Imagine, if you will, me rubbing my hands with glee at seeing this post.

First, South Ossetia has not "always" been Russian. It is most definitely not a historical part of Russia, which, depending on when you set the era is between 500 and 750 miles farther north. Given that Tolstoy fought in the Causasus in the 1840's, and that it wasn't annexed by the Russian Empire until 1803, calling any part of Georgia a historical part of Russia ignores, well, history. It also ignores the fact that it's the historical homeland of the Ossetians, who claim Stalin as one of their own (through his father).

The Ossetians are a distinct people who have mostly assimilated with the Georgians but have remained separate. When Stalin was in the Kremlin, he elevated several Ossetians to high posts over Georgians, and he considered their assimilation a problem. So when you say that 96% of Ossetians have Russian passports and imply that they are ethnic Russians, you really sound like a tool of the Kremlin and one that is particularly uninformed.

Let me know if you want me to give you citations for the above. Anyone willing to spend 5 minutes researching it can find all of that information easily, but I've found Montefiore and Riasanovsky quite informative. If you've got source material that differs, I'd love to see it. Otherwise, well, your posts really have nothing to do with historical facts.

General Mao, you are confusing Georgian and Chechens. The Georgians have not killed Russian troops; Chechen rebels/irregulars/terrorists/bandits have. The Ossetians have held no referendums stating that they want to be annexed by Russia. The Georgian Army has not "razed villages", Russian or otherwise. Any statements to the contrary are completely unfounded. You are right that there are no shades of gray here; Ossetia is a part of Georgia. Russia invaded it. If you want to shine bright lights on border conflicts, why don't we talk about the Russians and Chinese lobbing shells at one another across the Amur. If you have evidence to the contrary, though, let's see it. Otherwise, well, you venture close to the definition of "trolling".

Here's an update and summary so far:

Perhaps we should shut up about Georgian situation and stop sounding like such hypocrites. We really fucked up in Iraq and Afghanistan. And perhaps we should support the Russian effort to stop Saakashvili's cynical effort to initiate ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia. And nice timing starting the war during the Olympics too, asshole. He should be hunted down and tried for his crimes against humanity.

Let's just remember who started this: Georgia.
Let's remember that majority of 2000+ "war casualties" are due to Georgians bombing South Ossetian civilians.

I say we send American troops to Georgia and help the Russians punish this Clown of Georgia.

It's hard for me to comment on all of this because I have a great deal of personal affection for Russian language and culture, but I really, honestly believe that when it comes to the two other superpowers in the world, (or at least soon-to-be superpowers)—Russia and China—it is the Russians with whom we Americans have the closest kinship. They're our sort of people: industrious, resourceful, lovers of life, capable of profound friendship and warmth though at times headstrong or boorish, even reckless. We ought to be friends with these people, but even after 16 post-Soviet years it seems that all we can do is antagonize. And all the while, we try to cuddle up to China despite all their abuses and oppression. The only reason I can see for it is that the latter has us by the balls financially while the former doesn't.

Like Russia doesn't have abuses and oppression? Really, way to reduce 1.3 billion people to a dehumanized homogeneous monolith. I also think your view of the Russian is way off the mark:

"They're our sort of people: industrious, resourceful, lovers of life, capable of profound friendship and warmth"

Try telling that to the Chechens, Ukrainians, Poles, Georgians, Estonians, etc...

Whoah, hold up there! Of course there are Russian abuses! I'm not a fan of Putin & Co, not at all. I just question why we pick one large, problematic country to deal with over the other. With China, our policy is to work with them while still condemning the wrongs they do. With Russia, though, our policy is to encircle them with our allies and plant a "missile shield" on their doorstep. Just seems a little one-sided is all. And I'm not trying to stereotype the Chinese people. (If you noticed, I was speaking about China—that is, the government—not the Chinese.) I just think that culturally and historically, we share more in common with the Russians.

However bold Russia may feel though, they're hemming themselves in already. Last week, Poland signed a treaty with the US to allow some kind of missile defense thing on their turf, something Poland has been reluctant to agree to until now. I guess we can assume Russia's recent actions have got East European states nervous and thinking on the same page as us... Russia wont get far without friends.

Yes... that's exactly what Pravda says about the whole thing (NBC too).

Scenario: Imagine Russia is the U.S. and Georgia is Mexico ... and the U.S. decided to invade Mexico because "we say" some of their border towns really really want to be part of the U.S.A. ... and that the Mexican military unjustly fired on U.S. forces while occupying Mexican territories... oh, and look over there, while we're at it, let's head toward Mexico's sweet oil pipeline that competes with ours... oops, we destroyed the Mexican military bases and equipment along with vital public infrastructure... and say, look at that nice chunk of waterfront property for ports, I think we'll stay here for a while and protect those Mexicans ... I mean "separatists".

That would be a more accurate description of what is happening in Georgia.

Just curious - since you mention it... what do you feel that were the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan?

I was watching some financial news today, and apparently investors are pulling out of a lot of stuff in Russia.

It was just interesting that there's an aspect of financial warfare that I never considered. It wasn't done purposely for that, but some investors just don't feel safe with throwing tons of money into any businesses over there due to the conflict.