Flash Point: South Ossetia (9 - 11 August) - Small Wars Journal

Flash Point: South Ossetia (12 August) - Small Wars Journal

NEWS

Moscow Agrees To Georgia Truce - Peter Finn, Washington Post

Russia said Tuesday that it had ended its five-day tank and bomber assault against Georgia and agreed to a French peace plan by which most Russian forces would return home and international mediators would work to settle the long and explosive conflict between Georgia and Russian-backed South Ossetian separatists. "The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses; its military has been scattered," said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking to his defense minister in a meeting aired on state television. He added: "If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them." Whether a cease-fire had taken hold was unclear. Georgian authorities and foreign journalists reported that Russian forces continued to attack after Medvedev's words were broadcast, bombing the frontline city of Gori inside undisputed Georgian territory. There were reports of South Ossetian paramilitary fighters killing Georgian civilians, unrestrained by Russian troops.

Russia Agrees to Cease-Fire Terms - Kramer and Barry, New York Times

The presidents of Georgia and Russia agreed early Wednesday morning on a framework that could end the war that flared up here five days ago, after Russia reasserted its traditional dominance of the region. Declaring that “the aggressor has been punished,” President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia announced early Tuesday that Russia would stop its campaign. Russian airstrikes continued during the day as mediators tried to broker an agreement and antagonisms seethed on both sides. By 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Mr. Medvedev and his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, had agreed on a plan that would withdraw troops to the positions they had occupied before the fighting broke out. Whether the agreement takes holds, Russia has achieved its goals, effectively creating a new reality on the ground, humiliating the Georgian military and increasing the pressure on a longtime antagonist, Mr. Saakashvili. Russian authorities make no secret of their desire to see Mr. Saakashvili prosecuted on war crimes in The Hague, and could well try other measures to undermine him.

US Sees Russian Fear of Global Reproof - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post

The Bush administration suggested yesterday that an apparent cease-fire in Georgia came about because Moscow feared it would be banished from Western-dominated international economic and political institutions if it did not stop its "aggression" in the former Soviet republic. "Russia has one foot into the international community... and one foot that is not," a senior administration official said. Membership in institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the Group of Eight major industrialized nations "is what is at stake when Russia engages in behavior that looks like it came from another time." Officials indicated that an upcoming meeting between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance, NATO's governing board, had been canceled and that a NATO-Russia naval exercise, aimed at improving maritime security cooperation, would not take place as planned on Friday.

Shattered Georgia Pays High Price for Peace - The Times

A victorious Kremlin agreed to a ceasefire in the Caucasus last night on terms that left Georgia and its Western backers weakened. After five days of fighting, President Medvedev of Russia ordered his troops in South Ossetia to hold their fire and fixed a six-point peace plan with President Sarkozy of France. The deal, confirmed by Georgia’s President Saakashvili last night, did not address the future of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two breakway provinces that want closer links with Russia. The French President, negotiating on behalf of the EU, insisted that Moscow had promised to respect Georgia’s sovereignty even though the proposals raised questions about its territorial integrity. In the United States, there was widespread dismay over the ease with which Moscow had imposed its will on a loyal US ally.

Russia Halts Georgian Offensive - Peter Wilson, The Australian

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last night ordered a halt to military action in Georgia after five days of air and land attacks that took Moscow's forces deep into the small Western-allied nation. Mr Medvedev said the military had punished Georgia enough for its attack on South Ossetia as the refugees from the conflict triggered by Tbilisi on Friday swelled to 100,000. "The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored,'' Mr Medvedev said on national television. "The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganised.'' But Mr Medvedev said he had ordered the Russian military to defend itself and quell any signs of Georgian aggression. Georgia launched the offensive to regain control over the separatist province with close ties to Russia. "If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them,'' Mr Medvedev told Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov at a televised meeting. Dismissing Georgian claims of a full-scale invasion, Mr Medvedev said Russian forces would not advance on the capital, Tbilisi, or force "regime change'' on Georgia. Only a few hours after Mr Medvedev order a halt to the offensive at 12.40pm (6.40pm AEDT), about 100,000 defiant Georgians streamed down Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue to the national parliament. President Mikheil Saakashvili told a sea of red and white flags that Georgia would quit the Russian dominated Commonwealth of Independent States and urged Ukraine to follow suit.

Russia 'Annexes' a Fifth of Georgia - David Blair, Daily Telegraph

Russia altered the balance of power in Europe when the Kremlin halted its attack on Georgia after its forces had effectively annexed 18 per cent of the country. Russia closed its Five Day War in full control of Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which total more than 4,800 square miles of the neighbouring state. While Russian troops have been deployed in these enclaves since 1992, they have never previously controlled their entire territory. Having achieved this by force, Moscow's terms for a permanent truce would cement its gains. The Kremlin has also demonstrated its indifference to western opinion and its willingness to use force to prevent a former Soviet republic from joining NATO.

