[chickadee]

Georgia invaded . . . Georgia?

Yes, according to the folks at Stratfor:

On the night of Thursday, Aug. 7, forces of the Republic of Georgia drove across the border of South Ossetia, a secessionist region of Georgia that has functioned as an independent entity since the fall of the Soviet Union. The forces drove on to the capital, Tskhinvali, which is close to the border. Georgian forces got bogged down while trying to take the city. In spite of heavy fighting, they never fully secured the city, nor the rest of South Ossetia.

In order to take Georgia's side, one has to deny South Ossetia its right to self-determination. Is that really a good position - to say that SO "belongs" to Georgia? That's what the posted article is all about. No one "belongs" to anyone else, except by their own agreement.

[dirtboy]

In order to take Georgia's side, one has to deny South Ossetia its right to self-determination.

You just complete GUTTED your 'lets not call Putin Hitler' argument.

The inhabitants of the Sudetenland, Hitler said, were predominantly German, and these three million Sudeten Germans deserved-what else?-the right of self-determination and a destiny separate from the other seven million inhabitants of Czechoslovakia; this despite the fact that the country was a democracy and that the Sudeten Germans enjoyed economic prosperity and full civil rights.

Self-determination - that was EXACTLY the argument Hitler used for the Sudetenland. BWAHAHAHAHA!

[wideawake]

In order to take Georgia's side, one has to deny South Ossetia its right to self-determination.

I ask again: why have the vast majority of Ossetians, who live in Russian North Ossetia never asserted any claim of self-determination? Why only the tiny handful of Ossetians living in Georgian South Ossetia?

And why do these South Ossetians claim Russian nationality if they truly believe in self-determination?p>The answer is obvious to anyone who is not busy fellating Vladimir Putin: the "South Ossetian Independence Movement" is a fiction invented by Russia to gain control of the Caucasus.

[numberonepal]

In order to take Georgia's side, one has to deny South Ossetia its right to self-determination.

In order to take Georgia's side, one has to understand the fact that Russians in South Ossetia had been shelling Georgian Villages for two weeks before the "invasion". Russia set up the scenario and Georgia took the bait.