Re: I hate to be the ignorant one hereja_vaAugust 12 2008, 18:49:30 UTC
Georgia attacked South Ossetia, breakaway region. Formally, it is a Georgian territory, but they are trying to separate since the eary 1990-th. There was war back then, and then Russian peacekeepers were moved in to keep the peace. Naturally, as Georgia attacked some of the Russian peacekeepers got under fire too, and died. Russia swiftly retailiated by moving in Regular troops. Now, there is a bit of a question whether Russian troops are contained inside the South Ossetia (as Russia claims), or did they spill into the mainland Georgia (as Saakashvili, president of Georgia, claims), but I tend to believe the former.
The origin of the dispute is - when Soviet Union broke up and Republic of Georgia became independent certain parts of it (Abkhasia and South Ossetia) did not want to be part of Georgia as an independent country. They did not care when it was all Soviet Union and there were no borders, but once the situation changed they decided that since they are ethnically different they want to go different way. Georgia did not want to let them go, and the war started. Russia, at the time, did not care much, but was asked by THEN GEORGIAN government to intervene, and sent some troops to the region to keep peace. Now, as dozen years passed and Georgian government changed, new government decided that they do not want Russian troops there and want to re-claim the land that is theres.
Formally, it is a Georgian territory, but they are trying to separate since the eary 1990-th. There was war back then, and then Russian peacekeepers were moved in to keep the peace. Naturally, as Georgia attacked some of the Russian peacekeepers got under fire too, and died. Russia swiftly retailiated by moving in Regular troops.
Now, there is a bit of a question whether Russian troops are contained inside the South Ossetia (as Russia claims), or did they spill into the mainland Georgia (as Saakashvili, president of Georgia, claims), but I tend to believe the former.
The origin of the dispute is - when Soviet Union broke up and Republic of Georgia became independent certain parts of it (Abkhasia and South Ossetia) did not want to be part of Georgia as an independent country. They did not care when it was all Soviet Union and there were no borders, but once the situation changed they decided that since they are ethnically different they want to go different way. Georgia did not want to let them go, and the war started. Russia, at the time, did not care much, but was asked by THEN GEORGIAN government to intervene, and sent some troops to the region to keep peace. Now, as dozen years passed and Georgian government changed, new government decided that they do not want Russian troops there and want to re-claim the land that is theres.
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