Russia Racks Arsenal, Halts Fighting - Kelly Hearn, Washington Times

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for a halt to fighting in Georgia on Tuesday and the leaders of France and Russia inked a cease-fire deal, but not before Georgia's modernized arsenal sustained massive damage. "We haven´t achieved peace yet, but we have achieved a provisional cease-fire of hostilities," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said. Georgia's president said early Wednesday that he agreed to the "general principles" of a plan for ending fighting with Russian troops in his country.

Medvedev Agrees to End Military Action in Georgia - Voice of America

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his French counterpart say they have agreed on a series of conditions aimed at paving the way for ending violence in Georgia and its breakaway provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The six-point plan allows for humanitarian aid workers to have unrestricted access to the region. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for Georgian and Russian troops to withdraw to pre-conflict positions, but said Russian troops will take extra security measures in the area until an international mechanism is put in place to carry out the same function. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his primary goal in meeting with Mr. Medvedev was to call for an end to the fighting, which began last Friday. Mr. Sarkozy called it an "emergency situation" and said his object was not to solve all the problems the region currently faces.

Russia Calls Halt to 5-day Invasion of Georgia - Associated Press

Declaring "the aggressor has been punished," the Kremlin ordered a halt Tuesday to Russia's devastating assault on Georgia - five days of air and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins and uprooted 100,000 people. Georgia said the bombs and shells were still coming hours after the cease-fire was declared, and its President Mikhail Saakashvili said Russia's aim all along was not to gain control of two disputed provinces but to "destroy" the smaller nation, a former Soviet state and current US ally.

Saakashvili Accepts Truce Proposal - Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times

Bowing to the reality of vastly superior military might, the Georgian president said Tuesday that he would accept a Russian cease-fire agreement to end a five-day conflict, despite terms that some described as humiliating to his small, proud nation. President Mikheil Saakashvili, while at times seeming defiant, appears to have all but given up his bid to reclaim two disputed regions on the Russian border. Russia, which said it had suspended a campaign that routed Georgia's US-trained military, continued bombing sites deep in the country hours later. At a rally attended by thousands of people in Tbilisi, Saakashvili pledged that one day Georgia would beat Russia.

Georgian President Accepts EU Cease-fire Plan - Associated Press

Georgia's president has told a news conference that he agrees to plan to end the fighting with Russia over breakaway regions in Georgia. Mikhail Saakashvili told reporters after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that "there should be a cease-fire." The plan was negotiated by Sarkozy and has also been agreed to by Russia's president. It calls for both Russian and Georgian troops to move back to their original positions.

Russia: Chance of Further Strikes - Harding and Blomfield, Daily Telegraph

While Russian President Dimitry Medvedev might have called a halt to operations he deliberately left open the possibility of combat by allowing his forces to "defend themselves" from Georgian armed resistance. In characteristically blunt style, Russia also used a show of military force to warn Georgia against taking strategic advantage of Moscow's decision to end hostilities. Within an hour of the order to halt action, the Daily Telegraph witnessed Russian helicopter gunships launch missile strikes deep inside undisputed Georgian territory. The attacks, which were officially denied in Moscow, may have been intended to dissuade Georgian troops from regrouping near the border of South Ossetia after their chaotic retreat on Monday evening.

Gori: Georgians Flee Russian Bombs - Megan Stack, Los Angeles Times

The Russian bombs and shells were falling fast Tuesday afternoon, dropping unseen through mist that clung to the mountains and wisped over the valleys. Panicked people pressed the gas pedal to the floor and roared toward the capital city of Tbilisi, trying to outrun the explosions. Russian helicopters hung low over the foothills. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had said that the "operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace" was finished. But here in Georgia, the war dragged on. "They want to destroy us," groaned Aftondil Huroshvili, who begged for a drink of water in a crowded hospital ward in Tbilisi. The retired topographer had been strolling through Gori's central square when Russia bombed the post office. Shrapnel from the blast shattered his lower leg. "They want to invade and take everything," he said, rolling his balding head back and forth in pain. "Why are they doing this?"

Rice Urges Ceasefire, Diplomatic Solution in Georgia - AFPS

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today urged Russia to deliver on its pledge to cease fire in Georgia, as the United States draws up humanitarian aid plans in the wake of recent fighting in the former Soviet republic. Rice spoke to reporters at the White House after briefing President Bush on diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Georgia, where clashes with Russia broke out last week in the breakaway region of South Ossetia and escalated over ensuing days. “The Russians need to stop their military operations, as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored,” said Rice, emphasizing the need for a cease-fire by both sides.

