away from this channel.
@@canavar1435 Well not me. I don't always agree with professor Ker Lindsey, but I think he offers intelligent and good faith analysis.
I know historical analogies have limited value, but one of the first signs of Soviet collapse was when the Polish communists lost power in the 1989 parliamentary elections. That was a clear example of a patron losing control over a satellite state. Is this a sign that the Russian Federation might be headed down a similar path? Great video, by the way!
nope ,what happened in Abkhazia is simple,they don't want house prices to increase by allowing russians to buy properties,they want Russians to keep being tourists,they earn more that way ,they don't hate Russia,the prof is exaggerating just like in non western areas he has been doing
@@duncancreativecorner What happened in Poland in 1989 was simple too. One small pro-agriarian party, which had previously been controlled by the communists, decided to switch its loyalty to Solidarity, creating a non-communist majority. On its surface, this party's decision had nothing to do with Soviet domination of Poland at the time. And yet, by the end of the year, Moscow had lost control of all of its puppet regimes in Eastern Europe. So, I think you're being a bit disingenious to suggest the property protest (which is real) has no potential wider meaning.
@@FredoRockwell When it comes to Poland, one thing to consider is that Gorbachev's "Sinatra Doctrine" had allowed the other Eastern Bloc countries with more leeway than before to do their own thing.
@@FredoRockwell You are right. It potentially has a wider significance. But I'm not sure exactly how important Abkhazia really is to Russia. It is primarily being used by Moscow as a prop against Georgia further aligning with the EU and NATO.
in geostrategic terms, Poland was critical to the USSR.
However, I can hop on to your optimism train for a little joy ride. Perhaps Abkhazia will prove to be more consequential than it initially appears.
@@Robespierre-lI I don't think Abkhazia has to be strategically crucial to Russia for this to be a sigjnificant moment. Autocracies tend to be brittle - they look rigid but once the cracks start showing they can collapse quickly. To me, this is (perhaps) a sign that Moscow lacks the control, or the will to exercise it, it had a few years ago. Maybe. We'll see.
interesting. do you think the election of a pro-russian government in georgia would change the dynamic in this situation?
Its difficult to call current goverment in Georgia pro-russian. No plans to recover dimplomatic relations, remaining (delcared) goal to become a part of EU. Limitation of pro-western NGO and recovering trade with Russia don't make this goverment pro-russian. I think, its simply way to survive: not to be part of bloodbath and keep own economy alive.
I admit georgian govt will slowly and cautiously seek ways to revive legal cross-border trade and other communication with Abkhazia. May be some day railroad transit through Abkhazia will be recovered. But its very dufficult. Both sides keep in memory horrors of war in 90s. And, as I see, Abkazia will never accept to be a part of Georgia. The same for S.Osetia. These types of society keeps historical memory much more carefully than western one.
@@gkudriavtsev Artsakh got resolved
Great video as always, Professor, but just a quick question: Do you think Georgia could now try to negotiate a peace deal with Abkhazia that guaranteed full autonomy with a pathway to independence now, considering Georgia (especially under the Georgian Dream party) is moving less in a pro-European direction and more in a pro-Russian direction? In short, a Gaugzia style of deal?
Perhaps what’s already happening in Georgia/Sakartvelo might be like Ukraine from the Euromaidan era (late 2013-early 2014). Hope Georgia doesn’t become another Belarus. There will be a time that the dreaded pro-Russian GD regime gets thrown out of power. The traitor Bidzina Ivanishvili will be sent fleeing north to Russia hated and humiliated by angry citizens. Same would apply to most if not all his minions. Prepare for a Georgian Euromaidan coming soon.
Awesome video! I did not really know much about Abkhazia, I actually thought it gained "independence" in 2008 during Russian invasion of Georgia. BUt with all information that you gave, Abkhazia had more right to seceede then Kosovo.
Georgia turning to russia while an independent breakaway state that was backed by russia now turning against them? Thats the biggest plot twist in geopolitics. What's next? EU starts recognising them?
Abkhazia actually never was independent so called, Abkhazia was only populated by Ethnic Georgians living in the Region of Abkhazia ( So Abkhazians ) until like late 15th century, when Georgian kingdom teared apart into multiple sub region, after that it was under siege by Ottoman backed Circassians for a long time and lot of Circassian occupied lands there ( and called themselves Apsuas as they still call it to themselves instead of Abkhazians ). After Georgia became the part of Russian Empire, most of Circassians ( Apsuans ) were kicked out from the Georgian land. During the Soviet Era, Ethnic Georgians were the majority in Abkhazia, until early 90s when Russian backed forces kicked Georgians out
@NikolaHD That was also my mistaken prior belief and I agree that Abkhazia has a greater claim to statehood than does Kosovo.
