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A Little War that Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West |  | Author: Ronald Asmus
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Category: Book
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 235419
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0230617735
Dewey Decimal Number: 947.58086
EAN: 9780230617735
ASIN: 0230617735
Publication Date: January 19, 2010
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Product Description
The brief war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 seemed to many like an unexpected shot out of the blue that was gone as quickly as it came. Former Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Ronald Asmus contends that it was a conflict that was prepared and planned for some time by Moscow, part of a broader strategy to send a message to the United States: that Russia is going to flex its muscle in the twenty-first century. A Little War that Shook the World is a fascinating look at the breakdown of relations between Russia and the West, the decay and decline of the Western Alliance itself, and the fate of Eastern Europe in a time of economic crisis.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 A disgrace to honest writing June 3, 2010
Stephen Lynch (Moscow, Russia)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Before buying this book I realized Mr. Asmus was conflicted and biased in his "analysis." Nonetheless I hoped to gain some insight into the rationale and basis for Georgia's actions and the neocons support for the same. Unfortunately the book is written with such a heavy bias to Georgia and lack of knowledge about Russia that there is little in it you can rely on. If you know (or believe) one set of facts, that broadly: Nato is only good, the West is best, Russia is dark and bad and Georgia is a democracy led by an honest man. Then you will like this book. If the know the world to be more complex than the preceding, this book will be a disappointment for you.
A howling untruth in an otherwise very good book April 6, 2010
Hands-on Jeb
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In trying to explain the deep psychological and patriotic feelings that motivated President Saakashvili and the Georgians during the August 2008 war, Ronald Asmus goes back to the First Georgian Republic of 1918-21 and writes: "The decision by the government in Tbilisi then (in 1921) not to fight for their independence left a legacy that would shape Saakashvili's decision in August 2008. It had taken Georgia seventy years to regain its independence and many Georgians were not about to give it up a second time without a fight" And he repeats several times in his book the astonishing assertion that the 1921 Georgian government chose not to fight the invading red army.
Nothing could be further from the truth, so much so that I am totally amazed that this complete reversal of history could have found credence with such a savvy gentleman as Mr. Asmus.
The facts can be easily ascertained. [ I invite the interested reader to Google these words: Georgia - 1921 - red army, and peruse the results.]
In brief: in 1921 the red army attacked with overwhelming numbers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and from the North through the mountain passes as well as alongside the coast of the Black Sea. The Turks joined in, and invaded from the South. Everywhere the invaders met with fierce resistance, so much so that it took over one full month for the Reds to seize all of little Georgia.
A grace note: before being finally vanquished, in a quixotic action the remnants of the Georgian army attacked and defeated the Turks who had occupied Batumi, so that the region would remain part of Georgia.
I am at a loss for where Mr. Asmus found his totally erroneous information. Perhaps he confounded the year 1921 with the year 1805, when Russian forces indeed entered Georgia without a shot in response to a plea for help against the Moslem invaders from the South, and ended up annexing the country.
President Saakashvili is extraordinarily well-informed. I am certain he is well aware of the fact that in 1921 the first republic fought with all its might against the communist invader, and therefore the memory of those times cannot have had on him the psychological impact asserted here. I heartily hope Mr. Asmus will correct this egregious distortion of history in future editions of his book, which otherwise is well worth reading.
 A good geopolitical interpretation March 28, 2010
Rogerio de O. Souza (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just bought and read this book.
The author brings us a good view of geopolitical interpretation of the war. Russia still poses as a menace to the West. The European Union was weak to antecipate the war and let Georgia alone in the dark. What can we do if a country invades us and begins to kill our people? Georgian's president was obliged to answer and did what everyone in his position should do: fight back.
Of course there are many questions to solve: is South Ossetia an independent country or just another "russian's republic"? Does it people really want to join Russia? As the author says: the own developing of Georgia would show where is the real interest of Ossetians and Abckasians: an autonomous union with Georgia.
A good book.
