But aren't you assuming aliasyzy didn't do that, didn't look at the reports from east & west, then form an opinion?
As far as I can tell, Georgia has been trying to suppress the dissident Russians that want to be part of their traditional/historical mother country, by fucking with them pretty hard.
Meanwhile, Russia has tried to protect these people, under the guise of "peacekeepers", for the last 20 years. So when Georgia attacked South Ossetia, the Russians said, shock & awe, as bears are wont to do.
OK, your earlier link got into the possible thinking behind these actions, but just looking at what actually happened, I'd have to agree with aliasyzy, that Georgia screwed up.
We may never know what went on behind closed doors in the run up to this crap, maybe Saakashvili was set up, like Saddam when he invaded Kuwait, but doesn't make it the Russians fault.
We'll probably find out it was New Zealand's fault.
