In my mind, there is NO defense for Russia's predation on Georgia, Ukraine, or anyone else.
As for the US shoving Russia into the arms of China and the Muslims, poppycock. Russia, China, and the Muslims despise each other. A better description would be the Mexican standoff at the end of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly but with all three being bad AND ugly.
You make it sound like the US goaded Russia into attacking Ukraine for our benefit. Horse****! I would much prefer that this whole episode had never happened. Given lemons, I choose to make lemonade even if it is on the sour side.
The US and/or "the West" is not trying, and has NO desire, to rule the world. We had the ability to impose a Pax Americana at the end of WW2. We chose not to and instead ensured that anyone could trade with anyone, freely and safely. This was brought to you by the US Navy. It lead to arguably the best contiguous 80 year period in world history, period. Was it perfect, no. Was it the best anyone had ever seen before, ABSOLUTELY!!!!
Do I think the world is a better place with Ukraine free and the Russian military exhausted, you bet. I would much prefer that Russia and China drift slowly and peacefully slide into demographic non-existence.
SpyNavy
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
In my mind, there is NO defense for Russia’s predation on Ukraine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you wanted to learn the facts about this, I have much information. If you want to remain mired in the past which does not exist any more, your choice.
Rita- Speaking of Georgia.... and NATO, NATO, NATO mettling to surround Russia with launching pads:
~~~
History
Moscow’s aggressive reaction to its long-simmering tensions with the former Soviet republic signaled a newly assertive Russia.
BY: SARAH PRUITT
UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 4, 2018 | ORIGINAL: AUGUST 8, 2018
A Russian armored troop-carrier moves with soldiers atop next to a house set on fire by South Ossetian militia on in August, 2008.
DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
In early August 2008, after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili sent troops into the rebellious province of South Ossetia, Russia came to its defense, beginning a five-day-long conflict that ended with Russian troops within striking distance of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.
Moscow’s aggressive reaction to its long-simmering tensions with Georgia announced Russia’s reemergence as a military power, and paved the way for its controversial dealings with another former Soviet republic, Ukraine, beginning in 2014.
Separatist Issues in Georgia:
The roots of the Russia-Georgia conflict go back to the early 1990s, when both Russia and Georgia were newly independent nations after the dissolution of the USSR. Civil war erupted within Georgia, located to the south of Russia on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, when two provinces—South Ossetia in eastern Georgia, and Abkhazia, on the northwestern coast—sought to declare their own independence.
Mikhail Saakashvili and George W. Bush— Photo
PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI MEETING WITH U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AT THE WHITE HOUSE IN FEBRUARY, 2004. THE UNITED STATES BEGAN TRAINING 5,000 GEORGIAN TROOPS A FEW MONTHS LATER. (CREDITL TIM SLOAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
“One can track [the 2008 conflict] back, really from the very beginning of the independence of Georgia, when Abkhazia in particular split away, and the Russians backed Abkhazia,” says Mark Galeotti, senior non-resident fellow at the Institute of International Relations Prague and an expert on modern Russian history and security affairs.
A ceasefire in 1994 ended the worst fighting, but tensions continued to simmer in the two breakaway provinces, which remained technically part of Georgia. Home to different ethnic groups, the Ossetians and the Abkhazians, they had been autonomous earlier in the 20th century, after the Russian Revolution, and they wanted their autonomy back.
*Georgia and the West*
Beginning in the late 1990s, the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expanded their influence in Eastern and Central Europe, formerly a Soviet stronghold. Russia and its new president, Vladimir Putin (first elected in 2000), bitterly resented the loss of this buffer zone between Moscow and the West.
Vladimir Putin
For its part, Georgia was moving further West, even joining the U.S.-led coalition fighting in the Iraq War in 2003. This process intensified after the election of pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili in 2004.
“Georgia was clearly embarked on a process of trying to break out of Russia’s sphere of influence,” Galeotti says. “And as far as Russia was concerned, this was an absolute priority. It had to maintain its sphere of influence, and if it let Georgia go, then who could be next?”
Long-Simmering Tensions Erupt Into War
Russian Troops
A CONVOY OF RUSSIAN TROOPS MAKING ITS WAY THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS TOWARD THE ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN GEORGIAN TROOPS AND SEPARATIST SOUTH OSSETIAN TROOPS ON AUGUST 9, 2008. GEORGIAN PRESIDENT MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI DECLARED A ‘STATE OF WAR’ AS HIS TROOPS BATTLED IT OUT WITH RUSSIAN FORCES OVER THE BREAKAWAY PROVINCE OF SOUTH OSSETIA. (CREDIT: DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Sakaashvili also attempted to crack down on separatism within Georgia, which brought the long-running conflict in South Ossetia into the forefront again. Georgia’s always-tense relationship with its northern neighbor worsened in late 2006, when Sakaashvili’s government accused Putin, who was Russia’s prime minister at the time, of supporting the separatist cause. After Georgia arrested four Russian military officers for suspected espionage, Russia responded by closing Georgian businesses and deporting Georgian citizens.
With Georgia on the verge of joining NATO, but not yet subject to the organization’s collective defense agreement, Russia saw an opportunity to rein in its neighbor and demonstrate its military strength in the region. As Galeotti puts it: “The Russians built up their plans, built up their forces, and they ensured that their local proxies in South Ossetia needled Georgians enough, knowing that Sakaashvili….would rise to the bait.”