what should happen with Somaliland

[Lord Halifax]

If we recognize Somaliland, wouldn’t that mean we would have to recognize places like Transnitria and South Ossetia too? What’s the difference?

Well, you see, one is an independence movement, and the others are Russian invasions in sovereign countries meant to undermine those countries' territorial integrity and pro-western diplomatic alliances.

No, the difference is that South Ossetia and Transnistria (and Abkhazia) have foreign support. Georgia committed atrocities in both places and expelled thousands of Ossetians from its territory. Both of these countries would want independence regardless of whether Russia supported them, only Georgia would've reconquered them long ago without this support (and likely expelled the "wrong" ethnicities in the process). Transnistria has less hostile relations with Moldova, but then again Transnistrian claim to independence is hardly any less valid than Moldova's.

the ethnic cleansing always goes both ways in such conflicts and the atrocities committed by the Abkhaz were far worse than what was done to them. The Abkhaz were a minority of less than 20% in their region in Soviet times while nearly half of the population were Georgian. There was a clear Georgian majority in the eastern parts of South Ossetia, and Georgians made up 30% of South Ossetia's population back then. If you're going by national self-determination Abkhazia should have remained Georgian and South Ossetia should have been partitioned.