After the Revolution – Georgia
Worth linking to, even if there is no embed, a 20 minute, bleak, prescient, profile of Georgia from 2004.
“After the dramatic ‘Rose Revolution’ that saw him to power, will Saakashvili be able to unify his country?
The hardest tasks still lie ahead. Vast swathes of the country are outside his control. Having claimed independence, they answer to no one. Everywhere you turn in South Ossetia are signs of Russian influence. The police and soldiers wear Russian uniforms, cars have Russian numberplates and the region even runs on Russian time. But technically South Ossetia is part of Georgia. Saakashvili is doing his best to win back their support but any invasion would surely be bloody.”
I seems like the Russian invasion of Georgia is the inevitable result of 2 variables: natural resources and union.
Russia feeling it needs to be aggressive against splinter states to prevent fragmentation of other self identifying enclaves; and protecting access to oil routes. From the US Civil War to Iraq this is a feature of most conflict.