NATO Calls for Return to Former Status Quo in Georgia - Lisa Bryant, VOA

As Russia announced a halt to military action in Georgia, NATO members called for a return to the status quo before the conflict - and say the crisis will not hurt Georgia's chances of joining the alliance. Following a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels, the alliance's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, told reporters both sides needed the return to positions they held before August 6, when fighting broke out in the separatist region of South Ossetia and spread to other parts of Georgia. The ambassadors have also called for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected.

Heavy Damage in Tskhinvali, Mostly at Gov't Center - Associated Press

Gutted and shrapnel-scarred buildings testify to fierce street battles and heavy rocket and bomb attacks in the separatist capital of South Ossetia. But there is little evidence civilians were specifically targeted by Georgian troops, as Russia claims. During a visit Tuesday arranged by the Russian government, journalists from The Associated Press and other Western media were escorted into the city aboard armored vehicles. Reporters witnessed more than a dozen fires in what appeared to be deserted ethnic Georgian neighborhoods and saw evidence of looting in those areas. The heaviest damage from the recent fighting appeared to be around Tskhinvali's government center.

Russians Move Toward Gorge Despite Cease-fire - Associated Press

The Russian troops sprawled on top of the tanks in a 135-vehicle convoy looked relaxed, with bandannas on their heads rather than helmets. Some smoked, one ate a chunk of watermelon. Many drivers had slung flak jackets over vehicle windows. Georgians on the side of the road watched, quietly. On a bridge, a group of about 20 men who had been swimming in the river stood barechested in shorts as the tanks, armored personnel carriers, fuel, troop and supply trucks, a few hauling artillery pieces, rolled by. The display of Russia's military might came hours after a cease-fire had been declared Tuesday.

In Russia, Nationalist Pride Prevails - Frederick Kunkle, Washington Post

Along Moscow's famously colorful Arbat Street on Tuesday, there was a striking unanimity of views about Russia's brief, one-sided war with Georgia. While many people said they regretted the loss of life, the conflict appeared mainly to have stoked nationalist pride and anger that Russia's show of force over the breakaway region of South Ossetia had been condemned as disproportionate. Some expressed outrage that the country had been blamed for starting the crisis. Others, echoing Russian officials and analysts, suggested there was little difference between the massive military response to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's shelling of the separatist capital last week and the NATO-led bombing of Serbia or the West's recognition of Kosovo's right to independence.

Information War Accompanies Fighting - Peter Fedynsky, Voice of America

During the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia, both sides have broadcast drastically different versions of events, which appears to confirm the old adage that the first casualty in war is the truth. Russia's around the clock television news channel, Vesti 24, informed its viewers that Fidel Castro blames the conflict in Georgia on US President George Bush. The station says the former Cuban leader told Mexican television that Georgian leaders would never have launched an attack on South Ossetia without prior agreement with Mr. Bush. The Bush administration says it does not make such agreements and Geogia's government makes its own decisions. This detail stands in stark contrast to a virtual blackout of information on Russian TV about attacks by Russian forces on targets in Georgia, including bombs dropped in the vicinity of the capital city, Tbilisi. Instead, Russian viewers have been shown horrific scenes of destruction in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, as well as interviews with distraught refugees. They relate stories of Georgian troops throwing grenades or running over civilians with tanks, and deliberately flooding basements to force women and children out of safe havens.

Before the Gunfire, Cyberattacks - John Markoff, New York Times

Weeks before bombs started falling on Georgia, a security researcher in suburban Massachusetts was watching an attack against the country in cyberspace. Jose Nazario of Arbor Networks in Lexington noticed a stream of data directed at Georgian government sites containing the message: “win+love+in+Rusia.” Other Internet experts in the United States said the attacks against Georgia’s Internet infrastructure began as early as July 20, with coordinated barrages of millions of requests - known as distributed denial of service, or DDOS, attacks - that overloaded and effectively shut down Georgian servers. Researchers at Shadowserver, a volunteer group that tracks malicious network activity, reported that the Web site of the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, had been rendered inoperable for 24 hours by multiple DDOS attacks. They said the command and control server that directed the attack was based in the United States and had come online several weeks before it began the assault.

US Completes Georgian Troop Redeployment; US Contingent Remains - AFPS

The United States has redeployed some 2,000 Georgian troops from Iraq to their home country, where a contingent of fewer than 100 American military personnel remain, a Defense Department spokesman said today. Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman said the United States, meanwhile, is prepared to provide humanitarian aid to Georgia, where clashes with Russia broke out last week in the breakaway region of South Ossetia in the former Soviet republic and escalated over following days. No humanitarian missions currently are under way, he added. American C-17s began shuttling the brigade of Georgian forces Aug. 10 and completed the redeployment yesterday, Whitman said. The US-provided transport adhered to an agreement that US and Georgian government officials arranged before Russian tanks and troops crossed Georgia’s border on Aug. 8. “We are fulfilling our agreement with the Georgian government that in an emergency we would assist them in redeploying their troops,” Whitman said yesterday. “We are honoring that commitment, and we are following through with that.” A contingent of fewer than 100 US military personnel remains in Georgia, the Pentagon spokesman told reporters today. Some American personnel left yesterday, but the forces currently there are safe and accounted for, he added. “They are not involved in the conflict,” he said, “but they are remaining there for now.”

