Well said. Plus those Russians in the know got out of the ruble days before the invasion, because they knew it would tank.
The Georgians initiated nothing. They merely had the temerity to fire back at the South Ossetians who were bombarding them from the midst of a heavily populated urban area.
It’s like the Israelis being cast as the evil aggressors whenever Muslims rain down artillery fire on their schools.
That is a piece of the story I hadn't heard before.
The Russians had been fomenting rebellion (for their own ends of course) for many years. The whole thing was a setup for an invasion.