Press review 11 August 2008

by Carly Jane Lock

Article published on the 2008-08-11 Latest update 2008-08-11 07:43 TU

The fight over the separatist Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia dominates the French newspapers.

Left-leaning Libération's front page has a picture of a harrowing scene of a victim cradling a dead man among the rubble in the bomb-struck Georgian town of Gori. It's a poignant souvenir of Saturday's attack.

Above the disturbing image, the headline reads "Putin's military coup de force", and reflects Libé's editorial angle, which lays into Russia 's act of imperialistic aggression.

Georgia of course, accuses Russia of genocide; while the paper says that Moscow 's war rhetoric suggests that the Russian forces are on the contrary, "peace-brokers who intervened to stop the genocide".

Libération says the Russian forces' attack on Georgian troops in the separatist enclave of South Ossetia sends a clear message to its neighbours, and that basically it's Moscow 's way of asserting its power and control in the region.

Libération also criticises Western leaders' "delayed responses" to the conflict between Moscow and Tbilissi. It says the Bush administration and the EU were (strategically) too slow in commenting on the hostilities.

The paper quotes James E. Jeffrey, the deputy US national security adviser  - who in an official statement just yesterday - indicated a possible breakdown in relations between the US and Russia , if Russian troops continue their military action, which he says is "completely over the top".

Financial daily, Les Echos on the other hand, leads with "Georgia's allies - the leaders of the EU and the United States step up the pressure on Moscow." Unlike Libération, it seems satisfied with the reactions from the international community even if they were slow coming.

Catholic daily La Croix asked the President of France's Georgian Association, Otar Zourabichvili for his say on the matter.

He told the paper that Russia 's military offensive is just an "alibi, 'a get your own back' in response to Georgia 's increasingly Western-leaning government", and they fear the conflict could end in a coup d'Etat and urge the West to intervene.

The paper also carries a piece on Georgia 's Olympic squad's decision not to pull out of the Beijing Games amid it's country's hostilities with Russia over the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Yesterday, the Georgian Olympic committee condemned Russia 's tactics, which it says are "founded on deliberate aggression".

Russia and Georgia will put politics on the sidelines, as the two teams meet in the Women's beach-volleyball competition on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Le Figaro's front page pits the conflict in Georgia against the medals battle at the Olympics between the two superpowers China and the United States .

As host nation, the pressure is being heaped on China to come away with the most medals. As things stand the US currently has 11 medals: that's only two more than China . At this precise moment in time, China lead the medal table with six Gold and three Silver medals. But I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you...