My take?
Another dead empire is trying to rise from its grave.
Not that there's ever good timing for a war but this one reeks of Putinacious calculation.
Stormcrow Georiga was never an empire. least we forget they where the initial agresser here
Meanwhile, the corporate media is all atwitter over John Edwards cheating on his wife.
You know: Something that's really important.
Georgia asserted its sovereignty by going into South Ossetia; Russia countered by asserting its putative right as a Slavophil nation to safeguard its fellow ethnic Russians. Add to that this - Georgia made application to NATO, and Russia objected strenuously to it in the belief that the recent Alliance applicants are encroaching on what it perceives as its traditional sphere of influence.
It's sad that we fall back on earlier murderous certainties to settle modern problems.
Putinacious? Putin was going off to Beijing and probably wouldn't have minded having a quite weekend making fun of Bush with Jintao.
It's Saakashvili who hoped to cash on this and stupidly decided to strike first and quick to get back S. Ossetia, shattering the "Olympics global truce" at the same time. Didn't he expect Russia would counterattack?
Russia is going into South Ossetia to protect Russians like Germany went into the Poland to protect the German citizens of Gdansk. That is to say, if you believe that's what this is about, you are very, very stupid. This is about control of Caspian Sea oil, which flows to the rest of the world through two pipelines -- one through Iran and one through Georgia. Get a map and do the math,
moonglum: How in the hell do you cast Georgia as the aggressor here? Russia has been financing and arming separatists in South Ossetia for years. Georgian forces rolled in to South Ossetia (not any part of Russia) in order to restore order, and Russia then attacked Georgia.
Pierce? ever heard of Kosovo?
I agree with Moonglum.
I linked to a number of articles, and the following is clear:
* The Georgian offensive has been long planned.
* They shelled Tskhinval early in hte process before there was any Russian response.
* They had hoped to take advantage of Putin being in the Olympics.
In addition to the stupidity, the idea that somehow Medvdev would feel the need to wait for Putin to get back to Moscow, they were clearly the aggressor here.
Of course, the real problem stems from the fact that promises not to expand NATO eastward were ignored to aid US arms sales.
OH MAN! The REAL world is a such a piece of shit. Isn't it? Some of you need to WAKE THE FUCK UP. Platitudes only go so far and unfortunately could get you elected president (in the USA). Change is coming no matter what, morons. HOPE CHANGE BULLLLLLLLSHIT!!!!!! I'm voting Obama just to watch the aftermath. It will be quite the show.
George Hussein Carlin, you are so utterly predictable.
It was so stupid, and also brazen, of President Saakashvili to fall for the trap created by Russia with the help of the Sout Ossetian separatists. Perhaps he counted too much on help from the West, but that was a miscalculation. Even if i don't like Russia in general, it is Georgia that to me looks like the culprit. One shouldn't play with the big boys if there's no way to win, and I hope we don't ever have to.
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