Saturday, August 9, 2008

While Americans watch the Olympics...

Georgia: Russia enters into 'war' in South Ossetia - Telegraph: "Columns of Russian tanks plunged the two neighbours into war as they filed into South Ossetia, marking the Kremlin's first military assault on foreign soil since the Soviet Union's Afghanistan intevention, which ended in 1989."
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This is ugly. Georgia has been independent of Russia since 1991. The region called Ossetia is partly in Russia (North Ossetia) and partly in Georgia (South Ossetia). South Ossetia acts like an independent nation and wants to be joined to North Ossetia as part of Russia. Georgia is trying to reclaim South Ossetia. They have just been confronted by Russia, which has sent tanks into South Ossetia. In other words, Russia just invaded the sovereign nation of Georgia.

Two other issues: Georgia is a US ally that wants to join NATO. And there is an oil pipeline through the area that Russia wants to control. Ugly.

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