Skip to content

PEANUT BUTTER FACE (while discussing the Georgia-Russia War)

2008-08-12 · explainer · John · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: World affairs · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, punishment or challenge, community lore, heavy topic

Taking Hank's challenge, John explains the 2008 Russia-Georgia war with peanut butter on his face: Georgia's history, the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Russia's invasion, which he reads as Russia reminding Georgia that the West will not help it; he calls most wars as stupid as they are evil.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Taking Hank's peanut-butter-face challenge; Georgia's early history: democracy 1918-1921, Soviet invasion, Stalin

  • ★★★ John says he would rather discuss The Catcher in the Rye or the 8/8/08 gathering, but Hank challenged him to discuss Georgia while putting on a peanut butter face, so he does. — 00:00:00 · Peanut Butter Face, Hank Green
  • ★ John jokes that the only way to make the internet pay attention to news is via peanut butter face. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Peanut Butter Face
  • ★★ John says Georgia is a small country southwest of Russia, once part of the Soviet Union, and before that a real democracy from 1918 to 1921 building close ties with Western Europe. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says that in 1921 the USSR invaded (he says "invaded Russia") and Georgia became part of the USSR; he jokes that Georgian-born Stalin wanted it easier to kill about 500,000 Georgians later. (playful) — 00:00:00

00:00:51 — Independence in 1991, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, semi-sovereignty, Saakashvili turns West, Russia and Ukraine, August 1 artillery

  • ★★ John says that in 1991, as the Soviet Union broke up, Georgia declared independence, followed by a coup and a small civil war. — 00:00:51
  • ★★★ John says two provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, did not want to be part of Georgia and wanted to be independent countries. — 00:00:51
  • ★★ John says that on the face of it he favours Abkhazian independence because its would-be flag seems to offer a high five, but the history of Abkhazia is far less awesome. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:21
  • ★★★ John says that in the early 1990s Abkhazia ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of Georgians. — 00:01:21
  • ★★ John says South Ossetia lies just south of North Ossetia, which is part of Russia, and mocks its flag as lame. — 00:01:21
  • ★★ John says the settlement gave South Ossetia and Abkhazia a kind of semi-sovereignty, like the Kurds had in northern Iraq between the Iraq wars. — 00:01:21
  • ★★★ John says that since Mikheil Saakashvili became president a few years ago, he has seen Georgia's future with Western Europe, favouring NATO membership and eventually the EU. — 00:01:50
  • ★★ Citing Ukraine a couple of years earlier, John says that when former Russian territories grow close to Western Europe, Russia can go "bonkers", even poisoning presidential candidates. (playful) — 00:01:50
  • ★★★ John says that on August 1, 2008 someone, it is unclear who, fired an artillery shell; such incidents had long happened in South Ossetia, but this time was different. — 00:01:50

00:02:27 — Russia's invasion during the Olympics opening, Medvedev's 'punished', ceasefire terms, what Russia wants

  • ★★★ John says that on the day the Olympics opening ceremonies began, the Russian army came to the aid of the South Ossetians, entered South Ossetia and Abkhazia, invaded large parts of Georgia and bombed the capital. — 00:02:27
  • ★★★ John says that after a week Dmitry Medvedev, president in name only since Putin runs everything, declared Georgia punished, literally using the Russian word for punished. — 00:02:27
  • ★★★ John says Medvedev agreed to stop fighting provided Georgia gives up both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. — 00:02:57
  • ★★★ John predicts Georgia will have to give the regions up, because neither Western Europe nor America will come to its military aid, which is Medvedev's point. — 00:02:57 · United States
  • ★★★ John argues Putin and Medvedev care less about the regions than about Georgia moving toward the West; the war was Russia reminding Georgia the West won't help and Russia can crush it at will. — 00:02:57

00:03:26 — Wars as stupid as they are evil; hope for Georgia; sign-off; Willy the happiest dog

  • ★★★ John calls the war lame and says his basic problem with most wars is that they are as stupid as they are evil. — 00:03:26
  • ★★ John hopes Georgia continues on its path to democracy and economic growth. (hedged) — 00:03:26
  • ★ John ends by showing Hank Willy, "the happiest dog in the world", for exactly five seconds. (playful) — 00:03:26 · Willy

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In a description update John writes that Russia doesn't seem too keen on abiding by the peace agreement. (hedged) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • John notes Georgia was a democracy close to Western Europe before the Soviets came, as now. — 00:00:00

    “Oh, history. Will you ever stop repeating yourself?”

  • John explains South Ossetia and Abkhazia wanted to be independent countries. — 00:00:51

    “presumably because the world does not contain enough Luxembourg's.”

  • John says he favours Abkhazian independence on the face of it. — 00:01:21

    “if only because its would-be national flag wants to give you a high five.”

  • John notes Medvedev literally used the Russian word for "punished" about Georgia. — 00:02:57

    “like Georgia is his naughty nephew.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Abkhazia · Dmitry Medvedev · Georgia (country) · Mikheil Saakashvili · Russia · Russo-Georgian War · South Ossetia

Also: People: Joseph Stalin · Vladimir Putin

Works: The Catcher in the Rye

Organizations: European Union · NATO

Groups: Kurds

Terms: Peanut Butter Face

Concepts: ethnic cleansing

Places: Iraq · Luxembourg · North Ossetia–Alania · Soviet Union · Ukraine · United States · Western Europe

Events: Olympic Games

animal: Willy

Only in the description or credits: Ze Frank

Also centred on Russia: Syria in Five Minutes · Understanding Ukraine: The Problems Today and Some Historical Context · Trump and Russia: An Introduction to What We Know (and What We Don't)

Replies to

  • answers · Eight Days of Awesome — “you challenged me to discuss the political situation in Georgia while putting on a peanut butter face”

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2008-08-12 – 2008-08-15.