In light of further information on what has been going on in Georgia, I am changing this post.
South Ossetia has not considered itself part of Georgia since 1991. It has been a unaligned demi-nation, the majority of whose citizens consider themselves Russian. The logistics of this whole ting are complex as there have been several referendums concerning independence in S.O. Not recognized by western nations, nor the Russian Federation, S.O. insists on it's independence. (This gets around to the point of who it is that should be making judgments about what alignment a people should choose.)
On August 7th, Georgian forces killed 10 Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. Even before that there were hints of Georgian interference in S.O. resulting in what were considered human rights violations. When Saakasvili ordered the attack on Tskhinvali. There are differing stories on whether, in fact, there was actually an aircraft manufacturing facility in the city. One fact that is clear is this: August 7th, Georgian forces killed 10 Russian peacekeepers in S.O. and the ensuing incursion/invasion displaced many people and has caused widespread misery.
There are widely disparate stories about who/what/where/why/when and how things have happened. Given the fact that, over the last years, Moscow has actually behaved itself pretty well when considering external and foreign affairs while the guvmunts of the west have been notoriously aggressive in foreign and external affairs.
Saakashvili's cries of "Hungary! Poland! Finland" ring false. S.O. is not a sovereign nation in the sense of the above-mentioned entities. Since the Russian Federation doesn't officially recognize S.O. as being independent, rather considering it as something related to a protectorate, they certainly weren't likely to sit back and ignore what they would consider blatant and irresponsible aggression from Georgia. (It should be mentioned that, unlike the west, the R.F. doesn't recognize Georgia as an independent state. This makes the fact that the R.F. pretty much turned a blind eye to the war games conducted by the US/Israel/Georgian forces within Georgia.)
There is such a huge disparity between what is coming out of the R.F., S.O. and the western nations that it makes me highly suspicious.
Condy Rice's posturing, the news media's shrieking, the wailing and moaning about a third world war? Given the long history of the US and UK's guvmunt's mendacity and prevarication, I take it all with a very large grain of salt.
IMO, the leadership of the R.F., even given my distaste for Putin, could run circles around all of the western states leadership without trying, both in statecraft and intelligence. It has been said that there are no stupid Russian politicians. All the dumb ones are dead. I tend to agree. The west, on the other hand, rewards dumbassery with power and privilege.