United Nations Steps Up Aid To Georgia - Lisa Schlein, Voice of America

United Nations and International agencies are stepping up aid to victims of the conflict between Georgia and Russia that erupted Friday in the breakaway region of South Ossetia. The agencies say lack of access to South Ossetia is the biggest problem they face. The aid is starting to flow into Georgia. The UN refugee agency reports a plane it chartered carrying relief supplies for civilians landed at the airport in the capital, Tblisi, Tuesday morning. Spokesman Ron Redmond says the plane carried 34 tons of tents, jerry cans, blankets and kitchen sets from UNHCR's central emergency stockpile in Dubai. "It is the first UN humanitarian flight to reach Georgia since the fighting in the breakaway region of south Ossetia erupted on Friday," he said. "A second UNHCR flight is scheduled tomorrow from Copenhagen, another of our central logistical hubs. The two flights will provide more than 70 tons of aid supplies for up to 30,000 people and will augment other relief items already distributed by UNHCR from its warehouses in Georgia." Latest figures provided by Georgian and Russian government sources estimate nearly 100,000 people have been uprooted as a result of the fighting in South Ossetia. UN aid workers report up to 80 percent of the population in the Georgian border town of Gori has left following heavy bombardment by Russian aircraft.

Relief Supplies Arrive for Georgian, Other Victims - Associated Press

Relief agencies rushed aid Tuesday to thousands of refugees fleeing the violence in South Ossetia for neighboring Russia or other parts of Georgia, while those left behind cowered in rat-infested cellars or wandered nearly empty cities and villages. The first relief flight from the UN refugee agency arrived in Georgia on Tuesday morning as the estimated number of people uprooted by the Russian-Georgian fighting that began last week approached 100,000, said Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

NEWS ANALYSIS / COMMENTARY

Russia: Pause for Thought - The Times editorial

By launching its first invasion of a foreign country since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia jeopardised its status as a rational actor on the world stage. Yesterday it salvaged that status. The ceasefire announced by President Medvedev after five days of fighting in South Ossetia will help to avert a full-scale humanitarian disaster in the Caucasus. It has created a breathing space for peace talks now under way in Moscow. It leaves President Saakashvili of Georgia humbled internationally even if he remains popular at home, and Moscow confident that its hegemony in South Ossetia and nearby Abkhazia will not be challenged again for the foreseeable future. From the Kremlin's standpoint, it does more: Mr Medvedev and his implacable Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, can now claim to their more credulous supporters that in the struggle for Georgia's borderlands they hold the moral high ground.

Bush and Georgia - Wall Street Journal editorial

On June 13, 1948, the day after the Soviet Union took the first step in its blockade of Berlin, US General Lucius Clay sent a cable to Washington making the case for standing up to the Soviets. "We are convinced that our remaining in Berlin is essential to our prestige in Germany and in Europe. Whether for good or bad, it has become a symbol of the American intent." The Berlin Airlift began 13 days later. Sixty years on, US credibility is again on the line as the Bush Administration stumbles to respond to the Russian invasion of Georgia. So far the Administration has been missing in action, to put it mildly. The strategic objective is twofold: to prevent Moscow from going further to topple Georgia's democratic government in the coming days, and to deter future Russian aggression.

What Does Russia Want? - Washington Times editorial

Russia agreed on Tuesday to halt military action in Georgia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are merely stalling as they accept to halt military action but demand the withdrawal of Georgian troops from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They are also calling for regime change. The Kremlin seeks to undermine Georgia and gradually gain dominance over the nations that were part of the former Soviet Union. The Russians are on the march toward imperialism and must be stopped. The recent hostilities have been carefully engineered by Moscow over the course of many years. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia remained within the sovereign territory of Georgia but were autonomous. In March 2008, when South Ossetia declared independence, only Russia offered recognition. By supporting independence movements in Georgia, Russia has attempted to ensure that its Georgian neighbor would have a rocky transition to democracy and Western integration. Moscow has stepped up its attempt to undermine Georgia since the latter has sought to become a NATO member.

Refresh Georgia's 'Rose Revolution' - Christian Science Monitor editorial

Moscow's announcement Tuesday that it would halt its five-day invasion of Georgia came within 24 hours of President Bush's demand for an end to this "brutal" Russian offensive. Did an implied US threat make the difference? There's one way to find out. In his statement Monday, Mr. Bush drew a bright line around what matters most to the US in Georgia – and it's not the oil pipeline that runs through this strategic nation. Nor is it Georgia's claim to the disputed territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which are the size of Puerto Rico. Neither is it forcing Russia to accept yet another country near its border as a NATO member. No, it was with poignant symbolism that Bush made his main point in the Rose Garden of the White House. He insisted that Georgia's 2003 "rose revolution" not be overthrown and a Russian puppet installed either by force or coercion. He warned against the apparent Russian attempt to depose Georgia's "duly elected government."

