I don’t think this is going to be anything to worry about. I don’t see a large scale invasion under way, but it is interesting that they would re-take a town that really has no strategic value. Maybe the Russians are calculating that with our economy in the dumps, our president-elect embroiled in a scandal, and our military stretched thin that it can get away with bullying smaller republics? Should be interesting to see how this Russia-Georgia scenario plays out.
A really pathetic attempt by Pootin to run up oil and natural gas prices, nothing more and nothing less.
I have a feeling they’re testing the waters. As bad shape as our economy might be in, the Russian economy, which is highly levered to oil and gas prices, is much worse off. Their stock market is down 90%, which means no one seems to have any confidence in their economic future.
Despots like Putin are a lot easier to tolerate when they keep the trains running on time, or, in his case, keep the petro-dollars rolling in. When all his supporters are losing money, it has to be worrying him. He could be getting desperate enough to see seizing the gas pipeline that runs through Georgia as a cost-effective way to prop up Russia’s economy.