Georgia - sure to get messy

[Fume troll]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/world/europe/09g...

Cheers,

FT.

[dan1981]

you beat me by two minutes!

[Apache]

Oil prices about to surge again I suppose

[DAVEVO9]

At least there will be something else to watch rather than the oryimpics

[Fume troll]

Apache said:

Oil prices about to surge again I suppose

I very much expect so.

Cheers,

FT.

[Meeja]

Link from other thread (that has now been closed)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7548715.st...

[john_p]

This is confusing me. So some residents of South Ossetia want independence - it's part of Georgia, which used to be in the USSR. But now Russia has decided to get involved on the side of the South Ossetian separatists? What do they have to gain?

e: the majority of South Ossetians want independence according to a 2004 unofficial referendum

Edited by john_p on Friday 8th August 14:17

[jmorgan]

On the day the olympics kick off as well.

[benzo]

john_p said:

This is confusing me. So some residents of South Ossetia want independence - it's part of Georgia, which used to be in the USSR. But now Russia has decided to get involved on the side of the South Ossetian separatists? What do they have to gain?

oil or gas? Seems to be the trend these days.

Edited by benzo on Friday 8th August 14:16

[westtra]

hopefully not as am due to goto turkey in a couple months on holiday.

[Mikeyboy]

john_p said:

This is confusing me. So some residents of South Ossetia want independence - it's part of Georgia, which used to be in the USSR. But now Russia has decided to get involved on the side of the South Ossetian separatists? What do they have to gain?

South Ossetians are Ethnic Russians (but only because Stalin put them there) so they want to be independant so that they can become part of Russia ultimately. Putin's government was known to be actively encoraging them in this for obvious reasons. HTH

ETA: the peculair thing about Stalin moving in Russians to Georgia of course is that he was a Georgian himself

Edited by Mikeyboy on Friday 8th August 14:22

[Benny Saltstein]

jmorgan said:

On the day the olympics kick off as well.

The Ruskies thought they'd sneak in while everyone's watching the opening ceremony.

[Fume troll]

john_p said:

This is confusing me. So some residents of South Ossetia want independence - it's part of Georgia, which used to be in the USSR. But now Russia has decided to get involved on the side of the South Ossetian separatists? What do they have to gain?

Probably several things:

• To highlight the inability of the West (esp the US) to help Georgia, as a message to other breakways and potential breakways.
• Demonstrate it's importance and military strenght in the region and as a global player.
• Earn kudos at home, boost national pride.

Cheers,

FT.

[Mikeyboy]

Fume troll said:

john_p said:

This is confusing me. So some residents of South Ossetia want independence - it's part of Georgia, which used to be in the USSR. But now Russia has decided to get involved on the side of the South Ossetian separatists? What do they have to gain?

Probably several things:

• To highlight the inability of the West (esp the US) to help Georgia, as a message to other breakways and potential breakways.
• Demonstrate it's importance and military strenght in the region and as a global player.
• Earn kudos at home, boost national pride.

Cheers,

FT.

yeah some of that too, but mostly as I said (been studying this conflict recently)
Where it might get sticky is that Georgia has been pushing hard for admittance to EU and more pertinently NATO. America has been very encouraging to them on this latter point.

[Fume troll]

Mikeyboy said:

Fume troll said:

john_p said:

This is confusing me. So some residents of South Ossetia want independence - it's part of Georgia, which used to be in the USSR. But now Russia has decided to get involved on the side of the South Ossetian separatists? What do they have to gain?

Probably several things:

• To highlight the inability of the West (esp the US) to help Georgia, as a message to other breakways and potential breakways.
• Demonstrate it's importance and military strenght in the region and as a global player.
• Earn kudos at home, boost national pride.

Cheers,

FT.

yeah some of that too, but mostly as I said (been studying this conflict recently)
Where it might get sticky is that Georgia has been pushing hard for admittance to EU and more pertinently NATO. America has been very encouraging to them on this latter point.

Sorry, I meant in addition to your point.

Cheers,

FT.

[Puggit]

Who exactly thought it was a good idea to have Russian peacekeepers in a territory craved by Russia, and with separatists backed by Russian.

WTF?!

[renrut]

Does anyone else think that Russia is heading back to its old ways? Seems to be a lot of posturing in the last few years since Putin came to power. Of course that is assuming they ever really stopped playing this game of political posturing with America using small countries as a way of keeping score.

[MK4 Slowride]

Rather strange how so much Russian military hardware is kicking about in that region though ready to 'go' as it were.

[Fume troll]

Puggit said:

Who exactly thought it was a good idea to have Russian peacekeepers in a territory craved by Russia, and with separatists backed by Russian.

WTF?!

Russia.

Cheers,

FT.

[RobCrezz]

No doubt the USA will get them selves involved some how, and that means we will get involved too... probably.