Russia Invades Georgia!

[KLL]

[Divine Intervention]

i hope President Bush doesn't think theres a conflict in the US state of Georgia
although technically Georgia is probably USAs 53 or something state as it is...

[Divine Intervention]

found this on another forum thought id post it here:

THE IDIOT'S QUICK GUIDE TO THE RUSSIA / GEORGIA CONFLICT

There appears to be an awful lot of confusion surrounding what's actually going on here in this thread, so I'm going to make one brief return here to attempt to explain the situation, point by point:

* The ethnic enmity between Georgians and Ossetians has deep roots that date back to the middle ages. This is one of those situations that is inexplicable to most people in the modern west yet is actually commonplace throughout much of the rest of the world. It's a centuries old ethnic blood feud that will flare up into armed conflict every decade or two and never be fully resolved.

* South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in the early nineties - after armed conflict - amid the confusion that ensued in the years immediately after the break up of the Soviet Union (Georgia and Ossetia were both at one point a part of the Soviet Union). South Ossetia's independence was not officially recognised by the United Nations, however, the "state" has effectively been governed independently ever since the early nineties under the protection of Russian peacekeeping forces.

* Georgia has never been happy with this situation and regard South Ossetia as part of their territory. However, the Ossetians hate the Georgians and want to have their own autonomous Ossetian state.

* The present conflict was initiated when Georgia finally grew fed up with the situation and invaded South Ossetia. The Georgian invasion took place just days after Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, signed an agreement guaranteeing the autonomous status of South Ossetia. The Georgians pretended to arrive at a resolution and then turned the knife. Make no mistake about it - this conflict was started by the Georgians - whatever is being reported by your local media outlet.

* Russia had already attempted to arrive at a diplomatic solution to the situation, only to be repeatedly rebuffed by the UN. On the morning of August 9th, Russia called an emergency meeting of the UN security council to seek an end to the conflict. The session concluded in a stand off when the Georgians rejected a resolution that would involve both sides "renouncing the use of force". Georgia rejected a diplomatic resolution, not Russia. Georgia were backed by the United States and the United Kingdom in refusing to renounce the use of force.

* Why would the US and the UK support Georgia in rejecting a peaceful resolution? Why do they care about the situation at all? Well the answer is that the Caspian oil pipeline runs directly through Georgia, immediately rendering the state an extremely important and valuable piece of real estate. There's been a tug of war going on over Georgia between Russia and the US ever since the break up of the Soviet Union.

* Current Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, is widely reviled in his own country, used intimidation and fraud to steal the Georgian elections earlier this year and operates as a dictator in all but name. However, he is considered to be sympathetic to Western interests (as opposed to Russian interests) and is therefore backed by the US and their allies.

* Make no mistake, the only reason anybody outside of Ossetia and Georgia cares about this conflict at all, is because of the Caspian oil pipeline. Otherwise, they would be left to quietly butcher each other out of the headlines. There are a thousand ethnic bush wars going on in Africa that never make the news and never merit the interest of foreign powers. That's because these wars take place on worthless real estate. Georgia is worth something, which is why everybody wants a piece of the action.

What's at stake for the parties involved?

Georgia - Mikheil Saakashvili has the opportunity to boost his failing government by reigniting Georgian nationalism through a centuries old ethnic enmity embedded deep in the nation's population. If Georgia can emerge victorious from this conflict, they will have won back a piece of territorty they consider their own - a symbolic victory for national pride. Perhaps more importantly, they will be in a stronger bargaining position on the world stage, firmly within the protective sphere of the West (quite possibly as a NATO member).

South Ossetia - Have the opportunity to reaffirm their independent status on the world stage, with a possible view to reunification with Northern Ossetia and a fully autonomous, re-united Ossetian state at some point in the future. In actual fact, they are going to end up largely controlled by either western-backed Georgians or the Russians. It's a question of the lesser of two evils. The Ossetians consider the Georgians their mortal enemies, so it's not really a difficult decision as to which option they would prefer.

Russia - Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia can now be used as an excuse for Russia to extend their sphere of influence through direct military action. Russia can now push on and seek to depose the present Georgian government and replace it with one more sympathetic to their own interests. This would effectively place leverage over the Caspian oil pipeline back into the hands of Russia and away from the United States.

United States / United Kingdom etc - The reason George Bush is kicking up such a song and dance about Russia's activity in the region, and the reason your local media outlets are taking an anti-Russian stance over the conflict, is because the West stands to lose all influence over Georgia should Russia emerge victorious. The West won't have leverage over Caspian oil any more. And the thing is, there's not a **** thing they can do about it right now. The Western powers are already over committed in the Middle East as it is. They simply do not have the means to focus the kind of attention on this situation that they need to.

Final Outcome

Russia will probably be the biggest winners out of this. It's the general populations of Georgia and Ossetia that will suffer the most. Civilian populations are always hit the hardest in this kind of conflict. Georgia have started a conflict they are going to find very difficult to win. And now Russia can use this to justify a full scale military enforced regime change in Georgia, while the West sits back helpless to intervene.

What you have here is a centuries old tribal blood feud getting mixed up in the international energy resource game and creating a big old mess. And this situation is not going to go away for a very long time.

[Mahdi]

Long live Mother Russia! i must say it is kind of interesting at the time of start being so close to the olympics makes it so that other countries will be a bit slower/less willing to mobilize as the olympics is such a big deal

[Divine Intervention]

Americans

[Mahdi]

gotta love the Amerikanized ignorance

[Satan666]

Americans

I would like to say people like them shouldn't be able to have opinions. I am an actual smart American.

[DBozMen]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7555858.stm

Russia said they ended the operations in Georgia... was it because they killed 4 international journalists? or not?