Quote:
Originally Posted by rwmct
My further understanding is that this thing took off when Georgia tried to reclaim some of its own territory that was being occupied by Russian troops who were supporting separatists.
|
That's a bit of an oversimplification. From the first article I posted on this thread:
Quote:
|
The Ossetians, who claim to have inhabited the same territory for centuries, say their nation was broken in two by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who awarded South Ossetia to the Georgian Soviet republic against the Ossetians' will. (Stalin also took away Abkhazia's independence and made it an autonomous republic within Georgia.) As the USSR was collapsing, Ossetians fought a brutal war of independence against Georgia, which ended in a three-way peacekeeping agreement in 1992. Under that deal, Russian, Georgian, and South Ossetian forces were to jointly guarantee security until a final settlement was reached.
|
The people of South Oseetia have never considered themselves part of Georgia any more than the people of North Oseetia call themselves Russians. But that's where the lines were drawn.
So last week Georgia violated the 1992 agreement by shelling, bombing and invading South Oseetia. The government of the previously autonomous region asked for help from Russia, which responded with force to repel the Georgians. Georgia has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a top McCain adviser and Bush insider and was either assured, or maybe simply assumed (I'm betting the former) US backing of their folly. Russia's response was way over the top, but it sent a pretty clear message as to how they'll tolerate continued western meddling along their border.
Bush spoke out of turn a few days ago and got slapped down by his own SecDef, who took any level of military response off the table. Bush got sent to time-out in Texas while Rice went and told Saakashvili to sit down and sign whatever deal he got from Moscow, and McCain got told to STFU already.