Hrag Vartanian

"Difference – whether ethnic, religious, cultural or sexual – is viewed as an embarrassment and something you keep quiet about…it's a far cry from the idea, now prevalent in the west, that diversity is valuable and enriches a society rather than weakening it."

11 objects of cultural heritage in South Ossetia have been destroyed by last month's war, including: a village church in Nizhny Tbet from the late Middle Ages; the Tskhinvali Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (the former Armenian Church), built in 1718; and the ancient synagogue of Tskhinvali.