The Georgians like to blame Russian machinations for every little thing. If someone trips on a rock, they blame the SVR for placing the rock there. I do not know who struck first, but according to Wikipedia the Georgians started moving troops into the region, so there might have been shooting between the Georgians and Ossetians, then Russia got called by the Ossetians, and Russia agreed to limited involvement, in no small part due to the resurgent Russian military under Putin/Medvedev. Russia rolled the dice and this is the result.

If South Ossetia has 80% of its population self-declaring their Russian citizenship, how does Georgia expect to prevail? Georgia is still well within Russia's 'near abroad,' and how is this incident not Kosovo in reverse? Russia is holding all the cards, moral and military; Georgia is grossly over-reaching by starting the conflict. This is, still again, an opportunity for the US to better its relations with Russia. 1. We should support Russia against the military incursion by Georgia into South Ossetia, and sit down with Russia, again, about our common strategic interests against Iran. 2. Move the planned US missile defense system from locating in Poland and the Czech Republic to locating at Odessa in the Crimea on the north shore of the Black Sea. 3. Throw in a US declaration that the Chechnyan separatists are a terrorist organization. 4. Identify the governance in Iran as an evolved form of theofascism. Without Russia, what are we to do about Iran? Iran is critically important to US strategic interests; Georgia, and especially South Ossetia, is barely important.

Anatol Lieven on Russia and Georgia.

Without Russia, what are we to do about Iran? Iran is critically important to US strategic interests; Georgia, and especially South Ossetia, is barely important.

I think the analogy you are looking for is with the UK and France half-heartedly sanctioning Italy over its invasion of Abyssinia in the name of the League of Nations when their real interests should have been keeping Italy from allying with Germany. Myself, however, I'm not in favour of any military action against Iran, so perhaps the split with Russia may help.

This was pathetic. Goldberg doesn't have the faintest grasp of the South Ossetia issue. Granted, it's a fairly esoteric subject, which Lee actually knows something about. But he was either too polite or too distracted to correct Goldberg's errors of fact (leaving aside judgment or wisdom). On Smodcast, it's fun to listen to a couple of mooks prattle on in complete ignorance of the matter at hand; here, not so much. I know as much about baseball as Goldberg does about Georgia--maybe I should get myself invited on an ESPN chat show to talk about the zone defense or Brett Favre. And to otto @ 11:23--you get Anatol Lieven only if I get Vlad Socor.

K Anderson at his war law and theory blog on the NYT's C Chivers offering a page one opinion piece.

Just to remember: in 1991 Georgia drove out about 55,000 Ossetians from Georgia proper (the area outside South Ossetia). These people have never been able to return. Georgia refuses to return their properties and forces the Ossetians to enter endless judicial procedures if they want to try to get those properties back.