Are we going back to city-states? How can a statelet of 250,000 inhabitants be economically viable?
Also funny how people being up how it should be illegitimate because the independence was followed for ethnic cleansing, as that wasn't the case for most of the recognised states, especially Israel.
Thanks for another informative video.
Please can we have a video diving deeper into what internal self-determination means. Does it always mean a right to federalise the sovereign state?
once again the Circassians have rebelled against Moscow colonial empire.
Are you familiar with badempanada's UA-cam channel
I hope he is blissfully unaware of that psychopath.
@@RandomAussieGuy87 His videos are well researched but they do make liberals uncomfortable.
Abkhazia was always allied to Russia due to convenience. They never were pro-Russia, they just hate Georgia more. The 2014 revolution showed this.
How you know?
@@ninokandelaki3662 Their political history, especially when the citizens get riled up, and polls
Well, your analyses are very good, academically. However, talking to people on the ground adds a much more clarity to issues like Abkhazia. I know it sort of falls within the boundaries of journalism yet at least featuring references from academics working on the ground will do loads more justice. Apparently such tensions, every now and then, are just part of the natural flow of relationships of territories and countries in the Caucasus. Specifically, re Abkhazia, when I asked my own contacts (friends, or those close to some Abkhaz officials etc) highlight that despite these occasional ups and downs the Abkhaz-Russian relationships feature mutual indispensibility hence Russia will not lse Abkhazia.
I have a friend who lives in Abhazia. Seems to be a beautiful place. He has been dreaming of traveling to Europe where he once was, at young age. He has been trying to obtain Russian passport for years but as he said " you need to know who to bribe." For that knowledge you also need to pay. Despite attempts, he never succeeded and, like most residents, has only abhkazian passport. It's useless as only 2 countries would respect it. This is how Russia can control who leaves the country and profits on passport fees and bribes - while also making sure that only the available job market for abhkazian labors is ruzzia. It's also a good vacation destination for ruzzians as they have it quite exclusively. That helps to develop and maintain influence because there is no competition from other possible investors. Is it profitable for Abhkazians? Judge it yourself.
Lavrentiy Beria was from Abkhazia.
the best thing how really save abkhazia from russian influnce is that like kosovo they gets recognition
Doesn't seem likely due to the high level of European and Western ego. Thinking they're the only ones who can decide what countries are legitimate and what aren't, and only their opinion is legitimately correct.
Politics aside, Abkhazia has a beatiful flag
Peace ✌🏿 Only
How interesting. I didn't realise there was such substance to Abkhazians' claim to nationhood - more than there is to Kosovars', surely! What about the South Ossetians? Is their claim stronger, weaker, or comparable?
From my experience it depends on your baseline for something to be legitimate. Ossetians want most of all unification. Ossetia was divided between north and south in soviet era.
Only difference with Ossetia is they migrated south hundreds of years ago. Georgians claimed that as a reason they shouldn't have autonomy, and abolished it, which caused ethnic strife to become even worse before full independence
But they're different from Abkhazia in terms of goals, they want to unify with North Ossetia.
@@filipsykora9506 actually not really, yeah technically there are south and north osetia and they both are ossetians but they are different ossetians and it is unlikely that they have much in common now
@Meem_Begorski Interesting, why do you assess that they are different in south and north? I mean in some fundamental way
@filipsykora9506 Initially, the Ossetians were called "alans", But after the Mongol Empire captured the plains, some Alans moved to the mountains and that's how they became Ossetians, and the way they live is different because of the different conditions of the area. also the North Ossetians, that is, the Alans, peacefully joined Russia, and South Ossetia was captured in battle.
After Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-93, Georgia and Russia both together with CIS countries imposed heavy embargo against Abkhazia. These blockade lifted fully only after Putin came to power.
I hope so for their safety and future..... But not to point of violence.
Thanks Prof. fascinating. Trading one dependence for another, DeFacto states are anything but independent. That line alone will stay with me.
Has any Defacto states voluntarily re-unified with its former state? I'm sure there is an obvious one that I am not thinking about, more coffee.