Rogerio de Oliveira Souza - Brazil
While the West Slept... February 25, 2010
M. M. H., Esq (Washington, DC)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
"A Little War That Shook the World: Georgia, Russia and the Future of the West"
Bravo to Dr. Asmus on this outstanding account of what transpired in Georgia during those not so lazy days in August 2008 while the West was more interested in the Beijing Olympic Games than Russia's incursion into Georgia. I really can't praise this book enough, and like Dr. Asmus' earlier book "Opening NATO's Door" an insider's account of NATO enlargement; this book should be on everyone's "must read" list. This exceptional book is an account of an extremely important event that has largely received little attention, yet the West will be feeling the aftershocks for years, if not decades. At a recent event on Dr. Asmus' book former Bush Administration National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, who was serving in his post during the 2008 war spoke about the book and the U.S.'s role during the war. Mr. Hadley stated that Dr. Asmus' book is an "excellent first draft of history." All of the attendees nodded in agreement. I also believe that those who have the courage to "write first drafts of history" are the one's whose work will be remembered!
Dr. Asmus, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration and a key advisor on NATO enlargement to then Secretary of State Albright, currently serves as the Brussels-based Executive Director of the Transatlantic Center and Director of Strategic Planning for the German Marshall Fund writes with a scholar-historian's eye for detail while crafting a highly readable account of the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. The reader feels that they are at the meetings with the Georgian leadership and President Saakashvili when fateful decisions are made. As I read the book I couldn't help but feel the anxiety that President Saakashvili and his team must have felt when they believed that this was no ordinary skirmish between Georgia and South Ossetia and Abkhazia and that Russia was amassing troops and was going to invade Georgia and take Tbilisi. A question that comes to mind is what leader despite being told by "friends" and allies not to engage Russia militarily wouldn't defend his or her people? Isn't that his or her duty? How do you fault a leader for defending his people and the sovereignty of his nation? How do you blame a leader for defending his nation after it was invaded? You can't - can you?
Dr. Asmus aptly puts it that this is a war where there are no winners; that Russia violated the Charter of Paris and numerous other agreements and broke the cardinal post-Cold War rule that borders in Europe will not be changed by force. As I read on, I became outraged over what can best be described as the failure of NATO, the EU and the U.S. to stand by its ally, Georgia, during this critical time. It is quite a turn of events for Georgia who just four months earlier at the NATO Bucharest Summit was on track for the Membership Action Plan (MAP), the process where a nation works to satisfy the requirements for NATO membership. This is quite a lengthy process and takes years for a nation to make the required reforms, yet at the Summit MAP did not come to fruition for Georgia (and Ukraine). If Georgia, a pro-Western, pro-market economy, pro-reform, pro-NATO and pro-EU country was qualified enough to be considered for the MAP; why wasn't it good enough to defend? This book provides the answers to these and other questions that have far reaching geo-political implications than just the 2008 war.
Dr. Asmus lays the foundation for this conflict that was destined to happen and clearly shows that the conflict was not months in the making, but years. What the reader learns is that Russian actions were motivated purely for regime change. The pre-text may have been Kosovo's independence or the protection of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but it was simply to get rid of a leader of a neighboring nation that Moscow did not like. This was one neighbor intensely disliking what another was doing and deciding that it was going to modify the other's behavior by force. This is a story of a new Russia, under new leadership that simply does not want a nation on its borders to be part of NATO, the premier military alliance or the West. This story is of a war with an incomplete ending and an incomplete peace negotiated by French President Sarkozy. His efforts are laudable, but the situation called out for U.S., EU and NATO leadership.
I have read the numerous highly positive reviews, but it was the two, obviously written by FSB that prompted me to write this review! Dr. Asmus stipulates that he requested interviews with Russian officials for the book and they did not comply. To attack this outstanding book because Russian officials declined to discuss the Georgia war and to twist what transpired is simply outrageous, misleading and inexcusable!
"A Little War That Shook The World," is a "must read" whose messages will be with us for quite some time. What is clear from Dr. Asmus' book is that we must learn from the mistakes made. One hopes that this outstanding book fosters debate on what transpired in August 2008 and forces the West to examine its (in)action and develop and articulate a clear policy. What we can not and must not do is pretend that the war did not happen. The world is far too complex and dangerous to do so!
Great Book February 17, 2010
David Kasradze (Tbilisi, Georgia)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Very, very good book for those who wants to know what exactly happned in August 2008. Deep analisys and knowledge of the key players makes this book outstanding!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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