The Georgian Crisis: In review

Seeing as discussions have moved towards Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia...

Discuss away guys.

~sigh~

You made this thread for no reason, Chainsaw. We were already done.

Anyhow, I would say that, from what little I know as a brief observer, that it seemed like Georgia wasn't giving this minorities their rights, but they made a big mistake in running to Russia to get them.

So now we have two new Russian puppets and a steaming mad Georgia. The end.

edited 19th Aug '11 5:20:51 PM by USAF713

They won't stay puppets. South Ossetia's stated goal is to be part of Russian territory, not their own. Independence then Russian annexation is merely the process.

Could've been worse. Georgia could've been annexed outright.

Is that any better...?

I suppose if it's really their choice...

South Ossetia definately wants unification with Russia (half their ancestral homeland is in Russia), while Abkhazia wants independance (though they wouldn't mind annexation too much if it means continued development). One thing is for sure, Georgia ain't the innocent lamb in this.

The funny thing is however, there are other regions of Georgia that are chaffing under Tblisi's rule, namely that of ethnic Armenians. The only reason Armenia hasn't called them out on it or come to their people's defense is cuz they're locked in a Cold War with Azerbaijan. However, if it were to become an issue and wrest itself free of Georgian control, the only thing connecting West Georgia (the coastal region particularly) and the capital region of East Georgia would be the city of Gori. Everything to the north and south would be out of their hands.

And thats not even getting into the possibilities with Adjaria, the loss of which (currently not possible because of the gobs of money Saakashvili is throwing at it) would take yet another third of Georgia's coastline.

...so... I take it the only reason Russia hasn't gone all trollface and annexed them entirely is because we'd get pissed if they did...?

So do Georgians actually exist, then? I mean it sounds like everyone there is actually something else at this point.

Hardly. This war accomplished several objectives.

- Tit-for-tat message to the West in retaliation for Kosovo.

- Bring Tblisi to heel for trying to attack South Ossetia thinking they'd have the military support of the United States

- Brownie points among Abkhazians and Ossetians.

- reaffirmation that Russia still influenced its sphere of influence (also related to the first point).

EDIT-

Yeah, they exist. The central coast, Gori, and Tblisi and its surrounding areas are all Georgian. The areas I named earlier are the only non-Georgian areas...which all together are about a third of the state, but it IS mountainous like the Balkans, so it makes sense that it would be culturally hetrogenous. Russian Caucasus is much the same way, and Armenia and Azerbaijan hate each other for the same reason.

edited 20th Aug '11 6:35:59 PM by FFShinra

Huh. Kosovo sounds more and more like it was a bad idea to get involved with.

Goddamned American Imperialism... I'm writing a letter to Obama, now. An angry letter.

Bleh... I just remember going to the doctor's in '08 and the news in the waiting room was all "oh noes, Russia is curbstomping some country with the same name as a US State! How horrible!" and I just saw this whole tank battalion going past the camera and was all "oh, shit, Russia went beast mode!"

Oh indeed. After the war, the Georgians disbanded their navy cuz there WASN'T one anymore (they have a coast guard to take over their duties), and by the end of that conflict, the Georgian military was no longer capable of warfare.

I just realized your location is Georgia, presumably the US one.

But, yeah, reading the synopsis of the combat, you can track how Russia's thinking went. First the bear woke up, then it was like, what the fuck, why is this ant trying to bite me? And then it smashed it into little bits and fucked it up beyond all recognition, while we sat and ate popcorn while acting indignant. We totally enjoyed the show, though.

Georgia seemed to form without much say-so from the non-Georgians who ended up in the state. This was a cultural timebomb.