There are a few, even in Georgia there was one, Adjara around Batumi which was controlled by a Oligarch, in the end Georgia gave it a good deal and so it rejoined. There is also the GDR which didn't collapse completely and rejoined Germany. Another one was east Turkistan which rejoined China after the Communist Chinese forces reached its borders. Usually peaceful reintegration happens because of one of two reason:
1. Internal unrest (like in the GDR case)
2. Loss of Patron (like in east Turkistan)
Reintegration are way more common with warlord lead states, because they often don't have as strong of a national identity and they rarely declare full independence (compare Puntland and Somaliland for example).
@@Gulitize Thanks, I knew there must be an obvious example and now that I've had sufficient amount of coffee.
It doesn't apply equally to all de facto states though - Somaliland for example, afaik it doesn't directly rely on any external patron state.
Gagauzia was de-facto independent from Moldova in the early 90s before agreeing to re-unify, albeit with autonomy.
10:20 that point about the coronavirus hitting Russian territory harder is an important one. The metabolic issues that follow are frightening, labour and economic output reduces, cognitive issues like memory loss and aggression can result. Kremlin weaponised it against the west with misinformation about vaccines, saying it's just a flu etc.
I've always been interested in Abkhazia, and the thing that strikes me the most is that at the time of the declaration of independence from Georgia, ethnic abkhazians composed little more than 15% of the inhabitants of the region.
As you said, i also think that Abkhazia will not turn against Russia, since it depends on Moscow for its own survival
A comment on the early USSR history part: Abkhazia was NOT one of the constituent republics of the USSR, never. When the USSR was formed, Georgia and Abkhazia (together with Armenia and Azerbaijan & dependencies) were part of the Transkaukasian SSR, one of the 4 founding SSRs. The TKSSR was dissolved with the new ('Stalinist') constitution of the USSR, it was replaced by Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Abkhazia was one of the 4 Autonomous SSRs of the TKSSR and was part of Georgia by then.
Thanks. But it was an SSR, albeit with an odd status until it was brought under the Georgian SSR as an ASSR, the second under unit within the Soviet Union.
@@JamesKerLindsay True. It was an SSR within the TKSSR, not part of Georgia until the early 30s. Still it was not considered equal to the 3 constituent SSRs of the TKSSR. An odd unique status, a remnant of the very early Soviet history before the firm hyerarchy of national autonomies formed.
@@BiharyGabor in 1921 it signed an union treaty with Georgia
@@sababugs1125 That did not apply under Soviet constitutional law. They joined the USSR as part of the TKSFSR and not as a part of the GSSR. Am I wrong?
@@BiharyGabor It united with Georgia on December 16th 1921
James, I had to laugh when you talked about the "long history of" Abkhazia.
You could say that about every state in Germany, for example. How about the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish in the UK. Oh, sorry, I left out Cornwall. I was once vacationing there while living in the England. This was before Brexit. There were Cornish and EU flags but no Union Jacks or English flags. Cornwall is formally a part of England. I heard one guy say on the BBC, "I am Cornish, I am British and I am European, but I AM NOT ENGLISH (his emphasis)". I know a guy here in the US who is from Devon, and he is definitely NOT Cornish although he grew up near the border.
Another example would be the Basques and Catalonians in Spain. We can't, of course, forget about the Walloons and Flemish in Belgium. I won't even get into the whole Austro-Hungarian or the Ottoman empires. That might take all day.
I do this for one good reason. In the past, I would start with more modern history and I would get loads of comments complaining that history started before then and I had missed out this and that. Adding this one sentence has been the easiest and most effective way to stop that.
@@JamesKerLindsay James. this is not at meant to be a dig at you. I fully understand why you mention it and appreciate that.
It was more of a commentary on the state of most of the world. Being an American it just seems odd to me. Of course, the whole history of Russia, including the Soviet Union period, is one of control of populations and attempts to use that to control their empire.
Just a little story about how that continues to manifest itself. My grandparents came from Arcadia in the Peloponnese. One time my mother went to pick up one of my cars from a shop that was owned by some Greeks. I was traveling a lot at the time. She had dyed her hair blonde, and they did not think she was Greek. So, when she started talking to them in Greek, they were all excited. Then they asked her where she was from. When she told them one of the older guys started cursing at her. You see, they were from Sparta and there has been animosity between the two regions for over 3,000 years.
