[aaus-list] query/request regarding calls for peace in Georgia

[Alexandra Hrycak]

Dear Colleagues:

I have received a number of requests from scholars in Ukraine to 
circulate their call for US scholars to sign some electronic petitions 
calling for peace in Georgia. I am bringing these to your attention.

There are two petitions at the following website that appear to be 
working when I try them:

http://www.petitiononline.com/

Another site appears to be totally blocked or down whenever I visit it:
stoprussia.org:80/

I also invite you to read the Human Rights Watch (HRW) website, where 
there is a new report on war crimes being committed in South Ossetia: 
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=europe&c=georgi

  HRW is an independent group that is not associated with any 
government. It has sent in independent investigators who have 
interviewed survivors and witnesses in Northern and Southern Ossetia.

Finally, I want to request that any of you who has collected email 
addresses of relevant international and governmental bodies circulate 
these to AAUS or to me as President. Signing mass petitions is not as 
effective in such situations as circulating personal letters calling for 
specific measures. For those of you who feel concerned about the lack of 
peacekeepers in Georgia, you might consider expressing your support for 
unaligned international peacekeepers to be sent in to protect the 
civilian population. HRW has found that South Ossetian paramilitaries 
are currently terrorizing the population in and around South Ossetia. 
HRW states that war crimes are being committed and has called for 
peacekeepers and governments to put a stop to these activities, which 
are prohibited under international law.

-- Regards, Alexandra Hrycak, President of the AAUS

**************************

Alexandra Hrycak
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
Reed College
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97202-8199


E-mail: hrycak at reed.edu		
Telephone: 503-517-7483 		
Fax: 503-777-7776 		
Personal web page: http://academic.reed.edu/sociology/faculty/hrycak/