I saw an interesting interview at the weekend with an expert from Chatham House, who said that the Georgians walked into a big trap set for them by the Russians. The interviewee also said that Russia is reminding its neighbours (principally Georgia and the Ukraine) that it guarantees security in the region, not NATO, not the EU.
Russia obviously fears losing influence if the Caspian pipeline runs through unfriendly territory, which might also explain Russia's motives at this time.
Another point that I heard (and had forgotten about) was Kosovo. You may recall that, at the time of Kosovo's declaration of independence, Putin was a tad piqued by the EU acknowledging it without question and he said, at that time, that if Kosovo had a right to be independent, so did South Osettia and so did Abkhazia. Perhaps the action against Georgia is Russia's revenge for Kosovo.
Aside from this being rather worrying, does anyone have any thoughts about this?
