Russia Furious At Georgia Terrorism - Is Putin Following The McCain/Bush Doctrine?

[Median Democrat]

The irony in the conflict involving Georgia and Russia is that it looks eerily similar to the US's invasion of Iraq. Indeed, Russia may have a betetr argument because Georgia launced the initial attack, and now Russia is responding by trying to broaden the war and possibly grab more territory. Why? Oil. Also, was Russia's retaliation surprising? No, as the attached 2006 article shows:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5393106.stm

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Q&A: Russian-Georgian ties

Relations between Russia and Georgia have often been fraught since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Abkhazia was a popular holiday destination in Soviet times
The worst problems have usually been related to regional conflicts - the "frozen" conflicts in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the long-running guerrilla war in Chechnya.

More generally, many Georgians accuse Russia of imperialism, while Russia criticises Georgia for nationalism and pursuing an anti-Russian foreign policy.

Russia has been very critical of popular "revolutions" like Georgia's, which succeeded in 2003 thanks partly to Western-funded support for grassroots political activism.

Whatever their differences, Russia is home to an ethnic Georgian community thought to number at least one million and many families back in Georgia, a nation of five million, depend on the remittances they send home.

What triggered the latest escalation of tension?

In March, the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia called on the UN and other international bodies to recognise their independence. No country has granted them recognition. Georgian police only patrol a few areas in South Ossetia

But Russia argues that international recognition of an independent Kosovo challenges the UN's authority and risks aggravating tensions in the breakaway parts of Georgia. While many Western countries now recognise Kosovo, Russia backs Serbia's insistence that Kosovo remains part of Serbia.

Russia said it would intensify social and economic co-operation with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and recognise businesses and organisations registered there. Georgia said this amounted to "de facto annexation".

Russia insisted Abkhaz rebels had shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane - after Georgia said a Russian MiG-29 plane had shot down the drone over Abkhazia on 20 April.

Are Georgia and Russia heading for war?

Belligerent rhetoric has come from both sides and a local flare-up is always possible, but full-scale war seems unlikely.

Georgia does not want to spoil its chances of joining Nato, and conflict would certainly undermine that bid. Nato members do not want to get sucked into a Caucasus conflict.

Russia has key energy interests in the Caspian region and wants to avoid another costly round of fighting in Chechnya - so fighting in Georgia could impact on those ambitions too.

But Russia has warned it will retaliate if Georgia uses force against its breakaway regions. It has accused Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia, and says it is boosting Russian forces there and in the South Ossetia region.

Russia says Georgia is massing 1,500 soldiers and police in the upper Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia which remains under government control. Georgia denies such a build-up.

Russia has about 2,000 peacekeeping troops in Abkhazia and about 1,000 in South Ossetia, in line with peace accords reached in the 1990s.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5397102.stm

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Georgia's arrest of four Russian army officers for spying was "an act of state terrorism with hostage-taking".
He was speaking after a meeting of his security council to discuss the crisis.

He said Georgia was trying to provoke Moscow with the help of "foreign sponsors" and compared its leadership to that of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

Correspondents say it is Russia's worst crisis in relations with its neighbour in more than a decade.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4489149.ece

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More than a thousand civilians were reported to have been killed and large parts of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, were reduced to ruins as a conflict with potentially global repercussions erupted after months of rising tension. Georgia announced last night that it was withdrawing half of its 2,000 troops from Iraq as it ordered an all-out military mobilisation.

The country is the West’s strongest ally in the region, one of the staunchest supporters of America’s War on Terror and a vital conduit for Western oil and gas supplies from Central Asia.

“We have Russian tanks moving in. We have continuous Russian bombardment,” President Saakashvili declared as he appealed for international support. “Russia is fighting a war with us in our own territory.”

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[Motown_Johnny]

1. Your second sentence contradicts your first sentence

^The irony in the conflict involving Georgia and Russia is that it looks eerily similar to the US's invasion of Iraq. Indeed, Georgia launced the initial attack,^


Iraq did not attack America first.