What's the Deal in Georgia?! (The Country)

[JAVO]

This article presents a somewhat elucidating perspective:

The Russian Empire Strikes Back - TIME

Pravda's "insights" on the matter:

Russia urges Georgia to pledge not to use force (photo) - Pravda.Ru


From The two-faced, underhanded foreign policy of Georgia - Pravda.Ru

The position of the Russian Federation has been consistent, clear and as usual, by the book of diplomacy. Mocow has worked tirelessly behind the scenes, convening peace councils, trying to mediate between the two sides, always respecting both positions and constantly stressing the need to find a solution which satisfies Tblisi as well as Tskhinvali.
...
It seems that nothing changes. Georgia’s most infamous exports are its undrinkable wines and disgusting, low-quality dangerous food products while its most famous export was Josef Stalin. Maybe he should have stayed at home and concentrated more of his efforts there.

[Anonymous]

It's my understanding that South Ossetia (and to a lesser extent, Abkhazia) has been supported by Russia in their attempts to secede from Georgia for a while now. I'm not quite sure about their motivation, but isn't there an oil pipeline running through the area? It's also apparently a strategic location. Another motivation could be that the Russians aren't too happy with all the training given to Georgian troops by the US. Someone at INTPc compared it to Russia training Cuban troops. So I'm not too surprised by their move, really.

[pure_mercury]

It's my understanding that South Ossetia (and to a lesser extent, Abkhazia) has been supported by Russia in their attempts to secede from Georgia for a while now. I'm not quite sure about their motivation, but isn't there an oil pipeline running through the area? It's also apparently a strategic location. Another motivation could be that the Russians aren't too happy with all the training given to Georgian troops by the US. Someone at INTPc compared it to Russia training Cuban troops. So I'm not too surprised by their move, really.

That isn't an apt analogy. Georgia has the third most troops in Iraq. Of course there will be American training for them. We also sponsored them for NATO membership.

[Virtual ghost]

I was beginning to wonder if this thread will ever show up.

I think that all of this is perfectly logical if you take a look at the big picture.

Georgia wants to enter the NATO and NATO wants that.
If Georgia enters the NATO with some time that would mean that NATO is spreading over the Black sea and it is trying to surround Russia.
And Russia is afraid of that scenario. For example if Ukraine joins NATO, that would mean that border line of NATO is only 500 kilometers from Moscow. That is about 300 miles.

Time for conflict is ideal because word is watching the Olympics.
The price of oil is droping so Russia is suffering large losses in economic sector and they need money becuse many projects are on the way.

Also pipe line that is going from the Caspean sea is going through Georgia so by doing this they will increase the price of oil.
In the case that Russia occupys Georgia, WW3 in next few months is more likely to start then ever. But I doubt that they will do that.

Since this happened, NATO will probably be more carefull and passive in the future and that is exactly what Russia wants.

Also by doing this they have much better position in the talks about NATOs anti missile system in Eastern Europe.

[Anonymous]

That isn't an apt analogy. Georgia has the third most troops in Iraq. Of course there will be American training for them. We also sponsored them for NATO membership.

The way Russia could see it is that not only are we training them, but we're giving them combat experiance as well. And like Antisocial one mentioned, sponsoring them for NATO is probably not something that Russia is very thrilled about, either.

[Werewolfen]

This is my dumbed down analysis of the situation.

In a nutshell: Georgia launched a surprise attack on an independent, autonomous region, South Ossetia, killing civilians and Russian peacekeepers. It is being spun by the MSM in the West that Russia invaded Georgia.

The MSM in the U.S. is reporting on the topic as if Russia invaded Georgia, a U.S. friendly country of the former Soviet Union.

The reality is that Georgia with the aid of U.S. military advisors and foreign military invaded a territory within Georgia, South Ossetia, which is an independent, autonomous region with many residents granted Russian citizenship, intentionally killing civilians. It is reported the U.S. conducted exercises with Georgia with over 1,000 U.S. military personnel. Russia invaded S. Ossetia in order to stop the genocide of this sovereign, independent state, which is a friendly with Russia.

Georgia, with the aid Israel, Ukraine, and the U.S., are engaged in genocide. Russia was merely attempting to stop the killing of civilians.

In U.S. news and the minds of average Americans, it is a vague picture of Russia invading a sovereign nation in regards to a border dispute. And the people of the U.S. wonder why the U.S. is seen by the world as stupid Nazis.

It is speculated this invasion was a test of Russian resolve. We should care because Russia has and has threatened to use nuclear weapons if threatened.

And for the real idiots, we’re talking about Georgia, the country South of Russia and North of Turkey. We’re not talking about the state in the U.S., Georgia. Russian tanks are not rolling towards Atlanta.

Yes, a lot of the sources are from Russia. Russia is providing in-depth coverage. The U.S. media is more concerned with telling news involving Paris Hilton and John Edwards. Is Russian media unbiased? Is U.S. media unbiased?

I think it is up to the U.S. to prove that they had no involvement and that Georgia did not launch a surprise attack on civilians. I don’t think Georgia would provoke such a war without a greenlight and deals from the U.S. and Israel.

When you can't trust the news, think motive.

[Virtual ghost]

The way Russia could see it is that not only are we training them, but we're giving them combat experiance as well. And like Antisocial one mentioned, sponsoring them for NATO is probably not something that Russia is very thrilled about, either.

Yes, For those who are not too good in geography.

If Georgia enters the NATO that would mean the NATO is starting to create barrier between Russia and the Middle East.

The Georgia can not let those two regions that do not want to be a part of it. Becuse that would be losing of 1/3 of it's territory and country is already tiny.

But from the the Russian point of view all of this is very logical move.

[JivinJeffJones]

Am I the only one who considers it a mite bit suspicious that Russia scheduled this little war to coincide so neatly with the olympics? "Quick, while they're all watching the olympics! Let's annex Georgia!"

[Little Linguist]

I think that the chances are likelier that the Russian government does something stupid.

Well, maybe my fears are unjustified, but I'm really worried about a lot of people doing a lot of stupid things.

As people already mentioned, there are a lot of strategic national interests at stake here. The strategic position is unbelievable.

What strikes me as almost untenable is the fact that a country with 50 airplanes would practically invade another country. My guess is that some secret intelligence was at stake, either on the side of the USA, Russia, or both. No way was Georgia responsible for this. Uh uh.

These farts have better stop imposing their wills on other people because if shit like this keeps escalating - we're heading for another clash of wills. I mean, when are the superpowers going to learn not to have it out at the expense of little countries??? Didn't they learn from the Cold War, Vietnam, and other conflicts? Oh wait, silly me, of course not. And if we do and it escalates to war, it will make WWII look like child's play. Read 1984. Yeah. That's it.

Of course it does not HAVE to escalate like that...I'm just saying...I'm watching this with intense interest - NOT the Olympics.

[Mole]

When the Berlin Wall came down we assured the Russians we would not take advantage of their weakness and expand NATO towards them.

But this is exactly what we did.