Strong Horse/Weak Horse

There's an interesting quote and observation in the New York Times article about the failure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional organization consisting of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, to support Russia's action in the Caucasus: Although the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan fall within what Moscow considers its sphere of influence, and ...

Russia Recognizes Abkhazia, South Ossetia

Unsurprisingly, Russia has now recognized the independence of Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia: President Dmitry Medvedev has declared that Russia formally recognises the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The move follows a vote in both houses of parliament on Monday, which called on Moscow to recognise the regions. The move, in defiance of a ...

Russian Legislature Recognizes Breakaway Provinces

The Federation Council and the Duma, the upper and lower houses of the legislature of the Russian Federation, have voted in favor of recognizing the independence of Georgia's two breakaway provinces, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, from Georgia: MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's parliament unanimously approved on Monday resolutions calling for the recognition of two rebel regions of Georgia as independent states, a ...

Kenneth Anderson on the Russia-Georgia Conflict

You might want to take a look at law prof Kenneth Anderson's observations on the Russia-Georgia conflict at Opinio Juris (hat tip: Glenn Reynolds). His observations rest on four legs: Russia is undertaking an expansion into its “near abroad” and should be opposed. NATO has closed the door on reforms that would have recruited Russia into its membership and will ...

Did U.S. Provoke Geogia-Russia Conflict?

Josh Marshall argues that Georgia's move to re-establish control over South Ossetia and Russia's subsequent invasion are the fault of the United States, because "we pumped the Georgians up as our big Iraq allies, got them revved up about coming into NATO, playing all this pipeline politics, all of which led them to have a much more aggressive posture toward ...

Russia: Forget Georgian Territorial Integrity

Russia has abandoned all pretense that they're merely intervening on behalf of aggrieved minorities in Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia's foreign minister declared Thursday that the world "can forget about" Georgia's territorial integrity, and officials said Russia targeted military infrastructure and equipment — including radars and patrol boats at a Black Sea naval base and oil hub. Two ...

Russia Orders Georgia ‘Cease-Fire’

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has ordered what the press is describing as a "cease-fire" in Georgia. Given that he is not withdrawing Russian forces and is going to keep killing Georgian troops in South Ossetia in violation of international law, however, that term doesn't quite seem to fit. NYT: The president said Russia had achieved its military goals during five days ...

Russia Makes Move on Abkhazia

Emboldened by the lack of international response to its invasion of Georgia to take South Ossetia, Russia has began Phase 2: the taking of Abkhazia. Swarms of Russian jets launched new raids on Georgian territory Monday and Georgia faced the threat of a second front of fighting as Russia demanded that Georgia disarm troops near the breakaway province of Abkhazia. While a ...

Kosovo and South Ossetia

Ari Rusila argues that the bloody crisis in South Ossetia is directly tracable to Western backing of Kosovo's secession.  While we considered Kosovo's claim "unique," he argues, "Moscow and [a] few other capitals considered the move a serious step toward the degradation of international law and the triumph of arbitrary approaches to the resolution of global problems." Rusila correctly notes that ...

Russia Invades South Ossetia, Georgia Shoots Down Russian Planes

Russian tanks have moved into the disputed Caucasus region of South Ossetia, dramatically escalating already high tensions with Georgia. Russian television reports that Russian troops are moving into South Ossetia. The development comes hours after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned Georgia that its attack on South Ossetia will draw retaliation. Channel 1 television showed a convoy of Russian tanks that it said entered ...