Is this Russia issue serious? Can anyone break it down in Layman's terms?

Question

I'm not understanding what the heck is going on.

Answer 1

Oil = power.

Answer 2

Look up Poland, circa 1939. Same general idea. No matter what the Russians say to dress it up, this is a land grab for resources, prestige,(they feel inadequate since the fall of the Soviet Union), and a direct seaport. They claim the area is theirs by tradition/law.

Just like what kicked off ww2. With any luck, this won't go that far. That is what the Russians are counting on; the rest of the worlds' lack of resolve to stop them. Remember, Georgia is an ally of ours in the Middle East war.

All the other "breakaway" Soviet republics should be veerry nervous.

The best we can hope for is a new Cold War out of this mess.

Answer 3

Heres a history lesson

In the early 1990's after the collapse of the USSR, South Ossetia and Georgia went to war.

South Ossetia basically won.

S.O. and Georgia signed a peace treaty. Georgia lost all rule over S.O., S.O. was allowed to set up its own government, and Georgia troops had to pull out.

2004. Current Georgian President is elected stating he will return all Georgian provinces, ie S.O., back under the federal government - in effect against the peace treaty signed by Georgia and S.O.

In the past few years Georgia and the USA/NATO/West have warmed up to each other. Especially since Georgia has 2,000 troops in Iraq. Third behind US and UK.

Thursday: Georgia's President gambles that with the world's eye on the Olympics, his nation can defend S.O. And, that PM Medved of Russia will not retaliate due to the horrible press of escalating the battle on the opening day of the Olympics.

PM Medved doesn't fall for it. After trying to get UN to tell Georgia to stop, he sends in the Russian Military.

Russia drives Georgia effectively out of S.O. by morning.

Russia continues to pound/bomb Georgia's military installments and military infrastructure to first to teach Georgia a lesson that it cannot invade independent lands on Russia's borders, second send a message two the other former Soviet state (Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Armenia, Lichtenstein, Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia) that no matter how warm you get with NATO and the West, they will leave you hanging out high and dry.

In my opinion, Russia is doing the right thing. Georgia's president made a huge gamble. And, now he is paying the price.

Seriously, what was he thinking.

This is really a huge setback for the Bush administration.

GW has tried to sell NATO membership for old USSR bloc states to our western allies. Georgia acting completely out of line just revamps France, Italy and Spain's concerns. Further, it will make the old USSR and Eastern European states think twice now about the proposed missle shield.

Example, say all those states above decided to go with the US missle shield plan on their land. And, 1 of the states decides to pick a fight with Russia. Russia probably will bomb all the "shields" in these countries in the name of self defense.

All the while, Eastern Europens have to be sitting on their couches saying, what good is it to be the USA's ally while Georgia is getting biatchslapped, GW is waving flags at the Olympics?

This is all History, things you can learn from your own research. Georgia tried conquer old territory they lost, they called Russia's bluff and they lost.

Georgia attacked first, by murdering over 1500 South Ossetian civilians, many that had Russian citizenship, in an attempt to get more land. Georgia are the bad guys, not Russia. Georgia has been ethnically cleansing South ossetians and murdering seperatists.

Answer 4

At the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the S. Ossetian province wanted to remain with Russia, or more particularly with North Ossetia. They wanted to separate from Georgia, most of the little population did not recognize the Georgian central government and fighting broke out. In the mid-90's, a cease fire and truce was signed by all parties, and all sides agreed to have peacekeepers in the province, one being the Russians.

Georgia broke the truce that they signed when they attempted to take control of the region last Friday. Many of the people in South Ossetia are Russian nationals or have Russian passports, the currency is the Russian ruble, not Georgia's currency and most importantly, the people are ethnically related to North Ossetia, across the border in Russia.

While it may look like a violation of Georgia's territory, the squabble is not as black and white as you may think. The timing of the recent conflict was calculated...based on two events: all eyes on the west were on the Olympics and Pres. Bush is soon to leave office. Georgia gambled that Bush would (will) not let them down.

Unfortunately for them, they'll be left high and dry, the same way the Czechs and Hungarians were in the 50s and 60s when the Ruskies clampled down on them too, even tho they called for western assistance. The only support they'll get is rhetorical and a few UN sanctions hurled at them.