By the way, when I lived in the UK, earlier in the current millennium, I used to see graffiti on the motorway overpasses that read "England for the English". I always had to laugh at that. It was not about migrants, by the way. Do you recall seeing that?
Hopefully this episode commentaries are less controversial than the Kosovo one 😅
Russian has more income, so they can easily buy a lot of real estate on Abkhazia.
Like brits and us in portugal.
But i doubt that russian in Abkhazia want to learn local language.
In 100 years it may be assimilation case
Their naivety is endearing , the reality is Abkhazia is not an independent state. It never was and it never will be, the reality is Abkhazia is a minor obscure peripheral poor region of the Russian federation.
Same with Taiwan and Kosovo.
@@gamermapper Well, you may argue that Kosovo is in a similar situation, but Taiwn is certainly not "a minor obscure peripheral poor region"
Requests for the Q&A: expand on the actual situation in the last 15 years, does it, or should it affect the claim to sovereignty? by having close friends that used to work in the Russian tourist industry before, esp, around Sochi, they've all expanded indeed their tourism services into Abkhazia during the early 10s... but, eventually - Abkhazia - turned into a wild nomans-land - used for R&R for the Wagner groups , defacto drug industry, crypto-mining farms since electricity isn't being paid for, and more and more Russians buying cheap sea-side summerhouses. This became eventually not only unbearable for Abkhazians - but even to the Russians who are not part of these kinds of things ... Please discuss these, I think it's an important angle, that is - Russia to just use it as an anarchy territory across the border... became sickening
It seems to me that the parallels between Kosovo and Abkhazia are deep and persistent, and show clearly that there are no unique situations in world affairs.
Taiwan, Israel, Somaliland, Western Sahara too
Funny how Nauru accepted the independence of Abkhazia and even has, technically, an Abkhaz embassy in its tiny territory. That Pacific island-nation has been desperately looking for financial support in the last two decades, it voted for the independence of Abkhazia (which they certainly could not have spotted in a world map at that time) just to receive Russian money. Russia even sponsored a trip of a Nauruan delegation to the Caucasian mountains, which was as funny as it was pointless
So why doesn’t Russia do a Belarus on the protests?
Heavy fixation on its bloodbath in Ukraine
What did Russia do in Belarus?
Give me concrete facts, not things you are about to pull out of your аss.
Abkhazia appears to be Russian Monaco and turning anti-Russia would mean economic downturn for them, especially since relation of Georgia and Russia are improving. But Georgia certainly did not gave up on reunification. If anything, this might be start of ethnic strife, possibly fanned by foreign interests.
sure ivan sure ))) Muscovite Monaco
The nerve to compare hell hole occupied by Russia and luxury casino state of Monaco🤣🤣
Spoken like a true propagandist 🤣 next you will tell me that Russian elections are 100% free and fair 🤭
Watching this video while I eat a sandwich a pleasing experience
TL:DR No
When there is a question in a news title 75% of the time the answer is no. Its just a clickbait way of generating interest.
75% is a conservative estimate.
Essentially, the situation is very similar in many aspects to Kosovo. Constitutional changes, questions of autonomy, war over control, intervention of a global power, with a slight difference being that in Abkhazia they waved Russian flags while in Kosovo they waved American. Well, foreign relations 1.0.1.
Abchazja will never learn. It is better to have a partner than a protector.
Being part of Georgia is being a colony, not a partner
@@lmr8277But, being part of some theoretical future EU-Ascended Georgia would afford them minority protection by Brussels and free access to the European market.
Of course, this only applies _if_ Georgia ever makes it into the EU…
@@rathersaneAbkhazia is a North Caucasian territory. Your suggestion is moot.
@rathersane Minority protection by Brussels means almost nothing. Ask Corsica or the Bretons.
This would require some serious and new unique guarantees since Abkhaz have been very willing to sacrifice a decent amount of economic prosperity for freedom from the very start. If that were to happen, I could see it, but other EU states might not want to do that since their own minorities might start asking for the same
@@rathersaneminority protection from Brussels?
The same minority protection Russian speakers are getting in the ukrane where the fascist government literally banned the Russian language from schools, banned Russian books, Russian literature, Russian movies?
Are we still pretending "freedom and democracy " BS is real?
A step by step process and lesson into how to cheaply and easily absorb another neighbouring state. Abkhazia needs to pay attention to who it gets into bed with. Political disease is rampant.
