Newswise — Russia's recent attack on Georgia is rooted in both cultural as well as political differences, says UAB history Professor George Liber, Ph.D.
Approximately 70 percent of Georgia's citizens are Georgians; the rest consists of Armenians, Russians, Azerbaidzhanis, and smaller numbers of Ossetes, Greeks, Abkhazians, and other minor groups, Liber said. "Georgians speak a South Caucasian language, not the East Slavic language spoken by the Russians, and possess a very different alphabet from the Cyrillic.
"Georgians have always seen themselves as an older civilization," he said. "They accepted Christianity in 330 AD, 650 years before the East Slavs did. They belong to the Eastern Orthodox Christian community, as does Russia. They possess an ancient culture and are proud of their history."
Liber studies Soviet history, Soviet nationalities issues and post-Soviet political trends. He is the author of several books and is now working on a new monograph titled "The Soviet Union and the Dialectics of Nation Building, 1917-1991."
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