Mixed Messages and Unheeded Warnings - Cooper and Shanker, New York Times

One month ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia, for a high-profile visit that was planned to accomplish two very different goals. During a private dinner on July 9, Ms. Rice’s aides say, she warned President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia not to get into a military conflict with Russia that Georgia could not win. “She told him, in no uncertain terms, that he had to put a non-use of force pledge on the table,” according to a senior administration official who accompanied Ms. Rice to the Georgian capital. But publicly, Ms. Rice struck a different tone, one of defiant support for Georgia in the face of Russian pressure. “I’m going to visit a friend and I don’t expect much comment about the United States going to visit a friend,” she told reporters just before arriving in Tbilisi, even as Russian jets were conducting intimidating maneuvers over South Ossetia. In the five days since the simmering conflict between Russia and Georgia erupted into war, Bush administration officials have been adamant in asserting that they warned the government in Tbilisi not to let Moscow provoke it into a fight - and that they were surprised when their advice went unheeded.

Welcome Back To the Great Game - Melik Kaylan, Wall Street Journal

Last year, President Mikheil Saakashvili invited me along on a helicopter flight to see Tskhinvali, South Ossetia's capital, from the air. We viewed it at some distance to avoid Russian antiaircraft missiles manned by Russian personnel. He pointed out a lone hilltop sprinkled with houses some 10 miles inside Georgian territory - scarcely even a town. Much of the population, namely the Georgians, had long ago been purged by Russian-backed militias, leaving behind a rump population of Ossetian farmers and Russian security forces posing as Ossetians. "We have offered them everything," he said, "language rights, land rights, guaranteed power in parliament, anything they want, and they would take it, if the Kremlin would let them." Moscow's thin pretense of protecting an ethnic group provided just enough cover for Georgia's timorous friends in the West to ignore increasing Russian provocations over the past few years. Moscow, it now seems, intends to "protect" large numbers of Georgians too - by occupying and killing them if that's what it takes - and prevent them from building their own history and pursuing their democratic destiny, as it has for almost two centuries.

Another Hard Landing? - Eugene Rumer, Washington Post

Russia's victory in Georgia is payback for years of geopolitical irrelevance, for Moscow's retreat from Eastern Europe and from the Soviet Union, for Western finger-wagging at Russian transgressions at home and abroad. Russia is back: Its gross domestic product has increased from $200 billion in 1999 to $1.2 trillion in 2007. Moscow has more money from oil and gas exports than it knows what to do with. The Russian military is showing off its newfound strength, punishing the Georgians for their sins, the greatest of which is forgetting in whose back yard they live. Moscow has warned Poland and the Czech Republic not to deploy US missile defense components on their territories. The Kremlin has also told Washington that it should mind its own business.

The Pandora's Box of Sovereignty - Meaney and Mylonas. LA Times

For the coolest composure while going to war, the gold medal goes to Vladimir Putin. The Russian prime minister maintained his characteristic calm during Friday's Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing - giving a firm salute to the Russian athletes marching by - while he arranged for another kind of march into the disputed territory of South Ossetia. It's clear that Putin considers this payback time, not only for Georgia, Russia's meddlesome neighbor to the south, but for President Bush. In February, Bush and most European leaders backed the independence of Kosovo from Serbia, which Putin vociferously opposed. Don't worry, assured US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying, "Kosovo cannot be seen as precedent for any other situation in the world today." But precedent is exactly what it set. Just as the West wanted to shield Kosovo from Serbian domination, so Putin hopes to free South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgian interference and keep them in the Russian orbit of influence. Thus far, he has succeeded by rolling out tanks while the West has paid only lip service to the territorial integrity of Georgia.

Strutting Russia is Heading For a Fall - Richard Beeston, The Times

Rarely have Russians had such cause to celebrate their hero. One minute Vladimir Putin was in Beijing mixing with Russian athletes on the opening day of the Olympics. Moments later he reappeared in the Caucasus, sleeves rolled up and directing a victorious counter-attack against his arch-rival Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgian President. Fleeing refugees and wounded civilians were comforted. Generals saluted smartly as they were sent off to battle. No one was left in any doubt that Mr Putin, rather than the absent President Medvedev, was still firmly in charge of the country. In the space of only five days the Russian Prime Minister succeeded not only in smashing the Georgian Army but also teaching all those in the “near abroad”, as Russia refers to its neighbours in the former Soviet empire, a painful lesson about challenging Moscow in its own backyard.

