While it has no significant oil or gas reserves of its own, Georgia is a key transit point for oil from the Caspian region destined for Europe and the United States. Crucially, it is the only practical route from this increasingly important producer region that avoids both Russia and Iran.

The 1,770-kilometre (1,100mile) Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which cost $3 billion (£1.55 billion) to build and was partly underwritten by British taxpayers, entered full service last year. It is the world’s second-long-est oil pipeline and pumps about a million barrels a day from Baku, on the coast of the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, to Yumurtalik, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, where it is loaded on to su-pertankers. The route also avoids the congested Bosphorus shipping lane.

About 250 kilometres of the route passes through Georgia, with parts of it running only 55 kilometres from South Ossetia. It also runs close to another secessionist Georgian region, Abkhazia.
....

The threat of another attack by separatists in Georgia is very real. Georgian rebels in the breakaway regions have threatened to sabotage the pipeline in the past.

Do you think Russia trusts anyone after it was betrayed so many times? One of our greatest military commanders, generalissimus Alexander Suvorov once said: "Russia has only two real friends: Russian army and Russian fleet". It was 250 years ago.

Do you know what was the time when everyone loved and trusted Russia most? 1990s. We lived in shit. Weak economy, weak army, fear everywhere, country on its knees so that even its citizens are ashamed to live there, and foreign countries getting resources for free. So thanks, no.

I doubt many people trust the US either though.

Taiwan is not recognized either, but that does not mean Taiwan is an independent country for practical purposes. North Ossetia is part of Russia; with Ossetia split in two, it will always be messy.

Taiwan would be a much bigger clusterfuck if anything started to go down there

There was no Soviet Union 250 years ago. So it's not the reason. The reason is that some people don't want to take their head out of the ass and start thinking about mutual benefits, but want everything for themselves for free. How come it is more justified to locate the radars and rockets to protect Europe against Iran's threat in Poland and Czech republic than in the South of Russia, on Caucasus, right next to Iran? How much trust of those who can't be trusted is worth?


They see it where? In Russia or in Western or pro-Western media writing about Russia? There's a lot of talks about opposition being suppressed. I say BULLSHIT. Who would they like more, communists, nationalists, radicals? May be neonazis? They are also opposition and have their own party (although forbidden)... Or those democrats of the 1990s, who can't decide who of them is better suited for power, and lost all their supporters? One organization which screamed most about 'numerous violations' during elections didn't even sent its representatives to the elections they were criticizing. The thing is that no matter what - Russia is always bad.
If the media is so concerned, why, for instance, they don't care about UK hiding criminals and terrorists (Berezovsky, Zakaev)?

I'm glad it was South Ossetia that went wrong on Olympics day, and not Taiwan. With that quagmire, the strategy of waiting a century and hoping nothing goes wrong in the meanwhile might just work.

McCain shouldn't get his uneducated self involved in this.

I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis.

So does South Ossetia want to be part of Russia or independent?

It really isn't about Ossetia at all...it's more about Georgia and it wanting to take Ossetia as part of it's own country.

it was unable to get its independence officially and get international recognition. Other than that it's a separate sovereign country, just like Georgia.