It seems that Mr Saakashvili has miscalculated the strength of his alliances with the western powers. I'm reminded of the reponse of a British Commander to an instruction from a colonial cousin to go and kick out the Ruskies from pristine. It aint worth WW3.
So, georgia appears to have shoyt itself in the foot and pretty much finalised the future of the disputed region by default. on the nother hand, it could be said that the Russuan 'peacekeepers' have been nothing if not biased. All immaterial now.
When you consider the ethnic profile of the area, then the question of Georgian sovereignty becomes dubious. After this debacle it seems likely that there is no going back and seperation is inevitable.
Russian media puppets have repeatedly broadcast claims of genocide. Wild exaggeration? If not, why no pictures? If it was genocide you can be sure that Mr Putin would have made sure the evidence was broadcast to the world. As in any conflict, there will have been wrong doing on both sides.
Russia has not shown any finesse in the
PR side of this operation. If nothing else, this shows the thinking behind having embedded newsfolk when conducting 'liberation' operations.
The Russian military response seemed to have been relatively unsophisticated but effective. Several aircraft lost, I presume, to soviet era AA systems? That must tell us something about their electronic warfare & countermeasures capabilities.
The deciding factor; it's a numbers game.
I'm amused at western politicians expressing concerning at the use of 'disproportionate force' . Get real! Is there any other way to do it??
Russia is simply influencing the way things work in its own back yard. Sound familiar?
Allegations of Russia wanting to oust Mr Saakashvili: Well, I'm disgusted, we would never seek to interfere in the affairs of another country and instigate a change of government to one more disposed to our way of thinking. Or would we?
So what's it all about? Well a bit of all of the above and one other thing.
Do some research.... Oil/gas, pipelines, Caspian Sea.