Russia Invades Georgia

[Jackson50]

NJ5 said:

Jackson50 said:
It is becoming clear that Russia intends to overthrow the Saakashvili presidency. Russia is making veiled threats to other nations that are seeking further integration with the West. I am not sure what President Saakashvili was thinking when he began shelling South Ossetia last week. It was a gross miscalculation, and a lot of the major European powers are blaming Georgia for being irresponsible. Taking that into consideration, I doubt we will see any actions taken by the West. Threatening to expel Russia from the G8 could be a response, but I doubt we will see that.

I don't believe the mainstream media's simplistic statements about how this started. The judge is still out on that.

Russian troops (and maybe Georgian ones) have been amassing near the region for months, so I think we'll have to look a few months back to see who's really to blame.

This region has been building pressure for a long time, and the recent talks about Georgia joining NATO certainly didn't do anything to slow it down.

 

Obviously the reasons as for why this started are more abstruse, but the Georgian shelling in South Ossetia last week was the catalyst for Russia's miltary action. Yes, Russia was goading Georgia into taking military action, but Georgia should have known that using its military to settle this dispute by force would give Russia a reason to act. Of course, the Russians have misplayed their hand by crossing into Georgian territory. If they truly believed this was a justified response like NATO's intervention into Kosovo was, they would have agreed to the cease-fire. It is clear that Russia intends on replacing President Saakashvili and the governing UNM party.