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Dr. Rick Fawn is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the
University of St Andrews and served as Director of its Centre for Russian
and Central and East European Studies . He specializes in the international
relations and security of the post-communist space and has conducted work
throughout the region, including in the Caucasus. Introduction of the
lecture by Rick Fawn: "Starting War in the Information Age: The Abundance
of Stories and Shortness of Knowledge in the Russian-Georgian War of August
2008." The war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia in August 2008
dominated international media accounts. A high volume of attention,
however, did not equate to knowledge. instead, different media produced
hugely divergent, and sometimes radically shifting, accounts. Governments
also contributed to, and even substantially framed, the competing
narratives. What events mattered, what justifications were used, what
accusations were made, all sought to give legitimacy to actions. These also
continue to influence international responses to the aftermath. Through a
study of official and major media accounts from international
(English-language), Russian, Ossetian and Georgian official and media
sources, with the input of Georgian postdoctoral fellow Dr. Robert
Nalbandov, this study seeks to determine what we know, how we know it, and
what we still do not know about the start of the war."Mr Mart Laar is the
Chairman of The Pro Patria and Res Publica Union in Estonia, also the
member of Estonian Parliament and Estonia - Georgia parliamentary group. In
the lecture he analyzes the reforms that followed the Georgian Rose
Revolution in 2003.