Russia and Georgia

Kevin Drum has a post which captures some key elements of the post-war sitation in Georgia, with Russian troops clearly intending to assert a presence in Georgia, but South Ossetians firmly in their corner. Juan Cole has a short FOXNews clip also indicating the latter. The media coverage and political rhetoric are trying to make this a battle of good and evil, but while Russia is using this as a means of asserting itself in the Caucasus, Georgia's nationalist government under its naive president was also the aggressor. Ultimately, it goes back to a Soviet decision to cut Ossetia in two hoping to better control it.