The problem started originally when Georgia flirted with NATO? After that, Abkhazia and South Ossetia very quickly became "part" of Russia. The same thing happened with Ukraine, but why did you skip that part, respected professor?
Losing control... 😊
Did you watch the video? :-)
What in Heaven's name are you talking about? Abkhazia might have pro-Russian leadership but is by no means under Russian control enough to be said "Abkhazia is rebelling against Russia". I mean, Russia has absolutelly no interest in control over Abkhazia and is only losing money in an effort to protect it from Georgia. If Abkhazia turns away from Russia and refuses Russian assistance, Russia loses nothing, but Abkhazia loses independence. This might be šrotesta against poor economy but it can hardly be called "rebelling" and certainly not "rebelling against Russia".
@SmokeDimi losses independence if turned away from ruzzia while it is 100% relying on rizzia founds. So is independent right now?
Good question
Those are just the symptoms.
Wasn't the former President (Saakashvili) also a mayor in Odessa. I believe Renny Harlin also made a movie about the Russo-Georgian War.
Tibet was a breakaway de facto state of China supported by its British raj patron, the whole world recognized Tibet as Chinese territory which only changed when the Communist took power and reincorporated Tibet, if it was the nationalists that did it we wouldn't be hearing about Tibet in the West today.
@@Austine1452 It was also because of the deep persecution and demographic change PRC has tried to do. Also China starting a war with India in 62 and the seven dash line dispute didnt help
@@navinthehouse4710deep persecution 🙄 you mean like the Westoids are deeply conserned about deep persecution of Uygurs, meanwhile the Uygurs have no clue they are being persecuted....
But magically the US/UK completely ignore oppression/expulsion,extermination of Palestinians by ziofascist regime..
@@navinthehouse4710which demographic change are you talking about when Tibet is more than 90 percent tibetan and if you are looking for oppression ask kashmiris under the boot of Indians.
@edwardsnowden8821 90% is the avg for the Tibetan region, in cities and outer regions it is much lower. Kashmiris literally just voted for an Anti BJP party, you cant vote in a non ccp govt in China
@@navinthehouse4710 in which cities and in which outer regions. are you talking about. also the most internet restriction and most army deployment to intimidate the local people happens in kashmir.
The Great Game never stopped
Who would want to be a vassal to Russia? What exactly does one gain from such an arrangement? Being a vassal to Russia leads to a ruined economy. Just look at Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. Being a vassal to Russia also provides no protection. Just look at Armenia and Syria.
Now compare this to becoming an ally of the West. Countries that ally themselves to the West experience economic miracles. Just look at Japan and Poland. And being allied to the West offers very serious protection. Look at Taiwan, South Korea and the entire NATO block. Not once have they ever suffered serious attack.
Thanks. Very well put. I fully admit the West’s shortcomings. But between the two, I know where I would want to be. Sadly, there are far too many online who venerate Russia. It is not a model that anyone in their right mind should want to emulate.
@@JamesKerLindsay The shortcomings of the West are innumerable. But that is of course one of the upsides to the West, we can openly talk about the shortcomings and even make changes to the system through our politics. The Western world is just the best system out there until someone somewhere comes up with something better.
😮
Maybe they can join Northern Ireland and their flag will clap
Autobalance!
Teams have been switched!
Georgians and Georgia´s supporters make a huge mistake here, You ´d support Circassians´ fight against Moscow imperialism as much as possible today . Once Moscow empire is out of Abkhazia, you with our (EU/USA) support can make a deal with Circassians.
+1
USA "support"? No thanks.
Since Georgia supports Circassians too, maybe that's why we need to support Georgia and it's people
If you are against colonial imperialism maybe you should concentrate on Native Americans who are under illegal occupation with their land stolen, and the US ignoring most of the treaties it signed with them. But let me guess, you don't care about imperialism, you actually want Russian imperialism or so you Georgia can turn abkhazia into its colony.
@havanasyndrome3024 uh oh Re*ard Alert! Re*ard Alert!
I think the history of these countries is fascinating..... Its so complex.and often is not well known i.... I think learning helps understanding and resolving current difficulties and I think it's important as a principle to recognise and respect individual and people
nowadays Abkhazians are not original Abkhaz, they are Apsua, Afshil and Abazg of origin, Abkhazians were always Georgians until Russian empire conquered it with other parts of Georgia. look at the kings and rulers family names, Anchabadze, Shervashidze, Machabeli etc. Russia always laid ticking time bombs in order to be able to squash any kind of rebellions and weaken national identity to control conquered states easily. more diverse is conquered country least possibility of unification. i am not saying that people who call themselves Abkhaz now are not our distant relative, they are, because of time we spent and lived together creates intermarriages and we are all Caucasians.
