[spetznaz]

Saakashvili got played for a fool. Maybe it was Putin who baited him. Maybe it was Bush who made him think the US would go to war with Russia over Georgia. Most probably it was Saakashvili's own delusions and misinterpretations. Whatever the trigger, he got played, did exactly what Russia wanted him to do when he shelled the Russian 'peacekeepers' triggering a reaction. Of course the US was never going to step in ...it was 2008 and not 1968 when the US could be expected to step in. The US was never going to do anything beyond making supportive statements for Georgia.

Result?

Goergia loses 20% of its sovereign territory.

[MarMema]

Well I happen to know that the reason the Russians never went to Tbilisi is because they would have been defeated.

[DesertRhino]

So they lost 20%,,BFD. That’s what happens when you start the shooting first. You move from diplomacy into artillery, all bets are off. You pays your money, you takes your chances.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Russia was already invading Georgia when Saakashvili attacked the Neo-Soviet Russian occupation forces in South Ossetia. So what did Saakashvili lose by attacking them? Nothing, because nobody on Earth believes the Russian version of events or accepts Russia’s false and laughable assertions that Saakashvili attacked first. Russia already occupied 20 percent of Georgia’s territory, so Georgia did not lose their territory because it was already lost. No real countries recognize the Russian-occupied territories as independent, just KGB Putin’s communist client state Venezuela. Not even Belarus or any of Russia’s other “allies.”