CSM Background On Russia Georgia Conflict - Very Fair

Here is a nice background and report on the conflict, which is very fair. There is no easy answer. Neither Georgia nor Russia are completely in the right on this one.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0812/p01s08-woeu.html

/snip

"This conflict has very deep and complicated roots," says analyst Alexei Malashenko at the Carnegie Center in Moscow. "It was Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili who started it, hoping to redraw the whole situation with one sweeping action. But if it goes on for much longer, it is likely that there will be no winners, and Russia will suffer very badly, too."

The war, which began with a lightning Georgian offensive Friday aimed at ending secessionist South Ossetia's 16-year-old de facto independence, prompted a Russian military intervention which, by Monday, had put Russian forces in full control of the region. The West worries that Moscow's true goal is to subjugate pro-West Georgia and overthrow its democratically elected president, Mr. Saakashvili. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on Monday, Saakashvili warned that if Moscow's drive succeeds, Western influence in the region will be defunct.

/snip

understanding or wanting to understand both sides when one of those sides are being made to appear as nothing more than an enemy to them....

Is that we end up with political leaders who govern like 5 year olds. That is why I really do think we need a brand new party in the White House.

by allowing the so called adults to continue it's desire to ignore our outrage at what is going on by accusing anyone who dares to express outrage to be doing nothing more than whining, the same thing that a parent accuses a 5 year old of when that 5 year old dares to question it's so called superior...

because it can be argued they started it when they broke away from Georgia and its appalling policies against ethnic Ossetians and Russians in 1992.

Much of the world press, with the glaring exception of Le Figaro, is cautiously on the side of the Russians. Very cautiously.

and spent a lot of my day yesterday looking for info.

,...it fails to explore the underlying political motivation: resources (e.g. power over the OIL).

Why would the President of a nation as small as Georgia figure he COULD "redraw the whole situation with one sweeping action"? Is he effin' c-r-a-z-y? OR did another "power" encourage him to do so in order to advance something above the heads of not only his populace but also billions of others under government (rather than truly democratic) rule?

Yes, the situation is far more complex than that reported by our governing corporate media. Yes, CSM has done an admirable job of reporting the complexities involved in the citizenry perception. However, the core political goals of those at the top are still left out of the story and it's damn time they were reported, too!

...with respect to why Georgia might have thought it could initiate such a military strike, here's my thoughts on that issue:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3774608&mesg_id=3774608

Still, I think CSM article provides a very objective report on the background of the conflict.

Has there been a single conflict between major powers in the past 100 years that didn't have oil at the root?