I don't believe that Abkhazia has any real future with Putin's Russia. When Putin departs the scene, then all bets will be off. In the meantime, I would suggest a very low-key friendly to everyone, keep your options open approach.
The way Abkhazia is described just makes it sound like Russian Monaco?
How will Georgia/Sakartvelo which, alongside the rest of the world, sees Abkhazia as its own react to all this?
Another wonderful video professor! I hope you may respond to the e-mail that I had sent you soon!
Thanks. I haven’t seen an email. Best to send me a message via LinkedIn. I will try to respond.
it would have been nice to get a comparison with Ajaria (seen on one map but not discussed), since both it and Abkhazia were in a similar situation in the mid 2000s. But Georgia managed to get Ajaria back into the fold.
Moscow empire´s war record :-
1856 defeated by Britain and France
1905 defeated by Japan
1917 defeated by Germany
1920 defeated by Poland, Finland, Estonia and all Baltic states
1939 defeated by Finland
1969 defeated by China
1989 defeated by Afghanistan
1989 defeated in the Cold War.
1996 defeated by Chechnya
2022 defeated by Ukraine
WW2 won USA/Britain , meanwhile Stalin's officers were shot or sent to the Gulags. Millions went to the Gulags, including Solzhenitsyn
Moscow's only victories come from invading smaller countries :-
a) Hungary 1956
b) Czechoslovakia 1968
c) Moldova 1992
d) Georgia 2008
@@eugenlitwin5887 no one asked, troll.
Did Ukraine hire wumao bots?
@@sphyxiation ivan, not for you, but you can still read it, " Georgians and Georgia´s supporters make a huge mistake here, You ´d support Circassians´ fight against Moscow imperialism as much as possible today . Once Moscow empire is out of Abkhazia, you with our (EU/USA) support can make a deal with Circassians."
Yep. Losers over and over. That's why Putin so paranoid.
1856 is more like a separate peace, despite some consider it as defeat of Russia.
In 1920 baltics states basically survived because of white army and german legions but whatever.
Soviet union won 1939 war
1969 is a bit complicated. basically China was crushed but Soviet union did not want an escalation of the conflict with China and made a concession.
2022 war is still on going.
WW2 was carried by anti-axis pack, you are just capping.
Can Russia win only against small countries? After World War II, the Soviet Union did not intervene directly in many places, unlike USA or UK, and they both either haven't won against strong country after ww2.
Circassians rebelled against the ratification of an "investment" agreement with Moscow empire. The USSR´s empire is gone, the Romanov´s empire is gone. NEVER 2 WITHOUT 3, the Saddam Putsein ´s empire will follow!
Abkhazia must be free from Russia and Georgia. 🇷🇺
No.
The underlying motivation for making this video clearly stems from a dislike for Russia. As a result, many untruths and false perceptions are presented as universal rules. For instance, Russians currently cannot buy land in Abkhazia. The country is effectively controlled by local clan-based oligarchs and factions within the Ossetian ethnicity. This internal power struggle also explains the support base for the so-called "palace revolution." The conflict revolves around the distribution of resources among Abkhazians themselves.
Abkhazia remains in disarray. Nothing significant has been restored since the war for independence. Tourism, primarily from Russia but also from other countries, along with the export of fruits and vegetables to Russia and Belarus, are the main sources of income. To improve tourism services, Russia proposed a new investment law aimed at enhancing service quality. Currently, tourism services in Abkhazia are considered extremely poor or even nonexistent.
One of the points in the comprehensive investment proposal was to expand all railway sections to connect with Russian railways, which have already restored services between Sochi and Sukhumi. However, opposition groups argue that opening the railway line for cargo transport to the Georgian border could lead to Russia handing over Abkhazia to Georgia in exchange for improved relations with Georgia.
