Posted on 08/08/2008 1:33:47 PM PDT by flyfree
The fighting in South Ossetia and Abkhazia had stopped over a decade ago, because Georgia could not muster sufficient military force to regain control of the two breakaway border areas. Then a UN brokered peace deal brought in several thousand Russian peacekeepers. About ten days ago, there were were reports of gunfire and mortar shells exploding in South Ossetia. In the last few days, Georgian Su-25 ground attack aircraft were seen hitting targets in South Ossetia. Artillery shells were reported to have hit a Russian peace keeper barracks. Russia announced that it was sending more peacekeeping troops to South Ossetia. Russian aircraft were reported to have bombed targets just inside Georgia. Russia was unable to get the UN to pass a resolution demanding that Georgia cease efforts to get back control of its territory.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
So we can expect this to be a annual event?
What ethnicity are we talking about? Russian? Turk? Who?
Obama warns the Russians that we will defend Atlanta even if it means letting the air out of the Russian takes tires.
Russians in Georgia???????????? I feel faint!
That'll alter the carbon footprint! I'll contact Paris Hilton immediately.
Naw, let ‘em have Atlanta, throw in the City of Dallas as well.
But we'll be down to 55 states.
I’d rather let em have LA. I think Texans would have something say about them taking Dallas.
susie
Good this may spread hope for change to Alabama.
They already took SF and their takeover of Seattle is just about done.
hehehe
So, then Russia is engaging in the "enemy of enemy is my friend" in dealing with Georgia?
Unfortunately, that also makes sense. Are there oil fields involved?
“The Ossetians are believed to be descended from tribes which migrated into the area from Asia many hundreds of years ago and settled in what is now North Ossetia.
As the Russian empire expanded into the area in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Ossetians did not join other peoples of the North Caucasus in putting up fierce resistance. Some fought alongside the Russians against neighbours who had long been rivals, while others made the difficult journey south across the mountains to escape.
By tradition, the Ossetians have had good relations with Russians and were regarded as loyal citizens, first of the Russian empire and later of the Soviet Union. They sided with the Kremlin when Bolshevik forces occupied Georgia in the early 1920s and, as part of the carve-up which followed, the South Ossetian Autonomous Region was created in Georgia and North Ossetia was formed in Russia.
In the twilight of the Soviet Union, as Georgian nationalist Zviad Gamsakhurdia came to prominence in Tbilisi, South Ossetia too flexed its separatist muscles. Soviet forces were sent to keep the peace in late 1989 following violent clashes between Georgians and Ossetians in the capital, Tskhinvali. Violence flared again as South Ossetia declared its intention to secede from Georgia in 1990 and, the following year, effective independence.
The collapse of the USSR and Georgian independence in 1991 did nothing to dampen South Ossetia’s determination to consolidate the break with Tbilisi. Sporadic violence involving Georgian irregular forces and Ossetian fighters continued until the summer of 1992 when agreement on the deployment of Georgian, Ossetian and Russian peacekeepers was reached. Hundreds died in the fighting.
Political stalemate followed. Separatist voices became less strident during President Shevardnadze’s rule in Georgia. South Ossetia, its economy and infrastructure a shambles and crime rife, faded from the headlines. It returned to the foreground when Mikhail Saakashvili took the reins as president in Tbilisi.
He was quick to spell out his intention to bring breakaway regions to heel. He has offered South Ossetia dialogue and autonomy within a single Georgian state but that falls far short of what separatists demand.
It came as no surprise when South Ossetians voted overwhelmingly in favour of restating their demand for independence from Tbilisi in an unrecognised referendum in November 2006. A simultaneous referendum among the region’s ethnic Georgians voted just as emphatically to stay with Tbilisi. Compromise seems a long way off.
Tensions are never far from the surface and violence flares sporadically.
Russia still has peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia although the Georgian parliament has called for them to be replaced with an international force.
Russia maintains close contacts with the leadership in Tskhinvali where separatists welcome Moscow’s supportive stance. To Georgia’s deep annoyance, most South Ossetians have Russian passports and the Russian rouble is commonly used in trade.
“
The above is from the BBC and was posted in response to a similar question I had.
I’m also wondering how much of this has to do with oil and NG pipelines from the Caucasus to Turkey, etc.
It’s just Russia being Russia.
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