The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia (Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus) [Paperback]

Svante E. Cornell (Author, Editor), S. Frederick Starr (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 279 pages
• Publisher: M.E.Sharpe (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765625083
• ISBN-13: 978-0765625083
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > History > Asia > Georgia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just the Type of Documentation that Is Needed, September 7, 2009

By 

Wallie "Wallie" (Europe) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia (Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus) (Paperback)

The MSM have at the time of that little war just followed their birdbrain habit: just repeated what the official Russian media wrote. And they did not bother to research the historic events that preceeded the war in August 2008. One year has passed, the Russians did not fulfill their side of the bargain arranged by EU (Sarkozy), but NATO "turned the page" and Hillary and Barry hit the "reset button". The authors of the book did their research and the book is a MUST-READ for all who care about that part of the world and about political realities in general. I wish more people, especially those somehow professionally connected with things Russian would read this.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Historical Perspective on Russia/Georgia Relations, September 1, 2009

By 

David Asatiani "D. Asatiani" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia (Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus) (Paperback)

Brief AND well managed chapters, especially Chapter 1 for those who want to get the historical perspective in the nutshell...but super interesting facts on the russia's premeditated decades long destabilization game in the caucasus throughout the tome. EA/NATO failed response equally important but a bit wordy, will likely lose a reader who is not personally interested in the topic.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A definitive study, March 10, 2011

By 

Michinio (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia (Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus) (Paperback)

This is a very well researched and documented study. The arguments advanced in the book are supported by factual evidence which is mostly unknown to western media.

For instance the chapter written by Andrei Illarionov (Putin's adviser until 2005) tackles important questions including the question whether or not the Russian government was premeditating the war long time before it actually broke out. Illarionov provides very convincing evidence, he documents numerous war preparation actions undertaken by Russian government such as appointing Russian citizens in the Military and Political leadership of South Ossetia between 2004-08 and sending group of exclusively Russian journalists(and not allowing foreign journalist) to Tskinvali days before the war broke out, evacuating thousands of civilians from South Ossetia weeks before the war, deploying tanks and military hardware in the conflict zones, conducting military exercises in the region, Russian Air Force's sending out a nationwide call (in MAY 2008) to active duty of all former military helicopter pilots who had experience flying in mountainous areas and many more.

Furthermore, Putin's former adviser enumerates 46 actions that are believed to be acts of aggression (by official UN definition) 45 of which were performed first by the Coalition(Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia) and only one by Georgia before the Coalition. Thus, strongly suggesting that the actual war was in fact started by the Russian government in conjunction with its marionette governments of S. Ossetia and Abkhazia.

P.S.
The two bad reviews given to this book on Amazon are clearly unsubstantiated and biased, they do not provide any clear evidence to support their arguments, and most probably their writers have never even read the book but just heard that among other things it very convincingly documents Russian preparation and perpetration of the war in Georgia.