During the conflict between Russia and Georgia a few months back, conductor Valery Gergiev, a native of the breakaway region at the heart of the conflict, was outspoken in his support of Russia, even as public sentiment in the West generally went Georgia’s way. And Gergiev isn’t backing down now. “He says he is vindicated by accounts by independent monitors… suggesting that Georgia was not acting defensively and had launched an indiscriminate attack.”