First Yukos, Then Georgia - Holman Jenkins Jr., Wall Street Journal

Now the world is getting an idea of what a "war for oil" really looks like. Few in the West appreciate the degree to which Vladimir Putin and the Soviet, er, Russian, elite subscribe to a prewar view of power relations and national greatness. Their view is not based on self-reproducing institutions and innovation and the power of trade, but on territory and resources -- lebensraum, as one of their intellectual progenitors called it. Whatever the pretexts and emotional resonances, the Republic of Georgia, transit territory for two important energy pipelines, was also a challenge to Mr. Putin's pursuit of power through control of energy supplies, especially for home heating, to Western Europe.

Puppet Medvedev Left Dangling - Bronwen Maddox, The Times

The body language said it all. Dmitri Medvedev, Russia’s so-called President, meeting the French President in Moscow yesterday, looked tense and subdued, a pale face above a dead-white shirt, sitting cramped in one of the Kremlin’s gilt chairs as Nicolas Sarkozy took up the airspace with expansive hand gestures. In contrast, Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister (the role he chose when appointing Medvedev as his successor), has been relaxed, leaning back in his chair, using long answers to shut out other speakers in chairing his Cabinet and in public appearances. The past five days have answered the puzzle of who is running Russia. Putin is clearly in charge; Medvedev has seemed like his puppet. Putin flew from the Olympic Games to the border of South Ossetia, an action man dashing in to comfort terrified civilians. Medvedev has been confined to the Kremlin.

Moment of Truth on Georgia - Ariel Cohen, Washington Times

As the Olympic Games opened, the tragic and ominous conflict between the Republic of Georgia and Russia erupted as well. Moscow responded with overwhelming force to the Georgian fire on Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetian separatists. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin flew from the Beijing Olympics to Vladikavkaz, taking control of the military operations. Thus, Mr. Putin sidelined his successor Dmitry Medvedev, and left no doubt as to who is in charge. The 58th Russian Army of the North Caucasus Military District rolled into South Ossetia, reinforced by the 76th Airborne "Pskov" Division. It now seized the military base in Senaki, just 50 miles from the strategic port of Poti, which came under severe bombardment.

Russia's Aim in Georgia was Strategic - Maura Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

Russia appears to be rolling back its military incursion into neighboring Georgia. But that's probably because what Russia wanted wasn't territory at all. Instead, experts say, by sending in its troops Russia seized the upper hand strategically in dealing with countries around its periphery. "They don't want to rebuild the Soviet Union, but they do want a sphere of influence," said Steven Pifer, a former deputy assistant secretary of State and ambassador to Ukraine. Russia has itched to strike at southern neighbor Georgia's brash, Western-oriented leader, President Mikheil Saakashvili. And Saakashvili gave the Kremlin an opportunity when he sent troops into the separatist region of South Ossetia last week in an effort to reassert Georgia's sovereignty. US officials have called Russia's response disproportionate because its forces did not just expel Georgian troops from South Ossetia, but drove deep into Georgian territory and bombed Georgian targets.

Russian Triumph Leaves Georgia Uncertain - Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor

There is an air of satisfaction in Moscow over what appears to be a crushing Russian victory in its muscular, five-day long intervention to preserve the quasi-independence of South Ossetia and weaken Georgia's West-leaning President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose drive to take his tiny country into NATO has deeply alarmed the Kremlin. "The aggressor has been punished and has incurred very significant losses," said Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, who ordered an end to Russian combat operations on Tuesday just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was arriving in Moscow to press for a cease-fire. But in Georgia, the mood was grim and uncertain. The country's pro-Western spirit, confirmed in a referendum earlier this year, when more than 70 percent of Georgians supported immediate NATO membership, may have been dampened by what some see as a lack of support in their hour of crisis.

Georgia and the American Cowboy - Cluadia Rosett, National Review

With Russia’s military blasting its way into neighboring Georgia, this sure seems like a moment when the world could use a democratic super-cop. Good luck. Right now, we don’t have one. America effectively resigned from the much-reviled role of lone superpower five years ago, after toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2002, and defying the Oil-for-Food devotees at the United Nations to overthrow the tyranny of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003. Since then, President Bush, to his credit, has stuck with the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq - a display of determination and firepower which goes far to explain why almost seven years have passed since September 11 without another major attack on US shores. But in dealing with other major threats to the free world, the White House has hung up its spurs, turned in its badge, and handed over the remaining items in the global-security portfolio to the soft-power ministrations of our globe-trotting diplomats. According to the State Department’s website, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice since opening up this diplomatic campaign full throttle in 2005 has made 76 trips to 79 countries, spending 2,017 hours on the road, in the air - whatever. Diplomacy has become a marathon end in itself.

