Ossetia Safari II

As it turns out, the ice around Georgia’s lesser frozen conflict was starting to melt around the edges. Here and here you can find the symptoms.

I was trying to get into South Ossetia during the biggest flare-up in many months. Even better, I was trying to get into South Ossetia with a TV crew from Georgia. Oh yeah, and the said TV station is generally considered as sympathetic to President Saakashvili.

I spent the whole evening of Thursday waiting for David to call. He finally did so at half midnight, waking me up with the news that we were leaving for sure. Did you guys get the clearance from the Ossetian side? I was able to mutter in spite of being half asleep. We maybe get it tomorrow, David said reassuringly. It sounded like our field trip would be a lot of fun.

On Friday I woke up, made sure I was prepared for the conflict zone by putting on an old worn out polo shirt and sporting a rugged two-day beard. I took my passport (do you really need a passport when traveling into a non-recognized region that is de facto independent, de jure part of Georgia, with two different Presidents recognized by various actors, and living from a combination of Russian subsidies and a flourishing smuggling industry?) and a small notebook and I headed to GFSIS office to write fair-well letters, sign my life insurance policy, and, well, check my e-mail.

The flurry of texts between me and David continued throughout the morning, containing bits like “the situation is bad there” interspersed with “we leave soon, I call you!”. At 1 PM I gave up, went for lunch, had a beer, ran some errands and ended up having coffee at Prospero’s bookstore. Just when I was about to head home, read some papers and lick my wounds, I get a phone call from David. We go now!