Who do you support in the Georgia/Russia conflict?

[Dan the Roman]

It looks like if we don't intervene soon we may not have the chance. If Gori has fallen, the Russians are probably only about 36 hours from an attack on Tblisi. Once the capital falls of course, the Russians will have no cover story any more but they won't particularly need one. I am sure of course, that Dana Perino can explain how very disappointed in them she is.

[Dan the Roman]

I tend to be skeptical of Russian claims in this areas. For anyone who thinks Abkhazia or South Ossetia are real countries, I recommend people check out the events surrounding the 2004 elections in Abkhazia. The Pro-Russian candidate lost, and the Russians and their supporters in Abkhazia  attempted to overthrow the "legal" Abkhazian government and install the pro-Russian candidate. Any Pro-Russian Georgia is likely to meet the same fate.

That said Georgia was foolish to push this issue to a head, but only in the same sense the MDC in Zimbabwe was foolish to fight the runoff rather than seeking a settlement with Mugabe in April.  Both took American advice, and made the mistake of assuming American support in their plans, support that would not, and for that could not be forthcoming. They are now paying for that error.

They also seemed to have no plan for what to do if South Ossetia did not immediately surrender, hence the massive civilian casualties.