And why is a lot of the European and American press talking about Georgian casualties but says nothing about the 2000 who died in South Osetia and those who have suffered shell shock.

When we talk about Georgian casualties, we are including South Ossetian casualties because, wait for it, South Ossetia is a part of Georgia.

I think Russia did the right thing by protecting South Ossetia.

So you say. I can't help but think you'd have a different opinion if you were on a different side of the invasion.

Actually, it's economy, stupid. Majority of the population is struggling to make ends meet. Drugs and alcohol are the means of escape. People, especially young people, do not have an escape from the current bleak economic conditions but to drink themselves to death, drive fast cars on the mountain roads or fight for whatever course sounds best at the time. If you have nothing to loose... That's the story behind most of the violence in the world.

Geez, we can manipulate hundreds of soldiers to shoot at each other, but we can't get a couple of parishes to just unite and become one political system (combine north and south) and let them be a small nation?

Getting people to stop fighting is infinitely more difficult than getting them to start fighting.

Is lack of air conditioning making them loose their minds? Too hot for sex, therefore excess male hormones driving them all nuts? What the hell is Russia worried about, do you think you have to get any closer than Turkey? Can we take the word of the Russians that some should not be trusted with weapons? Sounds like the last thing that needs to be oppressed is the press?

Get a grip people.

See the following article by the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/3797729.stm

"...(South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoiti) businessman and former communist, holds Russian citizenship.

He has angered Tbilisi by stating his aim to be the unification of North and South Ossetia within the Russian Federation. He describes Russia as the main guarantor of stability in the Caucasus and has strong ties with the like-minded Abkhaz leadership.

He has warned Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili against aggressive Georgian nationalism and insists that the people of South Ossetia do not regard themselves as part of Georgia."

See this article by the AP:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i7wB5Uxre-eHOI61jE5CZyRbV5QgD92EHPAG0

Once again, oil interests intermingle with military aggressions. Let us also not lose sight that the Bush family is an oil family and Putin has significant interests in Gazprom of Russia.

My relatives are from North Ossetia. South Ossetia is a very poor country that - should they truly desire to break away from Russia - would have a great deal of difficulty financially sustaining and defending itself. It is largely an agrarian-based economy. They certainly have no means of defending themselves from an attack by Georgian troops. The only hope they have for protection is to have the Russian troops come to their defense. Currently, displaced South Ossetians are flooding over the borders into North Ossetia seeking refuge.

Let us remember that the Bush administration is anxious to get/keep a military toe-hold in Georgia, as it is a strategic access point into the middle east. He is supporting their bid into NATO for his own potential gains or gains he feels are critical however misguided his ideas may or may not be. The US seems to be reluctantly to learn the lesson that you need to be careful who you crawl into bed with as they can be the most dangerous of bed partners in the not-too-distant future.

Why are they lying?
Georgia's leadership is fascism, they don't want peace, they killed ossetians back in 90-s and they want to kill them now.
Stop this lies or God will stop you.

Why you don't say that it is Georgian troops who used heavy artillery and attacked South Ossetia on 8th August?

Why you don't say that more than 2000 south ossetia civilians are killed as a result.

Why you don't say that more than 30 thousands ossetians leaved their homes to save from Georgia's genocide?.

Why you don't say that it's Georgia's troops who attacks refugees?

It's Russia who tries to save them and keep piece in the region.

I have relatives in Georgia and I'm not just supporting Russia. I can tell for sure that BBC and CNN news reports are all lies.

I'm against Georgia's militarism and fascism. Please stop this lies, please stop this madness.

Yesterday started reporting the Russia-Georgian conflict. Reporting seems very limited coming out of the area though Russian news is all over it, blaming the Georgians for an unprovoked attack on Russian "peacekeepers". Georgians ...

It is not true. Georgia started war against separatists at night before Olympic Games. They killed 1400 civilians.

Well, according to one source. Not a reliable one, either.

...and the Russians have been preparing for the invasion for quite a while. They managed to get 150 armored vehicles 100 km into South Ossetia in less than a day. No, this isn't possible. They've been preparing for this for MONTHS.

And for those of you who think they haven't invaded yet (talking to you, Marina), we've had video of the Russian tanks rolling in to South Ossetia since yesterday, less than 24 hours since the Georgian attack.

Come back to us when your news sources don't include ones controlled by Moscow...

What timing. Yesterday, I suggested that the U.S. could stand to be a little more cautious in its support for Georgian accession into NATO. Today, we saw a stunning example of why such caution is warranted.

James Joyner has a link-rich rundown of .....