Well, today is 17th, and this all started on the 7th/8th. I'm writing from Armenia, where C and I have been evacuated along with the rest of the volunteers in Peace Corps Georgia. The situation has stopped being violent, but continues to deteriorate. C and I are struggling to decide how to get on with our lives, and what direction that may take.I may be able to get a job working on relief efforts in Georgia, but it's still uncertain. Other than that, we're considering teaching English in South Korea for 9 months. We're still deciding what we want to do, as we are definitely not going back to Georgia with the Peace Corps. In my opinion, it'll be at least 6 months before the program can safely reopen.
PCV B & C Go To Georgia writes: Update
Update
Well, today is 17th, and this all started on the 7th/8th. I'm writing from Armenia, where C and I have been evacuated along with the rest of the volunteers in Peace Corps Georgia. The situation has stopped being violent, but continues to deteriorate.
Russian forces control the major east/west highway, including the towns of Poti, Senaki, Zestaponi, Zugdidi, Gori, Khashuri, and several villages within 30 miles of Tbilisi. There are unconfirmed reports that a railway bridge in Borjomi, about 45 minutes from our site, was destroyed, which would indicate Russian prescence. The Georgian/Russian ceasefire seems to be holding, with the caveat that Russian troops are expanding, not contracting, their presence in Georgia. This is somewhat in violation of the written document, but contradiction is one thing that the Russians do so love to embrace.
Watching Russian TV is quite an experience. My favorite move so far is showing NATO patches on the bodies of Georgian troops, and claims that Georgians had executed entire villages of South Ossetians. Russian media manipulation is a real sight to behold when it's running at full steam. There are just flat out lies being told to the Russian people, mainly to encourage anti-Georgian sentiment and further justify the prescence of Russian troops. It makes me so angry to see this kind of blatant lying.
On the Khashuri front, there are confired reports of Russian troops engaging in looting. It absolutely breaks me to see the occupation of Georgia continuing, and even getting more intense as time goes on.
Whatever Russia says, I have trouble believing. Sure, they've signed the ceasefire. But it doesn't appear that they intend to follow it. They're still in Georgia; they're looting, blowing up infrastructure, destroying Georgian equipment, and frankly it doesn't look like they're going to leave any time soon.
C and I are struggling to decide how to get on with our lives, and what direction that may take.I may be able to get a job working on relief efforts in Georgia, but it's still uncertain. Other than that, we're considering teaching English in South Korea for 9 months. We're still deciding what we want to do, as we are definitely not going back to Georgia with the Peace Corps. In my opinion, it'll be at least 6 months before the program can safely reopen.