The author of the video appears to have deliberately altered numerous details to vilify Russia. For example, Stalin repopulated Abkhazia with ethnic Georgians, although other Soviet ethnic groups were present as well, Georgians were the majority. The author emphasizes "Russians" intentionally to downplay the role of Georgians. Nearly half of Abkhazia's population-primarily ethnic Georgians-was expelled by the rebels, while other Soviet peoples left due to the economic breakdown of the Soviet Union. Abkhazia still struggles to replace its lost population. Cities remain depopulated, with abandoned infrastructure.
The proposed investment law also aimed to allow Russians to purchase apartments, incentivizing housing renovation. Many young Abkhazians do not harbor resentment toward Russia. Contrary to the author's claims, there are almost no Russian businesses in the country. If there were, it could create local opportunities. Instead, many young people migrate to prosperous Russian cities with better jobs and education. Russia even subsidizes a portion of public workers' salaries to retain them in Abkhazia. Without these subsidies, most educated individuals would likely migrate.
To summarize, while Abkhazia might seem like a paradise from a distance, up close, it is little more than an aging ruin.
Thanks!
That's kind of the problem with social media - anyone can talk out of their ass with a lot of confidence and pretend to be giving facts...
I would love for this goof to talk about British occupation and oppression, not he never will.
Its similar to Kosovo, but there the US is the patron state
Its part of georgia
"Skirmishes erupted around Abkhazia, leading to a full scale Russian invasion". Such convenient passive voice phrasing! Saakashvili attacked Russian peacekeepers and tried to retake the territories by force leading to the Russian invasion. Skirmishes didn't just "erupt".
He's just a Westoid propagandist. He isn't here to educate but to brainwash.
ok and ? he was trying to retake his land
If you want Abkhazia 💚✋🇺🇸 to turn against Russia, maybe having any other country recognise them or at least having unofficial relations could work? If they don't have any other ally at all, do they have the choice?
they can just join Georgia
It would help Ukraine if the other Slavic countries refuse to cooperate with Russian.
I doubt abkazia and south ossetia are slavic. They're more caucasians than slavics.
Abkhazia 🫡 🇷🇺👎🏼
and will the UK declare independence from the US?
They did in 1783.
Read closely ...will UK declare independence FROM USA?
UK is beholden to US currently
That is the most relevant question! Thanks for asking...😂
@@nigelgarrett7970other way around! but now, the UK wants to reunited after brexit
@@kobikaicalev175 Sorry, on which planet is this?
Interesting video and coincidence! An excellent historic video on the minority nationalities in Georgia SSR over on the excellent 'Cold War' channel was uploaded yesterday: ua-cam.com/video/7ntl34-t-WM/v-deo.html
I knew this video would bring out the pro-russia trolls and i wasn't disappointed.
I vote for the "professor" to do a story on Australians losing a war to Emus, not once but twice. 😂
Indeed. Most of them clearly haven't even bothered to watch the video.
@@JamesKerLindsay lil jimmy, you ever going to do a story on your hero - genocidal criminal called Churchill and his crimes against the Bengalis/Indians?
Or you only going to b cover figure your don't like?!
Welcome to the west you will be free to pick and choose what you want or don’t want it will be hard at first people with freedom and a great variety of music and information can be confused at first
It is just too small to be a truly independent state. It probably would get a better deal by going back to Georgia as their relative size difference is not as huge as with Russia and hence can be taken more seriously.
@@iany2448 Abkhazians and Georgians killed each other just so today’s status quo could be achieved. They are not likely to cooperate on anything. Your lack of basic knowledge of the subject is laughable.
If they could get further recognition, their best bet would be to play Russia, and Turkey off of each other for influence and to maintain their independence. Not submit to Georgia
Georgia is just too small to be a truly independent State it should be a county of in Russia.
@@Austine1452 If Monaco is a country, Abkhazia can be
@@lmr8277 except Turkey would much rather work with Georgia since many important pipelines between Azerbaijan and Turkey go through Georgia. Turkey actually provided a lot of military equipment to Georgia
you are telling the Russian version of history which is far from what the reality is. and the numbers never match
Color me surprised
Russia is happy with Abkhazia’s international isolation. While Moscow occasionally makes calls for recognition, Russia doesn’t truly want Abkhazia to gain broader recognition or even establish economic ties with others without recognition. As long as Georgia-led sanctions persist, Abkhazia will remain firmly under Russian dominance.
If anyone accuses Abkhazia of being dependent on Russia, what they need to do is engage with Abkhazia and offer alternatives beyond Russia. If they can’t do that, they should stop complaining.
Abkhazia is sanctioned for a good reason