Saakashvili Finds Support in Midst of War - Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post

On the first day of the war, as he spoke on television about his country's attempt to retake a breakaway territory, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili had a little smile on his face. As the situation became more grave, so did he, and in the following days he seemed at turns stressed, tearful, defiant and solemn. In Gori, the scene of heavy Russian bombardment, he appeared in a flak jacket, trailed by camera crews, and on Monday night, when Tbilisi residents thought their turn was next, his was the demeanor of a captain going down with the ship. Georgia has always been the most theatrical of nations, and Saakashvili - "Misha" to his people - is the most theatrical of presidents. He swept into power four years ago as a revolutionary, promising to stamp out corruption and bring economic stability, and in some cases he delivered. But the issue of two breakaway regions was perhaps the most emotional - and quixotic - of his causes. It also came with the possibility for the most serious consequences.

Authoritarian Divisions - Paul Kelly, The Australian

As China uses the Olympic Games to showcase the return of its civilisational power, Russia has launched an attack on Georgia to remind the world that it will reclaim its historic influence by resort to force. Beijing's opening ceremony was a fusion of Confucian past and glorious future and, above all, a message that China's greatness is an irresistible force of the 21st century. At the same time Vladimir Putin claimed for the Russian nation the soul of Alexander Solzhenitsyn (lest it be seized by the West) bringing that indomitable witness against Soviet tyranny into the bosom of the motherland. History, in case you missed the point, has not ended. China recruits the soft power of the Olympics to advance its cause and obliterate the memory of much of its 20th-century humiliation. Russia deploys the hard power of military invasion to lay claim to Georgia, Stalin's birthplace, and destroy its putative alliance with the West. Russia and China have a relationship born in mistrust and mired in rivalry, yet they take mutual heart from their contemporary experience: the success of the autocratic state.

Saakashvili: Man Who Lost it All - Nick Allen, Daily Telegraph

When he burst on to television screens across the world last week, speaking perfect English, Mikheil Saakashvili looked every inch the charismatic New York-trained lawyer that he is. Known to friends as "Misha" the cosmopolitan 40-year-old is unquestionably brilliant, speaks half a dozen languages and has a Dutch wife he met in Paris. But Mr Saakashvili has handed Russia a victory it could scarcely have dreamed of - his decision to invade South Ossetia has left his army humiliated and he could soon be fighting for his political life with no prospect of any meaningful help from his Western allies. How did he make such a catastrophic blunder?

Moscow’s Sinister Brilliance - Victor Davis Hanson, National Review

The long-suffering Russian people resent the loss of global influence and empire, but not necessarily the Soviet Union and its gulags that once ensured such stature. The invasion restores a sense of Russian nationalism and power to its populace without the stink of Stalinism, and is indeed cloaked as a sort of humanitarian intervention on behalf of beleaguered Ossetians. There will be no Russian demonstrations about an “illegal war,” much less nonsense about “blood for oil,” but instead rejoicing at the payback of an uppity former province that felt its Western credentials somehow trumped Russian tanks. How ironic that the Western heartthrob, the old Marxist Mikhail Gorbachev, is now both lamenting Western encouragement of Georgian “aggression,” while simultaneously gloating over the return of Russian military daring.

US Limited in Georgia Crisis - Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor

Russia's blitz into the former Soviet republic of Georgia has exposed starkly the limits of US military power and geopolitical influence in the era following the invasion of Iraq. Georgia is one of the closest US allies in Eastern Europe. President Mikheil Saakashvili has visited the White House three times in the last four years. Yet this warm relationship did not stop the Kremlin from unleashing a ferocious military response after Georgian troops entered the separatist province of South Ossetia. US efforts to expand Western influence and spread democracy along Russia's borders may now be threatened. US relations with Russia itself, at the least, are in flux.

Conflict May Spark New US Policy Battle - Barnes and Spiegel, LA Times

Other than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, few foreign policy initiatives have gotten more diplomatic attention from the Bush administration recently than thawing its increasingly chilly relationship with Russia. Twice over the last 10 months, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates have been sent on joint missions to convince the Kremlin that it should cooperate on a variety of fronts, including missile defense and nuclear proliferation. But the conflict in Georgia this week has left efforts to engage Russia in disarray, and there are increasing signs that administration hard-liners are using the crisis to reassert their view that Moscow should be isolated. Vice President Dick Cheney's declaration Saturday that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered" was seen by some experts as the first salvo of what could be a new battle over administration policy.

Putin the Terrible - Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Real Clear Politics

In "Rebuilding Russia," published as the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote that the "awakening Russian national self-awareness has to a large extent been unable to free itself of great-power thinking and of imperial delusions ... it has taken over from the communists the fraudulent and contrived notion of Soviet patriotism." As all prescient statements, it was a shrewd reading of the present, not the future. The Russian invasion of Georgia is a powerful confirmation of Solzhenitsyn's words. Of course, one could reverse his argument: Soviet imperialism was a continuation, not an antecedent, of Russian nationalism. Vladimir Putin and his stooge, President Dmitry Medvedev, have revived a tradition of Russian expansionism that dates back to Ivan the Terrible. The invasion of Georgia echoes Russia's annexation of that country in 1801 and again in 1921, when the Soviets crushed a short-lived Georgian independence.

