Sasha Dvalishvili was selling apricots and peaches, tomatoes and cucumbers from cardboard boxes set atop spindly-legged card tables in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.
The Georgian was proud to point out that her hometown was ethnically mixed. Georgians married Ossetians and celebrated their children's rites of passage together. "Even during the war, we went to weddings [together]," she said. "This is not a natural conflict between the two peoples; it is sophisticated. Love has no borders. The people are not fighting; it is the politicians who are fighting."
That was July 1998, during a time of rebuilding after the first war for South Ossetian independence, one of many repercussions of the break-up of the Soviet Union seven years earlier.
In the intervening years, Georgians and ethnic Ossetians again lived side by side, trying to rebuild their little part of a Caucasian country that is culturally diverse and agriculturally rich but whose glory has faded. Yet, the dream of independence to which South Ossetia aspired - as the giant bear to the north, the imperium, was falling to its knees - never died.
In fact, prodded by Russia, which was concerned that its sphere of influence was shrinking, South Ossetia's dream remained alive. I visited the area in 1998 and found some residents who had not given up on that dream - in fact they had voted in a referendum and elections in 1996 - but more importantly, 10 years ago I found residents were more concerned with rebuilding their houses than building a country.
Isolde Dzmukhadze showed me her tiny garden. There were hot green pepper plants, basil and chives. There was a lime tree; the fruit when ripe would be used in kindzis satsebela, a cilantro sauce for fish, or in a rice salad with aubergine and sour cherries. Ms Dzmukhadze was two months pregnant in May 1992 when the fighting began. The house burned. "The dog was saved. Only my husband was home."
With about US$8,000 (Dh29,000) from the United Nations Development Programme, she and her husband were rebuilding the house.
Another fruit vendor, a former laboratory analyst named Lamara Kakhniashvili, said: "I'm not interested very much in politics; our problem is that we have no houses."
When it was reported on Saturday that Tskhinvali was in ruins, my first thought was: it already was.
Tskhinvali, a small city of about 70,000, is the only city in the region and the last main stop before Russia. Around it are a series of windy roads connecting dusty mountain villages of one and two-storey buildings. Tskhinvali is nominally the capital of those parts of South Ossetia that have been run as a quasi-independent state for the past several years.
But Mrs Dvalishvili's words echoed again this past weekend. Ten years after I saw signs of attempts at co-operative rebuilding, people, civilians, were again at the victim's end of political turmoil. On Thursday, after two years of independence noises from South Ossetia, Georgia tried to reassert its authority over its north-central region and preserve the integrity of its national and natural borders.
Russia, which has actively backed South Ossetia for 17 years as a way to maintain control over the former Soviet republics and which has resented the cosy relationship Georgia has had with the United States and Europe, responded with the first military intervention by Moscow into a foreign country since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1998, I met the president of the non-recognised South Ossetian republic, Ludvig Chibirov. He described a meeting he had with Eduard Shevardnadze, the quick-eyed, then-president of Georgia. "There are still lots of problems to be solved. Nevertheless, there is mutual understanding that ? there is no alternative to peaceful negotiation and settlement."
In an interview two days later, Mr Shevardnadze said the repatriation of Georgians and South Ossetians was one of his priorities. But by then he had been saying that for four years.
Between 1990 and 2008, neither side has budged from its opening argument. Georgia, under Mr Shevardnadze, and then his successor, the current president, Mikheil Saakashvili, will preserve its borders - naturally defined by the Caucasus mountains - and the Ossetians, pushed out of the Don River valley of Russia back in the mid-1700s, and who speak a different language than Georgian and use a different alphabet - insist on independence.
Soslan Bagiaev was a state adviser to Mr Chibirov in 1998. At the fruit market that day, with the temperature in the mid-30s, he embodied what the women were saying about the difference between politicians and the people. He claimed it was cultural differences between South Ossetians and Georgians that had led to conflict in 1990 (even before the Soviet Union had broken up). After the meeting with his president, Mr Chibirov, Mr Bagiaev pulled me aside. With the help of a translator, he told me South Ossetians desired "guarantees to save our language, save our culture; we want respect for our cultural, historical, Ossetian mentality".
The answer is easy, he said.
What that answer was he did not say, to my frustration. What that answer is, now that war and death have returned, is not any more obvious.
@Email:rbeauchemin@thenational.ae
Results
2pm: Handicap Dh 90,000 1,800m; Winner: Majestic Thunder, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
2.30pm: Handicap Dh120,000 1,950m; Winner: Just A Penny, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
3pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m; Winner: Native Appeal, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
3.30pm: Jebel Ali Classic Conditions Dh300,000 1,400m; Winner: Thegreatcollection, Adrie de Vries, Doug Watson.
4pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m; Winner: Oktalgano, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.30pm: Conditions Dh250,000 1,400m; Winner: Madame Ellingtina, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m; Winner: Mystery Land, Fabrice Veron, Helal Al Alawi.
5.30pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,000m; Winner: Shanaghai City, Jesus Rosales, Rashed Bouresly.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
FIGHT CARD
1. Featherweight 66kg
Ben Lucas (AUS) v Ibrahim Kendil (EGY)
2. Lightweight 70kg
Mohammed Kareem Aljnan (SYR) v Alphonse Besala (CMR)
3. Welterweight 77kg
Marcos Costa (BRA) v Abdelhakim Wahid (MAR)
4. Lightweight 70kg
Omar Ramadan (EGY) v Abdimitalipov Atabek (KGZ)
5. Featherweight 66kg
Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Kagimu Kigga (UGA)
6. Catchweight 85kg
Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) v Iuri Fraga (BRA)
7. Featherweight 66kg
Yousef Al Husani (UAE) v Mohamed Allam (EGY)
8. Catchweight 73kg
Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Abdipatta Abdizhali (KGZ)
9. Featherweight 66kg
Jaures Dea (CMR) v Andre Pinheiro (BRA)
10. Catchweight 90kg
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
Mobile phone packages comparison
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia