News from Abkhazia seems to be a broke record these days. The Abkhaz news agency is claiming that two more Georgian drones were shot down today. So what is going on?
As far as I can tell, the drone in question is an Elbit Hermes 450, an Israeli made UAV. However, I haven’t found any details regarding Georgia’s purchase or use of them as neither the Georgian Ministry of Defense nor Globalsecurity.org’s Georgia section have further information. Video can be seen here of an earlier shoot down by a Russian MiG.
- Why would Abkhazia claim to shoot down more than it has?
—Exaggerate Georgian “aggression.”
—Exaggerate or show off Abkhaz capabilities
—Try to deter further Georgian action
—Mistakenly attempt to take the high ground against Georgia by making Tbilisi the aggressor.
- Why would Georgia lie about having its drones shot down?
—Embarrassment?
—Not allow the situation to escalate too much too fast?
—Portray the Abkhaz as liars and unreliable.
—It really isn’t true.
* Is Georgia intentionally “allowing” its drones to be shot down to paint Russia (rightly) as the aggressor and move for internationalization of the conflict? Does the timing of the change of political power in Moscow present an opportune moment for such a move?
Interestingly enough, this article from the AFP on May 9th says the Abkhaz are claiming one of the Hermes 450s was carrying an air-to-air missile. And indeed, if Georgia only possesses 22 aircraft, it would stand to reason that the UAVs are cheaper alternatives to increasing both personnel and plane numbers and Georgia therefore has larger numbers of them. But for the moment, the mystery remains.
- BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
- « The European View of the World
- » OIF Original Aims
COMMENTS / 5 COMMENTS
Curzon added these pithy words on 13 May 08 at 2:15 am“Mistakenly attempt” comes across as rather biased language…
Certainly the first thing that came to my mind was how Georgia got unmaned drones in the first place.
Chirol added these pithy words on 13 May 08 at 6:08 amI mean it in the sense that from their perspective as separatists it would seem they are defending themselves however since they are the ones initiating the aggression (i.e. shooting down the UAV), it was a mistake because the West will see it otherwise.
Oliver added these pithy words on 13 May 08 at 8:23 amDebateable. The West might ask what those drones did over Abkhazia.
Chirol added these pithy words on 13 May 08 at 9:19 amOliver: Well Abkhazia is the internationally recognized and sovereign territory of Georgia by any account. The fact that the Russians have occupied it does not change that.
Oliver added these pithy words on 13 May 08 at 12:54 pmNevertheless, Georgia is making itself look like upsetting the status quo. Getting your military aircraft shot down by air defenses won’t make you like a victim. That never works, as it always implies that you had chosen to send them in. In addition, air defenses always get the moral bonus because military aircraft remind people of civilians being bombed.
SPEAK / ADD YOUR COMMENT
Comments are moderated.