Beyond Trust Verify - Barnes and Tuohy, National Review

By the sounds of artillery, tanks, and strategic bombers on August 8, world attention was suddenly wrenched away from the brightly elaborate Olympic spectacle in China to the obscure mountain valleys of Georgia. Yet despite the considerable resources immediately brought to bear by governments and media organizations alike on trying to figure out what became revealed by the scale of those explosions to be the largest interstate conflict to reach Europe since World War II, the basic facts of the conflict - to say nothing about questions of extent, fault, or potential consequences - have remained masked by what has been described as a “cloud of war” hanging over the Caucasus. Of course, in our globalized age of information, there was never any possibility of an information blackout - on the contrary, seemingly credible news reports came out of Georgia on an hourly basis claiming that, for example, Tbilisi International Airport has been bombed, or that Georgian troops in the breakaway South Ossetian republic's “capital” of South Ossetia have ignored several ceasefires announced by their president. Yet the chaos of the war is obscuring the nature of the conflict not due to a lack of reporting, but paradoxically to an overabundance of it - for on every key diplomatic or military move, news reports have been directly and mutually contradictory.

Back in the USSR - John O'Sullivan, New York Post

Beyond making money for the siloviki, South Ossetia exists for the purpose of destabilizing pro-Western Georgia. Its sporadic shelling of nearby Georgian villages provoked Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili into a seemingly catastrophic military response. But if Georgia had taken no action, Russia would have incorporated the breakaway province by degrees - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had already awarded Russian passports to South Ossetian residents. Both trapdoors led to the same result: Russian expansion, the punishment of Georgia for daring to be an ally of the West - and the annexation of South Ossetia, now occupied by Russian "peacekeepers." Yes, it's "Back in the USSR," boys.

Back in the USSR - Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe

Henry Kissinger used to say that while it can be dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, to be a friend is fatal. The people of South Vietnam learned that bitter lesson when the United States abandoned them in 1975. The Poles learned it after Yalta, the Hungarian freedom fighters learned it in 1956, the Cubans learned it at the Bay of Pigs. And tens of thousands of Iraqis learned it in 1991, when at the urging of George H.W. Bush they rose against Saddam Hussein, only to be slaughtered when American support never materialized. We can now add Georgia to that list. The current President Bush has been a vocal champion of the young democracy in the former Soviet republic. He lauded the Rose Revolution that swept Mikheil Saakashvili to power, backs Georgia's bid to join NATO, and traveled to Tbilisi in 2005 to give his "pledge to the Georgian people that you've got a solid friend in America." In return, the Georgians firmly aligned themselves with the United States, sending troops to fight alongside ours in Iraq and Afghanistan and even naming a main road in Tbilisi after Bush. At the White House in March, Saakashvili effusively thanked the president for having "really put Georgia firmly on the world's freedom map."

How the West Botched Georgia - Ronald Asmus, The New Republic

The guns around Tbilisi have now fallen silent. Efforts are underway to finalize a truce between Russia and Georgia to end Moscow's bloody invasion. It is time for the West to look in the mirror and ask: What went wrong? How did this disaster happen? Make no mistake. While this is first and foremost a disaster for the people and government of Georgia, it is also a disaster for the West - and for the US in particular. After all, Georgia was, in a fairly basic sense, our project. The Rose Revolution was inspired by American ideals--and prodding. Many of its leaders were Western-educated and cut their teeth in US-sponsored NGOs. The radical reforms carried out by Mikheil Saakashvili and his team of young democrats drew on the American experience. Georgia's NATO drive was inspired by the US push to enlarge NATO to Central and Eastern Europe. Three years ago, President George W. Bush stood in Tbilisi's Freedom Square and told Georgians that American would support them as they traveled their road to freedom. Tbilisi's boulevard to the airport is named after him.

BACKGROUND / QUICKLOOKS

Timeline: Key Events in Russian-Georgian Relations - Associated Press
Day-by-Day: South Ossetia Crisis - BBC News
Q&A on Georgia - New York Times
How Russian and Georgian Forces Stack Up - Reuters
South Ossetia Picture Gallery (1) - Washington Post
South Ossetia Picture Gallery (2) - Washington Post
Factbox: International Reaction to South Ossetia Conflict - Reuters
Georgia - Library of Congress Country Study
Russia - Library of Congress Country Study
Georgia - CIA World Factbook
Russia - CIA World Factbook
Georgia - US State Department Background Note
Russia - US State Department Background Note
Georgia - BBC Country Page
Russia - BBC Country Page
South Ossetia - New York Times background and related news
South Ossetia - BBC background

DISCUSS

Small Wars Council - Discussion and study / background links